The Weekend Newds

• Topfree Scandinavian tourists clear an Albanian beach where nudity is taboo.
• Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will bare all for a stage role in Equus.
• The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that stripping is not a fundamental freedom protected by that state's Constitution.
• The Loveland, Colorado, Visual Arts Commission has voted 5-1 to place the controversial nude statue as planned, despite some opposition. Score one for reason.
• A Welsh woman performed a striptease in a cattle shed, was handed a pitchfork, and was then hosed down.
• A woman exposes herself on Flickr and comes away a little less neurotic and self-critical.
• Eva Longoria is tired of being wet and naked all day.

Attack of the Breast People

It's hard to believe, but 25% of readers polled found the latest issue of BabyTalk to be "inappropriate" because it shows a nursing baby and a side profile of a mother's breast. One mother who didn't like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it. "I shredded it," said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. "A breast is a breast — it's a sexual thing. He didn't need to see that." A sexual thing? Is the baby "turned on" by the nursing process? Is nursing a sex act? Of course not, this is just a prime example of wrongheadedness, by confusing the most wholesome, nurturing, intimate and loving act of breastfeeding a child with the stripper swinging her tassels at the bar downtown.

Good for BabyTalk, and good for all the "lactivists" who fight for the rights of mothers to breastfeed in public. One mother makes a strong point for nursing her child in a restaurant booth when she says "I don't send people to the bathroom when THEY want to eat". If you see a breastfeeding mother in public, show your support.

The Daily Newds

• The controversy continues in Loveland, Colorado, over a public sculpture of three nude figures. A local church group has objected because it feels the work is "inappropriate" but fails to cite specific reasons in support of the position. The naysayers are in the minority. "Sometimes it's tough to get people to say exactly what the issue is," said Suzanne Janssen, business service coordinator for Loveland's Cultural Services Department and liaison to the Visual Arts Commission.
• Local lawmakers in the UK are considering a ban on shirtless men. What's next? Burkhas for the women?
• Giving nudity a bad name department: In Wisconsin, police are looking for a flasher. In the UK, a naturist has been found guilty of harassing a woman. In Ireland, tourists report groups of men performing sex acts on a beach.
• Why do we wear clothes? History suggests that textiles were invented to protect the body, not to cover up for modesty. In hot, humid climates, clothing was not a consideration until Victorian missionaries spread biblical shame. Anthropological studies show that children who grow up in societies where nudity is accepted have less anxiety and trepidation when it comes to sex. Nudity is good for you.
• In London, 200 people will compete for the World Strip Poker Championship.
• Kathleen Turner on nudity: "In this country, we're tremendous hypocrites, for one thing. We'll take a pretty naked women to sell beer or a car. But put an older woman naked on stage for 20-some seconds, and the uproar is extraordinary, you know..."

The Daily Newds

• The rock band Slash Bikini will play a gig in the nude for British naturists. Band member Randy P Rock III said: "Playing naked is a new venture for the band. Depending on the reaction from the audience, this could be a once only naked performance."
• The nude vacation industry has seen a whopping 300% growth in the last 14 years. People are scratching their heads as to exactly what is feeding the boom, but I tend to think it's the coming together of many factors. People are stressed more than ever, and nude recreation is the ultimate relaxation. People are fed-up with the sexualization of society, and being nude with others normalizes the human body. People are tired of low self-esteem and poor body image, and social nudity fosters acceptance of self and of others. People are bombarded with conservative Christian fanatic hypocrites who are trying to cover up nude statues and censor anything "indecent" on the public airwaves, and getting naked with other people is a demonstration that the human body is normal, healthy and beautiful. And so on. The United States is still catching up to the rest of the world when it comes to acceptance of naturism, but it does appear that progress is being made.
• A British woman is baring her breasts on the Internet to raise money for a local Multiple Sclerosis group. She suffers from the illness herself, and also wants to show people that you can be disabled and still be sexy.
• Haulover Beach celebrates 15 years of nude sunbathing and swimming. 5000 people visit the beach every day.
• A reporter in Texas visits a nudist resort and learns the naked truth - that we are all basically the same.

The Daily Newds

• Here's an article about the naked pub shoot in Scotland. Unlike a Tunick photo, where bodies are all posed the same in a landscape setting, every model was given a role to play. The art of nude group photography is evolving.
• More and more people are turning to nudism in the Rio Grande Valley. Part of the reason Sue (last name withheld) and other nudists interviewed say they have had problems explaining the lifestyle to others is that the public perception of nudism differs greatly from reality. “There is no open sex,” Sue said. “This is not about sex. This is about getting closer to God.”
• A mother ponders the pros and cons of her 2 1/2 year old's nude phase and speculates that she might grow up to be a nudist. I believe that we are all nudists at heart.

The Daily Newds

• AANR is holding a summer leadership camp for 20 young people in order to foster the nudist leaders of tomorrow. Charles Kaiser, chairman of the psychology department at the College of Charleston, said he doesn’t understand the need for a youth camp at a nudist park — but he doesn’t see any harm in it. “They just share the idea that they want to express themselves, and they feel that by being nude they can do that.”
• People have been sunbathing nude near Crescent Beach in Canada for 50 years, but the mayor of Surrey is looking to take action against them.
• In Glasgow, as previously posted here, a photographer was seeking 30 people to pose nude for a pub shoot, but hundreds had to be turned away. "The reaction to the appeal for volunteers was overwhelming. It's amazing how many people are up for doing this in the name of art...Its a bit of a shame that more people couldn't take part but maybe we'll do something similar in future."

Why I Do Post Photos on This Blog

Another naturist blogger has declared that he will not post photos on his blog, and that's perfectly OK, but I disagree. Let me take this point by point.

First, he declares that "looking at nude people simply isn't what nudism is about." Well, not entirely, perhaps, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to see the naked human body - it's normal and healthy. One of the problems we have in this society is that we only see the naked body in sexual situations. Seeing naked people doing everyday activities helps to normalize nudity. When you are at a nudist resort it is perfectly OK to see and be seen by others. What is not acceptable is staring, and that is something that is frowned upon in clothed social situations, too.

Another point he makes against nude photos is that they are "not necessary to talk about or explain nudism to someone who's new to the lifestyle". I disagree. Nudist groups have been promoting themselves with photographs for years. And why? Because one photo of a happy nudist does more to explain the lifestyle than any number of words. Virtually all nudist/naturist photos show smiling people. It's simply fun to be naked, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The blogger has made a personal decision, and I respect that. Certainly there are web sites out there that profess to be nudist or naturist, but are in fact appealing only to prurient interests. Personally, I find true naturist photos to be far less sexual than anything in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. It's important to portray nudism/naturism in a frank, honest manner, through both words and pictures, and only then can we de-mystify and de-sexualize the lifestyle and open up society to be more understanding and accepting.

The Daily Newds

Don't forget the sunscreen!

• Is Escondido ready for "The Naked Truth"? Nude art and nudists have proved to be controversial in the recent past for this California community.
• The right to wear a bikini is under attack in Dallas. Local drive-in beer stores have been engaging scantily-clad women to sell beverages, and the community is opposed to the practice. The stores have temporarily covered up their employees, but residents want a permanent ban on the practice. The problem is that there is nothing illegal about wearing a bikini in public, otherwise beaches and swimming pools would be targets for police, and sunning one's self would become a thing of the past. In a free society where self-expression is a valued right, sometimes there has to be tolerance for speech or behavior that might sometimes be contrary to others. In this case, banning bikinis from one specific location would clearly be a violation of civil rights, and it is unlikely that any judge, no matter how conservative, would uphold any such ban.

The Daily Newds

• A Pennsylvania family took a photo of their six-year old daughter with her bare behind showing, and when they dropped off the film to be developed, the people at Target called the police. What on earth are we thinking? Criminalizing family photos of naked children? When I was little I was photographed naked in my little pool, standing in the kitchen sink getting a bath, and running around under the sprinkler. It's normal, healthy, and very, very cute. So what is wrong with us as a society that we would suspect ANY family of pedophilia when the only evidence is an innocent family photo. Are we so stupid that we cannot tell the difference between a cute family photo and child pornography? Why are we wasting valuable police resources with this nonsense. Pedophilia is probably the most reprehensible of all sexual deviances, but playful and innocent pictures of naked children are normal and part of the family experience. Will we no longer have the bare-bottomed baby pictures to embarrass our children with when they bring home a sweetie? Moral of the story, don't take your photos to Target, Sears, K-Mart or Eckerd, and if you get a digital camera and take naked pictures of your young child, don't show them to ANYBODY, you could be reported to the Gestapo.

Streaking in Wyoming is Very, Very Bad

If you run naked at the Teton County Fair, prepared to be tasered, charged with child endangerment, go to jail for a year, and be fined $1000. Sounds unbelievable, but it's true, click here.

Breastfeeding Shown to Relieve a Baby's Pain

In addition to all the known benefits, breastfeeding has now been shown to actually kill pain that a baby feels. It could be due to the intimacy, the distraction, the sweetnesss of the milk, or perhaps even the production of endorphins, but whatever the cause, it's just one more reason to breastfeed whenever possible and damn the lunkheads who feel uncomfortable around nursing mothers.

The Daily Newds

• Nudists love South Venice, Florida, but does South Venice love nudists? A controversy is brewing.
• New Zealand is in the news again. Just last week a mother was chastised for changing her 16-month old child by the poolside, and now a family was told that they cannot use a video camera to record their child on a water slide due to "privacy issues". Apparently all the security cameras at the pool are not considered invasions of privacy. Anyway, the pool does have such a policy but it is "flexible" and apologies have been made.

What do Marilyn Monroe and Janet Jackson Have in Common?

Both are victims of the current climate of censorship and the fear of nudity in American Society. In a documentary airing tonight on PBS, the classic nude photographs of Monroe will have the naughty bits blurred. "These photos were artistic and still are," filmmaker Gail Levin says. "In a climate of Janet Jackson absurdity, to seize nudity as an issue to be censored, I consider it awful." Monroe was not ashamed of the fact that she was a sexual being, and neither should we. I wish that someone would explain to me how the sight of a female breast is so dangerous that we have to completely eliminate it from broadcast television.

The Daily Newds

• The Worcester Massachusetts Life Drawing Group is showcasing its talent in an exhibit called "The Naked and the Nude".
• A 49-year old Naturist in Cambridge, England, stripped down during a band concert and the crowd went wild. Unfortunately, someone complained and the man was escorted away by police.
• A conservative Christian writer thinks that there is something rude and embarassing about mothers who breastfeed their babies in public. On the other hand, another writer believes that the time has come for women to stop being ashamed of their own breasts, which have been culturally sexualized to the point where many people perceive them as unnatural.

Nudity and Children

There is really nothing more innocent than a naked baby. In fact, any child up to about the age of 10 should be able to be naked and free before the accumulated guilts of society begin to take hold. So it is truly disturbing that a New Zealand mother was taken to task for changing her 16-month old daughter in the open at a public swimming pool. The reasons for the ban on child nudity? "...some swimmers were offended by child nudity and they were also worried about the risk of paedophiles photographing naked children."

Oh, please. The mother got angry, and rightly so, over the completely ridiculous policy. At least the incident has opened a national debate in NZ over the overly-politically correct stance at the pool. The manager of another pool said, "Unless there were other circumstances surrounding what happened, I would say it's political correctness gone mad. Maybe if it was a 16-year-old getting changed it would be different, but not a 16-month-old. It's an overreaction."

In another incident, a woman took some naked pictures of her little children on a camping trip and her life became a living Hell when an overzealous drug store employee turned her into the police for the "questionable" photos. Pedophilia is a real problem in our society, but criminalizing the bodies of children is not a solution.

UPDATE: Readers respond overwhelmingly against the extreme political correctness of the pool's ban on naked children.

The Daily Newds

• Brigham Young University has censored an exhibit by illustrator Burton Silverman to eliminate nude studies. In the past, BYU refused to show Rodin's "The Kiss" due to a "lack of dignity".
• Nude sunbathers on Privates Beach in Santa Cruz were out enjoying the summer. "I just don't like to have clothes on," said Capitola resident Julie Davis, who's been going to the beach for 20 years...This spot is my home. We have a real family here. We take a lot of pride in the community."
• Nude hiking is rising in popularity in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
• A poll taken in a region of Australia shows 80% support for an official nude beach.
• The Bluenose Naturist Club in Nova Scotia celebrates the wholesomeness of the human body.

Naturism Podcast

The Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) has a wonderful and informative FAQ podcast that is terrific for people contemplating the Naturist lifestyle. You can access the podcast here.

The Daily Newds

• 800 rooms have been booked at Alton Towers and Splash Landings Hotels by British Naturists for an all-nude holiday weekend in November.
• A Lutheran Pastor has objected to the public display of a scuplture of 3 nude figures in Loveland, Colorado. "It just doesn't make sense to put it in such a public place where kids can see it," said Pastor Kevin Klug of Abiding Love Lutheran Church. Residents and their children, particularly students, can't avoid getting a good look at the sculpture, Klug said. Better get the Bible re-edited for kids, too, and remove all those naked Adam and Eve references.
• Bronze figures of beautiful nude women are set to replace ugly garden gnomes as landscaping adornments.
• 5000 people gather in Orange County, California, to moon a passing train.
• Real Estate prices are booming at Florida nudist resorts.
• Burlesque is back in New York City.

The Daily Newds

• An award-winning press photographer needs 30 nude people in a Glasgow pub for a photoshoot.
• A Portland writer has a nude awakening.
• Nude resorts are on a winning streak.
• In case you forgot, Nude Recreation week is July 10th-16th.
• In San Francisco, 20 dancers will perform outdoors in the nude. "We have to accept the discomfort that comes with nudity," says Eric Kupers, codirector of Dandelion Dancetheater, who practices Buddhist mediation. "If we make room and embrace it, we can harness the energy that comes from relaxing with it."
• A British Man has abandoned his 27-year heating engineer career to sculpt life-size naked women.

The Daily Newds

• In Wichita, breastfeeding is technically considered nudity and punishable by a $2500 fine and a year in jail. An exemption to the law has been proposed which will allow a mother to breastfeed her child "in any place she has the right to be". Although no one has been arrested in Kansas for breastfeeding, it's rather sad that there is any need at all to pass laws that allow the most basic and beautiful act of love between a mother and child.
• Melbourne is about to lose one of its two nude beaches.
• Nudists are just like everyone else, except for the fact that they feel happier and healthier.
• Lake Edun in Kansas is under attack from local officials.
  

Naturist Beach Days in the UK

British Naturism members will be on 5 designated beaches this summer handing out leaflets and offering refreshments to wanna-be nude sunbathers. Calling naturism a "mainstream lifestyle and holiday choice", representative Steve Doerr admits that taking the first step can be an act of courage. "I have lain on a beach for a couple of hours trying to pluck up the courage to take off my clothes...Eventually you do that and then 10 minutes later you wonder what on earth you were worried about."

The Daily Newds

• Common sense has prevailed. A town in Wisconsin will not be adding a fig leaf to a statue of a nude boy.
• At the age of 72, Sophia Loren will pose nude for a calendar.
• And don't forget to celebrate Nude Recreation Week, July 10th through the 16th.
• Some swimmers celebrate independence from bathing suits on the July 4th Freedom Swim.
• Seattle's unofficial nude beach offers an escape from the pace of city life.
• A nude-only swimming area is being planned in China.

The Daily Newds

• Pasco County, Florida, purports itself to be the nudist capital of the United States. "People come from all over the world to go to Pasco," said Carolyn Hawkins, public-relations coordinator for the Kissimmee-based American Association of Nude Recreation. "There's something for everybody over there." Also, Pasco County is home to the The Fitness Buff radio show which is sponsored by Paradise Lakes nudist resort.
• It's legal to tan in the buff at Boulder Reservoir in Colorado.