Public Nudity at LovEvolution

San Francisco continues to lead the way in displays of public nudity, and yesterday's LovEvolution event (formerly LoveFest) was no exception.

The event shut down Market Street between Second Street and Civic Center and was expected to draw 10,000 revelers. Shoppers and tourists on the busy thoroughfare looked downright perplexed, several stopped to ask what the 20-plus floats blaring electronic music as scantily clad people gyrated on them were all about.

Lots of colorful and fun Flickr photos can be found here and here. Be sure to set your safe search to "off".

Nude Beach Olympics in San Francisco

The Nude Beach Olympics II will be held at Baker Beach, The Presidio, San Francisco, California, at noon on October 10, 2009. For more information contact George Davis (415) 722-2968 or george@fkkfreebodyculture.com.

Nude Beach Scene "More Active" Today

That's what the San Francisco Bay Guardian is reporting, but along with that increased nudity is a "jump in warnings for rude or illegal behavior being given by park police and rangers." The article attributes the poor economy as a factor sending more and more people to the beaches instead of taking more expensive vacations. The overall situation is very fluid, with increased law enforcement, the apparent loss of San Onofre Beach as a clothing-optional venue, and the one positive possibility of making Muir Beach exempt from anti-nudity laws. On top of those situations is the California economy, which is basically bankrupt, threatening the closure of 220 state parks and beaches.

Although nude activity is increasing, the push back from law enforcement and government agencies appears to be on the upswing, too.

Related articles by Zemanta

• SFBG Nude Beaches Guide Arrives! (sfist.com)
• Responsible Nudity: Famed clothing optional Muir Beach has... (sf.curbed.com)
• Nude Man Masturbating On Marin Nude Beach (sfist.com)

Going Nude in Public? Don't Do It Alone

Tony Cooper, the 66 year-old man who took a naked stroll through Ashland, Oregon, last month, did not break any laws, but his wandering into a school zone wearing only tennis shoes has people calling for a ban on public nudity.

Cooper said he didn't realize he was near a school and didn't intend for the kids there to see him. "That was my mistake," he said. "I messed up completely."..."People in Ashland seem to be very paranoid about kids," he said. "I think they should all send their kids to a nudist resort or have naked day in Ashland where everyone is naked. Then all of those hang-ups would disappear."

In a society so heavily-invested in clothing and body shame, it's not a good idea for one individual to push the envelope on public nudity. Even though Cooper might actually be a sincere nudist and body advocate, his unilateral actions will be perceived by most as kooky, or even perverted.

It's far better to organize groups of people for nude events, such as the World Naked Bike Ride, AANR's skinny-dipping event, or Spencer Tunick's nude photography installations.

When Tunick was taking photos of only a handful of nude people on city streets, he was being arrested. Now that he has thousands of participants, he receives police protection, and is welcomed wherever he goes.

While some cities such as Boulder are still resisting full nudity in the WNBR, the protest event seems to be picking up steam around the world with more and more people participating. This year in London around 1200 riders bared all to being awareness about oil dependency.

And the city of Fremont seems to really love the naked bike riders who kick off the annual Solstice Parade.

After an attempt to exclude nudity from the annual Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco, the numbers of people protesting were so great that organizers backed down and there were more naked people than ever strolling through Golden Gate Park.

Women's topfreedom in Columbus has become a true tradition at the annual Comfest event at a downtown park, and this year I observed more topfree women than ever before. The silly argument that the sight of nude female breasts is somehow harmful to children is debunked in Ohio every year as tons of children frolic in Goodale Park completely oblivious to the women not wearing shirts.

It's going to take more and more mass demonstrations of body freedom before society truly adapts to the idea that exposure of skin is neither shameful nor perverted. It makes me wonder if all the well-intentioned work of the Naturist Action Committee in pursuing legal actions for hot spots such as Huntington Beach and San Onofre Beach in California wouldn't be better directed to organizing protest events to work on public perceptions.

It's logical to assume that a society willing to accept public nudity in downtown parks would embrace nakedness in it's most obvious and natural setting - a beach. What is needed is an army of a thousand people, all nude with body paint and protest signs, marching on San Onofre beach with members of the press in tow. What is needed is a thousand women, all bare breasted, descending unannounced onto a public beach to mingle with the suited multitudes until they blend in.

But going it alone isn't the way to win the hearts and minds of a public which has been ingrained with the notion that nudity is sexual, shameful, forbidden, dangerous, and illegal.

The Daily Newds 2/26/09

• The Kennebec Journal in Maine regrets publishing a page one photo which implied that a waitress was topless at a newly opened coffee shop, but does not regret running the front page story which did more than imply that the woman was topless. In a related story, it is reported that 150 people applied for the 10 available jobs at the new cafe.
• Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers claim to be 20,000 strong and will make their case before the San Francisco city committee to keep the floats, nudity and booze as part of the annual event. Another story is here.
• Representatives in North Dakota are considering legislation to make it a class B misdemeanor to transmit a nude photo with a cell phone even if there is consent for the photo to be taken in the first place.
• The Theta Phi Alpha sorority at Suffolk University sponsored a "How to Look Good Naked" forum to critique how the media portrays body image.

  Throughout history, the public image of women drastically changed. In the 1950's, Marilyn Monroe, who (speaker Lynn) Saladino says "looked good," was actually a size 14, which surprised many of the students who attended the talk. However, only ten years later, British model Twiggy rose to international fame at 5'7'' and 91 pounds. By the 1990's, five million American women were suffering from eating disorders, which Saladino says is because of an unreachable standard that is now spreading to other cultures.

• The Naked People Project, a German web site, has photos of 24 people of various ages and body types, and when you click on them, their clothes disappear. The goal of the art project appears to be to challenge our perceptions of clothing and how it obscures or stereotypes people in the minds of others. [Hat tip to Just Out]
• A Canadian life drawing class is free to high school seniors.

  Maeve O'Connell (better known in the local art world by her maiden name, Maeve Bellmore) is now offering a unique opportunity to learn the finer points of capturing the many dimensions of the human form with paper and pencil. "Drawing the human form is one of the hardest things you can draw," she explained, "Because what you're doing is you're taking something 3D and ... trying to put it on 2D."

• In a typical move, the momlogic web site is all upset about the latest topless photos of Lindsay Lohan, but has all the photos for anyone to see with the subtitle "Lindsay topless and skinny!"

Nude Beach Olympics in San Francisco

For more Sarakay Free Body Culture Videos, click here.

Gypsy Taub Interviews Nudist Activist George Davis

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."

My Naked Truth

Well, not specifically my naked truth, but the San Francisco blog which contains clips from a public access television show My Naked Truth.

Hosted by the self-styled Gypsy Taub, a leftist activist who runs the blogs Politics from the Heart and Bust the Consensus!, the discussions deal mostly with sex and psychedelic drugs, but everyone is completely nude in the interviews, which makes it noteworthy here.

Setting aside the subject matter, you gotta hand it to Gypsy (and her guests) for putting it all out there. She is, at the very least, fearless.

So, if you can tolerate seeing "John" play with his balls throughout his interview, check out My Naked Truth.

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

FKK Rises in San Francisco

The FKK "Free Body Culture" is trying to get off the ground, with SaraKay (pictured above) hosting a couple of television productions scheduled for January 8 and 15, 2009, at the FivePoints ArtHouse, 50 Bannam Place, San Francisco. A total of six episodes are planned, with topics "Public Nudity in San Francisco", "Burning Man Art and Philosophy", "Nude Beach Olympics and Nude Sports", "Folsom Street Fair and Adult Sexual Fantasies", LoveFest Parade and the Influence of Club Culture", and "Decriminalization of Prostitution". For more information you can email George Davis george@fkkfreebodyculture.com.

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

The Daily Newds 10/22/08

• San Francisco could become the first major US city to decriminalize prostitution.


• If you are in New Zealand this weekend, the Southern Naturally club is having an open house. If not, perhaps South Africa's naturist resorts are on your itinerary.


• Is Naked News pornographic?
  
  

  A visit to NakedNews.com, with its amateur audition videos and soft-core picture galleries, does nothing to discourage critics who dismiss it as porn. But watch a broadcast and it’s a different story. There are no bump ’n’ grind theatrics. The anchors simply disrobe, read the news and call it a day.



• Model Sophie Anderton has overcome cocaine addiction and bankruptcy, and is reported to be happier naked than in clothes.


• A billboard in Australia promoting an art gallery show "The Naked and the Nude" will not be taken down despite complaints that it features a painting of a naked woman with a breast and nipple exposed.


• The naked man found stuck in a chimney was definitely not Santa.


• Participants in the Put Your Best Breast Forward fundraising calendar were shy at first.
  
  
  

  "We were all co-workers [at a photography company]," said John, aka Miss July. "And when you work together you don't necessarily walk around topless all the time." At first, John and her friends were embarrassed. "But then, after the shoot was over, the ladies just sat around with their tops off. It was very empowering."



• Gok Wan is presenting a 6 part series on the BBC entitles "Miss Naked Beauty 2008".


• More than 10% of the population in the village of Clawddnewydd in North Wales have posed semi-nude for a fundraising calendar.
• Here are five simple things you can do each day to maintain your sanity.
• Actress Gwyneth Paltrow says that she has never had a problem with being nude on film.

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

Nude Protester Sues San Francisco for a Million Billion Dollars

Activist filmmaker Bret Carr was arrested in the nude during the Olympic Torch ceremonies on April 9.

Carr, performing as a singer/songwriter under the name "WAKE", has incorporated the arrest footage into a protest Music Video from his first album, "Wake Now!". Posted on Saturday August 2, 2008 at http://www.YouTube.com/Wake , the footage was viewed over 38,000 times and became #5 most viewed musician of the day. A Picture of the Arrest and the song are available for download at http://www.Myspace.com/WakeNow.

Carr has filed a Claim (*1) for $100,000,000, against the City of San Francisco, citing false arrest, 1st Amendment Violations and negligent misleading of the public, deterring his effective right to Assembly.

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

The Daily Newds 4/10/08

• The number of women under age 18 receiving breast implants has jumped 500% over the last decade. "There are girls and women who are devastated by the fact that they don't have breasts and their friends do," (plastic surgeon Dr.) Greenberg said. "They don't play gymnastics and they don't go on dates or they can't wear certain clothing, and I hear these things every day."[roanoke.com]
• A writer reveals her disgust for the human body in declaring "Naked Gardening Day" a bad idea. [oregonlive.com]
• 60 college students stripped down for an "Undie Run" and donated their clothes to charity. [easternprogress.com]
• A new Ohio bill would target a "pack of perverts" who take any surreptitious photos of naked children. [stowsentry.com]
• A prominent UK photographer with ties to Sir Paul McCartney has been put on the sex offenders registry for taking naked photos of an under-16 girl. [thisisgloustershire.co.uk]
• "Puppetry of the Penis" is "genital origami". [winnipegsun.com]
• A "nude-in" demonstration is being planned for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. [rockymountainnews.com]
• During the filming of "How to Look Good Naked" in the UK, participant Jenny Stockton stripped nude in front of hundreds of mall shoppers. [kentonline.co.uk]
• First Lady of France Carla Bruni Sarkozy, who has a history of posing for nude photographs, enjoys a 90% approval rate. [nypost.com]
• The first 2008 people who sign up to pose nude for Spencer Tunick in Austria will receive free rail travel to the May 11 event. [Yahoo! News]
• Whatever happened to "parking"? Neighbors called police on a couple having sex in a van and blocked their escape with their own vehicles. [spinalcolumnonline.com]
• The turnout for San Francisco's nude torch run was underwhelming. [sfweekly.com]
• A woman in her 30's has no problem with being nude and simulating sex on screen, but is terrified of on stage nudity. [backstage.com]
• "The Summer of Naked Swim Parties" is a new novel about a family of "free spirits" in the 70s. [oregonlive.com]
• The Beltane Fire Festival is becoming more "family friendly" but they are keeping the red-painted naked dancers as part of the events. [Edinburgh Evening News]
• Neighbors are complaining about all the "sexy noises" coming from Christina Aguilera's naked swims. [My Park Magazine]
• The two young artists disqualified from winning the student art competition in Virginia are getting a lot of support and attention. Judges chose them as the winners, but the sponsoring newspaper disqualified the awards because the artworks depicted nudity. [dailypress.com, hamptonroads.com, inrich.com]
• Conservatives in South Carolina are seeking to enact a stripper law similar to the one passed recently in Ohio. [charlestoncitypaper.com]
• Daniel Radcliffe is bringing his penis to Broadway. [efluxmedia.com]
• A 19 year-old Australian man has been fined $500 for streaking in front of thousands at a rugby match. [Port Macquarie]
• A Vietnamese photographer finds that there is a movement of young girls seeking to have nude photos taken of themselves. [Vietnam Net]

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

April 9 Nude Torch Run in San Francisco

As a reminder that the original Olympic athletes competed in the nude, former candidate for mayor of San Francisco George Davis is organizing a nude torch run on April 9 at 12:30 PM in the waterfront area. Here is George's press release:

April 9, 2008 is the date of the Official Beijing Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco. This is the only U.S. city on the Torch's world tour. The national and international media will be here.

We already have a quorum for a nude torch run to happen after the official run. We
are inviting you and your nude friends to join us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an indelible statement for human rights.

Meet: 12:30 pm sharp near the front of Tacqueria Pancho Villa Pier 1, the Embarcadero (waterfront side) the next building north of the Ferry Building
Look for torch(es) labeled "Human Rights"

After the Official Run passes (estimate 1:10 pm), we will jog/walk fast to Bay/Embarcadero. When the Official Torch Run returns from the Marina District, we will follow the Official Run to the closing ceremony at Justin Herman Plaza. I estimate the total distance at a little over one mile.

We are not exactly a protest.We are positively pointing out:
1. The original Olympic Athletes participated nude and 2. We support Human Rights everywhere

The original Olympic athletes covered themselves with olive oil. I will bring Baby Oil for those who wish the look.

Optional: Make a faux-torch, or two, labeled "Human Rights." If you don't have one, don't worry. I am happy to relay a torch to you. Note: Don't bother with a real flame because of Fire Marshall and permit issues.

Be sure to pass on this invitation to all interested parties.If you have any questions, contact: George Davis - the "naked yoga guy" - coordinator of torch run (415) 722-2968

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