Naked bike ride - protect our children

[cleaningthebog]

The one where the men get their jollies showing their cock and balls. There is a petition which is not getting much traction. You may want to sign if you don't want to encourage this.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-naked-bike-ride-from-being-in-public-spaces

Calm down, Mary Whitehouse

Most ‘normal’ people? I agree that most people probably wouldn’t want to take part in the bike ride but that has nothing to do with whether they are normal or not! Personally, I wouldn’t take part because I hate cycling and it’s too cold in the UK for me to be naked at this time of year, but if I was somewhere hot and on a beach, for example, then I would, and often have, walk around, eat my lunch, swim etc naked, and I am perfectly normal! I just don’t have the sort of weird hang ups ablut something perfectly natural that some people on this thread seem to have. When my daughter was younger, we didn’t see the need to shield her from the naked men and women in the beach when we were on holiday, because it was perfectly natural for them to be like that.

Being pedantic it's more correct to say it's not inherently illegal or unlawful.

However it may be an aggravating factor in actions that are illegal or unlawful.

I quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) despair at the low energy thinking that seems to believe unless there is a law permitting something to happen it is somehow illegal. I mean is there a law saying that Mrs Browns Boys is permitted ?

The naked rambler kept going to jail because he deliberately (and repeatedly) breached ASBOs and because his behaviour amounted to public disorder.

It's not as straightforward as going to jail just for being naked.

I know. I worked in one of the jails he was in. Police used to wait outside when he was getting released because he'd literally strip off at the door, despite the school down the road. Didn't give a fuck. Just wanted to be in the nip.

My memory was that he managed to get all the way through England without arrest. As soon as he was over the border into Scotland (presumably by about six inches according to some posters here) he was arrested. Because it turns out Scots law is different.

Radio 4 reached a new rhyming low when they concluded their report on the naked rambler, in this way:

"He has no intention of stopping. He'll wander up hill, down dale, and in all probability, back to jail."

No, he was definitely jailed in England at one point too.

Intrigued, I found this. Fans of facts will spot this key detail.

The former Royal Marine was found guilty by a jury at Winchester Crown Court of breaching an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29800016

So he was not arrested for "being naked". But for breaching an ASBO that prohibited him from "being naked". Which is not the same thing.

ASBOs were created to allow lawful behaviour to be made unlawful by the courts rather than wasting time actually passing a law. Interestingly they were scrapped not long after this case.

OKAY: on with the frothing !!!!!

They had to keep him in segregation because he refused to dress. He'd pop a sock over his doodah if he really had to though.

I think this is a major safeguarding risk

Then you don't understand safeguarding.

Safeguarding refers to the protection of children from abuse, harm and neglect. Your child seeing something that you as a parent personally do not like or find distasteful is not "a major safeguarding risk". There is no evidence that catching a fleeting glimpse of a naked body, in a completely non-sexual context, places children at risk of harm.

If one of these men hops off his bike, wanders over and approaches your child then you would of course have every right to be alarmed, and in that situation I'd advise calling the Police. But the fact that you've decided these men are all weirdos doesn't mean your child is unsafe due to them riding past on a bike. There are plenty of people wandering around fully clothed in our communities who pose a risk to children.

You say it innocently but it plays into the hands of someone grooming a child.

I don’t want a naked man in the streets to be a normalised event.

oh OK then.

shall we have a naked man with an erect penis presenting the weather on tv at 8am?

how about a children’s Tv show on CBeebies?

If the body is so natural we shouldn’t mind should we, that naked men and women are helpfully displaying their natural bodies for our children to become accustomed to.

Simply being naked is not illegal. There's no 2 ways about it

Mrs Brown's Boys may not be your cup of tea but other people like it. Similarly MN is not everyone's cup of tea and people could call for it be banned. So should it be?

We can't simply ban things because some people don't like it or approve

It’s not about whether it’s overtly sexual. It’s about normalising men swinging their penises in a public street.

That is a gateway to groomers being able to say nakedness is ok.

And then it’s harder for kids to say “this is not fine”.

So if some Uncle Bob sends your 13 yo dd a photo of himself and his mates all starkers, getting ready for their naked bike ride - is that now? He is just letting her know he’s protesting climate change at a protest and happens to be naked. She laughs, it’s amusing and uncle Bob is nice.

And next week some random bloke sends your dd a dick pick - is that now also fine? No. But it’s now a grey area because sometimes it’s fine and valid for an adult man to be naked

If we are allowing naked bike rides, anything could be done naked surely?

The human body IS natural though and teaching children it's something shameful or embarrassing helps child abusers because children feel they've done something wrong if bodies are shameful

You can not want lots of things, doesn't mean it doesn't happen

Why would he have to be erect?

That says a lot more about you

How the hell does it play into child grooming? The events are strictly controlled, have you ever been to one?

You give your child sweets so they think its ok if strangers give them sweets too...

Yes, legally speaking we have decided that flashing is intended to cause distress. Bit who says that was the intent?

Perhaps the flasher hoped to arouse the flashee as he thought it was exciting, why wouldn’t the flashee enjoy it as a bit of titillation too?

Perhaps the flasher was just having a wank on his way home from school and didn’t expect the girl to walk past (happened to my dd).

I can absolutely assure you that if dh and I turned up naked on the school run, the school would call the police and social services and there would be a furore. Even if my intent was to simply to display the glory that is my naked middle aged body on a pleasant spring day. Would the school be wrong to react to my nakedness? If you are right, then I have a legal right to be naked and I’m entitled to believe no one will be offended or distressed if my own intent is completely innocent. Does that answer change if DH gets a visible erection? Maybe he fancies the Year 3 teacher. Does she then have a right to be distressed? Why? It’s just a natural bodily function - and perfectly legal for him to be naked.

Exactly - much more succinct!!

It’s not a case of whether I’m right, it’s the law. This is how the police interpret and apply it: https://library.college.police.uk/docs/college-of-policing/C849IO118-public-nudity-aid-revised.pdf

I agree that it's weird and creepy and definitely not for me, but I don't imagine any petition will make a bit of difference. Best to just avoid the area when it's happening and hope most people with children do the same. As little as I like it, it's probably less harmful to children than what many of them witness in their own homes.

I have NEVER seen an erection on a naked bike ride.

Given how cold it is usually you don't actually see very much of anything!

Nakedness isn't something to be feared.

Er I wasn't agreeing with you

I was pointing out how your argument didn't work

People give their kids sweets and also teach them stranger danger