terry.liittschwager@gmail.com

page updated 2019-11-08

For any who have come to this page hoping to see images of nude bodies, there are none.

Nudity

In Lane County, Oregon, USA

Starting several years ago, when good weather began, I would call the Lane County Sheriff's Department and ask if nudity in Lane County was legal. Each year I was told that it was, until a few years ago. Now they say it is illegal and refer you to LC 6.100(1).

6.100 Prohibited Nudity and Penalty.

(1) No person, eight years of age or older, shall on public or private property, expose his or her genitals to another person, except within the boundaries of private property with the permission of the owner of said property, that is screened so that the act cannot be viewed from any other property.

That ordinance has been on the books unchanged since 1976. So I ask you, how is it that nudity could be legal for many years and then suddenly become illegal even though the law has not changed?

Some history: In the early 1970s, Oregon revised its criminal code. No mention was made of simple nudity, so for a time nudity was legal in Oregon. In my opinion, that's the way it should be. Though I don't go to nudist parks, I'm a nudist at heart. Unfortunately, back in the 1970s voting prudes outnumbered voting nudes, resulting in LC 6.100 becoming law by initiative petition.

However, the constitutionality of LC 6.100 is questionable, and it certainly isn't practical as it appears to outlaw nudity in shower rooms and changing areas of public schools and public swimming pools. The Lane County Sheriff's Department decided to handle this legal dilemma by choosing to not enforce the ordinance, and that's what I should have been told whenever I inquired.

Now, they simply tell you it's illegal. However, they still don't enforce it. To me, this is hypocrisy of the first degree. How can we expect people to respect the law when laws are not respected by those who enforce the law? Our society needs a lot of realignment in this area. And how can we expect law enforcement agencies to enforce the law when the people don't adequately fund those agencies?

Let's have reasonable laws, laws that 95% of the people will obey as a matter of course, and then let's tax sufficiently to enforce those laws. I'm confident that in this present day, there's no way you could get 95% of the people to approve a law prohibiting simple nudity.


As a Personal Preference

Generally, if the air temperature is 72°F/22°C or above, it feels better to be nude. Below that, it feels better to be covered. It's as simple as that. I have no personal imperative requiring me to be covered to keep from being seen naked. Where is the sense in such a thing as a public requirement other than for physical safety? My being seen nude does not deprive the observer of property or physical well-being. If there is offense, that's in the mind of the observer, and what's in a person's mind is, in the end, their responsibily, not that of others.

Of course, what's in a person's mind when they see a naked human possibly depends on whose that body is. I remember our UPS driver coming down our driveway one summer day when I was getting sun. We had come to know him well, and he took the sight in stride. I couldn't resist, though, and said to him, “I bet I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, ‘I wish you were a good looking young woman rather than a fat old man.’” His reply was, “My thoughts exactly.”

The fact remains, though, that I certainly don't look as good unclothed as I once did—at least in my own eyes and perhaps in the eyes of others—we generally don't as we age. But that does not mean I or for that matter any senior, or any fat person, or scarred person, or amputee, or a person with a stoma appliance, should have to keep our clothes on any more than the young and beautiful. We have basic human rights, or at least should have. In my book any one of us should have the right to dispense with clothing when temperature and safety permit.


As a Coercive Force

If someone has a problem with my being naked, the problem is obviously in their head since I am not causing them any physical harm or depriving them of any property. However, a beholder of my nudity that is bothered by it is choosing to make themselves a victim, and that can be used to coerce their behavior. For example, let's say a fisherman is fishing the McKenzie River off our back yard, but it's summertime, the water is low, and he's standing below the line of ordinary high water. I would rather he not fish off our backyard because of the problems it causes, but since he's below that ordinary high water line, he's on State of Oregon property, and I have no right to ask him to leave even though, because of a vertical rock face, he trespassed on our property to get there. I can, though, go into my yard naked, maybe even try to engage him in coversation. I've done this in years when the fishing is good and we're inundated with bank fishermen. More often than not—way more often then not—the fisherman will leave. Thus, I have used nudity as a coercive force to bring about what I wanted.

Actually, we don't mind people crossing our property along the river. We just don't want them fishing off our backyard because of past problems when we used to allow that. We called a halt to backyard fishing when, during a particularly good fishing year, we came home to find nine fishermen fishing off our backyard. How would you like it if you arrived home to find nine men in your backyard that you didn't know? That same year I was threatened with a handgun by a fisherman when I asked him to leave after observing him trashing our backyard.


The Convenience and Utility of Nudity

It's amazing how much more convenient it is if you have overnight guests in your home and nobody has to worry about being seen naked, especially if the house has only one bathroom. I like taking a long, hot shower, far too long to deny access to the toilet to others for that length of time, so I leave the bathroom door open. With the shoe on the other foot and the shortness of time I have to respond when my octogenarian bowels notify me they want attention, not being able to go through a closed bathroom room to relieve myself becomes a literal pain or invites a messy accident. I appreciate an open bathroom door when the shower is occupied. I understand some have a so-called shy bladder or shy bowels, but that is not my case.

Being comfortable without clothing has another advantage. Our bodies have a built-in air conditioning system. We get hot, we perspire, and, if we haven't foolishly covered our moist flesh with clothing, the evaporation of that moisture cools us. For example, as I write this on a warm August afternoon (89F/32C), the temperature in my balcony office has risen to 83F/28C, and it will get higher as the sun drops and comes through the clerestory windows opposite the balcony. But I'm comfortable. The balcony fan keeps the air moving enough to allow my body to self-regulate the temperature it likes. If I were to put clothes on, that part of me covered by the clothing would sweat, but without significant evaporation.


Nude Beaches I've Visited

From my teens through my 60s, I enjoyed nude beaches in the U.S. and other countries. Below are those I remember offhand. At age 80 as I write this, my beach days, nude or otherwise, are pretty much over, especially in view of my now frequent visits to the dermatologist to have basal cell carcinomas removed—eight so far—I usually didn't bother with sunscreen or covering my head. However, to date, the carcinomas have been on my lower legs, ears, and head, not on any part of my body that would get sun on a nude beach but not on a clothed beach.

Some of the beaches below were official nude beaches, others unofficial. I've provided a link for those that I could find one for. The list is in alphabetical order by the name that I remember each (with a little help from Google and Google Earth). I've annotated the list with notes for some.


Cap d'Agde, France

One place I wanted to get to but never did is Cap d'Agde, France. Given my age and numerous other interests, I probably never will. But if I do, I will eat in the restaurants, buy things in the shops, perhaps get money in a bank, go to the grocery store, and other things that one typically does on vacation...and I will do it all without having any clothes on if the weather is good. Let's face it, in good weather the only real need for clothing is to keep from being hassled by the police, but in Cap d'Agde, nudity is legal. Haven't heard of Cap d'Agde? See Village Naturiste at Cap d'Agde.