Thursday, November 13, 2008
City Sometimes You Get the Bare, Sometimes the Bare Get You
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 2:40 PM
The Seattle Parks Department's meeting tonight to talk about these people:
Nudists! Or, as some of them prefer, "clothing-optional activists" have been lobbying the city for years to sanction nude sunbathing and other clothing-optional events in Seattle's parks and pools.
Activist Steve Mayo, 44—who says he's "always been kind of a clothing optional guy"—is one of the coordinators of the World Naked Bike Ride and has participated in nude bike rides in Seattle and Vancouver for about a decade. According to Mayo, the city is cracking down on nudity in public parks—which, he says, has been allowed for years—after the Parks Department received complaints about an event last summer.
"The implication is that this is all happening because there was indecent exposure at the World Naked Bike Ride [in June]," Mayo says, adding that no one indecently exposed themselves at the WNBR. "[The city is] trying to deal with cruising in parks, but those aren't the same as the clothing optional people," Mayo says. "If someone in the naked bike ride was going around jacking off or something, take them to jail. But that’s not what happens."
Regardless, the Parks Department says nudity is offensive and disruptive to other park users.
"I’m offended when someone has a child out of control but I don’t ask them to pass laws," Mayo says. "When someone has an offensive odor, do you call the odor police? What is the goal they’re trying to accomplish. [If] it disrupts use of parks by other people, I would be happy if it was a time share thing [the] first Saturday of the month."
The police department has also sent a memo to concerned neighbors, but the department seems pretty damn apathetic about the whole thing. Probably because they've got other shit to do.
From the memo:
Historically, it has been difficult in Seattle to prosecute cases of public nudity. The position of the police department is to take a report upon receiving a complaint, identify the individual involved, and forward the complaint to the city attorney.
"Being naked is not against the law [and] being naked does not constitute indecent exposure," says SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb. "Indecent exposure has everything to do with being naked and the context which surrounds it. When someone’s riding on the street naked on a bike, usually that’s going to surprise people. But is it going to cause so much affront that they’re going to call us and ask us to hunt down that bicyclist? Probably not."
If you want to fight for your right to display your taint in public parks, tonight's meeting is at 7 p.m. at Parks Department HQ.
Share via
I suspect at least some of these nudists get off on annoying and offending others, otherwise they would lobby for a single park for themselves, a place the rest of us will know to stay away from if we don't want to see flabby, white ass.
ESPECIALLY the bicyclists. Think about the seats on a hot sweaty day.
Fucking nudists. and i'm not even a prude! i love sex, bodies, lots of stuff that most of the country finds offensive.
But yeah-fuck sanctioned nudity. Gross fat old baby boomer assholes forcing us to look at their shriveled sunburned sweaty balls all in the name of progress, art, freedom....
Nudity is awesome when its impromptu and illegal.
one question:picture your naked mother bicycling down pike. now tell me you wouldnt want her in a padded cell afterwards.
and "Greg"????
@1????
public nudity SPECIFICALLY has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHOEVER IS UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO SEE IT.
Although I can't see biking naked. At least for a guy. Wouldn't your naughty bits get all beat up?
If they aren't satisfying some sexual fetish, what motivates them so? Why do they want this so badly if not driven by a powerful lust? Seems like they could just get a different hobby if it wasn't a fetish that could accept no substitutes.
cheap thrills for some one, or some thing like that
prudes abound, let's just call it
my mom had great big tits and quite often worked around the house with no top, so fucking what?
her house, and tits are natural, she had a great quote about feeding her three babies so well cause that is what they are for
you prudes need to choke a bit on big tits or big hard dick, do wonders for your viewpoint, not mom or dads ...
So yeah, thanks a lot. Not.
For the record, I've usually been bemused or at least indifferent the few times I've run into these folks. It's not the nudity or the grossness of their bodies that bothers me, it's their sense of entitlement, and also my suspicion that some of them do this as a show of exhibitionism or to offend other people.
hmmm. Her house is "natural", eh? Sounds like hippyspeak for one of those dusty places that smells like cat piss and spilled bong water.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll take clean over "natural" any day. As far as tits, wear a bra, and they won't sag, no matter how many kids you nurse.
sure granny - you are a know it all - immaculate house, faithful to a strict church and hubby - three wunderkind kids
no pets in the house, ever
take all you preconceptions and start over
not an expert on tits, but your saggies are from bad genes ... fat ... and lack of exercise ... oh, well
There was definitely a contingent of show-offs, but they were gorgeous, so who cares? The only truly creepy people were the voyeurs who refused to get naked like the rest of us.
That said, I can't fathom why you'd want to do this all over the city, instead of at one well-known park or beach. Maybe there is something creepy about that after all.
But I know how to keep a house clean, and I listened to my mother when she told me that a well fitting bra was a big busted gal's best friend.
Most Commented on Slog
-
Life and Death in a Recliner in South Carolina by Dan Savage
-
Pit Bulls! by Dan Savage
-
Becoming a Man by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: Hot & Drunk by Dan Savage
-
Your Wife Died Alone... by Dan Savage
-
Meanwhile in Vancouver by Dan Savage
-
Precious: Brutal New Classic or African-American Bruno? by David Schmader
-
WTF? by Dan Savage
-
The Democrats Have 60 Votes in the Senate for Health Care Reform by Jonathan Golob
-
Health at Every Size by Dan Savage
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (33) RSS