Apologies if this has been discussed before but did anyone see ‘The Naked Rambler’ on the BBC’s One Life programme about a fortnight ago? Fasinating documentary following Stephen Gough and his girlfriend walking naked from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Although, I agreed wholeheartedly with some of his principles about naturism and how we should not be ashamed of the naked body etc, he was rather eccentric and upset his charming girlfriend terribly with his inclination towards sleeping around. Plus, his eating habits left much to be desired. Then there was Jeff, (if memory serves) who worshipped the naked rambler as if he was a holy guru. I couldn’t help laughing when the director was filming this strange fellow walk away (in the city where Steve had been arrested) cringing and uttering under his breath, “No, don’t take your shorts off, Jeff” – Ugh. Straight-away a police van pulls up, carting off the lost soul.
What shocked me most was… although generally the public seemed quite amused by the naked couple, taking photographs, cheering etc, there were some who were deeply offended to the extent of committing violent acts. Steve’s girlfriend was in tears as someone trapped her in a room and accused her of being a whore. The cameraman was chased and attacked by a woman who scratched him on the arm. Now, what is more disturbing nudity or violence? God is obviously not offended by our nakedness, he hung out with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and afterall he was the creator of such offensive material. Surely it is more blasphemous to knock God’s handywork than to declare the naked body indecent?
On a lighter note, I thought it was touching how a group of mourners mentioned how their belated mother(?) would get a kick out of the naked rambler showing up outside her funeral. It was just her sense of humour.
“Yes I did see the programme and was facinated by the reactions of the general public, considering we are now surrounded by naked and sexual images on a daily basis. The poor police are caught in the middle as usual in not wanting to waste too much resources on this issue but at the same time having to be seen to be upholding the law, especially with the TV cameras around.
I agree with your comments and the most dissapointing issue for me was that Stephen could not see how he was destroying his relationship with such a lovely woman who obviously loved him dearly. I lost any respect for his cause at that point despite agreeing with his basic argument.
I does raise the question as to what is the difference between naked people in public (all men must obviously be perverts etc) and the general semi nudity and overt sexual images now seen by all children on music videos and adverts. Standard dance moves today (taught to children) would shock even Kenney Everett and the Hot Gossip dance troop many years ago.”
David Reed
” thought it was a good documentary of a tricky topic. Yes, Stephen did upset his girlfriend by his selfish attitude to relationships, but during his journey he did seem to become much more attached and fond of her and from recollection this side ended on a positive note.
I was shocked by the violence of the reactions, and I’m glad to see that the vast majority of people were not prudes and supported this classic English eccentric.
I hope he gets there in the end.”
Neil Fairbrother
This was an interesting show. Part of me thinks that if the government doesn’t provide some sort of free covering, it is clearly unreasonable for them to force you to pay for your own. There are very few other examples of things where the government forces you to make private purchases just to be allowed basic freedoms. Not entirely serious about that point but think it is worth briefly considering.
The battle for full nudity is not the most pressing issue though. More repugnant is the social aversion to breast feeding. It should be a crime to discriminate against breast feeding women by asking them to stop or leave premises.
Bearing in mind that we live in a world where The Sun’s page 3 can exist, alongside all this controversy about nudity all I can say is that British society is sickening with it’s double standards.
(I pick The Sun because it is a family read, available to all ages and is acceptable to read in public places – unless you hang around with snobs like me who will definitely and unavoidably think less of a person for reading it… :-s)