Research Paper on Feminism and Public Nudity

Introduction

Feminism refers to the general practice of advocating and defending the rights of women in all quarters of the society. It is primarily an exercise that seeks to liberate women around the world from certain cultural and traditional bondages regarding their gender. Public nudity is the act of dressing in a manner that exposes specific private parts of the body. Feminism and public nudity therefore, means the agitations and struggles for women to attain the freedoms and rights to dress in a manner that exposes their nakedness. Critics and skeptics have argued that feminists are confusing nudity for liberation since it portrays moral decadence in almost all the societies around the world. This paper seeks to argue both sides of the struggles for the women equality and the events that led to their final liberation.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Why Male Nudists and Their Attorneys Defended Women's Rights to go Topless in Public

In the 1980s, the fight for women's equality right got support from the male nudists due to a number of reasons. When Nikki Craft was charged public nudity and exposing her breasts, she was immediately released on bail as a result of her recognizance. Then, the Seashore Act was prohibiting public nudity in such places. The regulation Act governing the Seashore was entirely against public nudity, and that is precisely why the authority at the Spectacle Pond of Wellfleet arrested her for violating the code. I think Craft's actions were deliberate in the sense of sending some strong message in the line of women's agitations for going topless in public. The rangers acted on a complaint tip from members of the public about the presence of nude sunbathers at the pond. That is something that was of great concern since public nudity was not a welcome issue by majority of the citizens.

Nikki Craft's hearing of nudity violations were set to take place in Boston. According to Lee Baxandall, the president of Naturist Society, Nikki was perfectly challenging the Seashore's sexual discrimination code. The male nudists and their attorneys believed that pornography was a highly profitable business and hiding behind women nudity could not solve the problem. That is why Mr. Baxandall hired some of the most aggressive legal advocate companies to represent Nikki Craft and the entire nudist community on their fight for liberation. The anti-nudity crusaders like Melinda Vadas strongly believed that Lee Baxandall was a pimp who had vested interest in the nudity affair of women. I think Melinda Vadas' perspective of argument was right in defending the moral fabric of the society.

Why Six of the Eleven Female Plaintiffs Withdrew From the Case and The Court Decision

Six of the eleven female plaintiffs withdrew from the case for a number of reasons. Just like Melinda Vadas, some of the naturist crusaders began to have an idea that their agenda was being polluted by pornography and sexuality. They had a strong feeling that the magazine publications had violated the naturist agenda that they were advocating for. The six out of the eleven public nudity plaintiffs thought that their position to fight for liberation was being overtaken with intentions that diminish a woman's body. I think that the women advocates who withdrew their support for nudity were genuine in their thinking since they were fighting for a clear course. When people with vested pornographic agenda took their interests on the front, the most honorable thing for them was to dissociate themselves from the changed direction.

We realized with great concern that a senior and life-long naturist and activist Michelle Handler was not happy with Lee Baxandall. She wrote to him to express her disappointment on why he published pictures with pornographic content of older women. According to Michelle, the porn publishing work eroded the whole agenda and objective of their movement. She argues that the conduct could be more harmful to the movement and might take them back for decades. I would think like Michelle Handler because when people are campaigning for a worthy course for change, we must not champion our selfish interests to overtake the agenda. It demonstrates a sense of betrayal and lack of focus.

According to Michelle and her like-minded colleagues, the magazine agenda was entirely different from naturism and the empowerment of human body. She argued that it was a blatant exploitation of nudity, which could only be appealing to those interested in seeing the nakedness but not to be naked. That demonstrates the fact that the men nudists were only supporting the women public nudity for selfish bodily and sexual gains. In that context, Michelle Handler also saw it fit to formally withdraw her support for the movement of the Naturist society due to betrayal. She and other like-minded campaigners envisioned that Naturism was about nudity as life not as a lifestyle. She declared that her name will no longer appear in connection with the organization or any publication. She equally opted not to mobilize anybody for membership and pulled out all her commitment from the Naturist Leadership Council.

The feminism and public nudity was a worthy course for people who meant well for self-determination and liberty. However, the dictatorship and selfishness that infiltrated the crusade could not build any new ideology and the culture of progress. I opined that Michelle and other members who thought wise to withdraw their support for the nudity campaign were serving their moral conscience. When a team is working for a structured desired goal, teamwork is the way to go since it provides proper structure and direction for the movement. The court finally ruled that the limited interest of privacy of people on the streets cannot be a justification of protected speech on grounds of its content. The state could not forbid nudity on public parks or streets since people in such places at a given time have their limited right of privacy interest.

How Other Documents Illuminated Other Aspects of the Case That Craft Vs Hodel Concealed

The Craft vs Hodel case concealed some of the most crucial documents during the hearing of the case. The six plaintiffs of class action did not agree with Lee Baxandall and John Kyff because they were building defense on the case based on vested interests. The documents that they presented before the court were choreographed media productions to justify their defense on public nudity. The proceedings of the 19 U.S .C /1305 observed that the issue of the female breast was presented as a symbol of manipulation, abuse, and domination by men with more sexually driven interest than the original intention of the campaign

How the First Amendment And Equality Came Into Conflict For Plaintiffs In The Case

The advocacy for women equality came under a lot of controversies with many plaintiffs in the case. They claimed that the Seashore code violates the first amendment right to free expression and the Fifth Amendment for their protection. The plaintiffs argued that the gender equality question puts forward a lesser objective and they disregarded it all together. According to the plaintiffs, the beliefs of the defense team did not align with the correct views of feminism. There was a lot of conflict as all the eleven plaintiffs of the class actions regarded themselves as feminists but not nudists. The conflicting effects made John Kyff to believe and compare the nudist groups as the oppressed minority just like the blacks negroes in history.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the struggle for feminism and public nudity has been ongoing for many years with various challenges. The general opinion of many societies around the world is that nudity is close to immorality. Even though specific legal frameworks have given nudity a clean bill of health, members of public still remain divided over whether is a moral behavior in public places. For us to maintain a healthy moral fabric, I would suggest that governments exercise the issue of naturism and nudity with utmost caution. Bearing in mind the fact that people come from diverse cultures and background, moral contributions should contribute hugely towards the issue of public nudity.

Bibliography

Baer, Hester. "Redoing feminism: digital activism, body politics, and neoliberalism." Feminist Media Studies 16, no. 1 (2016): 17-34. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2015.1093070

Choi, Hojoon, Kyunga Yoo, Tom Reichert, and Michael S. LaTour. "Do feminists still respond negatively to female nudity in advertising? Investigating the influence of feminist attitudes on reactions to sexual appeals." International Journal of Advertising 35, no. 5 (2016): 823-845. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02650487.2016.1151851

Tobias, Sheila. Faces of feminism: An activist's reflections on the women's movement. Routledge, 2018. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429969140