Our Bodies Should Never Be Illegal

One day, I was speaking with a female friend of mine when she made a statement that shook me deep in my bones. She said, "I would never be caught dead in public without my makeup on." In an instant, I realized she was telling me more than she knew. What I quickly realized was that we live in a society that tells women that they are not "presentable" in public unless they apply a whole lot of face paint to cover up who they really are. Women, in their natural state, are unacceptable to much of society. It shook me enough that I kept thinking about it.

The more I thought about it, the worse it got. In the end, I realized it isn't just women given this message. We all - particularly if we live in the United States - are bombarded with messages of shame and guilt about our bodies and appearances on a daily basis, to the point where simply being naked in public is against the law in most places. Think about that for a second: The living vessels that carry our conscious selves through our whole lives, which I believe to be profound and sacred, are, according to law and society, dirty, shameful and needing to be hidden. For those of us who believe in the divinity of our physical bodies, this legislated body-shaming is blasphemy.

Legalizing nudity offers a host of positive outcomes on the other hand: Many argue that nudity should be legal because it promotes body positivity, challenges societal norms of shame, and allows individuals to embrace their natural selves without judgment. Others believe it can foster a sense of freedom, equality, and acceptance of the human body as it is. On the negative side... well, there really isn't anything.

Oh, I can hear some of you now clutching your pearls and muttering something like, "but what about the children?" And, I'll admit right up front that I don't have kids, don't want to have kids and am not at risk of ever accidentally getting some. So worrying about the kids is not really my thing. But, one thing I know for sure: body shame is indoctrinated in us when we are children and a large and growing number of psychologists, like this one, believe that being naked around children is actually good for them. Children, they say, have a natural sense of curiosity about their own bodies and can benefit from seeing normal, every day people naked so they have more realistic expectations of their own. Furthermore, they say, being naked around children helps parents teach them about the importance of boundaries around their bodies, and different cultural expectations about them. When we keep bodies hidden away from them, that learning generally doesn't seem to happen. Kids that grow up in homes that shun nudity really end up learning whatever they learn about bodies, sex and boundaries on their own, which seems less than ideal.

Needless-to-say, I don't buy any of the pearl-clutching from those who fret about "the children" when the topic of nudity comes up. I can't see anything wrong with letting kids grow up without shaming their bodies. And, a growing body of research says that kids raised in nudist households experience a wide range of positive benefits as a result. So, if we're really concerned about the welfare of the kids, maybe we should stop telling them their bodies are dirty and awful for no good reason at all... just a thought...

I'll add this final thought: I am writing this from Vermont, a state where public nudity is legal. For the most part, though, you wouldn't know that by walking down the street most days, because when you are free to be naked that doesn't mean you always want to be. Most people here, even the nudists, try to be sensitive to other people's norms and comfort. So, even though they don't have to, they generally find discreet, more private areas at the beach, for example, for getting their all-over tans.

On Saturday, June 14, World Naked Bike Ride will take place in the Capital City of Montpelier. A group of us will gather at the Dog River Park and ride and then take an approximately 6 mile naked bike ride through the city, ending on the steps of the Capitol Building. The participants will have fun. Some people may be surprised to see a group of naked bikers go by. But, no one will be harmed in any way. And, it will all be perfectly legal, as it should be in any reasonable society.

We should no more need to cover our bodies with clothing than our faces in makeup in order to be considered acceptable.