Extropianism and Nudism

From: Perry E. Metzger (perry@piermont.com)
Date: Tue May 06 1997 - 09:36:13 MDT


ShawnJ99@aol.com writes:
> As an independent thinking extopian, I would like to ask everyone of
> their opinion on the following idea. Since we do not believe in coercion,
> and we don't believe in using force against others (except in self defense),
> then it would seem to me that there would be no "crime" committed by being
> nude in public.

That seems like a reasonable assessment. Of course, people might
contractually agree not to go nude within common areas of a private
contractually based community, but that's of course not what you are
talking about.

> In an Extropian type, anarcho-capitalistic society, clothing would
> definately be optional. I only raise this issue because so very many people
> think it is "evil" to be nude.

Of course it isn't "evil" except to supersitious people like certain
religious sects. On the other hand, I think it's frequently tasteless
-- most people's bodies are not particularly appetizing, and look
better when clothed to conceal the lack of care that has been taken to
maintain them. Tastelessness, of course, is not a crime -- if it
were, wearing a loud hawaiian shirt would be just as "evil" as
nudity. Neither should be legally sanctioned.

Perry



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:44:25 MST