Fear of Nudity

A common misperception fostered by conservative groups is that nudity is bad for society. For fifty years, Pennsylvania had a law regulating all-nude dancing at clubs with liquor licences, specifically "lewd, immoral or improper" entertainment, and last month a federal appeals court threw out the law on constitutional grounds. The court agreed with the argument that the law was vague and restricted free speech. The general consensus is that all-nude dancing and lap dancing are no longer illegal in Pennsylvania, and that any contact or other sexual behavior would have to qualify as obscene or prostitution in order to be prosecuted, but with the absence of an injunction the matter is still open to interpretation. The state Attorney General's office is seeking to reargue the case.

Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, expects many clubs that sell liquor to turn to all-nude dancing. She also worries that more rapes and sexual assaults will result. "What the 3rd Circuit did is outrageous. The consequences are very real," Gramley said.

But are there "real" consequences to a community when nude clubs are present? A 2001 study presented to the National Institute of Justice's Crime Mapping Research Center suggests otherwise. You can access the .doc file here. The study of an area in Indiana is detailed and scientific, and the conclusion is that there is no direct correlation between nude clubs and sexual crime.

While all-nude dancing and the practice of nudism are different in many ways, the public perception of nudism and naturism is that it is sexual and deviant behavior. Witness the current firestorm in Brattleboro, Vermont, where conservative groups argued that nude teenagers were "exhibitionists", and that the nudity was bad for "the children", yet there were no reports of any lewd behavior from the kids. Notice how these "family" groups never cite specific facts to back up these arguments, it's just hyperbole.

I once read about a town in England that had lap dancing, and a startling figure was presented as an argument. Apparently rapes in the town increased by 50% since the clubs opened, certainly an unacceptable rise in crime, but once it was revealed that the actual number of rapes increased from two to three, the argument was rendered moot. This sort of manipulation of facts and figures is nothing but junk science.

When former Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered some classical nude statues to be covered up at the Department of Justice, he sent a strong signal to society that the nude human figure was something bad, something to be hidden, something to be ashamed of. There was no rationale for his action, it was motivated by his own religious beliefs and an irrational fear of nudity. Free society should not foster fear, it should be fearless.

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