The Right to be Publicly Naked
A Defence of Nudism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12568751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bouke De Vries (0000-0002-7797-0166, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 407-424 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Politicas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1576-4184 • E-ISSN: 1989-6115 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11158-018-09406-z |
| OpenAlex | W2891840883 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 15 |
Many liberal democracies have legal restrictions on nudism. This article argues that when public nudity does not pose a health threat (which it seldom does), such restrictions are unjust. To vindicate this claim, I start by showing that there are two weighty interests served by the freedom to be naked in public. First, it promotes individual well-being; not only can nudist activities have great recreational value, recent studies have found that exposure to non-idealised naked bodies has a positive impact on body image, and, ultimately, on life satisfaction. Second, public nudity has expressive value; apart from being a constitutive element of various spiritual and religious worldviews, public nudity is frequently used to protest (perceived) social and political evils. As I go on to argue, the reasons for abolishing current anti-nudist laws that stem from these interests are not overridden, let alone cancelled, by the offence that public nudity might cause. Indeed, whereas my principal aim is to defend the freedom to be publicly naked when this poses no health threat, I will contend that states should recognise this liberty as a distinct legal right rather than try to subsume it under existing rights or secure it simply by excluding non-sexual, non-exhibitionist public nudity from existing laws against public indecency, sexual exhibition, and disorderly conduct
Element (criminal law · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Law · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
The Association Between Sexual Satisfaction and Body Image in Women
Self-esteem and Psychological Well-being
The Morality of Freedom
Childhood exposure to parental nudity, parent‐child co‐sleeping, and “primal scenes”
Life Satisfaction in Middle-Aged Koreans
Biceps and Body Image
Misrecognition, Misrecognition, and Fallibility
Early Childhood Exposure to Parental Nudity and Scenes of Parental Sexuality (“Primal Scenes”)
The relationship between adult sexual adjustment and childhood experiences regarding exposure to nudity, sleeping in the parental bed, and parental attitudes toward sexuality
Nakedness, Shame, and Embarrassment
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |