No More Good Nudes

Well, Brattleboro, Vermont has had enough. They passed an emergency ban on public nudity in most areas of the city, especially downtown or near schools or churches.

Officials in Brattleboro voted 3 to 2 on Tuesday night for a temporary 30-day ordinance prohibiting people from going about in the nude.

Public nudity made headlines last summer when the weather grew hot and a couple of dozen teens took to holding hula hoop contests, riding bikes and parading past stores wearing only their birthday suits. The disrobing has resumed this summer.

But many locals say it has gone too far. Some cite a case in which a senior citizen from Arizona strolled through the center of town wearing only a waist pack and sandals.

"We've received quite a number of complaints on this," Assistant Town Manager Barbara Sondag said. "This was brought up last summer … and kind of died down. Then a couple of incidents again this summer have got the issue to resurface."

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.

Although skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing will stay legal in the state, doing the "full monty" in the middle of this town has now become taboo. A violation can cost $100.

The usual hippie sentiments get an airing, of course. But one should also keep in mind that there are perverts who get off on exposing themselves to others. Does Brattleboro want that, too? Are you sure the motivations of those running around in the buff are harmless? Are you sure the motivations of the people gawking at the nudes are equally harmless?

Frankly, I could not care less if people want to run around nude - provided they do so out of sight of others who do not share their proclivities. Forcing others to see you nude, whether they wish to or not, is not "live and let live" - it is being passive aggressive. You are asserting that your right to "be free" trumps their right not to have to look at your hairy butt.