What Do You Say To A Naked Lady?

This 1970 film by Allen Funt seems a little dated today but it clearly shows our attitudes about nudity. From IMDB.com “Candid Camera's Allen Funt secretly tapes people's reactions to unexpected encounters with nudity in unusual situations, such as when a naked young woman casually exits an elevator in an office building, or when the nude male art model breaks the wall between artist and model and has off-the-cuff conversations with the clothed women artists. Funt also secretly tapes the test audience watching the preview film and their responses to it, from outright indignation to warm hearted-praise.”

40 years later, I don’t think anything has changed. Watch the entire film below.

Naturists' plea over nudist beach

The following is from the BBC

Naturists are calling on a Suffolk council to keep open one of Britain's first nudist beaches.

A report to Waveney District Council said the 200-yd (183m) section of beach in Corton, near Lowestoft, should be "de-designated".

It said erosion had left "very little beach" for residents, meaning the nudist area should be for general use.

But British Naturism said it would contest the recommendation and said legal action was "always an option".

The report is due to be considered by the authority on Thursday.

Amicable solution

British Naturism spokesman Malcolm Boura, 55, from near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said the beach had been nudist since 1979.

He said: "Once we've been able to discuss the matter with the council, I'm sure we can come up with an amicable solution.

"We would welcome any proposal to move the beach slightly further south but we do not want to lose a designated area.

"This is used by several hundred naturists on a good summer's day.

"It's too early to be talking about about any legal action but, as is the position with anything like this, it's always an option."

Waveney District Council spokesman Phil Harris said: "There's been considerable coastal erosion on the beach at Tibbenham's Score, which is to the north of the nudist beach.

"That represents an 80% reduction in available beach in that area."

Mr Harris said the council's cabinet would decide on Thursday whether to put the proposed closure out to public consultation.

God Bless Bettie Page

From the New York Times:

By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: December 12, 2008

The art critic John Berger once wrote: “To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself.” I’m pretty certain he never met Bettie Page, naked, nude or otherwise.

In the 1950s Ms. Page, who died on Thursday, was Queen of the Pinups, appearing in thousands of photographs and numerous short films in states of jubilant undress. Whether entirely bare or decked out in garters, stockings and heels, a ball gag tucked in her mouth, she always appeared to be having a swell time. With her encouraging smile, she didn’t just look as if she enjoyed being photographed; she looked as if she enjoyed your looking at her too. That smile and the ease of her poses — the way she seemed comfortable even when trussed up in rope so intricately knotted that it would have made an Eagle Scout gasp or take up new habits — were invitations to a party that I suspect most of her admirers were too fainthearted to attend.

She was for a long period a great mystery and a cult obsession. I first encountered her in the 1980s in an East Village store that sold movie and music zines with a few curiosities tossed in. Many of the zines were blurrily mimeographed, held together with staples and bile, which may be why I gravitated to the colorful glossy covers of a new little magazine, about the size of Reader’s Digest, called The Betty Pages. (The correct spelling of her name didn’t emerge until later.) Published and edited by a comic-book illustrator named Greg Theakston, the magazine was my introduction to all things Bettie and something of a time machine, harking back to a long ago when men’s magazines were called Titter and Flirt.

The Betty Pages was filled with essays, interviews, reproductions of pinup photographs, and movie and still advertisements that detailed the nature of the work for which its star attraction became famous. One typical advertisement trumpeted:

“Our latest High Heel movie featuring beautiful model Betty Page WAS MADE SPECIALLY TO PLEASE YOU. We know you will want to see more of this popular model. Betty wears black bra, panties and black stockings. Several close-ups of her walking in high heels.”

Yowza! The advertisement was for a short titled “Teaser Girl in High Heels,” distributed by a New Yorker named Irving Klaw, who, with his sister, Paula, sold movie star photographs and very special specialty items through their downtown store and mail-order service. In the late 1940s the Klaws began shooting and selling their own bondage and fetish material, catering to the tastes of a loyal clientele: “Corset and Stocking,” “Girls in Extreme High Heels,” “Battling Girls.” There was no nudity, just a lot of rope and kink. In 1952 Ms. Page started working for the Klaws and quickly became their most popular model. “She could do looks of real horror or happy shots with ease,” Ms. Klaw said of the seminude cutie. “She was a natural.”

It was, more than anything, that sense of naturalness that made Ms. Page a star in this shadowy 1950s world and later a favorite of the likes of Dave Stevens, who featured a Page character in his comic “The Rocketeer” (the basis for a drab 1991 movie with a luscious Jennifer Connelly). Born in Tennessee in 1923, Ms. Page moved to New York in the late 1940s after going nowhere in Hollywood. She posed for a variety of publications, as well as for camera clubs, where groups of men took their own private snaps. Some of the loveliest images of her were actually taken by a woman, the photographer Bunny Yeager, who shot her in a leopard-skin swimsuit and nothing at all, and sometimes in the company of two cheetahs.

Ms. Yeager’s photographs are more in the style of classic cheesecake than the images Ms. Page produced with the Klaws, which were made hastily, often at the rate of hundreds of photos a day. Ms. Yeager took a shot of Ms. Page wearing a wink and a Santa hat (that landed in Playboy), along with some embarrassing images of the model with a black man in face paint with a (ahem) spear. But she also took a series of vibrant beachfront shots of Ms. Page, including a candid image of her on a boat in nothing but a small smile, her profile to the camera. She’s entirely naked and so seemingly at ease in her own bare skin that the shot seems less like a professional opportunity and more like a private message.

To look at these photographs is to enter another world. I don’t think for a minute it was a more innocent world, but it was one in which sexualized images of women, even trussed up in rope, seemed somehow, well, charming. I’m sure there are plenty of women and some men who would disagree, saying that one generation’s erotica is another’s pornographic exploitation. But the sheer volume of images that wash over us now have blunted our sensibilities, I think, and made us less alive to the beauty, the poetry and the mysteries of the naked body. We are surrounded by visuals that are far more explicit than any Bettie Page pinup, images of oiled and sculptured flesh that promise the universe and deliver so little.

Jennifer Aniston Not Nervous to Get Naked

Jennifer Aniston says she wasn't scared to strip down to nothing but a necktie for the cover of GQ.

"Oddly enough, I don't know why, but no!" Jen told E! News' Michael Yo at the premiere of Marley & Me when asked if she was nervous for the naked photo shoot. "It took 39 years but....yeah!"

Jen also dished about how great it was working with costar Owen Wilson and shooting the movie in sunny Miami. "It was the best," she said. "We had so much fun!"

Also joining Jen at the premiere: boyfriend John Mayer. And although she walked the carpet with Owen, she and John got together inside and left the screening together.

Marisa Tomei's naked ambitions

Dec 12, 2008, 03:24 PM | by Marc Bernardin

I'm not entirely sure when it happened, but it seems like Marisa Tomei is all about the rock-out-with-your-frock-, er, off. First she popped up in her altogether as a trophy wife in last year's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and now she's playing a stripper in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. And you know what? Good for her. Why do I say that? Because she's doing what had been derided as a thespianic cliche for years, nudity, because the character required it. In both of these films, Tomei is playing women who have erected barriers around themselves, and for each of them the nude body represents either the fortification of that barrier or its destruction.

More than 15 years after winning an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny, Tomei is doing the best work of her career by being brave enough to use every tool in an actor's shed. And those of us who had a teensy crush on her when she was Lisa Bonet's roomie on A Different World...well, we're thankful.

Anyone with me in praising Tomei for throwing caution to the wind and showing off where the sun don't shine? Or do you think it's just been gratutious?

Dame Helen Mirrens a fan of nudist beaches

London, Dec 12 (ANI): Veteran actress Dame Helen Mirren, who recently grabbed eye balls with her bikini photographs, has admitted that she prefers wearing nothing at all.

The 63-year-old has confessed that shes an enthusiastic fan of nudist beaches.

Ive been on nudist beaches and think theyre great, really great. They desexualise nudity completely, the Daily Express quoted her, as saying.

Despite being regarded as one of the most alluring stars on the British screen, the Oscar-winning actress doesnt find herself beautiful.

I am just not beautiful. Keira Knightley is beautiful and Kate Moss, she told Glamour magazine. (ANI)

Top Nude Scenes of 2008.

The Web site Mr. Skin this week announced its top celebrity nude scenes of 2008.

No. 1 on the movie list was Mischa Barton in “Closing the Ring.” The rest of top five are Sophie Monk (“Sex and Death 101”), Heather Graham (“Adrift in Manhattan”), Asia Argento (“The Last Mistress”) and Neve Campbell (“I Really Hate My Job”).

The top TV nude scene was Lizzy Caplan in “True Blood,” followed by Mary Louise Parker (“Weeds”) and Anna Paquin (“True Blood”).

You’re on your own to find, and see, the rest of the list.

Dare to get bare! The prime spots around the world to take it all off!

Great article from Danielle Pergament of Concierge.com.

Remember that guy in college who told you to get naked because everyone was doing it? Well, he may have been ahead of his time. Whether it's for art, health, relaxation, or spiritual awakening, a whole world of travel is opening up to the idea of an NC-17 holiday. But remove your mind from the gutter—this isn't about sex. This nudity is about art! About freedom of expression! About refocusing your third eye! And when that all fails, it's also about checking out the hotties in the thermal baths in Iceland. In other words, those in the know are also those in the buff. Read on to find the best places to take it all off, from Nevada's desert of hot bodies to Japan's nude theme park.

1. Spaworld, Japan

Naked truth: Volcanically active Japan has thousands of natural hot springs traditionally enjoyed au naturel. One Osaka onsen has taken that concept to the extreme, creating an over-the-top, around-the-naked-world-in-eight-floors theme park. The complex is divided into themes by country—Finland, Greece, Spain, France, Ancient Rome, and so on. You'll soak amid a replica of the Trevi Fountain, in a hammam-meets-Disney stone bath, and over an Atlantis-themed tank full of tropical fish. Naturally, all baths and body soaks are done in the nude, but—bummer alert—men and women are confined to separate floors. On the bright side, you're given pj's to wear when you walk around the common areas—pink for girls, blue for boys.

Bodies of evidence: Despite its name, SpaWorld is favored by locals—and it's popular. Expect to be hanging with lots and lots of naked Japanese people.

Best reason to bring a towel: The ones they supply are meant for locals. Hearty Americans may find the in-house towels only cover one cheek.

Don't forget your: Japanese-English dictionary. This will be especially useful for translating the following: "Pardon me. I'm straight, but may I join your all-male naked pool party?"

2. Turkish Baths, Budapest

Naked truth: Some of the most famous historical sites in Budapest are most appropriately visited in the buff. After all, this is the land of the bathhouse. From classic, historical buildings like the Rudas Baths (built in the 1500s) to the Art Nouveau Gellert Baths to racier options like Király Baths, which host rave-style party nights, current options run the gamut. Most consist of a thermal pool, sauna, and steam bath so you can't really go wrong. Just one word of caution: Some bathhouses are unisex and others are mixed, so be sure you know which way your bathhouse swings before stepping in for a dip.

Bodies of evidence: We're not going to lie to you: The Rudas Baths won't be pretty. Think burly men toughened by an Iron Curtain past who sound like Borat—all naked as the day is long. Király, on the other hand, gets the young-and-pretty types.

Best reason to bring a towel: To cover your eyes. We're not kidding about the Borats.

Don't forget your: Dry clothes. If you're there anytime but summer, you'll be in for a chilly shock once you leave. Be sure to bundle up.

3. Loveparade, Germany

Naked truth: "First and foremost the Loveparade stands for peaceful togetherness," reads its Web site. "The most important values for us include love, mutual respect, tolerance, and community." In other words, naked, mutual naked, naked, and naked. The annual dance-music megaparty has been held in Germany every summer since 1989 and okay, not everyone is naked—some people wear body paint. But exhibitionist types are out in full force, dancing their way through the parade to all-night after-parties in clubs and warehouses. The location changes from year to year, heading to Bochum, in the Ruhr Valley, for 2009.

Bodies of evidence: The Loveparade makes Mardi Gras look like the Republican National Convention. There's an awful lot of body paint, piercings, and tattoos on a wide array of bodies—plump, skinny, gay, straight, and everything in between.

Best reason to bring a towel: You'll need somewhere to nap between the parades and all-night raves.

Don't forget your: Brotherly love. You'll be cheek by jowl (not to mention other body parts) with your fellow lovers, and you didn't come here to stand in the corner by yourself.

4. Burning Man, Nevada

Naked truth: Some would argue that it was the Silicon Valley crowd that put Burning Man on the map—because it was a way to see their colleagues naked. (And yes, we realize that "colleagues" and "naked" never belong in the same sentence.) However, the idea took off, and the annual weeklong art festival in northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert has become a must for those who like to party in the nude. The point, though maddeningly vague, is self-expression and self-reliance with a heavy emphasis on artwork and revelry (that's your clue right there). After days of fiery displays, the event culminates in setting aflame a giant structure shaped like a man, proving the age-old adage that some bodies are just too hot to handle.

Bodies of evidence: You name it. Last year almost 50,000 people came to Burning Man—each in various stages of dress, undress, and conflagration.

Best reason to bring a towel: You're in the desert and it's hot. Take off your clothes and throw the towel over your head for mobile shade.

Don't forget your: ATM card. Once all that self-reliance has melted away, you might notice you're not that far from Vegas.

5. Bay to Breakers, San Francisco

Naked truth: A 12K race through downtown San Francisco toward the ocean, Bay to Breakers has been held every May since 1912. This being Haight-Ashbury country, Bay to Breakers is part race, part gay pride event, part naked-from-the-Nikes-up parade. Though there are a handful of serious athletes in attendance, the Boston Marathon it is not.

Bodies of evidence: Technically, clothing is required and alcohol is forbidden, and there are many law-abiding Californians who are there to beat their personal record. But then again, many other participants take this opportunity to strip down and throw inflatable sex toys around their necks.

Best reason to bring a towel: The run will take you through the swankier section of town. If you lose your nerve, you can always pull over, wrap yourself in the towel, and pretend you got locked out of your spa appointment at the W.

Don't forget your:Your race number. Seriously. We don't care if you are wearing a fuchsia afro and nothing else, rules are rules.

6. Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Naked truth: This is nakedness, jet set style. The Blue Lagoon is your typical luxe destination spa—massages, healthy food, steam rooms, saunas, high-design guest rooms, its own product line—but with an only-in-Iceland twist. It was built on the country's famous hot springs, which, judging by the other participants, are best enjoyed sans clothing.

Bodies of evidence: Among others, svelte Swedes named Sven. It's a collection of attractive Nordic people with blond hair and no tan lines.

Best reason to bring a towel: There's actually a practical application, for once—you need to dry off after your dip in the geothermal pools. The temperature of the pools varies, but expect a chilly awakening when you get out.

Don't forget your: Hydrogen peroxide. Go ahead and be blond for the week. You may be naked but you don't want to stand out.

7. Hadaka Matsuri, Japan

Naked truth: Japan dedicates an entire annual festival to the glory of nakedness. Oddly, this event takes place in wintertime. No matter, the annual Hadaka Matsuri, or "naked man" festivals, draw massive crowds throughout the country. Though the specifics vary by event and venue, the general idea is for lots of Japanese men and boys in nothing but loincloths to run to a shrine where they receive a water purification cleansing. Tip: The full monty is frowned upon—a thousand men in glorified thongs is one thing, but this is an age-old rite of passage.

Bodies of evidence: Imagine running with the bulls. Now instead of bulls, there are a thousand Japanese men dressed as sumo wrestlers. And instead of fear of being gored, there's the fear of not tying that T-shape cloth properly.

Best reason to bring a towel: To wipe your feet. Slipping on all that poured water is a real concern, and you don't have a whole lot of cushioning for your fall.

Don't forget your: Gore-Tex. Once all the fun is over, you'll remember this is still Japan in January, and hypothermia—and shrinkage—will be a cruel reality.

8. No Pants Day, New York City

Naked truth: Imagine it's the first Friday in May, and you're in New York. You're taking the 2 train to Times Square, minding your own business when you look up and—ka-pow!—half the subway car has dropped trou. Actually they boarded the train that way—fully dressed from the underwear up and ankles down. But there's no need to flag down a cop. The harmless truth is that No Pants Day was started by an improv troupe to provide some comic relief to bored commuters (check out their Web site for hilarious videos). It has since spread to other cities—from Boise, Idaho, to Adelaide, Australia—and other bored commuters.

Bodies of evidence: What New Yorker hasn't passed a long train ride checking out foxy fellow commuters? No Pants can be a (day)dream come true, when that buttoned-up businesswoman or that hot hipster across from you promptly disrobes. But there are all walks of (pantsless) life here, so generally it's more of a laugh than an aphrodisiac.

Best reason to bring a towel: Remember, this takes place on the New York City Transit system. The towel is for anything you plan on touching with any part of your body. In fact, it's not a bad idea to bring one with you on a fully clothed subway ride.

Don't forget your: Metrocard. Nothing will take the fun out of the day like having to jump the turnstile with no pants on. The cop in the station won't think it's so amusing either.

9. World Naked Bike Ride

Naked truth: Ostensibly, the World Naked Bike Ride was started in 2004 as a demonstration against pollution and oil dependency. Over the years, it's taken on different forms in different countries at different times but the general theme is the same: Participants are encouraged to strip down and go out for a bike ride. But the bicycle part is somewhat misleading—skateboards and in-line skates are welcome as well. Dates are listed online, but if they don't fit into your schedule, you can start your own.

Bodies of evidence: It's hard to tell what you're looking at with all that colorful body paint, but that man dressed like a cop is not a YMCA imposter. He's actually a cop, and depending where this bike ride is taking place, he's either directing traffic or about to issue a citation.

Best reason to bring a towel: For padding—ouch—on the narrow—ouch—and bumpy—ouch—bike seat.

Don't forget your: Mirrored sunglasses—they're as close to inconspicuous as you can get on a naked bike ride.

10. Spencer Tunick

Naked truth: Want to be immortalized and scratch that exhibitionist itch at the same time? Sign up to be in one of Spencer Tunick's famous photos. The artist made a name for himself for his compositions of thousands of artfully arranged naked people, like the photo at right, taken in the Rubens Hall of the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, Germany. Tunick, who is originally from New York and has been documenting naked people since 1986, has famously disobeyed civil order with pictures of 18,000 nudies in Mexico City, not to mention New York, Vienna, Rome, London, Montreal, and dozens of other places where people tend to wear clothes. Tunick works solely with volunteers—you can sign up on his Web site to be notified next time he shoots in your neck of the woods. Just think—you too can be someone's screen saver.

Bodies of evidence: You name it—young, old, black, white, male, female, fat, thin—art brings all types.

Best reason to bring a towel: Only if you have second thoughts. But, then again, if you have second thoughts, your brow's not high enough to be here. Also, might want to have a pen handy so he can sign a print for you—his work commands a pretty penny at auction.

Don't forget your: Maturity. This isn't about seeing other people's private parts, it's about Art. Now grow up. (And bring a camera—hell, if Tunick is taking pictures of it all, why shouldn't you?)

11. Blacks Beach, San Diego

Naked truth: For every shoreline, there is a nude beach hiding somewhere on it. Of course, Brazil, France, and Greece get all the attention, but for our money, Blacks Beach in La Jolla, San Diego, is just as gorgeous, just as nude, and much closer to home. Blacks embodies everything that made Southern California a pop song in the first place—volleyball, barbecues, lab puppies frolicking in the surf, and a slew of bathing suit–less sunbathers who come with the let-it-all-hang-ten attitude that we love about California in the first place.

Bodies of evidence: This is the part of the world where "Baywatch" was filmed, but no, we can't pretend that it's all Pamela Andersons and David Hasselhoffs (thank goodness). You know the people you normally see at the beach in Southern California? Now picture them with no clothes.

Best reason to bring a towel: You're on the beach, duh.

Don't forget your: Sunscreen. You'll be exposing bits and pieces that have never seen the sun.

Judy Blue Eyes

In a recent interview in the Denver Post, singer Judy Collins was asked about the cover of her 1979 album "Hard Times for Lovers," for which she posed nude and did she ever harbor any regrets about that?

Her answer: "Far from it. It's fun to be controversial. And I did it again in 1997, for my anthology album, "Forever." Some people said I would have sold more records if we'd had a different cover, but I don't have time to worry about what people think. I have too much to do: I have books to write and concerts to perform and television specials to produce and movies to see and new cats."