Tag Archives: Culture

The Systematic Degradation of Nudity

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Somehow it began with Adam and Eve . . .

By Dr. Joseph Langen at The Daily News Online dot com

On a recent cruise, I noticed the reproduction of a classic sculpture of a nude male athlete in the fitness center. I found it inspirational. Outside the exercise room I noticed an almost identical sculpture in an area occasionally traversed by teens and children. This sculpture sported a strategically placed scallop shell.

When I returned from the cruise, I installed a digital art exhibit, my latest project. Two of the pieces had whimsical mermaids as subject matter. Questions arose as to the appropriateness of displaying images of mermaids with breasts included. They were eventually fitted with their own shells before display.

These two experiences got me thinking about the topic of this column. The human body has served as a subject for art since the Stone Age. Artists celebrated the human form for centuries. Throughout the history of Western Art, I think it would be safe to say that the historical figure most often depicted nude was Jesus, mostly as a baby.

Things changed with the Puritan and Victorian times. Over the years we have become squeamish about depictions of the human body. Other than in art galleries, sexuality in our culture is often relegated to the realms of advertising and pornography. Sex is used to sell just about everything. Pornography is considered evil by many but remains the most popular topic on the Internet. Continue reading →

Small Game Hunters

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From The Telegraph, United Kingdom

Zimbabwe ‘sperm hunters’ picking up male travellers

Gangs of women in Zimbabwe have been picking up male travellers to have sexual intercourse and harvest their sperm, according to reports.

Gangs of women in Zimbabwe have been picking up male travellers to have sexual intercourse and harvest their sperm, according to reports.

Susan Dhliwayo claims she pulled her car over recently to pick up a group of male hitchhikers and they refused to get in, because they feared they were going to be raped.

“Now, men fear women. They said: ‘we can’t go with you because we don’t trust you’,” 19-year-old Miss Dhliwayo recounted.

Local media have reported victims of the highway prowlers being drugged, subdued at gun or knife point – even with a live snake in one case – given a sexual stimulant and forced into repeated sex before being dumped on the roadside.

The sperm hunters first surfaced in the local press in 2009 but police have only arrested three women, found with a plastic bag of 31 used condoms in October. The attacks have continued since they were nabbed for allegedly violating 17 men. Continue reading →

First Time Nudists

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The following are testimonials from people who have experienced the exhilaration of social nudity.

I was vacationing at a resort in the Caribbean. The first two days were spent on the beach sitting in a soggy swimsuit and being chafed by sand. I signed up for a day boat trip and picnic at a beach on an island away from the resort. As we were leaving, I discovered that the excursion was to an island with a nude beach! I decided to go anyway, thinking no way was anybody getting me out of my suit. I stood firm, and in fact, was the last person to give in and shed my swimsuit – I was the last one to get dressed to return to the resort. Why hadn’t someone told me about this sooner? I was hooked, and that was over 30 years ago. The phrase, “nude when possible, clothed when practical,” definitely describes me. I do wear at least shoes when vacuuming the house though as I have a habit of running over my toes with the vacuum cleaner.

My first experience was at Orient Beach. My wife & I decided to go there late in our 1st trip to St. Martin. My wife had seen a few of the ladies without their tops at the resort & had remarked that she would “never” do that, but once on Orient I stripped completely & she went without her top. When we got back home, she surprised me by asking if there were any nude beaches near where we lived (she presumed there were none, but was surprised by a mention in the paper of the “only nude beach in the area”). We’ve been going to nude beaches both at home & on vacation ever since.

I went to Haulover Beach today for the first time. It was awesome! This was my first visit to a nude beach, first time I’ve ever been nude in a “public” place other than a spa…and I found it exhilarating. Although I’m married, I went alone as my wife was off doing something with her mother, but now that I know how it feels, I’m going to get her there on the next nice day we have.  It was a bit cool today with a stiff breeze blowing, but the sun was out, so it wasn’t bad. There were people of all ages there including families with children near where I was…it was fun to watch the kids really enjoying themselves and the freedom of being nude. There were some young, attractive couples near me and some senior citizens from Quebec also near me.  It was great and I can’t wait to go again!

My wife and my first time was at Cypress Cove in Kissimmee, FLa. I have always hated wearing clothes unless it was necessary. We got to talking one night in the hot tub and I mentioned that I had been in the CyberNude chat room and thought I would like to try Cypress Cove and she agreed. Luck would have it they had an open house coming up in a couple of weeks. We went down for the open house took a tour in our clothes, felt very comfortable and then went back to our SUV got undressed and spent the rest of the day. It was very comfortable. We have been back several times and have met a couple that live there and another couple that visits often. It is great. We don’t wear clothes at home unless it is cold or we have guest. We have made friends with some couples in the local area and will be have some social visits with them. I think it is the most comfortable feeling in the world. I hate a wet bathing suit and it always fills with air in the hot tub which is a pain also. Only thing I regret is that it took my wife and I 13 yrs of marriage to discover we were both closet nudists.

My second trip to Haulover yesterday was my wife’s first trip. I was careful to not put any pressure on her, but she knew how much I enjoyed it last time, so she suggested we go together. It was a glorious day. Very warm, very sunny. The beach was packed! She only felt comfortable going top free, but hinted that in the future, she would eventually be nude. She really enjoyed laying in the sun and just relaxing and people watching. She has mentioned going again next Sunday and she even said she thought her mother would love to go and she is thinking of inviting her to go with us. It is certainly a much more enjoyable experience when shared with people you love. We even talked about getting her sister and her husband and kids to come along. Who knows…maybe it will be one big family affair on Haulover Beach! I look forward to building sand castles with my nephews.

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Foreskin Mythology

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More Circumcision Myths You May Believe: Hygiene and STDs

Is circumcision cleaner and healthier?

Published on September 13, 2011 by Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D. in Moral Landscapes. Photos added by me.

Myth: You have to get the baby circumcised because it is really hard to keep a baby’s penis clean.

Reality check: In babies, the foreskin is completely fused to the head of the penis. You cannot and should not retract it to clean it, as this would cause the child pain, and is akin to trying to clean the inside of a baby girl’s vagina. The infant foreskin is perfectly designed to protect the head of the penis and keep feces out. All you have to do is wipe the outside of the penis like a finger. It is harder to keep circumcised baby’s penis clean because you have to carefully clean around the wound, make sure no feces got into the wound, and apply ointment.

Myth: Little boys won’t clean under their foreskins and will get infections.

Reality check: The foreskin separates and retracts on its own sometime between age 3 and puberty. Before it retracts on its own, you wipe the outside off like a finger. After it retracts on its own, it will get clean during the boy’s shower or bath. Once a boy discovers this cool, new feature of his penis, he will often retract the foreskin himself during his bath or shower, and you can encourage him to rinse it off. But he should not use soap as this upsets the natural balance and is very irritating. There is nothing special that the parents need to do. Most little boys have absolutely no problem playing with their penises in the shower or anywhere else! It was harder to teach my boys to wash their hair than it was to care for their penises.

Myth: Uncircumcised penises get smelly smegma.

Reality check: Actually, smegma is produced by the genitals of both women and men during the reproductive years. Smegma is made of sebum and skin cells and lubricates the foreskin and glans in men, and the clitoral hood and inner labia in women. It is rinsed off during normal bathing and does not cause cancer or any other health problems.

Myth: “My uncle wasn’t circumcised and he kept getting infections and had to be circumcised as an adult.”

Reality check: Medical advice may have promoted infection in uncircumcised males. A shocking number of doctors are uneducated about the normal development of the foreskin, and they (incorrectly) tell parents that they have to retract the baby’s foreskin and wash inside it at every diaper change. Doing this tears the foreskin and the tissue (called synechia) that connects it to the head of the penis, leading to scarring and infection.

Misinformation was especially prevalent during the 1950s and 60s, when most babies were circumcised and we didn’t know as much about the care of the intact penis, which is why the story is always about someone’s uncle. Doing this to a baby boy would be like trying to clean the inside of a baby girl’s vagina with Q-tips at every diaper change. Rather than preventing problems, such practices would cause problems by introducing harmful bacteria. Remember that humans evolved from animals, so no body part that required special care would survive evolutionary pressures. The human genitals are wonderfully self-cleaning and require no special care.

Myth: My son was diagnosed with phimosis and so had to be circumcised. Continue reading →

San Francisco is Getting It Right

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We’re down to somewhere between 33% and 35% of cutting male infants in the United States. More parents are beginning to question this bizarre, antiquated practice. I’m not really wanting to advocate more laws, but I wish there had been one when I was born.

The following is an article in the guardian.co.uk, written by Neil Howard and Rebecca Steinfeld.

Time to ban male circumcision?

San Francisco voters will decide later this year whether, like its female counterpart, male infant circumcision should be outlawed. If passed, article 50 — the “Genital Cutting of Male Minors” — would make it unlawful to circumcise, cut, or mutilate the foreskin, testicles, or penis of another person aged under 18. The bill includes an exemption for cases of medical necessity, but not for custom or ritual, which has profound implications for the many Jews and Muslims who consider it an essential part of their religious or cultural practice.

Unsurprisingly, the bill has attracted considerable controversy. Some regard it as a modern manifestation of western antisemitism, while certain feminist groups consider the idea of comparing male and female genital cutting to be both offensive and unsubstantiated.

 Neither the World Health Organisation nor the UN oppose male circumcision, and given that the procedure is so unquestioned that 33% of American boys still undergo it, one might think that they have a point. But is it really so simple? And are the differences between male and female circumcision really so straightforward?

 According to research, the sexual damage caused by female and male genital cutting can be extensive. Female genital cutting, which can involve removal of the clitoris, may reduce the likelihood of orgasm and cause complications during childbirth. Similarly, male circumcision can result in excruciating pain, nerve destruction, infection, disfigurement and sometimes death. Like the clitoris, the foreskin serves a sexual purpose, and it protects the “head” of the penis from outside elements.

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Circumcision From a Jewish Perspective

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There are growing numbers coming down on the side against circumcision. There are growing numbers of men who regret being denied the choice. Cutting off an infants foreskin needs to stop. It’s the way we’re born. Despite the fact some men would choose circumcision, they deserve the right to be old enough to make the choice. Even in Africa, where AIDS is so pervasive, where research indicates circumcision reduces the risk of this dreaded disease, is it a better alternative to education and good hygiene?

A Jewish friend of mine, fraught with his own mixed emotions about this time honored but controversial practice, has spent a great deal of time researching the Jewish point of view. He has found many who oppose circumcision among our Jewish brothers and sisters. A sampling of the opinions he has collected are listed below, followed by links to other informative sites.

The current San Francisco circumcision referendum has made the public aware of the severe physical consequences of the controversial surgery. The idea that an individual has the right to their own body is recent by historical standards. For many years, a number of courageous Jewish and Israeli scholars, historians, activists, and parents have raised serious objections to circumcision surgery. More and more Jews are choosing not to circumcise their sons. These Jewish voices against circumcision are just starting to enter the mainstream conversation.

 

Here are some of these pioneers in their own words.

“Coming from a European background… where many Jews reject a brit milah as an archaic and barbaric ritual… This author grew up in France in a traditional Jewish family. Not a single male of her generation or her children’s generation within her large family (or in her circle of Jewish friends) was ever circumcised.”

- Nelly Karsenty, Humanistic Judaism, 1988.

 *

“Judaism has always been a core piece of my identity, even though my practice and understanding have evolved over the years. I have great reverence for what we hold as spiritual. When the authorities of my tradition define the sacred in a way that violates the most elemental and life-giving forces, mothers and babies, then something is very wrong. That which is not ethical, cannot be spiritual. That is a basic Jewish tenet… It is Judaism that has taught me that reverence for life, the principle of pikuah nefesh, and the mandate incumbant upon all of us to distinguish (l’havdeel) between what is holy and what is profane. It is precisely these fundamental tenets of Judaism that have led me to conclude that circumcision is not holy in terms of Jewish ethics.… What is most satisfying to me is knowing that I have helped a number of parents, particularly Jewish parents, come to the conclusion that they can be good Jews and leave their baby intact.”

- Miriam Pollack, Defying Convention: An Interview With Miriam Pollack, Beyond the Bris, July 27, 2011

 *

“Circumcision is child abuse…It is a poor way to introduce a newborn male into the world and into the Jewish community. This presentation will focus on my experience as an active Jew living in an observant Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, who chose not to have his son circumcised. I will present the brit (literally “covenant”) b’lee milah (without circumcision) ceremony that my wife, a full participant in the decision, and I held on the eighth day of our son Sammy’s life.”

- Moshe Rothenberg, Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community.

 *

“Mutilation of the divinely made human body is as far from Judaism as anything could be… Torah mentions circumcision only cursorily. Circumcision is conspicuously absent from the Sinai commandments, and from the subsequent listings of rules… Deut30:6 mentions circumcision metaphorically at most, “circumcise your heart.” No less likely is the meaning, “tame your pride.”

- Israeli Linguist Vadim Cherny, How Judaic is the circumcision?

 *

“Laurie Evans is the director of the New York Hudson Valley Chapter of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers. She said that as a Jewish woman, it was difficult to stand up to her family.

“Once I witnessed a bris (ritual Jewish circumcision), understood the function of the foreskin and the long, lasting harm of circumcision, I had to follow my conscience and leave my son intact,” Evans testified.

“My son is now 20, is grateful, as he understands just what he was spared,” Evans said. “When I realized how many parents were uninformed about this surgery, I founded and became director of the New York Hudson Valley Chapter of NOCIRC.”

- WND, March 05, 2010

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Our Bodies

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There was no Internet when I was a young boy.  Our natural curiosity about the opposite sex and our own sex mouldered in a forbidden Twilight Zone in the back of our innocent minds.  If we wanted to know what’s under a girl’s clothes, we had to resort to Mom’s medical book (woefully disappointing) or a copy of National Geographic that happened to feature some remote tribe of naked Africans.  To this day I haven’t figured out why the exposure of Africans and primitive Amazonian villagers are some how morally acceptable while everyone else’s is immoral and lewd.

At around age eight I got my first glimpse of what’s inside a girls panties.  It happen in a friend’s backyard, in a playhouse built by the friend’s father.  Aware the little girl down the street had an inclination to give the boys a peek, me and two other boys invited her to join us in my friend’s playhouse, where we right away made our desires known.  She hesitated; perhaps because there were three boys and just one girl.  Negotiations began.  One of us would show ours if she showed hers.  All three of us gave in when she insisted we all show ours, provided she goes first, which she did.  Moments later, racked with apprehension about my turn coming up, my eyes widened on her little twat.  She seemed perfectly delighted by our amazement, but steadfastly refused to let my more forthright friend to touch it.

The moment passed.  Her panties were back up.  It was our turn.  The bravest of the three of us went next, at which time my friend’s mother poked her head in the door to let him know it was time for lunch.  She gasped in horror.  Our hearts dropped.  In the blink of an eye, our feet took flight, all accept an angry mother’s son that was doomed to face the consequences.  Caught and scarred for life.

Imagine a small town in 1950s Wisconsin.  That’s where and when this happened.  My next scarring came when I inadvertently referenced a female body part to my mother.  It was during time I had been hanging around my father’s the auto parts store, listening to the teenage boys that were gathered around their Chevys, blustering about going to Texas for a little Texas pussy.  Back at the house I found my mother in the kitchen and told her I was going to Texas for a little Texas pussy, then shrank to the floor when she screeched.  Knowing Texas was a sunny state, I thought those boys had been talking about sunshine.  I can still feel the scars from that lecture. No wonder I had reached mid-life before I got out in a public park reserved for nudist and enjoyed the feel of the sun on my skin.

So why are so many so uptight about the human body?

The human body is a sensual, mysterious, beautiful work designed by Mother Nature.  Why aren’t more of us celebrating and enjoying it?

So what’s wrong with this picture?

She’s dressed for a day of sun and swimming … he’s dressed for what?  A snowstorm?

So how about this … or at least something close

or better still, this …

I know … we’re not all young and beautiful.  So what?  Isn’t life too short not to enjoy the sensual joy of our body, even if it’s not in perfect shape?  If everyone was perfect, this would be a very boring world.   So why not get out there and feel alive, feel the sun, the fresh air and other people’s eyes on your skin?

I recently spent a week on the Florida west coast, a state that has 2276 miles of beaches.  In the whole state, there is only one legal nude beach, Haulover near Miami.  What’s up with that?  Two or three city blocks out of 2276 miles!  Every man I saw on the beach that I went to, young and old, was clad in those ridiculous balloony outfits.  How do they swim in those?  What keeps the wind from blowing them away?  When they float they look like a guy that fell from the sky and landed on a parachute.

I live in Texas, a big state, millions of people. In the entire state there is just one place human beings can get naked, legally that is. McGregor Park, commonly known as Hippie Hollow, a sunny, sloping, multi-tiered shore on Lake Travis just north of Austin. My wife and I have spent weekends there: a motel room by night, sun and fresh air by day, sharing the unspoken kinship with other like-minded naked adults, looking and being looked at.

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Refreshing

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Biker’s get naked for Earth Day

By Christopher Crosby in the Maine Campus

As the sun glinted off of assembled bikes, the air ripe with the smell of drying paint and the scents of spring, a slight breeze carried trills of nervous laughter and ruffled through shirts and pants scattered haphazardly on the packed dirt road.

Around me, belt and bra buckles unclasped in unison and fell to the ground.

I hesitated, looking around at the 50 plus people in various states of undress and, taking a deep breath, I removed the last vestiges of my modesty.

For nature and journalism, I was prepared to do my part.

Whether loved or hated, the much-anticipated naked Earth Day bike ride, a University of Maine tradition, was back again.

Dating back to 1970, April 22 sees celebrations on campus of International Mother Earth Day, as it is recognized by the United Nations.

Embracing the all-natural spirit, I joined other brave souls to bare all for the planet. Disrobing, we smeared ourselves in green paint — some applying lotion to keep themselves sleek and shiny.

I arrived at the determined meeting point — the out-of-the-way intersection of Grove Street and Allagash Road — panting for breath. My trusty steed, a relic of a bicycle with two flat tires, seemed inadequate. I was sure I would end up separated from the group.

Trying to shake my trepidation, Amy M-, one of the event’s organizers, said it was the largest showing of nude bikers she had seen in her three rides.

“It’s great every year,” she said. “It’s liberating.”

Bryan Mayo, a relaxed three-year naked ride veteran and co-organizer for this year’s event, described what would be the worst-case scenario.

“Falling off your bike,” Mayo said. “It’s the only rule we really have: If one person goes down, we all wait.”

After clothes are removed and collected in a volunteer’s car, the crew sets off. John V- and Robert K- — struck by a touch of genius and wielding the shaft of a vuvuzela — lashed a chair to a platform and pulled the contraption behind a bike chariot-style.

The most adventuresome of the lot — a unicyclist whose wheel was adorned with a paper reconstruction of the earth — boldly peddled in the front of the line.

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