NAC WHITE PAPER COURTESY OF TNS

Should skinny-dippers be required to register as sex criminals? 13 States Think So! Bob Morton Chairman, Naturist Action Committee           Skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing are innocent, widespread and longstanding traditions throughout the United States. A recent Roper Poll conducted for the Naturist Education Foundation reveals that one in four Americans have been skinny-dipping or nude sunbathing in mixed groups of men and women at a beach, at a pool, or somewhere else. That same poll shows that fully 80% of the American public believe that people who enjoy nude sunbathing should be able to do so without interference from officials, as long as they do so at a beach that is accepted for that purpose. The NEF/Roper Poll also indicates that half of those Americans with opinions even feel that governments should set aside public land specifically for the purpose of nude recreation. In thirteen U.S. states, however, lawmakers have decreed that those convicted of mere nudity must register as sex offenders. The thirteen are listed below. Click on a state to view its law requiring convicted skinny-dippers to register as sex criminals. Alabama Arizona California   Colorado Delaware Idaho   Iowa Massachusetts Michigan Montana   Nevada Oklahoma South Dakota   The Naturist Action Committee is working to reverse this travesty and prevent additional states from adding themselves to the list. Recent legislative efforts have been made in Washington (1999 and 2000) and Nebraska (1999 and 2000) to make mere nudity an offense requiring sex offender registration. In both states, NAC played a prominent role in defeating the legislation. The move to place more people on state sex offender lists is a result of qualifications the U.S. government has placed on states that wish to receive Byrne Grant funding for state and local law enforcement efforts. To be qualified to receive millions of dollars in federal money, states are required to implement registration schemes for so-called “sexual predators.” The penalty for failure to establish such a list is a loss of funds on which the states have come to be totally dependent. The impetus for all this comes from the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994, (PL103-322) and the “Megan's Law” amendment to it (PL104-145, 1997). Jacob Wetterling and Megan Kanka were children who were killed by recidivist sex offenders. At least a dozen acts of Congress and countless pieces of state legislation have made clarifications and revisions to the Jacob Wetterling Act and Megan's Law. However, there has never been anything in the federal legislation that specifically requires those who have been convicted for mere nudity to be included by the states as “sexual predators.” That fact hasn't prevented a handful of state lawmakers from threatening their colleagues with a loss of federal funding if they do not place skinny-dippers on their state's list. A head count of  “predators” is submitted each year to the federal bureaucracy for approval. Increased counts, bloated by adding hapless nude sunbathers, help establish that the state is serious about complying. Skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing are not the activities of predators. With significant and increasing nationwide participation by average citizens and overwhelming acceptance by Americans, nude recreation deserves better than having its participants criminalized as sex criminals. Nor is simple non-sexual nudity the ‘first step toward becoming a sexual predator,” as some lawmakers have characterized it. While having little to do with reality, such statements reveal volumes about the persons making them. NAC anticipates further attempts by state legislators to force skinny-dippers onto the list of sex offenders who must register. Watch for NAC Action Alerts, Advisories and Updates on this topic.

DISUNITY IN AMERICAN NUDISM

At the beginning of 1963 American nudism finds itself with perhaps too many organizations attempting or purporting to be representative of the movement.

Since 1933 we have of course had the American Sunbathing Association which represents 125 of the 158 clubs on this continent. Out of troubles in 1952 the National Nudist Council was born to represent some 25 clubs in the northeastern portion of the Middle West. Two dissident clubs formed the “Suntel” Association about 1959. It still consists of Sun Valley Gardens in Ontario, Canada, and Cedar Waters, in New Hampshire.

A new arrival on the scene is the American Nudist Association in Florida, started by a withdrawal of the Floritans from the ASA. It is headed by a young publicity expert named Johnny Dawson, of whom we expect to hear more later. For a fee of $20 per club per year the ANA promises to do most of the things the ASA has been trying to do for years, but better. Time will tell.

From Canada we hear of an “Association of Ontario Nudists” of which we know nothing more than that they apparently applied to the city of Toronto for permission to use a municipally owned pool for nude swimming at selected times. According to the Toronto Globe and Mail the nudists were asking for a period once a week from 8 to 10 p.m. when they would supply attendants and be completely responsible for the property. The request was refused but some criticism of this action developed later when it was pointed out that the pool was losing money and use by the nudists might have helped the financial picture.

Finally, in the picture of disunity in American nudism we come to California where seven owners of Southern California clubs have been meeting monthly. Out of these meetings came a new power play in the Western Sunbathing Association convention when the delegates of these clubs joined forces to elect owners of three clubs and a manager and two members of the same clubs to the Board of Directors, leaving no representation for Northern California or the so-called “travel clubs”. These elements have some representatives on the Board to serve one more year but next year camp owners promise to “clean the slate”. This in itself would not be too disturbing, for power blocs come and go, but some camp owners are now openly talking of pulling out of the ASA entirely. Time will tell, and perhaps when this is being read peace will have been restored, or disunity may have progressed still further.

Ray Connett

(Source: Sun & Health International Edition, Vol. 27 No. 1, January 1963)

ΕD LANGE ON NUDIST MAGAZINES

The center-spread in nudist magazines, and big picture sections, as in other magazines circulated on the newsstands, has for many years been found to help sell all kinds of magazines. Responsible nudist publishers have often included men and children on those pages to further help support the nudist idea. And as an example, look at the issue #23 of The SUNDIAL, NUDIST ADVENTURE #2 and 3, NUDISM TODAY #5 and 6, to name a few. These hardly seem to be exotic photographs. They do depict males and females.

Elysium's photographs, be they pages of center-spreads, portray a basic credo of the nudist philosophy, that there is nothing wrong with an unretouched photograph, be it of male or female or both together. If a magazine is expected to survive from its sale to the public in the condition of the market as it exists today, some large-sized photographs need to be included in the issue somewhere, whether it be in the center-spread or elsewhere in the magazine. It does little good to satisfy the complaints of critics to change the centerspread and use large pictures in another position within the magazine. The fact that the large picture is an integral part of almost all publications featuring illustrations (not just nudist magazines,) is something that should be apparent to anyone who goes to the newsstands. LIFE, LOOK, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, MC CALL'S, all use center-spreads and other big picture design elements to attract attention and to catch the reader's eye.

The courts rule today, a publication cannot be judged by one picture alone -the entire issue, taken as a whole is the basis of the law.

Certainly some work being done today offends me -and I know that the nudist idea offends some censors. And it is not surprising that some nudists offend each other.

What seems lost in controversy about nudist magazines is our basic credo; that the unclothed human body is wholesome, clean and good, and it is not lewd, lascivious and obscene.

We speak about the healthy mind in a healthy body. Perhaps it’s time for us to stand for what we profess and demonstrate more fully the idea that nudity, for nudists, is not lewdity.

(Source: The Bulletin, Volume 14, No. 5, May 1965)

NUDES IN THE NEWS FOR DECEMBER 1-31, 2012 COURTESY OF BAY AREA NATURISTS OF SAN JOSE, CA

Join the polar 'bare' plunge on 'Nude Year's Day' (Surrey North Delta Leader via BC Local News, Monday, December 31, 2012)
Naturism Unveiled: Caliente's Grand Vision Becomes Reality (Alex Tiegen, New Port Richey Patch, Monday, December 31, 2012)
Skinny dipping record broken at Rhythm & Vines (video) (Adrien Taylor, 3 News, Sunday, December 30, 2012)
Skinny-dipping record broken in Gisborne (AAP via MSN-NZ, Sunday, December 30, 2012)
Campers attempt to break skinny-dipping record (Newstalk ZB via New Zealand Herald, Sunday, December 30, 2012)
Breastfeeding mom kicked out of Claire's store in N.S. (CBC News via Updated News, Saturday, December 29, 2012)
Less Than 1 In 10 Americans Sleep Naked, Survey Finds (Huffington Post, Friday, December 28, 2012)
Baredevil: Girl's naked tightrope walk (Richard White, The Sun, Thursday, December 27, 2012)
Shark closes Swanbourne nudist beach (The West Australian, Monday, December 24, 2012)
Health effects of dancing naked in cold, with hat (video) (WSBT, Sunday, December 23, 2012)
Another shot at skinny dipping record (3News, Friday, December 21, 2012)
Best of 2012: Naturist Lives from the Heart (Keli Sipperley, Land O Lakes Patch, Thursday, December 20, 2012)
Egyptian nudist in new secularism stunt (Gulf News, Thursday, December 20, 2012)
Kate Moss Naked Man Picture Is Cracking Us Up (photo) (Huffington Post, Thursday, December 20, 2012)
'We're just raising money for charity': Female rower who stripped for naked calendar defends herself from feminist blogger's attack (video) (Ruth Styles, Daily Mail, Thursday, December 20, 2012)
Tauranga naturist to defend charges (Sandra Conchie, Bay of Plenty Times, Tuesday, December 18, 2012)
Help son find the humour in your naked dance routine (Miss Lonelyhearts, Winnipeg Free Press, Sunday, December 16, 2012)
San Francisco City Attorney dismantles Nudist's legal challenge (Jonathan Farrell, Digital Journal, Saturday, December 15, 2012)
Watch out for that hot gravy! Nudists from UK's first luxury naturist hotel reveal they'll be lunching in the buff this Christmas (video) (Deborah Arthurs, Daily Mail, Friday, December 14, 2012)
SF City Attorney seeks to have court dismiss lawsuit against nudity ban (KTVU, Thursday, December 13, 2012)
Nude Sunbathers Have No Beach to Tan in N.J. After Sandy (Elise Young, Bloomberg, Thursday, December 13, 2012)
Sunbeds are bad for you - but being naked isn't (Jodie Marsh, The Sun, Thursday, December 13, 2012)
Issaquah nudist group to welcome end of the world in the buff (Dan Restione, My Northwest, Thursday, December 13, 2012)
Local nudists plan to celebrate ‘end of the world’ (Q13 Fox Seattle-Tacoma, Thursday, December 13, 2012)
Clothing-Optional Options: How to (Un)Dress Post-Nudity Ban (SF Weekly, Wednesday, December 12, 2012)
Man strips naked at Austrian art exhibition called 'Nude Men' (Associated Press via San Jose Mercury News, Tuesday, December 11, 2012)
Bare minimum sentence for pest Cairns nudist (Melanie Petrinec, The Cairns Post, Tuesday, December 11, 2012)
Reader: There's nothing "strange" about nudism (Patricia Calhoun, Denver Westword, Monday, December 10, 2012)
Nudist colony near Hutchinson is real (Amy Bickel, he Hutchinson News, Sunday, December 9, 2012)
Birmingham's naked hotel prepares for a Happy Nude Year (Mike Lockley, Birmingham Mail, Sunday, December 9, 2012)
Undress code: My naked ambition (Lydia Slater, Daily Mail, Saturday, December 8, 2012)
Natalie White Sits Down with Artist Spencer Tunick (video) (Art Basel, Miami Pop Media, Friday, December 7, 2012)
Naked ambition: baring all for small business (Enterprise, Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, December 7, 2012)
Jessica Biel: ‘Swimming Naked’ Best Part of Marriage (Barbara Schmitt, ABC News, Thursday, December 6, 2012)
Naked Ambition: New Zealand Skinny-Dippers Attempt To Break Guinness World Record (pictures) (Sara C Nelson, Huffington Post, Thursday, December 6, 2012)
Nude jogger shocked morning commuters in Springfield (video) (Anthony Fay, WWLP 22 News, Chicopee MA, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
Memos on nudist issue (Steve Evers, Bay Area Reporter, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
There goes the Castro, again (Joe Mac, Bay Area Reporter, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
Naked protesters disrupt final San Francisco nudity ban vote (video) (CBS News, Thursday, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
600 people get naked in bid to set new skinny dipping world record (Caters News Agency via The Sun, Thursday, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
Nudists protest nude ban by getting naked at City Hall (Dan Schreiber, San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
The politically bared breast (Helen Whittle, Deutsche Welt, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
Naked Rambler arrested in Tardebigge, near Redditch (Harriet Ernstsons, Bromsgrove Standard, Wednesday, December 5, 2012)
S.F. is no longer the naked city (Marisa Lagos & Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, December 4, 2012)
Nudists Plan Protest at County Commission Over Haulover Beach Construction (Jon Tayler, Miami New Times, Tuesday, December 4, 2012)
Man jailed for naked stunt on London statue (Associated Press via US News & World Report, Tuesday, December 4, 2012)
Sandy Hook may remain closed next summer after hurricane blows left heavy damage (MaryAnn Spoto, The Star-Ledger, Monday, December 3, 2012)
I'm win the mood: ‘Hero’ gong for Naked Rambler (Kenny Angove, The Scottish Sun, Monday, December 3, 2012)
Nude and loving it (Jared Levy, Waikato Times via Stuff, Monday, December 3, 2012)
Naturist meeting draws crowd (Sonya Bateson, Rotorua Daily Post, Monday, December 3, 2012)
Chill shrinks world skinny-dip bid (Blair Cunningham, National Business Review, Monday, December 3, 2012)
Naked jogger's victory in court (Kiri Gillespie, Bay of Plenty Times, Monday, December 3, 2012)
Best of West Des Moines Craigslist: Dating Isn't Working, Toe Flossing, Nudist Seeking Roommate and Naked Frisbee (Beth Dalbey, West Des Moines Patch, Sunday, December 2, 2012)
Buff jogger in the clear (Edward Rooney & Russell Blackstock, New Zealand Herald, Sunday, December 2, 2012)
Nude jogger ruling sign of growing tolerance (Edward Rooney, New Zealand Herald, Saturday, December 1, 2012)
In San Francisco, a Voice of Moderation That's Often Unwelcome (Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times, Saturday, December 1, 2012)
Cantabrians attempt skinny dipping record (video) (Dave Goosselink, 3 News, Saturday, December 1, 2012)
Historic Dublin swimming and nudist club votes to continue ban against women (Patrick Counihan, Irish Central, Saturday, December 1, 2012)
Nude jogging 'same as a gang patch' - judge (Blair Ensor, The Dominion Post via Stuff, Saturday, December 1, 2012)