Should all beaches be clothing-optional?

[ronrat]

My mate and I took our ladies to Koh Chang last year and did a boat cruise to the smaller islands in the national parks. Ko Chang is an island in Thailand near the Cambodian border. Most of the passengers were Russians and most were over 50. We went to a small island where only 24 tourists stay over night but it has a nice beach with a bar and a cafe. An over 60,s Russian couple Ivan Drunkalot and his wife Vulgar Olga kept falling over on the footpath, in the sand, on the grass. Olga decides to climb onto the jetty (next to the steps) and her bikini top got caught up and was ripped in half and well useless. With that she fell backwards into the sand and water and emerged topless with the only covering of her ample and sagging boobs was sand. To this day I was so glad we did not take a camera. So to David I say. Be careful what you ask for.

[stui magpie]

[Tannin]

Actually, the majority do accept nudity in many, possibly most parts of the world. Australia is unusually prudish for a supposedly advanced nation. In most of Europe, casual family nudity on the beach or in the sauna is perfectly routine and nobody thinks twice about it.

[stui magpie]

Yeah but people in europe don't vote in local council elections in Australia so they don't count. It's the majority of people in a council or electorate that need to be convinced.

[David]

The thing is, Stui, I kind of suspect that the majority of Australians—or at least a significant proportion thereof—would actually be receptive to this idea, if not wholeheartedly supportive.

One thing I've learned from the way the same-sex marriage issue has developed here is that the majority of Australians don't seem to really care how other people behave so long as it doesn't affect them. People are people, though, and there is a tendency to just accept the status quo as the norm because "that's the way it is". So, we've seen support for same-sex marriage go from something like 25% support to 75% support in about 20 years—there can't be a lot of dramatic Damascus Road conversions there; more likely, it's just people shrugging their shoulders and saying, "actually, now I think about it, yeah, why not?".

I honestly don't think the majority of Australians are that uptight about public nudity, particularly when it comes to a setting as obvious as the beach. Some are that uptight, definitely, but I think most of us just couldn't give a toss. I think the reason it hasn't gained any traction is simply the fact that the issue is a bit too weird and "not serious" for any contemporary mainstream politicians to champion. But if another Whitlam government came in tomorrow and announced a sweeping list of moderate reforms and included this one somewhere down the bottom, I doubt there'd be any major protest against it.

[Skids]

Back in the 80's there was a section at the northern end of Scarborough beach (we called it Contacios, don't know why?) where heaps of chicks would go topless. It wasn't until the 90's that the ranger started enforcing the cover up rule.
Us in our mid-late teens, we loved it!

[What'sinaname]

My mind says "yes, nude beaches", but in my mind, beaches are only filled with really hot woman.

Given the changing shape of Stray'ns, I suggest we mandate more covering up rather than taking more off.

Beaches are also a family thing so you have to respect that all out nudity is not something that I really think is appropriate for all ages.

Extrapolating out, does nude swimming in the ocean then translate to nude swimming in a public pool?

[Tannin]

[stui magpie]

[David]

I think you're definitely right that the question of whether each specific beach should be clothing-optional is currently a council issue, but laws against public nudity are, as far as I'm aware, federal. Add a little note about public nudity being illegal except at beaches, and local government and resident NIMBYs are taken out of the picture.

I do grant you your point that public nudity is not quite the same sort of issue as same-sex marriage, but I still think it doesn't seriously affect anyone. How can the human body be considered offensive when most of us see ourselves naked every day? It just seems like a stupid, old-fashioned taboo to me.

As for those making fun of overweight middle-aged naked people, have you ever thought that seeing more average bodies in their natural state might actually have a positive social impact? I certainly think it would.

[Tannin]

They'd be state laws, I'd imagine. Doesn't sound like a federal responsibility.

[think positive]

[regan is true fullback]

it is a vexed question.

If you live near a beach in Australia, it is your sworn duty to keep outsiders out. This can be seen in Cronulla, where locals harassed the westies, Palm Beach, where they impose exorbitant parking fees, Maroubra where the locals assault people who "steal" their waves and Reef Beach, where a concerted campaign against anyone who even looked like a nudist was conducted by the locals including damaging cars of outsiders.

This is how it is. So nudist beaches, which attract more people and supposedly, "undesirables" are looked at by locals in the same way as a garbage dump or a prison.

What you have is akin to a right of way to your property, as we had for many years on our farm. You may have a right to access your property, in this case the beach which belongs to everybody. But it is not in your best interests, as every land holder knows, to p!ss off the holder of the right of way. It's just the way it is. The land around Swanbourne in Perth is owned by the army, so they don't care. Similarly Alexandra Bay in Queensland is surrounded by a huge national park so they don't care. Elsewhere you got problems.

[Tannin]

^ really good ponts there, RITFB

[think positive]

But David, wont somebody think of the ......................


Muslims!

http://austeaparty.com.au/web/victorians-cover-up-for-pool-event/