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