Johns Hopkins University Newsletter Recommends Nude Recreation

The Johns Hopkins University News-Letter encourages students to "take a swim on the wild side" and attend a Maryland Area Naturist Association (MARNA) event.

The Daily Newds 2/12/09

• The Texas state comptroller's office has collected $11.2 million in strip club "pole tax" fees even though the action was ruled unconstitutional nearly a year ago.
• A woman hooks up with an old high school friend and discovers that Joyce and her husband live in a Florida nudist resort.

  Our friends preferred the au naturel life and appeared content. Joyce and Ivan had sampled the nudist life before relocating, after their children entered college.
  
  They seldom left the enclave except for shopping, appointments, travel or entertainment outings. They lived among their social circle and described their lives as comfortable and free. Only visits from their non-nudist extended families sometimes proved awkward for the visitors.
  
  I puzzle over their extraordinary lifestyle, but harbor no interest in living it. Maybe I'm too vain. I prefer to keep my faults under wraps.

• 400 participants are expected at Sunspot Gardens Family Naturist Resort's 21st Mid-Winter Festival.

  It's not all fun and games, though. Plenty of the world narrows its eyes at naturists, and naturists know this.
  
  A session called "Telling Friends & Family" allows nudists to talk about what it's been like telling friends and family they prefer to go unclad. "The Politics of Children & Naturism" discusses the challenges to children's participation in naturism: naturist youth camps, home nudity, photography of children, child protective services, and adults-only sites and events.

• Is South Korea about to have its first nude beach?

  Jeju provincial government will firstly examine whether the measure would entail any legal problems, and then install necessary facilities for nude sunbathing, including changing rooms, on beaches favored by foreigners. Potential nude beaches include Jungmun Beach, which is connected to luxury hotels in the Jungmun Tourist Resort Complex, and Hamdeok Beach, which is the most popular among vacationers.

• It's being billed as a Naked Wedding by the radio station which sponsored the stunt, but the bride will be concealed by a bouquet of 250 roses.
• Nude Sushi is coming to Baltimore.

  "It's a 400-year old Japanese concept,” said Michael Evitts of the Downtown Partnership, “It's worked well in world-class cities like Los Angeles and New York and Las Vegas.
  
  "I have no problem against it,” added City Councilman Bill Coles on the proposed addition to his district, “It doesn't violate any great moral problem I have."

• Chuck the Naked Saxophone Player is one of many participants in the XOXO Third Annual All-Mediums Nude Art Show in San Francisco.
• Apparently the only reason Julia Louis-Dreyfus has not done a nude scene is because nobody ever asked.
• The Buckeye Naturists recent clothes-free audience adventure got a mention in The Columbus Dispatch.
• Are makeover reality TV shows just cruel entertainment?

  Nudity is completely over-exposed. Flip around the TV channels (preferably not while you are eating) and you'll happen upon TV shows with the word 'naked' in them, or with lots of naked people in them; Miss Naked Beauty, How To look Good Naked, Dawn Gets Naked, The Great British Body, Naked Office.

• Even though they were off-duty at the time, nine Swedish police officers were reassigned to desk duty after they posed for nude photos at a cabin party.
• Internet users in China are dressing up classical nude images to protest the government's crackdown on "vulgar" online content.
• The sponsor of a Long Beach art exhibition ordered two abstract paintings to be removed because "some viewers might find the depiction of breasts offensive."
• Parents of junior high school students in Wisconsin are upset about the school screening of "Beowulf" which includes the animated nude image of Angelina Jolie.
• Mia Fineman wonders why Spencer Tunick doesn't get more respect from major art critics.

  The problem with Tunick as an artist—and the main reason, I think, most critics have ignored him—is that he doesn't seem to have anything to say. His installations are spectacular and attention-grabbing, but as for what it all means … well, to put it bluntly, I don't think it extends too far beyond, "Wow. That's a lot of naked people."

The Weekend Newds 1/17/09

• A judge in the UK ruled that a "convicted pedophile" can continue going on nude outings with British Naturism. The article mentions that the man was in possession of photos by "American author Robert Sturgess" which is likely to mean photographer Jock Sturges. The charges for the "indecent" images were dropped because the photos could be found in any reputable bookstore.
• Tampabay.com readers respond to the proposed stricter dress codes on Pinellas County beaches.

  "Let's stop being prudes and designate an area for "clothing optional" swimming. I'm sure the AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) and TAN (Tampa Area Naturists) would support this and any extra fee that may be incurred. Other states and countries, even Canada, have a nude or topless beach areas." - Walter Latham
  
  "Lest you think otherwise, I am definitely not a prude, but please quit treating us like people who only want to wear clothes from the 1920s. Fashion is one thing, but leave our beaches for everyone to enjoy." - MaryLou Tuttle
  
  "Are you kidding me? With the state looking to close some of our most beautiful parks because of the Legislature's fiscal irresponsibility, we waste our collective time and ever-shrinking resources to debate bathing suits." - Keith Richardson
  
  "Indeed, it is the easy answer to state the obvious: Turn away. Turning away is a viable option. Perhaps these "dismayed visitors" could elect to turn away from underclad beachgoers. The very idea that this issue is under discussion is insulting." - Barbara Audirsch McKee

• Joanna Weiss makes the following astounding statement in The Boston Globe regarding the Facebook breastfeeding photo controversy:

  "But elevating nursing to some exalted status doesn't seem so healthy, either, and that seems to be the danger in that flood of profile pics. Nursing gets equated with motherhood itself, and that doesn't do new mothers any favors."

  Read the entire article for context, and be sure to check out the reader comments.
• The MARNA nudist swim tonight is a "critic's pick" in the Baltimore Citypaper.
• A children's cartoon depicting the bare buttocks of a princess is causing outrage in Romania.
• A PR consultant is suing her plastic surgeon and Fox TV because she alleges that nude photos of her body were broadcast without her permission.
• Caliente resort continues to sex-up nudism by hosting this year's Lingerie Bowl.

  The event, which will be held Jan. 31 and broadcast on pay-per-view during Super Bowl halftime, features barely dressed women playing full-contact football.

• Did singer Katy Perry take a nude photo of herself?
• Eight celebrities have posed nude for Marie Claire magazine to raise awareness of violence against women.
• If you are caught up in the big Midwest freeze of 2009, you might be interested in this article on how the body adapts to cold weather.
• A citizen responds to an editorial calling for laws restricting adult entertainment establishments in Maine, brought on by the granting of a business permit for a topless coffee shop in Vassalboro.

  America is the most prudish nation in the free world. The European, South American, South Pacific nations that do not restrict whether a female chooses to go topless or not, do not have anywhere near the sex based crimes, especially rape, that the US has. If a law is going to be passed that a female cannot be topless, then it will have to be applied to include men as well, or it will be a law based on sexual discrimination which is unconstitutional. Bottom line: If you don't like the idea of topless wait staff in a coffee shop, don't go, period.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked