Friday, October 12, 2007

Nude Candidate Interviewed

George Davis, who is running for Mayor of San Francisco on a platform of bringing nude sunbathing to Golden Gate Park, was interviewed yesterday while he was completely naked, standing on a site where Al Gore would later show up for a Barbara Boxer fundraiser. Davis doesn't stand a chance in Hell of being elected, and does not seem to garner any support from the nudist community, but it is activists like George who risk looking ridiculous that do the most to advance social change.

The interview is interesting for several reasons. First of all, the reporter is clearly uncomfortable and struggles for questions to ask, and at one point he asks the cameraman if he needs to get more shots of Davis' nude body. There are a few people who interrupt the interview, including one man who shoos them away and tells them that Davis cannot be naked on that site because of "insurance" reasons. Another man seems visibly concerned about the nudity and, of course, wonders about what it will do to any children who might be in the area.

Eventually the reporter agrees with Davis that nude yoga does seems pretty sensible. Too bad this interview was not conducted by The Daily Show's Samantha Bee, it would have been classic to see her join Davis on the yoga mat.

One would expect anyone taking the time to run for public office to be prepared to answer questions about his or her platform, policies and visions, but the most profound statement Davis can come up with is that being nude is "fun". True, but any serious advocate for nudism needs to be able to articulate the more pressing issues facing the lifestyle, such as the alarming increase in legislation across the country against all types of nudity.

On another activist note, kudos to the Naturist Action Committee for organizing a nude swim in Huntington Beach, California, the town which recently outlawed all public nudity. The swim is now scheduled for Saturday, November 3, and is completely legal and family friendly. This is exactly the type of positive organizational effort that is needed to allay public fears and get nudists out of the closet and into social situations. Hopefully this will be the first of many nude swims organized by the NAC.

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