A manifesto regarding pubic nudity

[Gary Naturist]

[Manifesto: a public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.]

We nudists are almost always in the position of reacting to new laws regarding public nudity. Maybe we should start being proactive.

For example, we could develop a manifesto regarding public nudity which would define both people's right to be nude in public and the ccommunity's ability to limit unacceptable behavior. In addition, the manifesto would distinguish between nudity and sexual activity.

The basic idea would be to come up with something that both nudist and non-nudists worlds could accept.

The manifesto could be offered as a model for use by communities looking to be proactive on the topic, and as an altenative in negotiating with other communities that have bad laws and administrative practices in place.

I'm sure that members of the INA forums could put something together that would advance our cause but still be acceptable, at least in the more enlightened communities.

Question is: do we have people willing to participate in such a project?

Idea: Maybe INA would be willing to sponsor and/or organize this project.

Your thoughts?

Gary

Note: Manifesto is perhaps not the perfect word here, but it's the best that I've been able to think of up to now.

[Gary Naturist]

[Manifesto: a public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.]

We nudists are almost always in the position of reacting to new laws regarding public nudity. Maybe we should start being proactive.

For example, we could develop a manifesto regarding public nudity which would define both people's right to be nude in public and the ccommunity's ability to limit unacceptable behavior. In addition, the manifesto would distinguish between nudity and sexual activity.

The basic idea would be to come up with something that both nudist and non-nudists worlds could accept.

The manifesto could be offered as a model for use by communities looking to be proactive on the topic, and as an altenative in negotiating with other communities that have bad laws and administrative practices in place.

I'm sure that members of the INA forums could put something together that would advance our cause but still be acceptable, at least in the more enlightened communities.

Question is: do we have people willing to participate in such a project?

Idea: Maybe INA would be willing to sponsor and/or organize this project.

Your thoughts?

Gary

Note: Manifesto is perhaps not the perfect word here, but it's the best that I've been able to think of up to now.

[Rik]

Gary

You need a "stake in the ground" manifesto (or whatever. What about "charter"?) to demonstrate the sort of things you would expect to see. Perhaps then as a first stage the contributors here could throw in ideas without getting bogged down in debate. This approach should leave you with a number of possible inclusions some of which will be no-brainers and some of which will be highly contentious. My guess is that the "highly contentious" will remain so and will probably not be settled by debate so you'll need someone to "own" the manifesto to make the final decision as to what goes in.

So here's a couple of points from me:

- the manifesto/charter would need a clear objective to ensure that it doesn't just become a naturist's rant. You'd need to be clear exactly why you need a manifesto and who it's audience is expected to be.

- need to define what we mean by nudity e.g. the exposure of any part of the human body in a non-sexual manner.

- need to define what is meant by "public"

- need to use proactive (but not agressive) language e.g. Nudists view the naked body as the natural state. Non-nudists subscribe to a lifestyle which incorporates the covering of genitals at all times when in public.

- I struggle a bit with "the community's ability to limit unacceptable behavior" which implies that simple nudity might be unacceptable and thus should be controlled by some sort of enforceable recourse. It might be easier to define what is acceptable and anything else isn't simple nudity so the community can do what they like with it because it's of no concern to nudists or their manifesto.

- I think it's important that the manifesto/charter implies that just as in any other non-sexual and non-agressive public behaviour that individual nudists define for themselves what is and isn't acceptable. We know this approach works in many countries!

- the manifesto/charter should be general enough to apply internationally - at least to western cultures (I think!)

- it should have no religious overtones/connotations. This will ensure its inclusivity.

Well there's just a few things of the top of my head. As I said I don't think they should be debated at this stage but rather thrown into a pot of ideas.

Rik

[brainyguy9999]

Just some suggestions...

I think the idea of a general charter or manifesto is a good one.

I suggest that it might have two general sections:

Section 1: A summary or overview of the general attitudes, goals, and vision of naturism or nudism as a movement. This doesn't need to be a one-page synposis, it could go on for however long it takes to cover the relevant points of naturism/nudism.

Section 2: A detailed section that is laid out much like law code is. They are organized into sections and subsections that deal with different aspects of the major divisions. This, although arranged in a very organized way, would by no means be a pit of legalese. It should simply be a way to quickly address questions posed by anyone wanting to know the 'official' answer to how nudists view "X".

I'm too brain-dead right now to think about it much more, but I'll give it some thought over the next few days and post again.

bg

[BrianM]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gary Naturist:
[Manifesto: a public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.]
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>This sounds like a great idea, but I am ignorant as to how this meshes in with current laws. Would it apply to areas that have no written law or precedent, such as some national parks, etc, or would it be to offer exclusion from law, as some have done with religious association? If the other side must agree on it, I doubt that it would be accepted, mainly because of the numbers of them verses us....they would have no reason to listen. Other political stances, such as was done with minority civil rights in the 60's wouldn't work either, again because there is not enough of a minority to be listened to. But something of the sort mentioned as a "manifesto" would be a more politically correct postion and after the education that "nude is not lewd" is completed, then this may work for some communities.

[Rik]

Brian

Such a manifesto could clearly not be a legally binding document but merely a coherent statement of the naturists' stance on public nudity. I suppose it could become, or inlcude, a sort of "code of conduct" to which nudists would voluntarily adhere rather than a set of rules which must be obeyed. Such conduct would presumably include operating within the legal bounds of the state or country you live in.

Rik

Rik,

I agree.

Stu

[Rik]

Stu,

Yeah, we'd be OK in the UK. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Rik

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gary Naturist:
[Manifesto: a public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.]

We nudists are almost always in the position of reacting to new laws regarding public nudity. Maybe we should start being proactive.

For example, we could develop a manifesto regarding public nudity which would define both people's right to be nude in public and the ccommunity's ability to limit unacceptable behavior. In addition, the manifesto would distinguish between nudity and sexual activity.

The basic idea would be to come up with something that both nudist and non-nudists worlds could accept.

The manifesto could be offered as a model for use by communities looking to be proactive on the topic, and as an altenative in negotiating with other communities that have bad laws and administrative practices in place.

I'm sure that members of the INA forums could put something together that would advance our cause but still be acceptable, at least in the more enlightened communities.

Question is: do we have people willing to participate in such a project?

Idea: Maybe INA would be willing to sponsor and/or organize this project.

Your thoughts?

Gary

Note: Manifesto is perhaps not the perfect word here, but it's the best that I've been able to think of up to now. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Gary Naturist]

What I'm suggesting is a framwework that the authorities could work from when drafting laws, bylaws, administrative practices, etc. Not the legal wording (except for some specific suggestions), but a layman's description of how the whole nudity isse can be resolved between nudists and the community.

Gary

Gary,

"What I'm suggesting is a framwework that the authorities could work from when drafting laws, bylaws, administrative practices, etc. Not the legal wording (except for some specific suggestions), but a layman's description of how the whole nudity isse can be resolved between nudists and the community."

I totally agree. That would be extremely useful and a positive step, but there would have to be a great deal of consultation first with the communities (and, dare I say it, some empirical research). Your first obstacle would be to generate sufficient interest in your cause among these "authorities". That wouldn't be an easy thing to do because naturists don't have a great deal of political clout. If you were do this then the price you would have to pay would be that there could be no more "pushing the envelope", because naturists would have been part of the process.

But the idea is good. I like it!

Stu (hijacking the debate as usual!)