Ryan Bakken at the
Grand Forks Herald is.
Look, I'm in favor of discretion and modesty and all that, and I can get behind banning guys from pissing on street corners when they're drunk, but this type of thinking is shallow and clichéd:
Public nudity’s biggest crime is against eyeballs, not society. Why is it that nudists are usually the people who least should go naked?
At the very least, San Francisco should make public nudity a felony for people 60 and older.
If he's not joking (and if he is, I think he should try harder), three responses come to mind:
- I can see people with less-than-pleasing-to-the-eye faces and bodies every day, fully clothed. Why shouldn't I pass a law requiring them to wear masks? (Obviously the less reverent response.)
- Of the many problems society has today, body image issues caused by the pervasive use of photo editing for magazines and online features are a fairly large part of those that effect teenagers. With a little more nudity from real people, maybe more kids would realize that they are never going to look like ANYONE from a fashion magazine, no matter how they try. (The "think of the children" response.)
- If it bothers you, don't look--or leave. (The North Dakota response.)
Frankly, I just think Bakken could try a little harder to make a real point than "we must be better than San Francisco because we don't let people take their clothes off."