Nudity in VT

[KBCraig]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060825/od_nm/vermont_nude_dc;_ylt=AvO.Cd75_hNcHO38R8wdhvWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3NW1oMDRpBHNlYwM3NTc-

Nude teens raise eyebrows

By Scott ChristiansonFri Aug 25, 10:10 AM ET

Some have appeared naked in a downtown parking lot. Others rode their bicycles or simply strolled the streets in the nude.

Teenagers in the quaint Vermont town of Brattleboro are raising eyebrows this summer with brazen displays of nudity.

So far they haven't been arrested or ticketed: public nudity isn't illegal in the town of 13,000 people, unless it's done to arouse sexual gratification.

Vermont has a live-and-let-live tradition, allowing skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing. Brattleboro, the first permanent English settlement in the state in 1724, is home to a community of writers, artists and musicians as well as transplanted entrepreneurs from Boston and New York.

When the weather grew hot this year, a couple of dozen teens took to holding hula hoop contests, riding bikes and parading past the shops wearing only their birthday suits.

Nobody, including the police, seemed to take offense until one local, Theresa Toney, went before the town government in August to complain about a group of youngsters naked in a parking lot.

"The parking lot is not a strip club," she said. "What about children seeing this?"

Town officials asked their attorney to draft an ordinance to ban such displays for the Select Board to vote on in September. When the teens heard about it, some staged a nude sit-in.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal," said Alec McPherson, a recent high school graduate as he sat at a coffee shop table, browsing a thick volume of artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Everyone's naked in this book."

His companion, Jeremiah Compton, a high school junior who plays in a local metal-and-punk band, agreed. "It's just that we're bored and expressing our right," he said.

"We have a nuclear power plant a few miles away and a ridiculous war in the Middle East, countries getting bombed," said Ian Bigelow, a 23-year-old who had gathered with some of his friends outside a bookstore. "So why's it such a big problem if we chose to get nude?"

[Lloyd Danforth]

I was getting ready to jump in the car and head north when I realized its all Guys doing this!

[aries]

Lucky for those prudes in the town government winter is coming up

[Revmar]

Nobody, including the police, seemed to take offense until one local, Theresa Toney, went before the town government in August to complain about a group of youngsters naked in a parking lot.

"The parking lot is not a strip club," she said. "What about children seeing this?"

So, because one busybody complains it's now a "big deal" to the town government?  Why didn't they just say "Lady, get a life." 

also, does it strike anyone else as funny that she used the "won't somebody think of the children!?" argument about naked children? 

[earthhaven]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people get so upset about nudity.

[FTL_Ian]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people get so upset about nudity.

Puritanism is alive and well.

[John]

Now come on, don't you think that this Freedom thing might be going just a bit too far?

If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born naked; ummmmmm, never mind.   

"I don't see why it's such a big deal," said Alec McPherson, a recent high school graduate as he sat at a coffee shop table, browsing a thick volume of artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Everyone's naked in this book."

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I remember the first time I saw people who were nude in public.  At first it caught me off guard because I was surprised to see it.  After a while it seemed normal.  A couple months later, I flew back to the US, where nudity is much less common.

[mraaron]

    Back home, it wasn't unusual for us to go nude when we would swim in the cold back country rivers as teenagers in high school. Guys and girls, it didnt really matter, we'd carry our coolers and lounge chairs to some sandbar and have a nice time swimming and having cold drinks.  As a little kid, I can remember riding by those places on the way in to town with my parents and seeing kids naked. Big deal.  I always thought VT would be a great place to concealed carry but this will make it tough!   

[KBCraig]

I lived in Germany for three years, so of course I've seen nudity in the thermal baths, and in sunbathing areas and beaches, and I even "went native".

There's nothing sexy or sexual about a room full of naked people.

[aries]

I lived in Germany for three years, so of course I've seen nudity in the thermal baths, and in sunbathing areas and beaches, and I even "went native".

There's nothing sexy or sexual about a room full of naked people.

This is true.

I think the policymakers are a bunch of perverts who cant help but get off to the thought of a few nude middle aged men and women at the beach, and feel the need to make such stupid clothing requirements

[maineiac]

I don't think I'll ever understand why people get so upset about nudity.

Puritanism is alive and well.

Yeah, but apparently not so much in Brattleboro. Try taking a nude stroll in N'amshuh.

[Jared]

the modern parent - God forbid your child knows anything about sex and the human body. yeah let's tell them that the human body is a bad, dirty thing that should not be looked upon. that's going to do great things for their development. 

[tracysaboe]

My parents were reading me lifecycle library books and teaching me about sex when I was 5 years old. Puritanism really isn't Biblical, and these people who want the government to "protect" their children, could solve the problem all by themselves by simply educating them themselvs. No matter how many laws you have if the kids don't learn about it from you, they'll learn about it somewhere else.

Tracy

[Braddogg]

Puritanism really isn't Biblical

I've been downloading sermons from this pastor (Mike Abendroth, of the Bethlehem Bible Church somewhere in Massachusetts), and he's been preaching from the Song of Solomon.  It's the first time I've heard preaching on that text, because the Puritans still reign in mainline denominations and are afraid of preaching "adult situations."