FREE ESSAY ON PUBLIC NUDITY

PUBLIC NUDITY

Recently, people have showed concern about the fact that women are allowed to roam around
topless in the streets of Toronto, and there is no question that some people find public
nudity offensive. However, whether people should be offended is debatable; their reaction
is often closer to confusion or embarrassment. The human body deserves to be shown and
respected both for its beauty and its so-called "imperfections". In the appropriate
places and situations, public nudity can be comfortable, healthy and can ultimately break
social barriers, which hinder communication between people.
There are appropriate times and places for anyone who would like to roam around nude.
Exposing oneself in the city might not be a good idea. It could lead to sexual harassment
or legal consequences. But what is wrong with people expressing themselves at a local
park, beach or on their own front lawn? Anyone who has spent any amount of time in
ill-fitting, uncomfortable clothing knows how good it feels when clothing is not being
worn. Clothing is, by nature, something foreign to the body, and its presence is always
known to the wearer. Clothing does have some practical uses. It keeps us warm from the
harsh conditions of the environment and protects us when doing dangerous work. Clothes do
not exist to "hide" our bodies. There is a tremendous feeling of freedom when nude. Once
you have been swimming nude, you'll never understand why anyone would ever want to wear
clothes in the water. 
Medical research has shown that clothing can be unhealthy in certain situations. For
example, evidence supports the hypothesis that wet, clingy swimsuits can constrict the
flow of bodily fluids. Eliminate the swimsuit, and you've eliminated that problem.
Furthermore, it is beneficial to ones mental health to be expressive. In a free society,
people should be free to express themselves and do what they want as long as their
freedom doesn't impede the freedom of others, endanger them, or remove their fundamental
rights. 
Nudity breaks a lot of social barriers that have hindered communication between people,
because there are no Armani suits, no gang colors, no uniforms, or social trends to
define ones social status. Present Canadian law indicates that it is not an offence to be
nude on an "isolated" beach. Yet, this suggests that when nude, a person is no longer fit
to be seen, and should be separated from others. Surely, this is a prejudicial point of
view. Nudity also takes away the artificial inhibitions that society has forced upon us
when we were born. If you think about it, the parts that we cover are arbitrary. It has
been suggested that we cover the genital area because of its sexual nature. In fact, an
equally sexual body part is the lips. Nevertheless, people walk around exposing their
lips without causing mass arousal.
Many people find public nudity offensive. Too much emphasis is put on the perfect body by
a clothing-obsessed society. Most people know that almost no one has a perfect body, and
that beauty can be found in bodies of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages - many of them
with the scars of life. Nudity is the means to the goal of body acceptance. When nude,
the full beauty of the human body is exposed, creating pride in what you've got and
reducing the desire for what you haven't got. Public nudity can be appealing to some
people but not for others. People have to start to realize that we are all naked
underneath and there is no shame in that. Whether nudity can break some of the social
barriers or not, it all comes down to this; being nude is comfortable, healthy and most
of all, it's fun!