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DO "BARE" PUNS HURT NATURISM'S IMAGE? SHOULD WE AVOID THEM?
Guest Commentary by David Scott
Reprinted with permission.
Jan Braswell's article last month (For Women Only?) put me in an iconoclastic mood, because there are a few club habits that have concerned me for a long time, too. I opened the comic section of the newspaper last March and was greeted by what proved to be a poignant visual aid for the foremost of my worries.
The Gasoline Alley strip of March 18 featured a ride to the "Full Moon Nude Ranch." In the typically satirical form that often characterizes the humor directed at unorthodox special interest groups, comic strips will do what comic are supposed to do, that being entertain the reader. In this case it employed an obvious juvenile wordplay on “moons” and unclothed backsides. It was humor at nudists' expense, which we ought to be able to take in grown-up stride, because almost everyone gets their turn in the gaslight of satirical humor from time.
The problem is that the same cutesy juvenility that typifies much of the popular culture’s perception of nudism has carried over into nudism by naturists ourselves. Some of the names we give to our own events, clubs and resorts, make "Full Moon Nude Ranch" look pretty good in comparison. Without singling out any one resort, I've seen some real humdingers.
And, they send one hell of a mixed message. Mixed messages are seldom if ever beneficial to any movement seeking acceptance by a nervous and sometimes suspicious populace.
You see, on one hand, we are proclaiming that nudity is natural, wholesome, and should not be a big deal. Nudity is just the most natural state of being, we eagerly proclaim. Skimpy, revealing clothing and swimwear is what draws attention to genitalia and "private" parts. Isn't what we're telling people?
Then why, pray tell, do some of us insist on cutesy words like "canuding"? Why the penchant for names like (for hypothetical example) - Bare Buns Volleyball Tournament," which act like bright red neon arrows pointing at our privates? Isn't that a mixed message too? Might someone perceive that as sensationalizing the very thing that we say ought not be sensationalized? What better way to confuse a first-time visitor to a nudist resort?
Naturists may criticize "clothing compulsiveness," but in many ways, a different kind of compulsiveness is still very much with us. Some of us have replaced clothing compulsiveness with a kind of naked-compulsiveness for using "bare" puns and plays on words for naturist events and organizations. At a time when naturists want to be taken seriously, and the media are beginning to perform quite well at this, frankly, sometimes the names we dream up for ourselves make us look plain silly. We perpetuate the very sort of adolescent mocking and pun-slinging that we say we want to dispel.
Sometimes, the wordplay can work. "Bare to Breakers," for example, is a play on "Bay to Breakers," an annual late-spring foot race held in San Francisco. However, "Bare to Breakers" works precisely because the nude contingency in the otherwise clothed race is clearly a contrasting attention-getter. It is camaraderie in an event marked by camaraderie. "Bare to Breakers," denoting an organized (and tolerated) nude participation in a normally clothed event, is not a mixed message.
However, there is a right way and a wrong way to use cute or self-deprecating humor. When self-deprecating humor undermines our very mission, however, we go dead wrong. Using "bare," "buns" and "butt" puns in our names erodes the perceived sincerity of our message that nudity should not be sensationalized. It reinforces the childish humor that stands in the way of our being taken seriously and treated seriously.
The other mistake, made much less frequently but still often enough to cause concern, is when self-ridicule hinders acceptance of naturism (or any other minority movement) by waving defiance and passive-aggressive rebellion in popular culture's face. Names like "Queer Nation," as an example within the gay and lesbian community, convey to popular culture a mostly misleading message that gay and lesbian people have no desire to be accepted, liked or understood. I don't want to point fingers, but I'm sure many readers can think of at least a couple nudist counterparts to this type of "we don't want you to accept us" message.
Even without any rebellious intent, when we parody our nudity, people outside (and inside) the naturist environment can easily perceive that as admitting our "deviance." Indeed, turning self-disparagement into an act of pride and defiance is a common tactic among those who feel no hope (or intention) of ever being accepted by majority society.
But, is this how we as naturists should present ourselves, whether we mean to or not? Certainly not! American naturists are enjoying some of the best times in our nation's history when it comes to acceptance. If naturists (intentionally or not) keep proclaiming "we are oddballs" by constantly calling attention to our nakedness, that is exactly how the public will perceive us. Oddballs. And maybe, if we're lucky, we'll be tolerated.
Let's not lose focus of naturism's main message: the human body, clothed and unclothed, is clean, wholesome, and nothing to fear or shame. We generally believe that American culture's habit of treating the human body (and sexuality) as a tightly controlled commodity, caught in a double-bind between suppression and tantalization, causes far more problems than it solves. In the ideal world, an unclothed breast or groin would be no more scandalous than an uncovered left ear. Being nude is a state of being, and nothing more.
If we don't talk the walk and act accordingly, however, then we are no better than the parent who tells her children that their bodies are not shameful, yet dives for cover when young Timmy sees her step out of the shower. Guess which of these two conflicting messages really gets across. As the old adage says, actions do speak louder than words.
If all this sounds too stuffed-shirt, fear not. There is a place for games and jokes and a place for serious ideology. There is room for clever jargon among ourselves and room for stodgy philosophizing. My gosh, I even play volleyball.
But when the chips are down, when we need to be taken seriously as a worthy and dignified movement, it's the sober and serious spokespersons, more than the jokesters, more that garner the respect of journalists, legislators, and courts of law.
David Scott and his wife are longtime nudist activists living in Bakersfield, California.
In response, no, I am not advocating any sort of extreme overreaction in the direction of appearing more boringly staid than the textiles (as was practiced by Ilsely Boone and his ASA crowd sixty years ago.) My only concern here is that juvenile wordplay, when used in the official, sanctioning context of an event, club name or naturist publication, perpetuates juvenile attitudes toward nudity and sends the public (and club members) mixed messages.
An actual sign at a nudist park (which will remain nameless) typifies the “wrong message!”
Apparently, this kind of wordplay is quite a sacred cow to some. I raised this concern on a naturist email discussion group recently. The group split between those who shared my concern, and some who, rather heatedly, stretched my philosophy so far as to depict my ideal world as one which would convert naturist resorts into cult-like ashrams or ascetic monasteries.
Make no mistake, naturists do have good reasons to fear extremist philosophies. We regularly do combat against the fear-mongering and persecutory legislation that would just love to see our lifestyle options wiped out on based on their own narrow morality. On the other end of the spectrum, we're also keenly vigilant against the unscrupulous exploitation of nudity and pseudo-naturist ideology, whether the context is blatantly pornographic or is a more sophisticated lure into sexual exploitation. We are rightfully wary of these attacks from the left and the right.
Does David have a point or is he overreacting? Send in your comments and we will print them in a future issue. Mail to scna@socalnaturist.org Subject line: “Talking the Walk.”– Ed.