Thursday, November 13, 2008
City City Parks Board Doesn't Care If You Wear Pants
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 10:07 PM
It appears the Parks Board has shot down an attempt to ban nudity in Seattle parks.
"It appears the whole thing is dead," says clothing-optional activist Daniel Johnson. "One of the biggest arguments [the parks department made] is they’re concerned everyone comes to the park feels comfortable. The parks board commission kind of wondered why the whole thing was necessary."
More tomorrow.
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1
If you meet them can you ask what they are getting out of making us look at them naked? I mean I don't want to see them but they want me to. They want to get out there where I am and waggle it out there right in front of me and make me look at it. Why is that? What need does it fulfill for them and why must it involve me? Can't they just put it on a web site instead?
2
Hmmm, let's see, a prolific commenter on Slog
asks what need does it serve *other* people
to waggle *their* stuff around in public when
"I don't want to see them but they want me to."
Ah ha......[ironic pause; insert cliche no. 4 re: pot, etc.; reference The Wire when McNulty hearing profile of a killer comments, "that's about in the ballpark" ...]
[oh -- but wait-- !!!]
asks what need does it serve *other* people
to waggle *their* stuff around in public when
"I don't want to see them but they want me to."
Ah ha......[ironic pause; insert cliche no. 4 re: pot, etc.; reference The Wire when McNulty hearing profile of a killer comments, "that's about in the ballpark" ...]
[oh -- but wait-- !!!]
3
Those who oppose pubic nudity fear that even the average nude body will highlight the ugliness of their own misshapen fat blancmange flesh-heaps. If they'd just recognize that their look has been selected by evolution to mean do-not-breed-with-this we'd all be on the same page and wouldn't have to waste time with this nonsense.
4
#3
never read stupider shit
are you defensive about your low sperm count and skinny and all?
the world wide trend is much bigger people living much longer
after the mid twenties most adults give a lot of the pretyy girl and pretty boy crap a toss
but, sweetie, hang on to it and your smug smart ass insults - will pay big dividends of happiness
and as far as breeding, I think you need a tutor
never read stupider shit
are you defensive about your low sperm count and skinny and all?
the world wide trend is much bigger people living much longer
after the mid twenties most adults give a lot of the pretyy girl and pretty boy crap a toss
but, sweetie, hang on to it and your smug smart ass insults - will pay big dividends of happiness
and as far as breeding, I think you need a tutor
5
Nudity is natural. Clothes are not. You were born naked.
Nudity is not dangerous. Guns are. Ban guns in parks, not nudity.
Nudity is not dangerous. Guns are. Ban guns in parks, not nudity.
6
Fuck- I'm moving back! Maybe I can push the envelope a bit more by incorporating a little crack smoking as well.
9
what do people have against nudists? what's so very offensive about a few naked people? Is it because they have (gasp) visible sex organs, and you'd rather pretend we were all found in the cabbage patch?
10
@1
Personally, I wouldn't go riding a bike or hanging out in random parks nude. But there's an unofficial nude beach on Lake Washington, and I'll tell you why I like to be naked there: swimming naked and getting sunshine on your whole body is fun! It feels good! And the type of people who tend to show up there are uncharacteristically openminded and cool. Bonus.
Personally, I wouldn't go riding a bike or hanging out in random parks nude. But there's an unofficial nude beach on Lake Washington, and I'll tell you why I like to be naked there: swimming naked and getting sunshine on your whole body is fun! It feels good! And the type of people who tend to show up there are uncharacteristically openminded and cool. Bonus.
11
"Uncharacteristically" cool for Seattleites hanging out on Lake Washington, I mean. As opposed to the stuffybutts who will glare at you if you're naked at Madison Beach (I'd assume).
12
some proud yuppie who shops at SouLakUn Whole Foods (a sad Public Park of "organic" "naturalness") go display you taint when buy your peanuts to so generously handout at the food bank. yuppies rule. most times me ashamed of rules and leaders, but THANKS for peanut!
http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/04/over…
http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/04/over…
13
I agree with @10. As I said in the last post, being naked in the sunshine feels great, and there's nothing sexual about it (for the vast majority). No one is forcing you to look at them. But to stare at their genitals then get all huffy and offended... that just sounds puritanical and repressed.
15
i agree with violet@10. nudists need their own space. and it should be a nice space. but not random parks. seeing nude people when you aren't prepared for it is...unnerving. it just is. we are used to being clothed/seeing others clothed. it's a jarring experience to see total strangers naked, and not always um...aesthetically pleasing, to boot. and it's not about "others' genitals"--it's the whole package of surprise nudity that's off-putting. call me a prude, though i am not.
16
I get wanting to go to the naked park and be naked with the other naked people. And away from the normal people. Er, away from the unnatural, ugly people who are terrified of their own bodies.
My question is: why do they want to pop up anywhere, anytime throughout the city? They've got the right to get naked but what they're demanding is the right to get up in the faces of everyone else. Why?
My question is: why do they want to pop up anywhere, anytime throughout the city? They've got the right to get naked but what they're demanding is the right to get up in the faces of everyone else. Why?
17
@16, I assume 'They've got the right to get naked' refers to the fact that you can get naked in your own apartment. as stated before, it's fun to run around naked sometimes - go for a swim maybe. And not being Bill Gates, I can't afford a private lake.
Put another way:
why do they want to gay up anywhere, anytime throughout the city? They've got the right to get gay but what they're demanding is the right to get gay up in the faces of everyone else. Why?
Flashers are the sexual harassers, but people simply hanging out are doing just that - enjoying the outdoors with as little impedance as possible.
Put another way:
why do they want to gay up anywhere, anytime throughout the city? They've got the right to get gay but what they're demanding is the right to get gay up in the faces of everyone else. Why?
Flashers are the sexual harassers, but people simply hanging out are doing just that - enjoying the outdoors with as little impedance as possible.
18
I'm pretty sure no one is making anyone look at their "stuff". If someone is literally standing a foot away from you and hip thrusting in your face with no provocation or after you've asked them not to, that could probably be classified as sexual harassment. Otherwise, I'd advise avoiding parks during organized naked events and refrain from staring at individual incidents of exposure.Or get a hobby to distract you from the oppression of other people's nudity.Either way.
19
maybe I should have read your post closer, but I'm not sure where you get this idea that people want to go to restaurants and work in the nude. I think most of the interest is concentrated on parks and special events, not all nude all the time.
20
@16/17
Right. The fact that it makes some people uncomfortable isn't particularly relevant. If it doesn't hurt anybody, you don't have the right to tell me not to do it. There are exceptions to that, but most of them are nanny-state bullshit that I also don't agree with.
Seeing me naked might be unpleasant, depending on your preferences, but probably not THAT much more unpleasant than seeing me in the bikini that you'd undoubtedly agree I have the right to wear at any park I please. I know some people would like it if ugly people had to wear burkas, but thankfully, we don't! :D
Right. The fact that it makes some people uncomfortable isn't particularly relevant. If it doesn't hurt anybody, you don't have the right to tell me not to do it. There are exceptions to that, but most of them are nanny-state bullshit that I also don't agree with.
Seeing me naked might be unpleasant, depending on your preferences, but probably not THAT much more unpleasant than seeing me in the bikini that you'd undoubtedly agree I have the right to wear at any park I please. I know some people would like it if ugly people had to wear burkas, but thankfully, we don't! :D
21
There's a difference between not wanting to wear clothes and doing so intentionally to upset people.
Sadly, many of the activists fall in the latter group, not the former.
Sadly, many of the activists fall in the latter group, not the former.
22
@17 The difference between getting naked anywhere and being gay anywhere is getting naked is a behavior and being gay is who you are. Limiting behavior in the public space can be reasonable ... and limiting who people are and allowed to be is judgmental bullshit.
Like it or not, in public, most of us cover our tatas and hoohoos. So, it's jarring and strange when we see people who don't. No doubt it infringes on freedoms to tell someone they have to wear clothes in public, but so does telling a driver they must stop at a red light; telling home owners they can't create noises their neighbors can hear for extended periods of time; making people throw away garbage and recycle. We infringe on freedom all the time in the name of civility.
Certain behaviors are restricted in the name of everyone getting along in one big space together. Most people wear clothes. Maybe theoretically, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Maybe it feels good to go naked on a beach or in a park. But in civilized society, random naked people are probably going to upset more people than they will make happy. For the sake of the greater good, I think it's one of those freedoms we just have to limit ... or restrict to certain nudist areas.
Like it or not, in public, most of us cover our tatas and hoohoos. So, it's jarring and strange when we see people who don't. No doubt it infringes on freedoms to tell someone they have to wear clothes in public, but so does telling a driver they must stop at a red light; telling home owners they can't create noises their neighbors can hear for extended periods of time; making people throw away garbage and recycle. We infringe on freedom all the time in the name of civility.
Certain behaviors are restricted in the name of everyone getting along in one big space together. Most people wear clothes. Maybe theoretically, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Maybe it feels good to go naked on a beach or in a park. But in civilized society, random naked people are probably going to upset more people than they will make happy. For the sake of the greater good, I think it's one of those freedoms we just have to limit ... or restrict to certain nudist areas.
23
I'm so glad the city parks is going to allow Shannon Kringen the right to continue to rub her uncovered labia against a man's uncovered penis, in front of children while nudist leaders Mark Storey and Howard Williamson do nothing to reign her in. Good going, Seattle!
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