Portland's naked bike ride

believe09

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110619/lf_nm_life/us_naked_bikes

"World Naked Bike Ride is a globally observed event among hard-core bikers designed, at least ostensibly, to promote the use of the bicycle for transportation. But Portland cyclists have been especially adamant about making it another of the Pacific Northwest city's quirky traditions."

Words fail... :floorlaugh:
 
This year was the second year in a row that the World Naked Bike Ride made an appearance in Madison, WI. I've managed to see it both years (last year, I was a volunteer up on the capitol square collecting nomination signatures for a candidate, this year I was working). It's quite...well, quirky, and fairly entertaining. The Madison ride is quite a bit smaller (last year around 70 folks, this year about 40). Most folks witnessing the event seem pretty entertained, a few seem a little offended.

To each their own. Keep Portland (and Madison) weird! Not something I would do, but more power to those who want to make...well, whatever statement they want to make.
 
I remember last year we were listening to the scanner in the scanner forum during the bike ride because it happened soon after Kyron went missing.

It was quite a ride for all of us! :floorlaugh:
 
Kimster are you participating????

No just kidding...please don't beam me up??
 
Gawd all I can think of is the intense chaffing of the nether regions and the volumes of sweat with nothing but your hairy or not so hairy bits to absorb the moisture. DO NOT SNIFF THE BICYCLE SEATS - GROSSSSSSSSSS. I'm sure it's just me but anything where an *advertiser censored* crack is up, but "the girls" are facing down just seems all wrong. If they are so happy about being naked, let them stand in front of the french fryer with their jibbleys all pokin' about. I just think the whole naked anything is dopey.
 
There are *SO* many places I could go with this, but I won't. Absolutely killing me, but I'm trying to retrain my brain from going to the "bad girl comments" side. So, I'll just share my first thought....

Ouch. :D
 
I was in Portland a few years ago and witnessed this with my own eyes it was really something. One naked guy even had a lit candle on the back of his bike.
 
More power to them! Believe me, we need a little levity in WI these days. I prefer to imagine that each of these riders was mooning our criminal governor! He is more obscene than all of their "naughty bits" combined!!!! :great:
 
I find it disgusting.

JMO
 
http://www.wisconsinoutdoorfun.com/article/20110620/WOF02/306200051&located=rss

Here's info on Madison, Wisconsin's June 19, 2011 naked bike ride. The city has no ordinance banning public nudity, but riders can be cited if an onlooker complains.

At some point last week (too tired to find the link), some participants filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction stating that they could not be ticketed for nude bike riding. The judge (Judge Sumi, same circuit court judge involved in the open-meetings law violation re: the collective bargaining vote, if you're following WI politics) declined to issue the injunction. I think the cops handled it somewhat better this year (at least one of the citations issued last year was defeated in court, and I think a few more might still be making their way through the system, which seems like a waste of resources to me). This year, they just asked for a volunteer to be cited.

There's also some history here. My memory is a bit fuzzy but if I recall my Madison history correctly, some years ago (the 80s, maybe? It was before I lived here, anyhow) a few women were cited for being topless at a beach where some guys were also topless, and there were claims of sex discrimination. I can't remember how it turned out (I think the citations were dismissed), but that was one of the issues re: last year's bike ride--that guys who wore shorts but were topless (and it's Wisconsin--trust me, there are plenty of dudes here who really, really should keep their shirts on but don't) were deemed fine, but topless women wearing shorts were cited.

Anyhow, my favorite bit from the ride--the guy who painted on his back, "No Dangerous Emissions" with an arrow pointing, um, down (think he was at last year's ride, too). Not something I'd participate in (and there are a few images I wish I could maybe unsee!), but I love how weird my town sometimes is.
 
For most participants, you gotta have the body, and you probably should be under 30. For the rest of us, well, just watch and wish we were young and foolish again.
 
I was in Berkeley, CA this past weekend and saw about 20 naked bike riders going past. I was there with two friends and my mom and we all laughed. The girls mostly had underwear but the guys had nothing on at all.

I doesn't bother me at all. They had slogans on their backs about no oil or something. I just thought how none of them had the bodies to be going around naked but isn't that usually the case with nudist types?

To each their own, I guess. Harmless enough to me. Strange and funny, but harmless.
 
Why is this legal?

Who does it hurt?

You'll probably say little old ladies or small kids but really, they go too fast for anyone to see much, the little old ladies have seen it before and it would not damage any little kids or cause them trauma. Kids don't freak out the way adults do and if we don't teach them that the human body is a scary, dirty thing, they usually just laugh at things like this and forget about it. :twocents:
 
Who does it hurt?

You'll probably say little old ladies or small kids but really, they go too fast for anyone to see much, the little old ladies have seen it before and it would not damage any little kids or cause them trauma. Kids don't freak out the way adults do and if we don't teach them that the human body is a scary, dirty thing, they usually just laugh at things like this and forget about it. :twocents:

I guess it doesn't "hurt" anybody.

I asked why it was legal because I thought public nudity was illegal in all 50 states.

But, I do find it inappropriate and disgusting. But, that's just my opinion.
 
I guess it doesn't "hurt" anybody.

I asked why it was legal because I thought public nudity was illegal in all 50 states.

But, I do find it inappropriate and disgusting. But, that's just my opinion.

I got ya'. I don't think public nudity is illegal in all 50 states. I think it varies as to kind, degree and location.

But our laws are usually based on whether an act harms someone or not. For example, child *advertiser censored* harms children. And most adult *advertiser censored* laws or obscenity laws are based on the associated harm that such conduct can cause. For example, triple X venues have been shown by some to attract loiterers, drug usage and violence against women. Hence, we have laws about obscenity.

Many people do not view simple nudity as obscene. I think some sub-cultures in the US do, however. For example, some believe little girls should always wear a top, even if they have not reached puberty and their is nothing to be seen. They find a two year old without a top to be "disgusting" Others do not. I guess it comes down to culture.

To me, gross depictions of sex acts when public are "obscene". I don't have a problem with the naked bike riders but if they were making obscene gestures or saying "nasty" things or doing sex acts in public, it would be a problem for me. I think there is a difference because one can hurt others while the other does not.

It's up to each culture as a whole to decide what is "harmful".

I guess in the US we are somewhere between Europe, where public nudity is not as big a deal, and parts of the middle east where a woman's uncovered hair is considered "obscene".
 
I think all private parts should be covered in public.

They are private for a reason.

JMO

I have no issue with nudity camps and nude beaches because when you go there, you know you will see nude bodies. To each their own.

Public streets are different IMO.
 
Where are the pictures?! I demand images!! :D
 

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