From: ecsd@tfs.com (Eric C. S. Dynamic)
Subject: End of my thread Open Sexuality in rec.nude
Organization: TRW Financial Systems
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 08:36:29 GMT

I am going to drop the pursuit of my theory here, because I think there is
too much resistance to the ideas here, and too much mail addresses whether
I should be writing about it, rather than exploring the issue itself.

I'm sorry for causing ill will, and I'm sorry for *bashing* Tom Middleton,
and Marty Brilliant, when a polite reply might have had a better effect.
The reason the theory *is* appropriate here - and dramatically so - cannot be
understood until you've read the arguments I put forth. Some of the opposition
I've gotten here is itself addressed by the theory!!

I will hang around and be a nice & regular guy here. I am going to take the
theory over to rec.org.mensa, where my views do not provoke such strong
reaction. I will not be posting on it immediately. I will post it under the
thread "A New General Theory of Human and Social Behavior", and anyone who
wishes to read it, who does not want to read rec.org.mensa while waiting,
can send me their email address and I will let them know when I've opened
the topic.

I will try to provide a quick synopsis of the arguments, as relates to nudity:

-------

The behavior we observe around us is socially conditioned behavior.
I claim that society's conditioning of people, as we see today, violates
human nature, and the behavior produced by this conditioning cannot be taken
as evidence for what humans are really like.

Some in the Nudist community hold the opinion that
"the opinion that nudity == sex has damaged the Nudist cause"
and the response is to assure the public at large that nudity != sex.
I claim that this attitude is incorrect. It addresses people's fears
without understanding what the true problem is - and therefore
reinforces the problem, because it shares the public's general fear of
sex and sexual behavior. In essence, holding this attitude actually
*damages* the cause of Nudism.

Humans are sexual creatures. We can deny, ignore or minimize this in our
rational minds, but we cannot control our subconscious recognition of the
fact. Proper socialization finds an appropriate balance between our rational
and animal natures - and this will not be at the expense of human sexuality.
Neither will it deny the awareness of what we all know to be true.

I claim that in fact nudity == sex, in that you cannot look at a naked body
and not know that it is a sexual body. Clothes are used to hide our genitals
for this very reason. The fear this claim provokes is unfounded. The fear is
that sexual suggestion will provoke damaging, aggressive behavior. But we
already know that humans == sex, and most of us have been socialized so that
sexual suggestion does *not* produce such [bad] behavior in the large. The final
step is to test the conditioning by removing the clothes - will humans trust
each other? I say they easily can, and that for the benefit of society, those
of use who wish to explore nudism should be allowed to do so *anywhere* where
clothes are not needed for some specific purpose. The anger and fear that meets
this suggestion comes from the negative aspects of our social conditioning,
and says essentially, "no, we do NOT trust ourselves."

The radical aspect of my proposal is that we should no longer accept for all of
us to be controlled by the fears that some of us carry. People who hold to the
former values will simply have to be disappointed, as all of us who wish to
have the freedoms, have been disappointed for centuries. My claim is that the
human race is now sufficiently self-aware enough to support this social
revolution without harm.

This is most of what I had to say, as regards nudity. The rest will be developed
in rec.org.mensa.

Peace. :)
-ecsd