COMMENTARY

Nudity: Community standards changing. 

Rachel Morgan

Why is it OK to display a naked human form in public if it's carved out of marble, rendered 
in oil on canvas or depicted,in colour dyes on film or paper -- but not if it's in the flesh?

When some 40 men took to the Sands of isolated Beaconia beach in the buff last weekend there 
followed cries of outrage from some quarters. It was disgusting, said some. It's a violation 
of the law, said others -- despite a ruling by a Winnipeg Crown attorney that nudity on 
isolated beaches wasn't a matter for the police so long as there was no lewd behaviour.
Museums and art galleries in Canada and around the world are full of statues and paintings 
of nudes. We take busloads of schoolchildren to see them. To learn about culture. To be educated.
Our movies and videos ai-e full of nudity. Book stores devote shelves to art tomes depicting 
nudes.
We sit with granny in our living rooms watching TV documentaries of great works of art 
depicting nudes. The camera zooms in to show us the details
and pans slowly over the cmwes.And no one complains.
Instead, we remark at the skill of the artists, how beautiful the works are and how lifelike. 
How ironic. A naked human artificially rendered in some
medium is safe for our eyes. Human flesh is not. But why?
Is there some reason that we should not see first-hand other humans naked? Will it hurt us 
in some way? Damage our brains? Corrupt our souls? Turn us into raging sex fiends?
Put that way, any aversion to seeing our fellow human beings naked seems silly. But are we 
ready to endorse nudity in public under any circumstance?
Well, let's take a look at the issue from another angle. Imagine a world where anyone could 
go naked at any time.
Imagine being on a transit bus at the height of an August heat wave surrounded by naked 
passengers.
Imagine being in a restaurant where naked diners are gorging.
And imagine a classroom where naked l6-year-old boys sit with naked 16-year-old girls.
The sexual and hygiene problems of naked bodies in public don't need to be stated. They are 
obvious.
So how do we reconcile a belief that nudity in theory is morally OK with the blunt realities 
of life?
For starters, we can relax about any fears of nudes in restaurants, buses or school rooms. 
Health regulations governing public locations prevent those possibilities. And let's face it, 
despite looser laws, we aren't likely to see hoards of nudists walking the streets of Winnipeg. 
The concrete burns in summer. And winters ... well, one would have to be crazy.
Society has built-in safeguards preventing full-fledged nudity. Not just in Canada but 
everywhere and throughout history. Children may run naked in some places at some times of 
the year but adults have chosen to at least partially cover up.
Few cultures have settled on the same standards of acceptable nudity in public. These things 
are always in flux. That is what is happening in Canada now. Community standards on nudity 
are changing, forcing us to reevaluate our beliefs. And as we do with other issues, we appear 
to be heading toward a typical Canadian compromise: So long as no one is being hurt by 
another person's actions, We will tolerate differences. There will clearly be bumps along 
the road as we try to define what it means to be hurt by the sight of a nude person. Some 
people will limit the definition to physical hurt; others may include psychological, ethical 
or religious criteria.
And like all Canadian compromises, there will be people on all sides of the issue who won't 
be happy with the result.
But we will have added to the cultural mosaic that makes this such a fascinating time and 
place in which to live.

     Rachel Morgan is a Winnipeg Sun, copy editor.