Does Your Library Censor Books?

An eye-opening article today in the New York Times on how libraries deal with "offensive" materials.

Michael Ravnitzky, a lawyer who blogs about intellectual freedom, said that when he worked at the library in college, he learned firsthand how some librarians coped with problematic books: they stashed them in a cage in the back. When anyone would ask about them, he said, his colleagues would say, “Oh, these are books that might be damaged or stolen.”

Public school libraries also face these quandaries. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas, for example, makes annual inquiries, and the group found 102 formal challenges in 43 school districts during the 2007-8 school year. Twenty-seven books were banned, including Kay Thompson’s “Eloise in Paris,’’ whose heroine visits a museum with nude artwork.

Reporter "Gets Comfortable" at Nudist Resort

Image via Wikipedia

Sarah Perry does a nice write-up of Wildwood Naturist Park, and strips off in the process. The article centers around the efforts to reach more young people and get them involved in nudism/naturism, and the upcoming AANR skinny-dipping record attempt.

Beatrice Taylor, manager and part-owner of Wildwood, sees the problem firsthand. When she, her husband, and four others bought the land and founded the club in 1997, the average age of those who joined was 40. Now, she said, it's 45.

She's tried to reach area young people: She called North Texas college newspapers and radio stations to ask about buying ads. Wildwood didn't want to advertise orgies or any of the other snicker-inducing activities that people who wear clothes often assume start happening when lots of people get naked together. Just natural living - and maybe a membership discount for young people who could show, say, a school ID card.

But no one returned her calls. "I don't know why the schools won't call me back," she said. "I'm willing to pay."

The world-record skinny-dipping attempt isn't an offer by Wildwood to open its gates to those who just want to ogle others for the day. Visitors are allowed, but they must sign and obey the same rules as members. Nudity is required, drugs are prohibited, and "overt sexual activity" is not tolerated. "We want participators, not spectators," Taylor said.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Skinny dippers to bare all in world-record bid (seattlepi.com)
• On 'nakation,' forget worries and clothes (cnn.com)

14 Year-Old Girl Sued for Exposing Her Breasts

Naturally, this happened in Texas, which is rapidly becoming the most sexually repressed state in the Union. The Cheetah Club in Corpus Christi is suing a 14 year-old girl who is accused of duping the club owner into believing she was actually 22. Declaring "we're the victims here", club attorney Alan Yaffe is seeking damages from the girl, her parents, and from a man named Leslie Campbell who is currently locked up on charges of kidnapping the girl and sexually assaulting her.

Everybody is apparently a victim here. What is the crime? The girl allegedly exposed her breasts in the club, a violation of state law. Now all parties involved in frantic finger pointing to cover their own asses.

The exposure of a woman's breast, no matter the age of the individual, should never be a crime. Any man with breasts the size of watermelons can walk down the street topfree without fear of criminal charges, yet any woman doing the same on virtually any street in the United States can be arrested, and face the possibility of being forced to register as a sex offender.

This 14 year-old girl has been conditioned by society that her breasts are marketable as sexual objects. The exploitation by her alleged kidnapper is damaging enough without the entire legal system piling on and reinforcing the notion that female breasts are dirty, illegal, and somehow dangerous to society.

The shame should be on Texas and this twisted club owner, and not on the child.

RELATED STORY: Police Raid Ohio Bar, Find 14 Year-Old Topless Performer

The Daily Newds 5/18/09

• British model Katie Price faces possible arrest for nude sunbathing in the Maldives.

  Foreign Office travel advice warns: "Nudism and topless sunbathing are prohibited throughout the Maldives including on resort islands. "The Maldives is a Muslim country and serious violations of law may lead to a prison sentence."

• No disciplinary action will be taken against six students who streaked across the stage at the Green Mountain College commencement in Vermont.

  It's sort of become a new tradition at the school, one that is not encouraged but not "stamped out, either," (communications director Kevin) Coburn said. "It happened at last year's commencement," Coburn said, hours after Saturday's streaking.

• Married for 43 years, Ian and Nancy Watters love the nude lifestyle.

  "We do everything in the nude; mowing, mulching, gardening. We always seem to have a lot of laughs and that’s good for your health."

• A sex theme park slated to open in October has been torn down by Chinese authorities because it was "vulgar, ill-minded and misleading."
• A South Texas town is debating whether or not to ban "nude sketch classes" in the Arts District, due to its proximity to schools and day care centers.
• Laurie Penny says that burlesque today is nothing more than a "misogynist scam."

  I began to realise that what really differentiated my act from that of your average stripper wasn't the performance, or the costumes, but simply class. Like the majority of women who choose to get involved with burlesque, our troupe was made up of middle-class girls, with the act offering us an opportunity to indulge in raunchy exhibitionism without feeling "cheap" (at least initially). Burlesque serves up misogyny in a tasteful package of feathers, while the explicit nature of the shows increases each year. When I was performing, complete nudity was frowned on, but burlesque acts such as Satan's Striptease and Empress Stah have since started offering full-frontal flashing.

• Why are law enforcement officials targeting Craigslist for censorship? It's "good politics."
• A teen has been suspended by his fundamentalist Baptist educators for attending a prom at another high school because there was "dancing, rock music and hand-holding."
• A group of Belgian actors rode nude on bicycles at the Cannes Film Festival to promote their movie.
• The Christian Action Network in Cape Town, South Africa, want to criminalize pornography and other forms of adult entertainment after a recent Sexpo event. Miss Nude South Africa says that Sexpo was not exploitative.
• 80% of Key West tourism-based businesses support a clothing-optional beach.
• A Lutheran pastor has denounced Miss California USA Carrie Prejean as a hypocrite.

  "(In) America, according to this girl ... it is totally immoral for two people of the same gender who are in love to enter into a lifelong, faithful, monogamous union, (and) apparently not a problem at all for a 17-year-old girl to be photographed half-naked for the expressed purpose of sexually arousing millions of heterosexual men to whom she is not married and who are not married to her."

• Dita Von Teese was ordered to show "less cleavage" during the Eurovision Song Contest.
• A nude sketch of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is up for auction in Paris. Imagine if a similar image of Michelle Obama went on sale in New York City, and you can clearly see the cultural divide.
• Does a teacher have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for files stored on a school computer?
• The producer of a Danish TV reality show has apologized for shooting a nude scene on a Malaysian island.
• If you think nudity has caused some trouble through the years, consider these instances where articles of clothing caused riots.
• Kenyans want the statue of a nude boy in front of a court house to be demolished claiming it "encourages pedophilia."
• One woman ignores the "naked baby police" and lets her kids frolic nude in a wading pool.
• Striking a balance between "nudists and prudists" has been difficult at North Lido Park in Sarasota, Florida.
• The Calgary Music Festival features bands, nature, and a "nude slip-n-slide."
• Helena writes, "stop being so prude and get your kit off" after witnessing women showering in their bathing suits at the local gym.

  Being a Swede, where nudity is something natural, this is incredibly strange to me. When I'm in the communal showers I notice that these women are still wearing their swimmers but had they been naked I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Why is it that some women, depending on their upbringing, culture or religion, cannot get undressed in front of other women. We all look the same. And when I'm in the shower I don't look at what your bodies look like. I'm busy trying to squeeze out of my wet, too tight bathing suit and just wash myself. I have no interest in looking at other women. So please, just get your kit off and feel that it's ok to wash yourselves properly. Because you can't really reach all your bits when wearing a Speedo!

• A new naked tribe has been found in Nigeria.
• William Cook, who founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum in Gisborne, New Zealand, was an avid nudist.

  ...he often did his gardening unimpeded by clothes, apart from the boot he wore to help with digging holes, and visitors soon learned that it was a good idea to phone for an appointment.

• Attorney Scott H. Greenfield calls the criminalization of teen sexting as "the stupidest thing ever."

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 Daily Newds 1/14/09

• A BYU editorial claims that Facebook has surrendered and will now let mothers post photos of themselves breastfeeding their children. I've seen no other report of this, so take it with a grain of salt.
• Six Pennsylvania high school students ages 14 through 17 are facing child pornography charges for sending and receiving nude photos of themselves with cell phones. Please STOP destroying the lives of children using laws that are supposed to protect them.
• An Orange County Register reporter tries out for the Pageant of the Masters 2009 summer show "The Muse" which features "men, women and children of all shapes and sizes, clothed and nude."
• The New York Times has an excellent article on people seeking self-esteem through surgery.

  To the rigors of teenage grooming — waxing, plucking, body training and skin care regimens that were once the province of adults — add cosmetic surgery, which is fast becoming a mainstream option among teenagers. But with this popularity, some experts are concerned that the underlying motivation for many of the young people seeking surgery — namely, self-esteem — is being disregarded in the drive to look, as Kristen puts it, “normal.”

• An all-nude club opening in Dallas is purported to be the largest in Texas.
• Momlogic has an article decrying the use of nude models in the new Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, and then has a photo gallery of the "racy ads" for all to see.
• The Columbia Citypaper has an article on the Travelites 2009 Nude Chili Cook-Off.

  The group at the pool table hooted and catcalled when a large naked man scratched on the eight ball. On the other side of the Plexiglas, a woman grabbed a stray beach ball and dove into the pool. Cheri Alexander caught me eyeing an empty chili crock-pot and grinned.“You know the only difference between a nudist and clothed person is that after a meal, we don’t have a belt to loosen,” she said.

• A formal consultation has begun to determine the future of a naturist beach in England.
• If you are having trouble finding accommodations in the DC area for the inauguration, The Pine Trees Associated Nudist Resort in nearby Maryland has a room for you, but at some point you will have to get naked to comply with club rules.
• Oprah is in love with Kate Winslet's breasts. She said, "I love the fact that you have real breasts. Because in all the breast scenes, your breasts do what real breasts do.” Article with video here.
• An actor blogs about his only nude scene in a play.

  The odd thing was, once I'd done it, it felt OK. Sort of. Crucially, it felt advantageous to the play, which after all is the only fig leaf any actor has to hide his spiritual nakedness. When the artistic director (himself fearful of the moment being too upsetting for the unsuspecting punters) suggested I needn't strip at all but could keep my pants on, I was having none of it – so strongly did I now feel about its necessity to the play. In fact, I threatened to walk out if the nudity was cut. Funny cusses, actors.

• Did Nazism draw some if its inspiration from the German nudist movement?
• Pinellas County might toughen its swimwear rules due to reports from "outraged" Fort De Soto Park visitors who have complained about people in "states of near total nudity."

  "It's certainly going to have a negative impact," said Ken Kushman, 62, secretary of Tampa Area Naturists, "because it's going to turn people away who want to wear less bathing suit than their grandmother does."

• Here's a photo gallery of people participating in No Pants Day 2k9 in Los Angeles.

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

The Daily Newds 1/12/09

• After being suspended by AANR for associating with swinger groups, Caliente Resorts withdrew its membership. Now public relations director Angye Fox is trying to repair her image. Despite her speaking at Swingfest, and arranging adult costume parties such as "Eyes Wide Shut" based on an orgy scene in the Kubrick film, Fox defends her actions as simply a means of introducing younger people to the clothing-optional lifestyle.
• Nude art...in a hardware store?
• A Boston Globe reporter goes to Vassalboro, Maine, to find out more about the topless coffee shop controversy.

  "My husband doesn't drink coffee," said Erlile Pelletier, as she worked the cash register at Ferris Variety. "But I told him if he became a coffee drinker, we were getting a divorce."

• Porn star Sasha Grey is finding work in mainstream media as porn and pop culture merge at the "trash culture level".

  "I never sought any of these projects out," she said Friday at the Adult Entertainment Expo, "and I've been very fortunate enough and very, very, very grateful to have people come to me and seek me out, I believe, because of my own interest in film and music, because it stretches much further than a James Bond (film) or radio music."

• A painting of a mother nursing her newborn baby was banned from a city-owned building in Lubbock, Texas.

  Vince Gonzalez is a mediator for the Lubbock chapter of the ACLU. He challenged the city's ban on the drawings and asked to see the city policy banning nudity in art during exhibits in city-owned buildings. It turned out there was no such policy. Two weeks after the ban, the city backed down and issued this apology to (artist Lahib) Jaddo.

• Is skin a barometer for determining the state of the economy?

  Very few women are wearing more than a very few clothes these days. With all this nudity, the hemline has lost its usefulness in market forecasting. Now, it is women's naked or nearly naked bodies that have become the register of economic vulnerability.

• A statue of a naked man is getting a lot of attention in Bristol.

  "If it had been a woman's breasts, that would have been different," said (sculptor) Ms Johnson-Marshall. "I thought the world had moved on, but obviously not."

• The LSU Museum of Art is holding a panel discussion "Nude vs. Naked" on January 29.

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

The Daily Newds 11/13/08

• A public hearing will be held in Seattle in January 8 on a proposal to ban nudity in public parks. The new prudishness seems to come from Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher who has been on the job less than a year. The new rule is reported to use 53 words just to describe exactly what the word "nudity" means. This should be a major issue for The Naturist Action Committee, so expect a lot more news on this issue over the next couple of months. Stories here and here.
• A judge in Oregon has cleared Bobby Hammond of criminal indecent exposure charges for his participation in Portland's World Naked Bike Ride Event, finding that naked cycling has become a "well-established tradition" and is a legal form of "symbolic protest". This ruling could play a role in debating the new proposed Seattle anti-nudity ordinance.
• Amanda Gass, Miss Lubbock USA, has been forced to resign over Halloween photos which allegedly showed her topfree wearing only body paint and shorts,
• TERA's Paul Rapoport responds to a recent incident where a breastfeeding mother was asked not to feed her child at a pool.

  The obvious problem is that to breastfeed, a woman in a bathing suit must expose a breast or two. Those who claim that exposed women's breasts are indecent are invited not to look. Those who claim that they harm children are invited to think, and stop imposing an irrational fear on kids.

• The Times-Tribune in Scranton writes about the growing trend of teenagers sexting each other. The article mostly deals with all the potential legal consequences, but ends on this note:

  But Daniel Macallair, executive director of the California-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a nonprofit that advocates alternatives to juvenile incarceration, said the focus on the strictest criminal punishments is not the best way to address the issue.
  
  “Labeling some teenager who does something stupid as a lifetime sex offender solves no problems,” he said. “It will create more problems than it will solve.”
  
  He encouraged a community-wide response to the incident that involves parents and schools, but not the criminal justice system.
  
  “Are you trying to push someone to the margins of society for the rest of their life, is that the goal here?” he said. “And have we really thought this through?”

• Arianne Cohen gets an invite to a nude dinner party, and bravely attends.

  There was no sexual vibe. Through three courses of Indian food, I found that my need to check out men’s packages had passed in its entirety, and that skin is just another set of clothes. People carry themselves differently when naked; it’s more authentic. You can read who people are at a glance. I imagined the heavily makeup’ed fashionistas of my Upper East Side neighborhood melting down under these conditions, their coiffed facades broken, their personalities unable to function in the harsh light of reality. There’s something very real about naked dinner.

• Lizzy Caplan was comfortable in shooting nude scenes for the HBO series "True Blood".

  "You'd think you'd feel awkward because there's just a bunch of dudes standing around watching," she said. "But it's this weirdly liberating thing."

• Ireland's Nell McCafferty defends posing completly nude for a photo-realistic painting on display in Dublin.

  "Sure, I'm against people using the beauty of women to sell cars and things, and that hasn't changed. The message is different here, it is about showing the body for all its age.
  
  "I haven't exactly had any offers from car companies asking me to help sell even their second-hand cars since the picture appeared. What would I sell? Trabants?," she said with loud laughter.

• Kellyn Lindemann is trying out to be Playboy's 55th anniversary centerfold, and is inspired by her mom, Bo Black, who graced the cover of the September 1967 issue.

  "I'm actually a fairly religious person. Our body is a gift from God. I look at it more as art. Bo taught us to celebrate who we are and be comfortable with ourselves."

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

The Holiday Newds 10/13/08

• Over half of Austrian male youths rely on pornography for their sex education. Australia basically has the same problem.
• "It's almost macabre that people are paying £4,000 a week to strip buck naked and enter a white tiled room with concentration camp bright lighting."
• More fallout from teenagers sending nude photos of themselves with their cell phones. A Virginia assistant principal was arrested on a felony charge for obtaining a photo of a female student as part of a school investigation. An editorial in the Newark Advocate states that the arrest of a 15 year-old Ohio student for sending a nude photo of herself by cell phone is overreaching and unreasonable. And a 13 year-old Texas boy was placed in juvenile detention on child pornography charges and has been suspended from school for receiving a nude photo of a female classmate. “He doesn’t know what a felony means. He doesn’t understand what pornography means,” said one parent.
• Australian police are installing a network of closed-circuit cameras around the Gold Coast to be used during the motor car race next week. Police claim that the cameras do not violate privacy laws and are designed to catch people engaging in criminal activity, and are not for focusing on women who traditionally bare their breasts from high-rise balconies.

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

Annie Gives Bad Advice to Newbie Nudist

A 50 year-old woman finds herself in a situation where her husband and another couple want to go to a nude resort for a winter trip. While the woman has some experience with skinny-dipping and sleeping in the nude, she is worried about social nudity. She writes to Dear Annie:

Our friends went to a nearby lake where nude bathing is allowed and enjoyed it a lot; hence their desire to go to a nude resort. They assure us the resort is clothing optional, so we don't have to undress if we feel uncomfortable. They assume we will feel totally comfortable au naturel once we are surrounded by other naked people.

Annie responds:

...you should not feel forced to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Your friends' suggestion to check out the nearby lake is a good one. It will allow you to see what you are getting into, without making a vacation commitment unless you want to.

Wrong.

Going to a lake is not the best way to have a first-time nudist experience. I don't know what lake they are talking about (Hippie Hollow?), but if it is isolated, there could be gawkers, thieves, and no guarantee for safety. A much better suggestion would be to make a day trip to a landed club. AANR lists several in Texas, where the woman is from. A club visit would be private and secure, and the management would be understanding and helpful for first-time visitors.

Dear Annie seems to get a lot of questions about nudity. Perhaps she should actually do some research before dispensing advice.

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

Sex With Hookers is Hard Work

Suspended Texas cop Keith Breiner was suspended for having sex with a couple of women "in the line of duty".

Breiner testified to experiencing manual stimulation, oral sex and vaginal penetration with women at two spas.

Assistant City Attorney Joseph Sanders asked Breiner if he enjoyed having sex with the women.

At first he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. At times when Breiner responded to the attorney's questions, he raised his voice and answered questions with a question.

"If you are asking if I had an orgasm, yes. It was a job, sir," Breiner said. "I didn't have pleasure doing this. I was paid to do it."

Your tax dollars at work.

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

Texas Deputy Protects Topfree Women

A Travis County sheriff's deputy arrested a man for making "deviant" photographs of two women who were sunbathing topfree.

It's a rare instance when the law actually upheld a woman's right to be topfree.

It's questionable if charges against the photographer can be made to stick. According to attorney Bert P. Krages, photography is legal just about anywhere:

The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place or places where they have permission to take photographs.

Absent a specific legal prohibition such as a statute or ordinance, you are legally entitled to take photographs.

Examples of places that are traditionally considered public are streets, sidewalks, and public parks.

The topfree woman were on Lake Travis, and presumably on public land. It is likely that they had no reasonable expectation of privacy. It does not matter if the photographer is sneaking around, or standing out in the open. Anyway, I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that while the photographer is a jerk, he might not have been doing anything illegal.

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

Police Break Up Nude Volleyball Party

Police in Lufkin, Texas, broke up a nude volleyball party with 10 adults at an apartment pool. Two were arrested for public intoxication, and others were given tickets for trespassing, but there is no report of anyone being charged with indecent exposure.

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

Defining Nudity in Texas

The Corpus Christi police chief spent part of a workday conferring with lawyers in an attempt to define nudity. The city has received complaints about the Roxy Show Club, alleging that the dancers, who wear bikini bottoms, pasties, and three layers of paint, are in violation of local ordinances.

The city ordinance prohibits nudity and defines it, in part, as "a state of dress that less than completely and opaquely covers private parts and portions of the post puberty female breast or breasts below a point beginning immediately above the top of the areola and continuing downward to the lowest portion of the breast."

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

Fishing for a Crime

40,000 people gathered in Travis County, Texas, last month for the Republic of Texas Biker Rally, and someone is shocked! shocked! that there were women exercising their right to topfreedom!

"Being topless is not a violation of law," said County Judge Samuel Biscoe..."It's not as simple as most people think. In fact, it's fairly complicated," Biscoe said. "In this case, part of the complaint was that there were minors there. You couldn't look at the pictures and tell where the teens were in relation to where the toplessness, dancing, etc. occurred."

All of this based upon one single anonymous complaint.

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

The Daily Newds 4/4/08

• Women in Denmark will be allowed to swim topfree in public pools, a triumph for proponents of equal rights. [The Copenhagen Post]
• In the continuing war on nipples, the apparently offending male body parts were airbrushed from a Florida WrestleMania billboard. [2snaps.tv]
• Liz Book was allowed to bare here breasts without being arrested in Florida on March 8 for The International Topfree Stand (TITS). [Diary of a Topfree Revolutionary]
• Spencer Tunick is planning his next outdoor nude installation in Vienna on May 11, in case you happen to be in the area. [tunickvienna.at]
• Nakedjen finally got naked in Utah. [nakedjen]
• My friends at The Nude Life blog are also celebrating the return of the nude season. [The Nude Life]
• PayPal is no pal to nudists. [soonews.ca]
• Residents in Arcadia, Florida, have a "live and let live" attitude towards a new proposed nudist resort. [sun-herald.com]
• The city marina in Fort Pierce, Florida, has banned a charter fishing service that offers topless and bikini-clad female mates. [UPI]
• A Virginia newspaper rejected the decisions of two judges in a local high school art exhibition.

  “We honestly don’t believe those two pieces are appropriate to be held up as the winners of a high school art show, because they do depict the nude,” Pam Smith-Rodden, director of marketing for The Pilot. [hamptonroads.com]

• Comedian Sandra Bernhard reminisces about her 1992 Playboy pictorial.

  "It was like a highlight of my career in a certain way, and I think it was kind of a pre-porn-friendly kind of mentality that we have now ... . (Now) everybody feels like they can pose nude on the Internet. I don't know - I just feel like it was something special and it was done with a specific kind of point of view, and no, I wouldn't do it again, just because I don't think it would work now." [pridesource.com]

• "This is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes" is a new book of photographs and short essays exploring how real women relate to their real bodies. [The Seattle Times]
• Some people have withdrawn their children from swimming lessons at a public pool which also rents sessions to gay naturists. [Daily Express]
• A new bylaw threatens a nude beach in New Zealand. [tvnz.co.nz]
• Authorities in Utah are plotting to ruin the lives of dozens of teenagers who sent nude photos of themselves with cellphones, thus making felons out of flirts. [The Salt Lake Tribune]
• A naked book reading in Germany was being heralded as yet another example of a "growing renaissance of naturism ideals" [ananova], but it turned out to be just an April Fool's Joke. [earthtimes.org]
• The "titty tax" is DOA in Texas. [austinchronicle.com]

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

The Daily Newds 1/30/08

• Nudes are all over the Vatican, but a fitness club ad in Boston which depicts nuns sketching a naked man is seen as "a callous contempt for the sensibility of Catholics". [nbc10.com]
• A 25 year-old Malta woman was cleared of "offending public morals" by posing nude for photographs in public places, because the exact date of the offenses could not be established, which was required by law. [timesofmalta.com]
• A small town Oregon mayor faces a recall because she posted some photographs of herself wearing a black bra and panties on a MySpace page. The photos were taken three years before she became mayor, were taken in a fire house with the permission from the chief, and were intended to be used in a women's fitness contest. If the photos were of the woman on the beach wearing a bikini, nobody would care. [rawstory.com]
• Did Rudy Giuliani really clean up the sex in New York City? According to the Washington Post, the sex just went underground and upscale. [washingtonpost.com]
• It's perfectly OK that McDonald's is a chief contributor to obesity in America, but it's not OK for the fast food company's ads to appear on the BET web site alongside images of scantily-clad women. [suntimes.com]
• The woman behind "Sextival", Israel's first sex and erotica expo, has the following observation on American attitudes on matters of sexuality: "In the US, it seems like there's a double standard. Adult material is available everywhere, but you would hardly ever see a women go topless on the beach." [jpost.com]
• Nude photos of Wake Forest football quarterback Riley Skinner are all over the Internet. With a body as impressive as his, the real crime would be if he didn't pose naked. I hope they leave him alone, but he's probably in deep trouble. [nbc17.com]
• Massachusetts is finally on the verge of adopting a breastfeeding bill of rights. [thebostonchannel.com]
• A bill that would ban television ads for the "Girls Gone Wild" videos is stalling in the Tennessee legislature. [newschannel5.com]
• The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority has banned a soda ad which shows two young boys spying on a woman sunbathing in the nude. "It is political correctness gone mad when a tiny minority can dictate that such a fun and innocent cartoon commercial could be found offensive." [stuff.co.nz]
• The Jasper Texas school system has a new dress code that bans the wearing of "shower shoes", "pants with holes", and "hairstyles that cause attention", among many other things. [jaspernewsboy.com]
• Ass-baring parties are the new rage in New York gay nightlife. [villagevoice.com]
• A group of Memphis topless clubs has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the county is passing ordinances specifically designed to put them out of business. [myfoxmemphis.com]
• A UK watchdog agency has given Ryanair a slap on the wrist for advertising "hot" fares using the image of a "naughty" school girl. Peter Sherrad, a spokesman for Ryanair says, "It is remarkable that a picture of a fully clothed model is now claimed to cause 'serious or widespread offense. This isn't advertising regulation, it is simply censorship." [dollymix.tv]

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

The Daily Newds 1/11/08

• A man in the UK with "man boobs" is frustrated because the health care system will not pay the $8000 for their reduction.

  Mr Jardine added he was now considering taking anti-depressants because he was so unhappy about his breasts.

  Anyone who has ever been in a social nudist situation will testify that "man boobs" are just part of life. [BBC News]
• If you put a nude photo of yourself in the trash, do you then have a claim when the trash collectors hang it up at their recycling center? Get a shredder. [Northampton Chronicle and Echo]
• Here are 8 things you might not know about The Naked Cowboy. [tampabay.com]
• Playboy's "Lawyer of Love" columnist makes no apologies for posing nude in the magazine.

  "The naked body is a beautiful thing," she said. "Besides, I still have the same brain I had before I took my clothes off. I'm the same lawyer, the same ballbuster and then some. I shouldn't be punished for having brains and a body." [Chicago Sun-Times]

• An aide to Queen Elizabeth has given her a charity calendar containing photos of The Fron Choir in which the members bare nearly all. [m&c]
• The Lexington Art League's "Nude International 2008" opens today.

  "I love drawing every kind of body, which is very different from the images we are bombarded with in the media," says artist Martha Ferris of Vicksburg, Miss. [kentucky.com]

• There are no sexually oriented businesses in a Texas county, but that's not stopping politicians from tightening the regulations.

  (Attorney) Shepherd said. "Most of us would have a hard time accepting the notion that a topless bar is freedom of speech. But that's what the law says." [wfaa.com]

• French actor Arielle Dombasle is proving that taking off your clothes at 50 can be done in the best possible taste. [scenta]
• A New Jersey art gallery showcases a variety of aesthetics in a new show called "Body Works".

  Joanna Tully's pair of portraits of an aging bohemian woman examine the nature of self-image and youth, with a subject dressing far younger than one might expect. In one close portrait, the skinny, 70ish woman appears topless in all her wrinkled glory. In the other, she is clothed in an outfit that includes fishnet stockings. She leans back in her chair, taking a long, cheek-puckering drag on a cigarette with one hand, and fiddles with her stringy hair with the other as she defies age and convention. [nj.com]

• A new calendar features topless male Mormon missionaries. [chicagotribune.com]
• In Bulgaria, topless sunbathing is not only legal, it is encouraged. [news.bg]
• Rachel Bilson says that she will never appear nude on film. [hollyscoop.com]
• Summerhill, the most progressive school in Britain, has been compared to the anarchy found in "Lord of the Flies", but others feel that when children are allowed to make their own decisions they develop into the people they really want to be.

  The children certainly seem to thrive in the liberal atmosphere. Although they have no restrictions on hair or clothing, and are allowed to swear and even sunbathe nude, they appear very well-behaved. They have nothing to rebel against and realise courtesy is the best way of getting on in life. [The Herald]

• Italian winemakers disapprove of the nude Paris Hilton ad, which they feel is not fitting for their Prosecco white sparkling wine. [stuff.co.nz]
• A Fox News commentator shows his male chauvinist pig side when he takes on the subject of topfreedom.

  Swimsuits are male oppression, women, and if you believe in equal rights then damn it, you should show it by stripping off right now. And possibly take a photo and send it to me. I will do my best to further the cause by showing them to my friends. And if you disagree with me, then you sir, are worse than Hitler. [foxnews.com]

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

The Sunday Newds 11/4/07

• New Zealand celebrity and model Aja Rock stripped naked and jumped into a hotel pool, and when only a handful of people joined her, she got out and began pushing fully clothed people into the water. [stuff.co.nz]
• Authorities have requested that stickers be used to cover the genital areas of the men featured on the "Get Naked" show posters. [observer.guardian.co.uk]
• You can sell your sperm and your blood, but if you are a woman trying to sell your excess breast milk, that amounts to a national controversy. [gazetteonline.com]
• A visitor to an art gallery damaged a painting by pasting a piece of black paper over the image of male genitals. [news.bbc.co.uk]
• What would the authorities do if the entire student body of Half Moon Bay High School decided to streak? [hmbreview.com]
• The FCC is appealing to The Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that limits its powers of censorship. [reuters.com]
• The Lubbock City Council seeks to pass a law to force people to pull up their pants to at least mid-buttocks. [kcbd.com]
• A Universal Orlando employee told a breastfeeding mother to cover up or she would be expelled from the park. [wftv.com]
• If a male high school coach posed shirtless with a male student there would be no problem, but since it was two females who did this in Goshen Ohio, lives are in the process of being ruined. [wlwt.com]
• Why is the Association of British Naturist Clubs complaining about the nude calendar craze? [dailypost.co.uk]

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

The Daily Newds 10/16/07

• A total of five sexually-oriented businesses are being planned for Fort Worth, and even though residents are upset at the prospect, city officials say that there is nothing they can legally do to prevent them from opening. [star-telegram.com]
• A 17 year-old girl found the unrealistic body images inside a mall store so upsetting that she couldn't wait to leave. [pittsburghlive.com]
• The Barbican Gallery in London has a gallery show called "Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now" which challenges the viewer to walk the fine line between art and pornography. [huliq.com]
• Norwegian teachers and psychologists believe that children should be allowed to express themselves sexually, within certain social boundaries. In America, we would arrest them all as sexual criminals. [aftenposten.no]
• A petition drive in Ohio to put an overreaching strip club law on the ballot has failed, so it is now illegal to shake hands with an exotic dancer. [zanesvilletimesrecorder.com]
• Dutch authorities are in the process of screening off a nudist beach so passengers on a temporary ferry are shielded from the view of naked bodies. [expatica.com]
• Vanessa Hudgens apparently made a good career move by posing for that naked photo that everyone has now seen at least ten times. [transworldnews.com]
• The nipple police are on the move in Daytona Beach. [msnbc.msn.com]
• YouPorn is doing major damage to the adult entertainment industry. [portfolio.com]
  
  Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked