BARELY FREE: speaking peace nudely

BARELY FREE: speaking peace nudely. [Yule 2002]
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[Note to readers of SF indymedia: "Barely Free" is a monthly column, published since Dec 2000, written for a Bay Area nudist audience; but NOT limited to nudism. This is the first time it has been submitted to indymedia. We don't know whether it will be published or censored.]
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The western (coastal & rural) part of Marin County, in northern California, made national news when fifty women posed nude for a photo, in which their bodies, on the ground, spell PEACE. Soon afterward, the local paper reported reactions: "I attended a yearly harvest party at Nan McEvoy’s olive oil-producing ranch along the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road. McEvoy, who once chaired the board of the [SF] Chronicle corporation, has friends among journalists, ranchers, and politicians. [.....] This year I chatted briefly with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. Mostly, however, I talked with members of West Marin’s ranching families, and –- a bit to my surprise -- none of the ranch women objected to the demonstration. In fact, several women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s said they would have joined in had they only known about it in advance." [-- David V. Mitchell, "Sparsely, Sage and Timely: the reaction to 50 naked demonstrators," The Point Reyes Light, 21 Nov. 2002. ]

In IRAN, fascists accuse moderates of "encouraging nudity" if they allow women students to remove their head-scarves and chadors inside all-female schools. To me, this seems absurd. Yet it fits one of the definitions of "nude" (as adjective) found in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 2nd edition: "Of the human figure, or those parts of it which are *usually* clothed: Naked, unclothed, undraped."

The concept of usually-clothed parts varies with time and place. if a rural Afghan or Yemeni woman dares to show her face, she may be "naked" in the eyes of local observers. Westerners at a clothing-optional beach can easily categorize various women as "nude" versus "topless" (or "topfree") versus "clothed" (including those who wear a conventional bikini); while an Arab Muslim might perceive even the bikini-wearer as "nude". Some Westerners might wonder how to classify a woman wearing the "dental-floss" type of thong bottom -- can she be described as "clothed" if her breasts and pubic region are covered, yet her buttocks are bare? Traditional rural persons in western Ireland (probably the most sex-phobic area in Western Europe) may feel shame if a stranger sees them barefoot; can one there speak of "nude feet"?

Even California nudists and feminists (including this writer) still practice a double standard of perception and description: on the streets of San Francisco, a bare-chested woman would attract attention (favorable or otherwise), and might be described as "half-nude"; while bare-chested men are ignored. In most U.S. cities, a "topless" woman might be hassled by cops; while very few towns hassle shirtless males.

OED gives examples of usage, which offer historical clues: 1845, "the nude Academy model"; 1879, "the nude bust of that Empress" (on a coin); 1880, "pretty nude feet"; 1974 Publishers Weekly 26 Aug.... "A novel about a nude model who longs for true love." Turning away from the body, the term "nude" may be attached to representations of "nude, or lightly clad, figures (usu. female)", as in: 1870, "nude drama: [in which actresses wore flesh-colored tights]; 1957, "Nude tableau, behind first act gauze"; 1959, Sunday Times 16 Aug.... "It is the later nude revue days of Collins's Music Hall"; 1959, Listener...6 Aug..."There are packed houses at nude revues". [ I guess this refers to a period in London in which a female could appear nude on stage, but only if she didn't dance, or otherwise move her body. So we might imagine the curtain opening to show a naked woman, standing still as an art model, she sings a few songs, then the curtain closes while the audience claps; but, since she must hold still, she can't even bow to acknowledge their applause. Do any readers have more info on this phase?]

GROW your bare vocabulary: "nudely" (adverb) [1627]: barely, simply, plainly; "nudeness" (noun) [1882]: the state of being nude or undraped; "nudifier" (noun): one who strips himself/herself naked, as [1880] "One was a chronic maniac and a betermined nudifier"; "nudish" (adjective) [1880]: somewhat nude; "nuditarian" (adjective) [1867]: advocating the study of the nude; "to nude" (verb): to denude [1551]; to strip, unclothe, make naked [1845].

"NUDIST" and "nudism" seem to have entered journalistic English by 1929; soon followed, in 1935, by the slang term "NUDIE". I suspect that "nudist" came from a French word, but OED doesn't shed any light on this question. The three OED entries illustrate a "modern" (post-Victorian) journalistic tradition of laughing at nudism (instead of denouncing it as sinful).

"NUDISM...The cult and practice of going unclothed. 1929 Time ...July 23... 'Made in Germany, imported to France, is the cult of Nudism, a mulligan stew of vegetarianism, physical culture and pagan worship'; 1931 F. & M. Merrill... Among Nudists [book].... '...nudism is growing in France'; ...."

"NUDIST...An adherent of the cult of the nude; a person who advocates or practises going unclothed... 1929 Times...July 23... 'Much publicity has been given the Nudist colony on an island in the Seine near Paris'....; 1931 John o' London's 8 Aug. 620/2 'The other members of the nudist colony were...entirely normal people.' Ibid. 620/3 'The nudists of France are pursued by the police, by the clergy, by the wit of Parisian cartoonists'; 1932 Daily Express 28 June... 'Nudist camps have sprung up all over England in the past fortnight, in which happy families disport themselves in the warm sunshine.'; ......." [Notes: For 23 July 1929, are there two stories on this date (in Times of London, and in TIME magazine), or just one (the Times, misprinted as Time)? The term "nudist camp" may reflect temporary gatherings on rented land, with nudists housed in tents, instead of at permanent clubs. The term "nudist colony" may reflect the overlapping concepts of "utopian colony" and "artists' colony". In later decades, orthodox nudist spokespersons would whine whenever journalists used the term "colony"; which the nudists somehow perceived as insulting. I never shared that perception.]

"NUDIE... Also NUDEY. ... A nude show; a nude person; a film, photograph, or magazine feauring nudity.... 1935 Amer. Mercury June 230/1 '*Nudie*, nude show'; 1939 Amer. Speech XIV. 4 'A 'nudie' (nudist picture)...is 'cinemerotic'...."
[In 1942, the American Thesaurus of Slang uses 'nudie' for strip-tease, strip-teaser, burlesque show; plus "Bare skinema..."
[Movie, talkie, nudie -- three coinages in a word-fountain? I can't recall hearing the word "nudie" spoken by my fellow Yanks; but it seems to be common in Australia, sometimes in the phrase "rudie nudie".]

In the Bay Area Reporter, 28 Nov. , Stephanie von Buchau reviews the San Francisco production of Handel's opera ALCINA.
"Apparently in Europe it featured full-frontal nudity" -- but in prudish U$A you'll see no more than "the leading lady's impressive breasts, revealed by a see-thru mesh bodice."

Let's plan ahead, to hold nude RAINDANCES toward the end of the dry season, in various arid locations, such as southern California. Britannica Concise summarizes "rain dance" this way: "Ceremonial dance performed to bring rain needed to water crops. Rain dances have been customary in many cultures, from the ancient Egyptians to the civilization of the Mayas and the people of the 20th-cent. Balkans. Rain dances often include dancing in a circle, [....] green vegetation, nudity, the pouring of water, and whirling, meant to act as a wind charm. They may also include phallic and fertility rites. "


In the Netherlands, young men traditionally celebrate the New Year by briefly dipping naked in the cold North Sea. [Riddle: How can you make Goddess laugh?]

The November column contained remarks by Tom and Corona70 on male erections at nude beaches. Those remarks reflected only the views of those two individuals. In contrast, Tortuga believes that erections *shouldn't* be made visible at U.S. nude beaches. Such display can endanger the fragile social and political tolerance which society currently extends to mixed clothing-optional beaches. If you're male, and you get an erection at a nude beach, please conceal it (as I advised in the first place, way back in my September column). Speaking of erections, these often occur during REM sleep (dream sleep), even if there's nothing erotic about the dream. When we sleep under sheets or blankets, or sleep face-down, these may not be noticed by others. I've watched this process once, at a nude beach, when a pierced man was sleeping on his back.

As of December 2002, this column seems to be turning two years old. At first it was called "nudeNews", later "Barely Free". The 15 December 2000 column was titled "Wood nymphs of the world, strip to save our trees!" [Answer to riddle: By trying to predict what will happen next year.]
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