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 - Subscribe  - Contact Us  - Rate Card  - Place an Ad Valley&State      Backpage      O&E      Sports      Archives      Classifieds      Faith&Beliefs      Obituaries      Revels August 12, 2004 Clarifying the position for nudity At the last city council meeting I spoke regarding the newly passed but redundant city ordinance banning normal nudity in the city downtown and parks. I wanted to clarify my statement and have it printed in its entirety, "I am here tonight to ask the council to join me in honoring the human body and reconsider its decision to make criminal the natural and harmless act of being nude. "Nudity is in its very essence pure. Pure as a mother giving birth to a naked child she feeds from her breast. Pure as a picnic and a game of Frisbee. Pure as a cooling dive into the bubbles of a waterfall. The human body is pure and is nothing to be ashamed of or feared. "I believe this is a healthy image of our bodies. We should strive to establish this image as a cultural norm rather than adopting views that facilitate the commercial exploitation of the human body or associate it with criminality or smut, as is all to common today. Five hundred years ago renaissance artists portrayed great nude images of the human body expressing the great array of human drama, and Olympic athletes would compete in the nude in honor of the greatness of human form. Today the human body is hidden away except on magazine racks behind plastic covers or half clad in cologne and beer advertisements. Our self-image deserves better. We are more beautiful than this. "I am not here to convince you, however, of the morality of nakedness. My deeper concern regarding this ordinance deals with its passage without compelling incidents to support it and that it appears to be legislation based on moral preference. This type of legislation sorely resembles previous eras of intolerance. In the 1920's a flyer published by the chamber of commerce advertised Ashland as a great place to live, as it is wholly free of Mexicans and Negroes. I suppose they would have included naked hippies had they been the popular scapegoats of that era. "I wonder if the city is considering a ban on public display of affection considering the reaction of some members of our community to the gay and lesbian group in the Fourth of July parade. "Our community deeply values tolerance and we should deeply fear intolerance. Let's lift the ban on normal nudity and not give bigotry a toehold. "I wish to reiterate that this law is unnecessary and redundant if the police are trying to protect the community from those of ill intent, as the police already had laws banning lewd behavior and other activities, such as public drunkenness and harassment. I heard one council member expressing misconceptions regarding this issue before passing the ordinance. "Nakedness is normal, naked bodies are pure. The council should reconsider its decision." Ryan Navickas Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams