The Daily Newds 2/28/09

• I've always said that when it comes to nudity, there's safety in numbers. In a recent sexting incident at a Connecticut junior high school, charges are not being filed in part because "so many people were involved in disseminating the photo."
• Southwest Airlines is taking heat from some passengers because they are offended by flying on a Boeing 737 painted with the image of a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Don't these people ever go to the beach?

  "Does anyone else find this kind of trashy for Southwest?" asked one customer on the carrier’s blog. "Having a woman in a bikini on the side of the plane hardly seems like the epitome of the friendly, down-home airline I’ve grown accustomed to."

• Organizers of the Bay to Breakers event have backed down on banning floats, nudity and booze because of an effective opposition campaign.

  Ed Sharpless of the group Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers said they got everything they wanted. “We’re pleased with the outcome. I think it’s a victory,” he told the Guardian. “When you have over 20,000 people join your group in two weeks, it’s means something.”

• Has it really come to this? A columnist instructing people on how to shoot better photos equates innocent childhood nudity with porn.

  Photo labs will report any photos to the police that might be of a questionable nature. Questionable photos that people may take of children are particularly scrutinized these days. Under no circumstances should you either take, or circulate photos that might, in any way, be interpreted as pornographic or suggestive. I would think that would certainly include any and all nude photos of minors. The days of those baby-in-a-bathtub shots are long past!

• What's it like lying naked for a Jack Gescheidt TreeSpirit project?

  My friend Maria Tonione from the East Bay was on her stomach next to me, her head on my calves and one hand between someone’s legs. The pebbles dug into my hip and I shifted onto my stomach. Toes wiggled against my leg. “I feel the wind,” Maria whispered. Knowing what part of her body she felt the wind with, I laughed and it hurt a little.

• Naked female breasts are causing way too much commotion in Vassalboro, Maine.
• Robin Weiss is obsessed with pubic hair.

  Weiss visited zoos to peer at the groins of our closest relatives. He noticed that in other great apes, hair in the pubic region was if anything much finer and shorter than elsewhere on the body - the opposite of the human situation. It supported his argument that human pubic hair is different and probably unique, both in its evolution and in its physical appearance and purpose.

• "Skin tax" proposals are increasing as politicians seek new ways to pad their revenue coffers, but the First Amendment protections of free expression have stalled legislation.

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/28/09

The Daily Newds 2/27/09

• An 18 year-old man who streaked naked through a shopping mall says it was a "stupid move".
• The DA of Centre County, Pennsylvania, sees the latest teen sexting case as an "opportunity" to give a verbal warning to students and parents before pressing charges.

  "It's potentially against the law. It's potentially a criminal record and I want kids and parents in particular to know about it. At some point we'll take a stronger law enforcement approach after the proactive one," said (District Attorney) Madeira.

• A life drawing model at the University of Arizona finds that students are not always prepared for full frontal male nudity.

  "I had a guy come into class, and I was up on the podium in the classroom, and he looks and goes, 'Oh, a dude! Man, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this!' And he ended up staying in the class, and he toughed it out and manned up."

• A new Rhode Island law expands current legislation which protects a breastfeeding mother from indecent exposure prosecution. Mothers will now be allowed to breastfeed a child in any public place and permits a woman to allege a violation of her civil rights if she is interfered with.
• Bay to Breakers organizers have given in to allow floats back into the event, but also announced a zero-tolerance policy on alcohol. No word on whether or not nudity will be allowed, but police have previously stated that they will not be issuing citations for indecent exposure. It looks like there will be some compromise because organizers really just want to improve crowd behavior, asking participants to be courteous and not urinate in public places.
• Tom of West Penn Naturist group has a report online about his weekend at White Tail Resort in Virginia, and observes that there is hope for involving younger people in the naturist lifestyle.

  Saturday night was the talent show and a dance... There were about 20 youth here from JAANR, Junior American Association of Nude Recreation, http://www.aanr-east.com Their theme is "Winter in JAANRville" There were songs skits and lots of laughs. It was really a first time experience for me to see this collection of 20+ youth, not only able to get up in front of the crowd and perform, but to do it nude. Can't honestly say I could have done it at their age. It was quite an event.

• Nudity is in vogue during London Fashion Week.
• "Assume Nothing" is the title of a photo exhibition by New Zealand artist Rebecca Swan includes both clothed and nude portraits of individuals who identify as both male and female.
• An Australian resort referred to as "nudist" in this article is sold out for a full month, where 250 people will engage in anything goes sexual activity.
• Struggling moms are turning to stripping in order to make ends meet.

  "I'm telling you right now, with two kids, a $13.85 an hour job is not going to help you out with anything. I'm sorry. That might pay your rent and that might pay your gas to get back and forth to work, but it's not going to pay for groceries. It's not going to pay for anything they want. It's not going to pay for health insurance. Who wants to live like that?...I come [to the strip club], work 6, 7, 8 hour shifts and leave with more than $500."

• Kathie Lee Gifford admitted to sleeping in the nude during the fourth hour of "Today", which prompted co-host Hoda Kotb to poll the crew on how many of them also slept in the altogether. Many of them did.
• An Olive Garden restaurant is being sued by a mother claiming that she was not given a proper private place for her to pump her breasts.

  According to the suit, a female manager told Gray that she would not be able to pump in private, leaving her with the choice to pump in an office with a manager present or in a bathroom stall. The same manager expressed her disapproval of breast-feeding, calling the process "disgusting."

• 29 of the 35 members of the Geelong Harmony Chorus in Australia, ranging in age from the 20s through the 80s, have volunteered to pose nude for a fundraising calendar.
• 45 year-old Lisa Rinna is most comfortable in the nude and has posed for an upcoming issue of Playboy.

  "I don't get all the fuss our society has over people's weight...I want to encourage other women to be proud of their bodies no matter what age or size."

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/27/09

A Tribute to Lee Baxandall

The Naturist Society has generously posted online 33 pages of its latest issue of N Magazine as a tribute to Lee Baxandall. The section can be accessed here as a pdf file.

The table of contents of this issue can also be accessed here has a pdf file.

If you would like to receive N Magazine, I strongly urge all readers to become a member of The Naturist Society.

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!"

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/26/09

The Daily Newds 2/25/09

• Rachael Isaacson supports breastfeeding but believes that being too open is counterproductive.

  ...my personal belief is I can meet my baby’s needs AND take into consideration of the public around me. That means being discreet. Some women disagree with this because breast feeding is natural and healthy and isn’t something to hide.

• Residents in the Vermont town of Westmore will vote whether of not to spend $25,000 to enforce a nudity ban on Lake Willoughby.
• A student at Whitworth University wants to preserve the legacy of streaking.

  The decline in streaking certainly can’t be due to an increased level of modesty or discomfort with our bodies. Society as a whole has become more immodest since the 1960s. If you think Whitworth is an exception to the rule, you have only to look at the popularity of the partially nude calendar the Carlson Men of Arend put out every year. There is no doubt that those students are comfortable with their bodies.

• The mayor of Oaxaca in Mexico wants to expand nude beaches to attract more tourists.
• This article exclaims that the summer of 2009 will be remembered as the time when nudism took off in Argentina.
• At an FKK swim in Germany, a woman was told that she had to undress, or leave the facility.
• More articles on the Maine topless coffee bar here and here.

  Topless waitress Susie Wiley, 23, of Farmingdale, said she went for the job because it's "something different" and said she's worked in coffee shops since she was a teenager. Asked whether the shop is degrading to women, Wiley said, "No, I love it. I find it very empowering, not degrading."

• Officials in Destin, Florida, plan to send out "inspectors" in order to catch nude dancers in the act.
• Members of the Edinburgh Music Theatre Company discuss disrobing for their production of "Hair".

  "I've never been unhappy with my body, but at the same time I've never been comfortable showing it off. I'm the kind of person that wouldn't even go topless on the beach, but this play has made me more comfortable – to the point where I wouldn't be afraid to bare all again. "Since I've been rehearsing for this show, I've learned to love the costumes and I've become comfortable being in character, with or without the clothes."

• I think this article is meant to be inspirational, but there's something a bit sad about a mother and daughter bonding over their boob jobs.

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/25/09

The Daily Newds 2/24/09

• If politicians worked on every issue with the same fervor they use in battling strip clubs, all our problems would be over.
• In Qatar, a glimpse of stocking is still looked on as something shocking.
• With a sign that reads "Over 18 only", a topless coffee shop finally opened in Vassalboro, Maine.
• Painting nude Carnival models is certainly the best job in Brazil, and Betto Almeida is Mr. Lucky.

  Sweat on his brow, he said the hard work is worth it. A modeling agency that employs the women pays him $1,000 for the roughly two hours it takes to paint each model. During the samba parades, he paints two women a night. And in a typical year will paint a minimum of 50 women for various events.

• Here's another article on Orlando's Nude Nite.

  In addition to nude paintings, nude sculptures, nude photography, fine art, metal and abstracts, there will be tongue-in-cheek burlesque shows, live models posing for do-it-your-self sketches, actors that create "living sculptures," body painters, and nude art that makes political and social statements on a wide range of issues from climate change to nuclear weapons.

• Nude bungee jumpers in Canada raised nearly $6,000 for schizophrenia society.
• An Englishman discovers the serenity of a hot-spring resort in Japan.

  The Japanese talk of the "naked communion" of the onsen. They know they are a hierarchical and hidebound society, beset with formality and ritual, and the onsen is an attempt to address and break down the barriers. Naked, all are equal. And it works.

• Forty-something women are finding more acceptance in Rio's Carnival.

  "It's a huge change," Luiza Brunet, 46, told The Associated Press as she prepared for her showcase role in the Imperatiz samba school's parade. "It shows that women who are more mature are gaining space in a country with so much machismo, where we give more value to youth and beauty."
  
  Psychologist Enaile Ortiz - herself 48 - agreed.
  
  "Brazil has always had this understanding that youth equals beauty, but this year's Carnival is breaking that paradigm," Ortiz said as she strolled down Ipanema beach. "This shows you can be in a beautiful state, no matter what stage of life you are in."

• The Dartford Warbler could prove to be the factor which saves a nudist beach from development.
• A Utah professional photographer was sentenced to 240 days in jail for taking nude photos of his girlfriend and a 17 year-old girl who misrepresented her age.

UNC Wilmington Bans The Century Project

In a stunning display of ignorance, the Provost of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has banned all photos of females under the age of 18 from being displayed as part of Frank Cordelle's The Century Project exhibition, scheduled to begin next week. The University is the only organization to ban any of the photos in the 18 year history of the project.

It has been reported that the ban took effect after a complaint was lodged by someone in Oklahoma.

What does the book's publisher think of the ban? Dr. Paul Rapoport of Heureka Productions states, "UNCW was misinformed about The Century Project. It should have done some easy homework, to learn what the Project is and does. The Project has captivated and helped tens of thousands of people."

"What about the University's prior commitment to The Century Project?" asks Dr. Rapoport. "And freedom of expression and inquiry? Also, by banning all the photos of the under 18s, the University indicates they may be pornographic or illegal, which they aren't. That's unjust.

"UNCW's unnecessary censorship does violence to The Century Project. It's deplorable, coming from a university."

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/24/09

Nude Beach Olympics in San Francisco

For more Sarakay Free Body Culture Videos, click here.

Gypsy Taub Interviews Nudist Activist George Davis

Gypsy Taub Interviews Nudists Julie and Rich

The Weekly Newds 2/23/09

Catching up with the newds of the past week...

• Like social nudism, discussing menstruation in our society is taboo, but "My Little Red Book" seeks to spark some open dialogue on the subject.
• Samba dancer Dani Sperle has broken Rio's Carnival record for the least amount of clothing ever worn during the event. Sperle sported only a 3 centimeter patch of cloth.
• A Virginia Beach singer will spend a year in prison after receiving a nude image of a 16 year-old girl on his cell phone.
• An official from Denny's restaurants has apologized to a North Carolina woman who was told to conceal herself while breastfeeding her child while dining at the Asheville establishment.
• A 15 year-old Pennsylvania girl has been charged with possession of child pornography, distributing child pornography, and creating child pornography for sending nude photos of herself to a 27 year-old man she met through MySpace. In Michigan, a 14 year-old girl is in a juvenile court diversion program for youthful offenders after admitting responsibility to one count of "displaying a human form indecently" by sending nude photos of herself with her cell phone.
• The Minnesota town of Zumbro Falls is doing all it can to shut down a nude dancing club.
• Lily Allen is not afraid of posing nude. She said: "I'm just very comfortable in my body. I wouldn't do it in a 'Hey-Look-At-My-Boobs' kind of way."
• A Filipino activist staged a nude protest against man-made environmental damage, and was not arrested, but a Filipina woman was fined $1000 for exposing her breasts in Singapore.
• Photographer Rodney Braun, a devout Mennonite, specializes in artistic nudes, but it took some convincing from his wife Sonya to move from weddings and family portraits to nudes.

  It all started when Sonya booked a pregnant woman into the studio for a maternity shoot.
  
  "I said, 'Call her back and tell her I don't do that,'" Braun recalls. "But Sonya said, 'This is God's ultimate creation. Why wouldn't you want to do that?'
  
  "It was the most awkward photo shoot of my life. I just kept thinking, 'I'm way out of my zone and this is not what I grew up thinking was acceptable.' I really had to figure out where my moral line was.'"

• Beginning today, riders on the New York subway will see posters with real naked people advertising a new play "Reasons to Be Pretty". The tagline will be "Does this play make me look fat?"
• San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is calling in Bay to Breakers organizers to "lighten up" and allow floats and nudity in the annual event, but keep the ban on booze.
• A British woman has been banned from competitive boxing because she has breast implants.
• The Century Project, a collection of nude portraits of women aged from birth to 100, is stirring up controversy at the College of William and Mary.

  “It should not be shown,” John Foubert ’90, a former education professor at the College, said. “I don’t think it’s right for William and Mary to pay money to a man who takes pictures of young girls in the nude. I think William and Mary can spend its money in better ways.”

• "I'll Catch the Sun" by Richard Langdon Cook, a retired Fortune 500 business executive, chronicles his worldwide adventures in nudism.
• Since attendance is down at the Sleeping Bears Dunes National Lakeshore, one naturist advocates consideration of the establishment of a clothing-optional area.
• A Malaysian legislator has quit after photographs showing her sleeping naked were circulated to the public via cell phones.

  "I have done nothing wrong. I wish to state that I am not ashamed of my sexuality as a woman and as a single person. I have broken no law," she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

• Peaches Geldof wears 20 tattoos and little else when at the beach.
• Maggie Gallagher is afraid, very afraid of the teen sexting phenomenon.

  After all, if the thought that their fellow students, their teachers, their employers, their college admission officials, the entire football squad, their mothers and the local district attorney may well see these cell phone photos is not enough to discourage teens - then we really have a problem on our hands.

• A woman finds that getting naked in a Louisiana spa is a lot less acceptable than doing the same in Hawaii.
• A former Ohio State University student recalls how legendary football coach Woody Hayes used to handle the press after a loss.

  "If the team lost or tied, he would conduct an interview in the nude. He was an ugly guy so it would clear the locker room out pretty fast."

• Newsweek contributing editor Dahlia Lithwick "gets it" when it comes to teen sexting.

  Judging from the sexting prosecutions in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana this year, it's clear that the criminal-justice system is too blunt an instrument to resolve a problem that reflects more about the volatile combination of teens and technology than about some national cybercrime spree. Parents need to remind their teens that a dumb moment can last a lifetime in cyberspace. But judges and prosecutors need to understand that a lifetime of cyberhumiliation shouldn't be grounds for a lifelong real criminal record.

• A real life streaker streaked a play in which he is portrayed by an actor.
• You can win $10,000 if your nude video is judged to be the best at http://www.worldnudeday.com/.
• Promoters for a Swedish television show "I'd Do Anything for Money" used a naked man as a publicity stunt.
• A Taiwan clinic and two of its nurses face fines and other consequences for nude photos used in an advertising campaign.
• Glasgow's "National Review of Live Art" lives up to its avant garde reputation.

  True to form, the first thing I saw on Wednesday night was an installation in which a man lay naked on the floor, his body wrapped around the carcass of a pig. Occasionally he twitched, but was otherwise motionless. So did the pig. A cameraman was filming the event, but don't expect to see it at your local multiplex any time soon. Downstairs, I watched a film in which the planets orbited a woman's breasts and, in a neighbouring room, I rather liked lying on the floor and putting on 3D glasses to watch Billy Cowie's hologram film of a naked dancer appearing to dangle from the ceiling.

• Lindsay Hansen exposes Orlando's Nude Nite.
• An "angry" Utah woman who exposed her breast outside an elementary school has been arrested. Granite Police Chief Randy Johnson said, "We could not tolerate this level of behavior, so we took her into custody."
• While going through an old crate of family photos, a woman came across a photo of her 20ish grandmother holding hands with her juvenile mother and aunt - all naked.

  My mother gleefully plucked it from the pile giggling to herself. "See,I told you that gramma and grampa went to a nudist colony". She put the picture far too close to my face. I flinched. "Uh, no. No you definitely did not tell me about this."

The Daily Newds 2/23/09

• The nudism movement is growing and gaining in acceptance in Chile, and there might soon be an official nude beach.


• Model Sara Stockbridge once did the catwalk in the nude.
  

  "I've never had a problem with my body. I went down the catwalk naked once. There was an encore and I'd already gone off and started taking all my clothes off and I was naked, and they were like, come on, come on, there's an encore', and so I ran back on in just boots with nothing on. I have no problem with being naked. There are much more scary things than being naked. Like singing karaoke."



• Wisconsin is about to become the 42nd state to bar anyone from interfering with breastfeeding mothers in public.


• Andy Golub takes bodypainting to a new level.


• A 60 year-old man is the oldest nude artists' model in Changsha, China, and is paid much more than a local migrant worker.


• Two artists have removed all their works from a Modesto art gallery when a couple of their nude studies were taken down because a "couple of visitors voiced objections to gallery staff members."


• This news article states when two female NYU students removed their shirts during a takeover of a campus cafeteria, it "raised the protest to yet another level", and the school will be evicting some of the protesters from their university housing.


• Beth Ditto's nude photo on the cover of Love Magazine is seen as a "stand against bland perfection in fashion."


• Are sexting teens "the new pornographers"?


• Can nude art modeling be a little "dirty"?
  

  (Kathleen Rooney) argues for modeling's legitimacy over lunch with her Catholic mother, trying to explain "that, despite the popular past association of art models with depravity, in the twentieth century, it actually became kind of glamorous." (Her mother's response? "It doesn't sound glamorous, Kathy, it sounds dirty.")
  
  Her mother is right. Despite its pretensions, it is kind of dirty, and Rooney is frank about the psychosexual kicks. "There is," she notes, "a subtle perversion at work -- this combination of my naked vulnerability with the impossibility of my actually being touched -- that makes me love modeling so much."



• A new study shows that men view half-naked women as objects.

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/23/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/22/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/21/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/20/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/19/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/18/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/17/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/16/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/15/09

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/14/09

The Weekend Newds 2/13/09

• Columnist Jennifer Parello is approached by a harsh critic while nude in a locker room.
• A Chinese woman is flashing her lopsided breasts outside a hospital to protest her botched implants.
• A woman wearing a bikini top was booted from an Australian shopping mall because security thought she was wearing a bra.
• A divorced father of three boys writes to an advice columnist because he's concerned about the nudity they found to be "cool" on a beach vacation with their mother and her boyfriend. Instead of reassuring him that nudity on many beaches is a cultural norm, "Ellie" offers the following bad advice:

  Obviously, if you ever believe your children are being neglected or abused, you should legally object, and protect your sons in every way possible. BUT, regarding different values, your recourse depends on your keeping open good lines of communication, both with your sons and your ex.

• A British naturist club has found a new home at a public pool.

  Malcolm Boura, 56, one of the club's founders and a naturist for more than 30 years, said:"It's only a minority of people who misunderstand what naturism is about. Evidence from polls show that clearly the public in general understand.
  
  "We had one or two hiccups when we started in Mildenhall. But the council, which ran the pool at the times, was very helpful and very supportive and we had remarkably little difficulty."

• The Springfield Foundation in Ohio has requested that a painting of a nude woman by Jerry Ott be removed from the Springfield Museum of Art for their annual meeting.

  "We have a conservative donor base," explained Ted Vander Roest, the foundation's executive director. "We felt it wouldn't be to their liking.
  
  "Some of them are in their 80s."

• Students at the University of Iowa will host their first annual Nearly Naked Mile on Saturday, March 7, where runners remove layers of clothing for charity.
• Beer, floats and nudity have been banned from this year's Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco, but police said they will not issue citations for indecent exposure.
• Two Wisconsin teens face municipal citations for exchanging nude photos of themselves. Police are calling it "kids making poor choices", but the article does not state specifically what the charges are.
• That nude photo of Madonna sold for $37,500.
• Parents like this one need to start fighting back against porn charges when their kids are caught sexting.

  Brian Hunt told the Cape Cod Times that the Lawrence School students, ranging in age from 12 to 14, have "learned their lesson," and that media reports of the incident have been overblown.
  
  "They're all good kids," he said. "But they are young. A 13-year-old did what a 13-year-old did. They all knew that they weren't supposed to do it."

• The video of Salma Hayek breastfeeding another woman's baby has cast a light on the USA and its unique phobia about breastfeeding issues.

  "We've lost the concept that breastfeeding is normal and human in the United States," said (Dr. Miriam) Labbok. "In most of the world, it's [nursing someone else's baby is] as common as breastfeeding" one's own."

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/13/09

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."

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/12/09

The Daily Newds 2/11/09

• The Leeds City Museum is offering "Designer Body", a piece of performance theatre which celebrates the beauty of the human body.

  Over the course of 50 minutes the seven dancers will slowly disrobe until they each end up completely naked.
  
  Christine Grimwood, company manager, said: "The piece consists of dancers revolving on plinths that go in different directions and at different speeds.
  
  They start off in quite elaborate costumes and over the course of the performance they strip away layers until they end up like sculptural nudes."

• Strippers in Michigan are being targeted with special work permits and excise fees.

  An attorney who has advised the Michigan chapter of the club association expressed concerns about the constitutionality of both aspects of the legislation.
  
  "In regard to the head tax, everyone that has pursued one of these has had it overturned," said Brad Shafer, based in Lansing.
  
  "There are all kinds of constitutional issues - freedom of speech, freedom of association, Fourth Amendment, privacy issues. For it to be lawful, it has to comply with all those constitutional requirements," he said adding that he has played a role in overturning similar licensing laws in other cities, including Louisville, Ky.

• Nudists and naturists are always saying that total nudity is less sexy than the presence of some clothing, and a theatre blogger agrees.

  The best – and most erotic – sex scenes in the theatre are often suggestive rather than explicit; they frequently come fully clothed. In Phil Willmott's canny production of Fucking Men, the sex has always just taken place or is about to take place. We never actually see it. In Akhe's Faust at the ICA a couple of weeks ago, Faust's sexual conquest was brilliantly indicated by a tiny spinning top.

• The controversy over an artist who paints nude portraits of his 23 year-old daughter is representative of the confusion in China brought about by the sexual revolution of the past three decades.
• Hugh Jackman declares that he is planning on doing his stint as Oscar host in the nude.
• New Zealanders gathered to celebrate National Naturists' Week.
• A photo of a nude man was projected onto a museum building in Britain to break the taboo of showing the male form.
• After their request for a nude beach was rejected, the Nambucca Valley Nudist Group is continuing their search for a clothing-optional area.
• Backpacker magazine is inviting comments from readers who have hiked in the nude, or would consider doing so.
• Columnist Mark Patinkin doesn't seem to have a problem with all the violence at The Super Bowl, but he's really upset about all the sexy ads.
• Cynthia Manning has been posing as a nude artists' model since 1998.

  Everybody has character in their body. There was a model here, she weighed 350 pounds. People clamored for her. You have to figure out where the skeleton is, what the body is doing under the flesh, body type-wise. That’s what you go for, to teach you how to understand human anatomy. Foreshortening is critical. You have to understand a bent leg.

• A blogger attends his first nudist event.

  I had the feeling that I was doing something illicit, that I was part of a small group gathering in secret to do something that society tells us not to do. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but exhilarating at the same time. I couldn’t wait to get inside and meet these new people...I had a chance to talk with several members, and they all were friendly and approachable. I wonder if being naked with all these strangers forced me to be more social?

• Meet the best nudism writer in Canada.

  After a couple lengths of easy breast stroke, I screw up my courage to talk to some nudists. Dog-paddling naked is one thing, but doing interviews? I had no idea journalism would present such personal challenges.
  
  I survey the pool area. Lee was right, everyone is doing ordinary things. Talking. Swimming. Hugging. Wait -- hugging? Naked?
  
  "Body contact is not a big deal," says Jill, who has asked not to use her real name. "It's not sexual. It's like hugging someone at an office party. 'Hey, Merry Christmas, how have you been?' It's the same."
  
  I begin to worry Jill is going to hug me. She doesn't, but takes a few minutes to tell me why she is a nudist.
  
  "Swimming naked is absolutely wonderful," she says. "It's a bit of who I am and I'm not worried about my body. And it's fun.
  
  "We're not showing off, we're swimming."

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

When Chad Met Nikki

Chad Lannon met Nikki Lafrance at the Bare Oaks nudist resort.

After a mutual friend introduced them, the two quickly hit it off and soon started dating. For Lafrance, starting out with the clothes off was refreshing.

"It's an amazing ground to meet somebody. Because in comparison to the typical ground to meet somebody – you know you get all dressed up and you go out and you ask all those questions and it's all very awkward," said Lafrance. "When you're nude there's no sense in covering up who you actually are. We really just met each other exactly as we are and there was none of that nonsense."

PDF version here (with more photos).

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In Myrtle Beach, "Nearly Nude" is a Crime

In Myrtle Beach, police officers are no longer required to issue warnings to those who show more skin than is allowed by local laws.

Depending on the severity of the indecent exposure, (city attorney Tom) Ellenburg said, an officer could issue a warning, a ticket or arrest the offender.

"Some indecent exposure rises to the level of a felony," he said. "Some is mild and some is just shocking."

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

Best Nude Beaches in Australia

The Sydney Morning Herald published a nice article on the best nude beaches in Australia.

"They tend to put nudist beaches in the most difficult and awkward locations to get to and as far away from civilisation as possible," says Barbara Rolfe, 33, an IT test manager who took up nudism with her partner three years ago.

Rolfe frequents nude (or "clothing-optional") beaches in summer and nude swimming pool nights in winter. She says a wide variety of people share her passion for living au naturel — from lawyers to hippies to the very straight-laced.

"It attracts people from all walks of life and from all age groups," she says. "For me being a nudist is about the freedom to be able to be myself (and) to be happy with my body to the point where I don't feel I have to hide it."

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

Is This Woman Nude?

Of course she is.

Sports Illustrated used bodypaint on model Julie Henderson, and three others, in a clever ploy to present nudity in their magazine, without technical nudity.

But of course, Julie is nude, just the same as if she were covered in tattoos. And if the exposure of the nipple is the actual definition of toplessness, then she is clearly topless in this photo.

Bodypainting is a traditional activity at nudist and naturist events. I don't think that anyone participating considers him or herself to be any less nude simply because there is a little bit of paint here and there on the body.

I have mixed feelings about what SI has done with these models. On one hand I applaud their efforts to push the envelope on acceptable nudity, and on the other hand I know it's just clever merchandising, exploiting women and their bodies simply for the pleasure of males, which in this instance has to be primarily adolescent boys looking for their own stimulus package.

Whatever the motive, the photos are pretty spectacular.

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Nudist Photo of the Day 2/11/09

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Nudist Photo of the Day 2/10/09

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Taking a Week Off

Due to illness in the family, I will be unable to post here for a week. Hopefully I will be back posting on the 11th. Thanks to all who stop by every day and take the time to read and comment.

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

Nudist Photo of the Day 2/3/09

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Nudist Photo of the Day 2/2/09

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Nude Beaches: Should They Stay or Go? Cast Your Vote

The online poll is here.

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The Super Sunday Newds 2/1/09

• Police in Billerica, Massachusetts, are investigating a 14 year-old girl who was caught sending a nude photo of herself while in her middle school class. In Cleveland, a court-ordered survey shows that the vast majority of kids are not aware that such expressions of their own sexuality are illegal.
• "Best Undressed" is a new documentary on the Miss Nude Australia pageant.

  In a modern society of sexual equality, this competition seems out of place, sexist and sleazy. But in recent years the competition has flourished with a constant flow of young and beautiful girls, keen to compete for the prize of Miss Nude Australia. In the era of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, seeking fame even for being naked increasingly appears normal. They enter the Pageant with all the seriousness of a fully clothed Miss Universe Title.

• A columnist recalls the "Buff Bowl" at Lake Como Nudist Resort.

  While the cheerleaders wore wispy little sashes of their team colors, the most of the players wore only sneakers and those little belts of contrasting colors with streamers attached by Velcro.
  
  That prompted the greatest quote I've heard in my sportswriting career, as a quarterback covered the basics of Buff Bowl flag football.
  
  "The only rule we have," he said, "is if you grab something and it doesn't come off in three seconds, let go."

• Trinity College in Dublin has launched an investigation into students who ran naked in the annual "Gumball Challenge" fundraising event.

  The challenge moved into the public realm as students were dared to “get naked in a phonebooth”, “get kicked out of a hotel”, “strip on any form of public transport” and “drop an open condom onto a bar”. The phonebooth outside Topshop at the top of Grafton Street saw at least five people baring all.

• A new series called "Naked" on BBC Three gives a group of five professionals "a series of challenges designed to help them get rid of inner demons and help their self-esteem at work and at home. It culminates in a dramatic naked stunt in which we find out who has gained the confidence to literally bare all.". Unfortunately online video for this series is available in the UK only.
• Are Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy nudists?
• From LA Weekly:

  Naked Creatures , curated by Ian MacKinnon, features solo and group performances of dance, music and video, where queer artists take it off and "rejoice" in the naked human body. After all, the promoters tell us,
  "underneath everything, we are all naked creatures."

• Portrait artist Dorian Vallejo is accepting commissions for "intimate life portraits" which are a "perfect Valentine's Day gift."
• Morrissey and his band have posed nude for the inside sleeve of their new single.
• A New Zealand woman took a photo of her nude toddler at the beach and entered the image into an online snapshot competition, where it as rejected because it "could be construed on the Internet as being pornographic.". Despite that insane logic, the photo won another competition sponsored by a local newspaper.

  “If I want to put my child’s back view up for view that's my business,” said Nicci...“It was something totally, totally innocent, they were wanting photos that were iconic, and what more iconic than children playing on a beach,” she said.

• A hike to Deep Creek Hot Springs in Upland, California, is scheduled for February 28.

  PLEASE NOTE: you should not sign up for this trip if nudity bothers you. There may/likely will be nude people in and around hot springs. You are welcome to bring your swimsuit or not.

• The Pawnbroker is recognized as "the first mainstream, critically acclaimed film that featured a topless scene."
• Minsky's burlesque house in New York is open again in the form of a new Broadway musical, with music by Charles Strouse.

  "In the mid-'20s, you were allowed to have nudity onstage as long as you didn't move," recounted (Bob) Martin over a pastrami sandwich at Katz's Deli on Houston Street, just a few blocks from the site of the National Winter Garden (now a Whole Foods). "There was one actress at Minsky's, Mademoiselle Fifi, who shook her breasts, and that caused a raid."

• Authorities in Appenzell Innerrhoden, a Swiss canton, have passed a law to fine freehikers.

  Melchior Looser, the canton’s law and police minister, said: “Ultimately, in the summer lots of kids stay in our mountains.”

• The director of the Tennessee Technology Center has resigned after he sent nude photos on a state computer.
• An Australian exchange student found life a little different in Finland.

  "Finnish people love to get personal behind close doors, Amy explained. “They love saunas… naked saunas. Talking to strangers is unacceptable. Shaking hands is not on. But jumping in a sauna full of people with no clothes on is totally normal.”

• A dance production in Cleveland entitled "Nearly Nude: Deconstructing Beauty" deals with women and body image - the media's bombardment of impossible shapes and sizes, as well as "what we do to ourselves."
• Actress Ginnifer Goodwin has strict no-nudity clauses in her contracts.

  The Walk The Line star, who plays one of a polygamist's three wives in hit U.S. show Big Love, insists fans will never see her strip for a role, and only lovers and her doctor will see her naked.
  
  And just in case co-stars and directors get carried away in steamy scenes, she has a back-up plan to keep everything covered up.
  
  She tells Los Angeles magazine, "I write things in Magic Marker all over my body - 'No way, Jose,' (and), 'Bill, stop looking at my boobs.'"

• American Idol contestant Melinda Camille told judges that she loves to dance naked in her room.
• An article in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter advises not to fear nudity, but to embrace it.

  But what if we were comfortable enough that we could deal? What if seeing one's privies was commonplace? Firstly, big dicks and voluptuous breasts would no longer be as large a deal as they are body parts. Following this, skill comes into frame. One's abilities in the sack are just as important to attraction as one's appearance, but the more comfortable we are with nudity, the more our intellect catches up to the emotional reality of this. In business terms, transparency increases competition, and competition increases the possibility that you are just as desirable as the next supplier.

• All six members of the cast of Hangin' Out are nude throughout the production.
• Richard Mason, president of government affairs for South Florida Free Beaches and the Florida Naturist Association, spoke to Broward County's Legislative Delegation and told them that nude beaches are good for Florida's economy.
• Wonkette fears that the White House is becoming a "nudist colony" under the new informal President.
• Kathleen Rooney is on tour promoting her book "Live Nude Girl" about her experience as a nude artists' model.

  I really liked it," she said. "I found it sort of addicting. I wouldn't say it was a compulsion, but I haven't done it for a year or more and I'm kind of longing for it."
  
  But what's the appeal?
  
  "Well, it's twofold: The first is, 'Holy cow, I'm naked in front of people. What a thrill!' It is exciting, but that's not the main reason. I felt I was making connections to people, and as a writer, that's really important to me. With some of the artists I met, I felt like I was really making a contribution. There is a kind of partnership between an artist and a model that's really different."

• The nude cruise industry is growing at a rapid pace.

  "People are hungry for a connection for something that is real and our cruises provide that," said Craig Stevens, creator of Source Events, a travel company based in Miami. Smith is not only surviving, his business is thriving. He is taking advantage of the 400 million dollar a year nude recreation industry. Source Events, which began booking gay cruises, is now expanding their horizons. "Women that want to create women's cruises, other people that want to do youth cruises," said Smith.

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