AlexisI have never heard of International Nude Day, but then I haven’t really been looking for holidays to get naked on since I pretty much try to spend as much time naked as I can. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really need a holiday to tell me to take my clothes off. I mean, just yesterday I was telling my family how I wanted to go skinny dipping in our new above ground pool. Needless to say I got some funny looks. “Um, we do have neighbors?” However, nighttime is a good time to do it….Damn it Alexis, back on track here. According to Holidays Calendar:
International Nude Day is a holiday celebrated all over the world on July 14th. On this holiday, people remove all of their clothing. This is done not only for the freedom it provides but also to celebrate the beauty of the human body and to embrace naturism.
The international holiday originated in New Zealand where a Rugby player, Marc Ellis challenged everyone to streak in front of the Prime Minister on July 14th. The dare became a huge success, and quickly spread to over 30 different countries since the holiday’s inception at the beginning of the 21st century. For the year 2020, we will celebrate this glorious holiday on Tuesday, July 14th.
Although I’m not entirely sure of the reason behind Mr. Ellis’s intentions or what he was trying to achieve, find it admirable and rather brazing to encourage people to run naked in front of the NZ Prime Minister. While technically it’s not a in a nudists playbook to “streak” or exhibit themselves in a way that would cause alarm or concern to others, it is interesting to speculate on what the end goal was. Maybe we can learn something from his actions. Here are a few ideas running through my crazy mind.
Practical Joke
This could have been the most probable explanation of his encouragement for people to run naked in front of the prime minister. I don’t know Mr. Ellis’s personality, but being a rugby player and a tv personality could give him a large platform to “experiment” on his influence. What better target than the Prime Minister of the country. Could you imagine what would happen if we did that to the current US President? What kind of reaction would that give? My thoughts are given his history he would like it.
Act of Protest
Unfortunately, I’m no expert on New Zealand history other than parts of Lord of the Rings was shot there. that’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge. I’d have to go back and look it up, but it would be a great way to protest a decision, act, or some other discussion the general population did not agree or approve of.
Personally, I would like to see the answer be this. Nude protests can be one of the most powerful, yet peaceful ones simply because you can possibly limit number of instigators showing up to make things worse. We have seen this recently with the riots in the US. You have outsiders showing up propagating and just adding more fuel to the fire. Most people are terrified to get naked in front of others. Alternatively, you will have a lot of gawkers, voyeurs, and picture takers. Maybe take a Guy Fawns mask like in the movie V for Vendetta.
He Didn’t Like Her
Becoming famous or at the very least well known has some drawbacks. People know who you are which makes it easy for an attack of some kind. It may be possible words have been said in the past which initiated a response for him to try and “appall” the Prime Minister with the naked human body. I certainly hope this wasn’t the case. Personally, I don’t feel the nakedness human body’s should be weaponized for the benefit of someone else. It gives non-nudist the wrong idea about being naked and does nothing to normalize naturism. We can protest or be funny, but shouldn’t encourage nudity for detrimental causes.
Going Forward
Whether Mr. Ellis had bad intentions for his encouragement of streaking in front of the Prime Minister is yet to be known, we seem to have turned it into something good for naturists. Having a holiday, even if unofficial, to encourage and support nudity is along the path to normalizing naturism, and I certainly think we should do what we can to push this along. Who knows, maybe we can get it more widely recognized as a holiday…wouldn’t that be nice?!? Until then we can celebrate our little wins as they come, continue to promote healthy nudism, and work to one day help society see the difference between sexual and non-sexual nudity.
