To cover up various body parts which cultural norms have deemed taboo ģ. To protect the wearer from the elements - cold temperatures, blazing sun, wind, etc. But clothing has several other functions as well:ġ. Humans wear clothing, obviously, to keep us warm in cold climates. The quote above got me thinking about the very purpose of clothing, something I had never really pondered until now. Local alternative newspaper The Bay Guardian saw a chance for a publicity stunt and produced “Butt Guardian” towels so that everyone could be in compliance with the new anti-excretion ordinance.īay Guardian employees handed them out to all takers if you want one of your own they even have an online version you can print out “to soothe the heebie jeebies induced in some shrinking violets about stray hairs and other hysterical anal imaginings covering the seats of our fair city.”
It was cloudy and a bit chilly, but that didn’t stop about 40 or 50 men from standing around naked, and posing for the phalanx of photographers who had assembled across the tracks. Traffic streamed by as the nudists (all men) began to assemble, several of whom were carrying protest signs saying things like “Nude is not lewd” and “Get your hate off my body.” While the Castro District is well-known as a sort of outdoor gay-themed tourist attraction, it is still a “real” part of the urban landscape, just like any other part of the city, with street lights and gas stations and trolley tracks and laws. The protest was held in a small plaza at the intersection of Castro, 17th, and Market streets in San Francisco. (Note: This is the X-rated version of this report if you want to see the G-rated version, in which all the pictures are blurred out, click here.)
If you don’t want to see the pictures, stop reading now. So, below, you will find discussions about the purpose of clothing, public hygiene, exhibitionism, community standards and morality - and lots of pictures of naked men. I had originally intended to make this a lighthearted post, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt the protest merited serious analyis. Needless to say, I was at Saturday’s protest, camera in hand. Well, as luck would have it, the more politically-minded of the public nudists had already scheduled a pro-nudity protest just on general principles, but the timing was perfect to make it into a photo op for the newly proposed towel law. supervisor Scott Wiener to propose new legislation requiring naked people to sit on towels when using public facilities, and also to cover their nether regions while eating in restaurants - so that other residents won’t have to come into contact with whatever bodily excretions that might result from sitting down pants-free. You might assume this is illegal, but no - there is no law against public nudity in San Francisco, unless that nudity also involves “lewd thoughts or acts.” (In practice, what that means is that unless you have an erection or are masturbating, it is OK to expose yourself in San Francisco.)īut the ever-escalating recent increase in public nudists spurred S.F. In recent months it has become increasingly common to see men walking around San Francisco’s Castro District completely naked.