My reply to a post in the Streaking Forum
*************
Gabriel said:
Streaking is illegal. It puts one at risk of being arrested and pilloried by the 
state propaganda machine. You all are well advised to cease and desist these 
actions and dedicate yourselves to something more productive that running around 
naked.
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Hi Gabriel,  [this is a really long post, but I hope you read it all]

I'm going to talk about all nudity and naturism here, not just streaking.  In 
the eyes of the law as written in the books, yes, nudity is illegal in most 
public places.  It can lead to arrest in some situations (I'm not sure what you 
meant with the propaganda comment).  But think about the laws themselves:  WHY 
is it illegal to be nude?  Or, why should it be illegal?

The anti-nudity and indecency laws today are based on laws written back in 
Victorian times.  I'm not sure exactly what they were thinking when they made 
those laws, because before then, nudity when clothing was impractical was 
commonly accepted.  Nude swimming was 100% normal, and doing filthy chores nude 
to keep clothing from being soiled was a good and commonly used idea.

But why do we have or need these laws today?  First there's the illogic of them.  
The parts that are listed as indecent are usually the genitals, anus, and female 
nipples.  Sometimes included are buttocks, pubic hair, and other parts of the 
female breast.  Why are these parts indecent?  Skin is skin; why is arm skin 
good while genital skin bad?; why are male nipples accepted while female nipples 
are not?; why is a nude person considered a criminal while a person wearing 
clothes with racist slogans and nazi symbols is considered to be "exercising 
first amendment rights"?  Why are there all these double standards (especially 
between male and female breasts)?  None of it makes any sense, and I haven't 
heard a good logical argument supporting it yet.  Did you know there's a law, I 
think in Georgia, that makes it illegal for a man to have a visible erection 
(i.e. a bulge in the pants)?  As a male, I know that erections are very often 
involuntary and nonsexual, along with being a natural part of our physiology, 
yet they make it illegal to be a normally-functioning human.  [I'd love it if 
all men started wearing athletic support cups, so EVERYBODY looks like they're 
erect!  Perhaps that would show how stupid the law is.]

Almost invariably, the first argument against nudity is that it's immoral.  What 
are these morals?  Since when is it immoral to be in one's natural state, in 
their most beautiful garment, their skin?  Nudists believe, and teach their 
children, that the human body is beautiful and not something to be ashamed of.  
They believe/teach that all people, while individual and unique, are equal.  
These beliefs result in people (children and adults) who are more accepting of 
all other people regardless of physical appearance; they judge others by their 
character, not their looks or their clothes.  There is less hate towards people 
they don't understand because acceptance is there.  Closely related is the 
acceptance of the self.  Naturists and their children are proud of their bodies 
and accept themselves for who they are and what they look like.  There's no 12-
year-old girls asking to get breast implants, less starvation diets to look like 
magazine models.  This acceptance of the self leads right into acceptance of 
others regardless of their physical makeup.  Naturists are still interested in 
fitness, mind you; we see a lot of nude jogging and hiking stories here.

[Late addition, not in this post:  I recently read a post in the Netnude forum 
about a man whose girlfriend does not want him to be nude in front of their 
adopted children, four girls at 17, 16, 13, and 10.  He believes the naturist 
lifestyle is a very positive one, promoting healthy family values and 
acceptance.  She very strongly doesn't want him to be nude in front of the kids.  
His wife had an eating disorder in college and still has a very low self-image, 
and at least one of his daughters is now bordering on an eating disorder.  He 
believes a naturist lifestyle will help the kids learn that the nude body is 
beautiful in all its forms, yet his wife wants to keep that from the daughters.  
Truly sad.]

Another common argument is how nudity will mentally and emotionally harm others 
who see it, particularly children.  This is entirely a myth.  Children are not 
born with the adult mentality of "nudity=sex=wrong and immoral", but are taught 
that by the beliefs and reactions of their clothes-compulsive parents.  I've 
seen children at a nudist resort before; their actions and playfulness were NO 
DIFFERENT whatsoever from that of children I've seen at beaches or hotel 
pool/rec rooms.  It's natural for them to be nude, and they don't even begin to 
think of a need for clothes.  Children of nudists grow up knowing that the nude 
body is not inherently sexual, just as other naturists believe.  They also don't 
grow up as sexually misinformed as their non-nudist counterparts; they know what 
a penis and a vagina looks like, they know they'll grow new hair someday and 
breasts will enlarge, they know that erections are a normal part of our 
physiology.  Their curiosity is eliminated, greatly reducing or eliminating 
pornography usage, teen pregnancy, young sexual activity, and spreading of STD's 
(these are true, based on statistics comparing countries that have a high level 
of nude acceptance with those that have little or no acceptance).

Let's look at the other side, at the "morally upstanding" anti-nudity-law 
supporters.  First of all they create laws that make a topless woman a criminal 
simply for being female.  They create or support laws that impose their views on 
the rest of the public, trying to dictate actions, behaviors in the home, state 
of dress, businesses that can operate, what businesses you're allowed to 
patron....in essence, laws that take away YOUR right to live YOUR life and dress 
YOUR body as YOU see fit.  Their beliefs and teachings, both to their kids and 
to the rest of society, basically tell that the body is something to be ashamed 
of, something to be hidden away, something that is sexual no matter what when 
undressed.  They believe and teach their kids that nudity equals sex.  Parents 
and children believe that the clothes make the person.  Kids hear their parents 
make a derogatory comment towards another person regarding clothing or hair, and 
the kids turn around and start picking on others in school for things such as 
clothing and hair.  As kids grow up, insults turn to bullying, violence, and 
hatred, all based on the looks of somebody different.  Kids and adults also 
can't accept themselves for who they are.  Diet and weight loss programs run 
rampant, and cosmetic surgery in children is growing every year.  It's a sad 
state of affairs when an undeveloped, still-growing little girl wants to diet 
because she thinks she's fat, and wants to get breast implants.  Again, this 
non-acceptance of the self turns around into non-acceptance of others for those 
same cosmetic reasons.  [My mother is a classic example of this.  While 
regularly going to church and saying we should accept people for who they are on 
the inside, she is very frequently talking down about other people because they 
look dumpy, poorly clothed, fat, bad hair, bad teeth, etc., and also voicing 
envy towards women with a beautiful figure.  She can't understand that bad looks 
don't mean a bad person.]

Anti-nude people have the beliefs/teachings that nudity automatically equals 
something sexual, and that nudists are immoral and sick sexual deviants, all the 
while never researching it to find the truth.  They "know" that open sex goes on 
at all nudist places, yet don't go have a look for themselves.  [True, it does 
happen sometimes, but those people are promptly removed from the premises of a 
resort/club, or at a public beach reported to the police by the real nudists.]  
Like them, their kids grow up thinking nudity=sex, and having never been exposed 
to the nude body, grow up with much unsatisfied curiosity about the body.  Kids 
sneak a peak at porno, teens and pre-teens are having sex and getting pregnant 
at younger and younger ages.  Their parents are afraid to talk to their kids 
about such things, and refuse to let the schools teach them.  The result?  
Confused kids believing all the wrong things, not knowing what to think or how 
to act.  If the anti-nudists come across somebody who's going about their day 
nude, rather than just NOT LOOKING, they notify the police to put a stop to it.  
I've heard some people will tromp through the woods for a half an hour to find a 
secluded nude swimming area, just to lodge a formal complaint.  They just can't 
live and let live, they have to live and tell 'em how to live.  It's actions 
like this that require nudists and jogging "streakers" to hide behind trees and 
bushes, run for cover at the first sign of another human, and usually come out 
only at night to be able to enjoy their life naturally.  To put it short, 
nudists have to live in fear of litigation for a victimless "crime".  Looking at 
all this, who is more morally upstanding, the nudists or the non-nudists?  [I'd 
hope you'd see by now that it's the nudists.]

Let me get back to streaking and being "productive".  Now, I personally don't 
like how broadly the word "streaking" is used here.  If I'm out for a jog at 
midnight in the nude, with no intention of being seen or shocking people, I 
don't call that streaking.  It's the classical definition of streaking--running 
naked through an auditorium or at a baseball game--that gives all nudists a bad 
reputation.  No matter....when a person is out jogging or exercising, and 
temperature and activity doesn't require clothes, why should that person have to 
wear clothes?  It's very uncomfortable to be hot and sweaty inside clothes.  
Clothes inhibit our body's natural cooling and the "breathing" of the skin.  In 
short, it's unnecessary insulation.  If I want to work out in my front garden or 
go to the mailbox, why is it so terrible if I do it nude?  Cold weather does 
require clothes; it would be impractical (and pretty stupid) to be outdoors 
shivering on a cold day just for the sake of being nude.  When not in a cold 
area, being nude is natural for us (our natural state), and is therefore more 
comfortable.  When we're more comfortable, we can better focus on any task we're 
doing, and therefore [surprise, surprise!] are more productive.  Last spring I 
had to redo our bathroom faucet while my parents were away.  It was cool in the 
house, but the work was hot and dirty.  It would have been very uncomfortable 
and slower if I was wearing clothes.  I've done many jobs in the house and yard 
that were more comfortable, more productive, and quicker, because I was nude 
(no, shoveling snow wasn't one of them).  I've heard many stories of yard work, 
car washing, house painting, office tasks, and more, made more enjoyable and 
comfortable with simple nudity.

In addition to the comfort practicality, there's the resource practicality.  Our 
non-nude world says you have to wear clothes on hot summer days, only to run air 
conditioners to stay cool.  Can you imagine how much electricity and fuel we'd 
save by going about our days nude in our homes, offices, and cars without air 
conditioning needed?  Industries use more resources and pollute our water and 
atmosphere in the production and use of clothes, detergents, dyes, air 
conditioners, etc.  Water consumption is often a concern, especially in cities, 
yet people wear clothes all the time and therefore have to launder them, using a 
lot of water.  Electricity consumption is often a concern in the summer due to 
air conditioners, with brownouts and blackouts common...when it's really bad, 
people actually die because of the heat...yet they continue to wear their 
insulating designer heat traps.  Nudists reduce consumption and waste, helping 
the environment whether it's their main concern or not.

I think I've just about run out of things I was going to say (hold the 
cheering).  Now I ask you this, Gabriel:  ignoring of the laws, what is YOUR 
objection to the simple nudity of others?

MC