Public Nudity Displays Character
There should be an alarm somewhere inside of a person with an indicator of the appropriate clothing to place on one's body in public.
There should be an alarm somewhere inside of a person with an indicator of the appropriate clothing to place on ones body in public.
Courtesy of MorgueFile
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Many of us experience the frustration of the pat down and search occurring each time we board a plane.
In recent days, a male and a female have taken matters into their own hands and have totally disrobed until they are standing completely naked at the airport. In one case, there seems to be a question about the mental state of the person who removed clothes and in the other there was an indication of the disrobing to full nudity was in protest to the required search.
Opinions run the full range of emotions regarding the two acts of public nudity, but the issue at hand is the matter of what would cause someone to take such a drastic action by exposing themselves in public. I suppose each case is different and people do these things for various reasons.
Recently, while standing in line at a public government building for service, it was noticed that some of the people in the line were not appropriately dressed to be in public. Albeit, we are seeing a more relaxed dress code and style of dress in public these days. The question looming, however, is why someone would leave their home in such a state of undress.
Is the person seeking attention? Is the person who is in various stages of undress in public places even aware they are not dressed properly to be in public? Is the person making a statement regarding their own self respect?
We seem to have come a long way from the directive our mothers gave us when they insisted we never go out in public without clean underwear for fear there would be an accident, and the people would see that we had on dirty underwear. There was a time when we were told that entertainment — movies, television shows, concerts — mirrored society and the morals of the people. We have seen in recent years a flip-flop on that old adage. It seems now we are seeing displayed in public what is shown on the television shows, movies and the dress (or lack thereof) of the entertainers in concerts.
There are decency laws needing to be enforced in more than just the venues of entertainment, it seems. A trip to any enclosed shopping mall reveals more than the bargains of the day with what some people, male and female, are choosing to wear in public. With the availability of cameras imbedded everywhere today, there is no way I can believe that people are unaware that the choice they made of clothing for the day will simply go unnoticed.
We must ask, “What has happened to self respect?” There should be an alarm somewhere inside of a person with an indicator of the appropriate clothing to place on one's body in public. At one's private home and in the proper leisure activity there is an acceptable relaxed dress code. From where I stand, in public places modest clothes reflect the best character.
Has our public dress code become indecent? Tell us in comments.
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Gary Alan
6:32 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
The Negative Discourse as you called it is a sign that the people of this country is fed up with things the way they are and the are pushing the envelop of rules and laws and the don't do this and don't do that we have been living in today. This, like it or not is most likely going to increase in activity in the days to come!
Ray Newman
7:49 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
It is true that public nudity reveals more than flesh. Making a statement about rules by uncovering in public might reveal the character of the person making the decision to choose that style of protest.
Anom
9:53 am on Monday, April 23, 2012
From my observation in the general public, I would figure the % of females (slutty looking) inappropriately dressed is slightly higher than males. But in various places of public worship I've been nearly all men are dressed appropriately, whereas the number of girls and women is alarming. It may be that the males that dress like that don't go to the places of worship I have been. Maybe the females, girls and women "dress-up" inappropriately to go to worship. Or it could be what I consider inappropriately is acceptable.
Malcolm Boura
2:59 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
"appropriate" is all too often nothing but the prejudice of the speaker. Repressive dress codes are harmful. The research evidence is very clear. The correlations are near perfect, the mechanisms well understood and the effects enormous. It is not coincidence that Demark, nudity legal, has only a tenth the teenage pregnancy rate of the USA. That pattern repeats across all the body related indicators and all the international indicators and a factor of ten is typical. Attitudes have consequences.
Ray Newman
7:58 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
"Repressive dress codes are harmful." So, we need to learn from Denmark's example in order to have lower teen pregancy rate all we need do is make public nudity legal. Really? It is true, "Attitudes have consequences."
Diane
10:14 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The problem starts at home. Two words - good parenting. My parents always told me I could wear something or have my haircut a certain way if it was appropriate for church. That stopped a lot. We have become too permissive a society. Parents let their children do as they please. Maybe I'm just too old.
George Martin
5:37 pm on Wednesday, April 25, 2012
At first, I thought your title meant that being nude in public demonstrated enormous courage. After reading the article, it seemed your title meant that lacking clothing was lacking in character. Finally your comments seem to imply it's more specific to the purpose of the nudity, especially in protest. I would agree with the last. There are situations in which nudity is appropriate, but laws which prevent us from being nude in otherwise appropriate situations (sunbathing, swimming, hiking) create far more problems than they solve, and have no ethical basis.
Phil Davis
4:22 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012
"Appropriate clothing" is somewhat subjective.
My favorite example is the "extreme décolleté" dressess of the 16th and 17th centuries; respectable women (even Queen Elizabeth I) would appear in public with their entire breasts exposed at a time when it would have been scandalous to do the same with their ankles or upper arms. Meanwhile, in the early 20th century, there were a number of men charged with indecent exposure for appearing topless at public beaches.
Some of the people you refer to probably see themselves as simply matching the norms in their own social circles.