Friday 22 October 2010

Naked fury

Nude protests are catching on. Those intrepid souls who don't mind baring all their physical imperfect-ions are doing so to oppose a wide range of injustices.

The latest campaigners to shed their clothes are those angered by high apartment rents in Berlin. They visit apartments on offer, strip off and dance.

The protests are organised by a group called Hedonist International, which has also stormed a neo-Nazi pub.

Some estate agents called the police while others were more laid-back and laughed it off as a harmless amusement. But Berlin's socialist mayor was rattled enough to announce rent-capping in newly-gentrified districts.

There have been many other nude protests - against the fur trade in Dublin and Barcelona, office dress codes and airport full-body scanners in Berlin, political reforms in Mexico City, animal cruelty in Sydney, bullfighting in Pamplona and tree felling in Los Angeles.

Naked campaigning isn't favoured in Britain though. I guess people are either too embarrassed by their wobbly bits, they don't think anyone will take any notice (except dirty old men), or they don't want to die of frostbite.

I wouldn't mind stripping off myself if the cause was right. I couldn't care less about my wobbly bits, we all succumb to gravity sooner or later. I stripped off often enough in front of my fellow pupils at boarding school to lose any sense of awkwardness.

Maybe the traditional British stiff upper lip is more than a match for mass nudity. We'd just survey a line of bare buttocks while sipping our Starbucks latté and mutter casually "Some rather enticing curves. Work-outs or anorexia, I wonder?"

Pic: Protest against the fur trade in Barcelona. The placard reads: "How many lives for a coat?" Couldn't find a decent pic of the apartment protest.

17 comments:

  1. I was perusing in Google reader and thought this was Filthy Friday on Infomaniac...
    Anyhow, it's much too caold for all of this sort of malarky.
    Sx

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  2. I wouldn't mind stripping either Nick, except that it would take the attention away from the cause and to my much scarred body with curious strippers wanting to know the history for each!

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  3. Scarlet - It would be Filthy Friday if the streets were muddy at the time. Another possible hazard to put me off. And in the current temperature of 12C - no way.

    Ramana - Ah yes, the nude bodies I've seen in various pics are conspicuously scar-free. Scars could easily draw curious and irritating questions....

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  4. N..N.. No! My teeth are chattering at the idea of stripping off in our temperatures! Anyway, My creases would only cause laughter and distract from any cause.

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  5. Grannymar - Absolutely. It would have to be in the summer - and a proper hot summer at that. The creases could be ironed out in advance....

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  6. I am lost in admiration for those who do this. Seriously.
    I could never do it.
    XO
    WWW

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  7. www - I know, most people would shudder at the idea of disrobing in public in front of hundreds of people, even for a good cause....

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  8. Ha! No thank you, the clothes stay firmly ON. I'd be terrified of the Rainbow Warrior rolling up and pushing me back in the water to join the other southward bound hump backed migration.

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  9. Liz - Yes, a type of protest more suitable for countries like Spain and Mexico.

    Baino - Well, that would be a whale of a story....

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  10. I don't know - it strikes me as fairly silly exhibitionism. Peaceful protest is a good thing, but I don't see how this helps. (And I'm neither a prude nor particularly modest)

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  11. Secret Agent - Yes, I know you're not a prude! I suppose the idea is that naked protesters attract more attention than those with clothes on. Which with the high-rents action seems to have been the case.

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  12. All I can say, apropos any such protest in the UK is: Brrrrrr!

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  13. Val - There seems to be a pretty wide consensus on that. Perhaps nude protests in fully heated buildings only?

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  14. How about we all dress up as pantomime cows instead? It would be seasonal... and warm.
    Sx

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  15. Scarlet - That's a much better idea. We could all be well padded for warmth. And maybe even a discreet pocket for a wee dram.

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