Show some Pride and Keep your pants on
meagan @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:32 am
How to say this without incurring the notorious irascibility of rights activists, without sounding like a prudish senior who has slipped on to the cranky downhill slope of life, without appearing to be anything less than a liberal, open-minded, non-puritanical citizen of the world?
Truth is, there’s just no way of getting around it, so here goes:
Keep your pants on, people.
Yes, all you people prancing about in public with perplexing impunity from legal or etiquette censure, gyrating on floats in your manties with your dangling bits flopping about, or spreading your fleshy naked derrières on bicycle seats, or threatening to crowd the courthouse steps with your foreskins flopping about as if desperately seeking a safe haven.
That’s right, I’m talking about you, all you loud and proud lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender parade-goers who float through Vancouver’s West End during the annual Pride Parade, as you did with much colourful aplomb on Sunday, throwing public propriety and everything else to the wind.
And, yes, all you nude cyclists who cheekily assaulted civic senses on Vancouver streets recently as part of the World Naked Bike Ride, an annual protest over, well, we’re not sure what exactly, but it’s something to do with the evils of non-renewable energy and the dangers that face urban cyclists, not the least of which must be saddle sores.
And you, too, you pro-foreskin champions with the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, who consider male circumcision a barbaric act and gathered your members this past weekend for several “pants-optional, foreskin pride” events in Vancouver.
When, exactly, did nudity become the new normal?
And why is it okay for all of the above to take place in public, where such behaviour more commonly lands one in front of a judge?
Why does a woman wanting to swim topless in a local pool, as Maple Ridge’s Linda Meyer did in 2000, get arrested, but naked two-wheelers in 2012 get a police pass?
How is that a man can expose himself in a public park and, quite rightly, get his ass hauled off to jail but a coterie of rainbow-bright lads and lassies with dangling participles bumping and grinding on Denman Street is considered family fun?
If one can’t saunter nude through the Metrotown food court — and good Lord, please don’t — without security taking exception, why are naked parade participants now routinely given civic licence to conduct X-rated public peep shows?
Why the double standard when it comes to social mores, not to mention legal constraints, which like it or lump it, are there to maintain a certain civic standard of acceptable behaviour that has been universally fine-tuned over the millennia?
We get that girls and boys just want to have fun, but it seems especially odd that a rights movement as serious as the LGBT one, which has seen lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people endure decades of physical and social discrimination in their fight to be recognized legally and socially — as they most certainly should be — would choose sexually explicit caricature as a business card for what is arguably their most high-profile public relations blitz.
There’s nothing wrong with a parade to celebrate diversity, or men marching on behalf of their intact manhood, or cyclists asserting their right to the road, but why can’t you keep your twigs and berries to yourself? Why can’t you lock and load those boobs? And for the love of God, is it too much to ask that you cover that bobbling butt spilling over the sides of your bicycle seat like twin sacks of cottage cheese?
Yes, shock treatment is a surefire attention-getter, but at what point does one person’s right to bare it all overrule another person’s right to not be offended, to not be comfortable that children and the elderly and those whose sensibilities or religious beliefs embrace modesty should be unsuspectingly exposed to nudity when they’re out and about in public?
And please, no lecture about how there’s nothing shameful about the human body (nobody said there was) or that all naked bodies are beautiful (get serious) or that it’s all about physical freedom (in which case, we wouldn’t have seatbelt and helmet laws) or that clothing optional should be a charter right (two words: Wreck Beach) or that the law’s an ass (yes, but at least it’s wearing a robe) or that the times they are a-changin’ (so get with it, Grandma).
That’s just it. Would you prance naked in front of your grandmother in her living room? Exactly. So why are you doing it on the street corner?
Nudity is not the new normal.
Put your pants on.
Public_Domain @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:02 am
GreenTiger @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:18 am
meagan meagan:
How to say this without incurring the notorious irascibility of rights activists, without sounding like a prudish senior who has slipped on to the cranky downhill slope of life, without appearing to be anything less than a liberal, open-minded, non-puritanical citizen of the world?
Truth is, there’s just no way of getting around it, so here goes:
Keep your pants on, people.
Yes, all you people prancing about in public with perplexing impunity from legal or etiquette censure, gyrating on floats in your manties with your dangling bits flopping about, or spreading your fleshy naked derrières on bicycle seats, or threatening to crowd the courthouse steps with your foreskins flopping about as if desperately seeking a safe haven.
That’s right, I’m talking about you, all you loud and proud lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender parade-goers who float through Vancouver’s West End during the annual Pride Parade, as you did with much colourful aplomb on Sunday, throwing public propriety and everything else to the wind.
And, yes, all you nude cyclists who cheekily assaulted civic senses on Vancouver streets recently as part of the World Naked Bike Ride, an annual protest over, well, we’re not sure what exactly, but it’s something to do with the evils of non-renewable energy and the dangers that face urban cyclists, not the least of which must be saddle sores.
And you, too, you pro-foreskin champions with the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, who consider male circumcision a barbaric act and gathered your members this past weekend for several “pants-optional, foreskin pride” events in Vancouver.
When, exactly, did nudity become the new normal?
And why is it okay for all of the above to take place in public, where such behaviour more commonly lands one in front of a judge?
Why does a woman wanting to swim topless in a local pool, as Maple Ridge’s Linda Meyer did in 2000, get arrested, but naked two-wheelers in 2012 get a police pass?
How is that a man can expose himself in a public park and, quite rightly, get his ass hauled off to jail but a coterie of rainbow-bright lads and lassies with dangling participles bumping and grinding on Denman Street is considered family fun?
If one can’t saunter nude through the Metrotown food court — and good Lord, please don’t — without security taking exception, why are naked parade participants now routinely given civic licence to conduct X-rated public peep shows?
Why the double standard when it comes to social mores, not to mention legal constraints, which like it or lump it, are there to maintain a certain civic standard of acceptable behaviour that has been universally fine-tuned over the millennia?
We get that girls and boys just want to have fun, but it seems especially odd that a rights movement as serious as the LGBT one, which has seen lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people endure decades of physical and social discrimination in their fight to be recognized legally and socially — as they most certainly should be — would choose sexually explicit caricature as a business card for what is arguably their most high-profile public relations blitz.
There’s nothing wrong with a parade to celebrate diversity, or men marching on behalf of their intact manhood, or cyclists asserting their right to the road, but why can’t you keep your twigs and berries to yourself? Why can’t you lock and load those boobs? And for the love of God, is it too much to ask that you cover that bobbling butt spilling over the sides of your bicycle seat like twin sacks of cottage cheese?
Yes, shock treatment is a surefire attention-getter, but at what point does one person’s right to bare it all overrule another person’s right to not be offended, to not be comfortable that children and the elderly and those whose sensibilities or religious beliefs embrace modesty should be unsuspectingly exposed to nudity when they’re out and about in public?
And please, no lecture about how there’s nothing shameful about the human body (nobody said there was) or that all naked bodies are beautiful (get serious) or that it’s all about physical freedom (in which case, we wouldn’t have seatbelt and helmet laws) or that clothing optional should be a charter right (two words: Wreck Beach) or that the law’s an ass (yes, but at least it’s wearing a robe) or that the times they are a-changin’ (so get with it, Grandma).
That’s just it. Would you prance naked in front of your grandmother in her living room? Exactly. So why are you doing it on the street corner?
Nudity is not the new normal.
Put your pants on.
Truth is, there’s just no way of getting around it, so here goes:
Keep your pants on, people.
Yes, all you people prancing about in public with perplexing impunity from legal or etiquette censure, gyrating on floats in your manties with your dangling bits flopping about, or spreading your fleshy naked derrières on bicycle seats, or threatening to crowd the courthouse steps with your foreskins flopping about as if desperately seeking a safe haven.
That’s right, I’m talking about you, all you loud and proud lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender parade-goers who float through Vancouver’s West End during the annual Pride Parade, as you did with much colourful aplomb on Sunday, throwing public propriety and everything else to the wind.
And, yes, all you nude cyclists who cheekily assaulted civic senses on Vancouver streets recently as part of the World Naked Bike Ride, an annual protest over, well, we’re not sure what exactly, but it’s something to do with the evils of non-renewable energy and the dangers that face urban cyclists, not the least of which must be saddle sores.
And you, too, you pro-foreskin champions with the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, who consider male circumcision a barbaric act and gathered your members this past weekend for several “pants-optional, foreskin pride” events in Vancouver.
When, exactly, did nudity become the new normal?
And why is it okay for all of the above to take place in public, where such behaviour more commonly lands one in front of a judge?
Why does a woman wanting to swim topless in a local pool, as Maple Ridge’s Linda Meyer did in 2000, get arrested, but naked two-wheelers in 2012 get a police pass?
How is that a man can expose himself in a public park and, quite rightly, get his ass hauled off to jail but a coterie of rainbow-bright lads and lassies with dangling participles bumping and grinding on Denman Street is considered family fun?
If one can’t saunter nude through the Metrotown food court — and good Lord, please don’t — without security taking exception, why are naked parade participants now routinely given civic licence to conduct X-rated public peep shows?
Why the double standard when it comes to social mores, not to mention legal constraints, which like it or lump it, are there to maintain a certain civic standard of acceptable behaviour that has been universally fine-tuned over the millennia?
We get that girls and boys just want to have fun, but it seems especially odd that a rights movement as serious as the LGBT one, which has seen lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people endure decades of physical and social discrimination in their fight to be recognized legally and socially — as they most certainly should be — would choose sexually explicit caricature as a business card for what is arguably their most high-profile public relations blitz.
There’s nothing wrong with a parade to celebrate diversity, or men marching on behalf of their intact manhood, or cyclists asserting their right to the road, but why can’t you keep your twigs and berries to yourself? Why can’t you lock and load those boobs? And for the love of God, is it too much to ask that you cover that bobbling butt spilling over the sides of your bicycle seat like twin sacks of cottage cheese?
Yes, shock treatment is a surefire attention-getter, but at what point does one person’s right to bare it all overrule another person’s right to not be offended, to not be comfortable that children and the elderly and those whose sensibilities or religious beliefs embrace modesty should be unsuspectingly exposed to nudity when they’re out and about in public?
And please, no lecture about how there’s nothing shameful about the human body (nobody said there was) or that all naked bodies are beautiful (get serious) or that it’s all about physical freedom (in which case, we wouldn’t have seatbelt and helmet laws) or that clothing optional should be a charter right (two words: Wreck Beach) or that the law’s an ass (yes, but at least it’s wearing a robe) or that the times they are a-changin’ (so get with it, Grandma).
That’s just it. Would you prance naked in front of your grandmother in her living room? Exactly. So why are you doing it on the street corner?
Nudity is not the new normal.
Put your pants on.
Brenda @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:23 am
We give credit where credit's due Meagan. This was NOT your piece.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Vancou ... story.html
raydan @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:30 am
Why isn't nudity the new norm? ![[huh]](./images/smilies/icon_scratch.gif "huh?"){kind=icon}
OnTheIce @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:14 am
Love the article!
Spending 364 days a year driving towards tolerance and equality is set back by a day highlighting that you really are different.
You don't need to show your bare ass, boobs or otherwise to be proud of who you are.
Public_Domain @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:40 am
meagan @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:51 am
Your right Brenda. I certianly did not write this article and I apologize if anyone thought I did. I only wish I could be that good a writer. I do agree with the writer.
I agree also with the "live and let live" sentiminents but I do not agree with how they flaunt their sexuality in public just as I would not agree with anyone flaunting their sexuality in public.
maldonsfecht @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:52 am
Hmmmm well I just repped you for that piece Meagan... please pass that info along to the author 
haha but good on you for posting it! Agreed whole-heartedly.
raydan @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:00 am
Although the Gay Pride parade may have served a purpose in the beginning, I don't think it's needed anymore. All the gays I know just want to be treated like anybody else.
andyt @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:23 am
This article is by the same fat old broad who was winging because Lululemon didn't make clothes in her size. We don't need to see acres of flab covered in Lycra stretched to its limits with a camel toe thrown in for good measure either. Old women that try to dress like young ones are more disgusting than naked people in my mind. And the protesters do it once a year, not every freaking day.
maldonsfecht @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:26 am
andyt andyt:
This article is by the same fat old broad who was winging because Lululemon didn't make clothes in her size. We don't need to see acres of flab covered in Lycra stretched to its limits with a camel toe thrown in for good measure either. Old women that try to dress like young ones are more disgusting than naked people in my mind. And the protesters do it once a year, not every freaking day.
![[B-o]](./images/smilies/drinkup.gif "Drink up")
meagan @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:33 pm
I do agree with Andy on that subject of older women trying to look like teenagers. I think the ones that do, are pathetic. I believe that grandma's should look and act like grandma's.
But then I don't think teenagers should dress like hookers either. Yah can't tell em apart any more.
Yes I'm just one of those doddering old fools that still look back to "the good ole days" when more people had respect, manners and morals. Now look what we have?
peck420 @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:39 pm
raydan raydan:
Why isn't nudity the new norm?
Have you seen the average overweight and obesity rates?
Thank which ever god or non-god, that most people keep their clothes on.
Brenda @ Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:59 pm
meagan meagan:
I do agree with Andy on that subject of older women trying to look like teenagers. I think the ones that do, are pathetic. I believe that grandma's should look and act like grandma's.
But then I don't think teenagers should dress like hookers either. Yah can't tell em apart any more.
Yes I'm just one of those doddering old fools that still look back to "the good ole days" when more people had respect, manners and morals. Now look what we have?
But then I don't think teenagers should dress like hookers either. Yah can't tell em apart any more.
Yes I'm just one of those doddering old fools that still look back to "the good ole days" when more people had respect, manners and morals. Now look what we have?
I don't necessarily think that a 40 year old grandma should look like a 70 year old woman in a flower-curtain, just because she is a grandmother. My daughter wears the same size clothes as I do (and she wears mine, too). Does that mean I am a cool mom (or an older woman trying to look like a teenager) or that my daughter dresses older than she is? Or just that we both have our own style and that co-incidentally, some of our clothes are interchangeable?
Should I stop riding my bike because my next door neighbour is my age, but a grandma? I don't think so. Should I start wearing sloppy clothing 2 sizes too large, or should I continue to wear my size 4 skinny jeans? I choose the latter, thank you very much.