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

So you agree.

If you want being naked to be illegal then you are more than welcome to agitate for it. If enough people agree then congratulations. You get a biscuit and a new law.

Currently - despite the sterling efforts of a few erect penis obsessed citizens - the problem of "people being naked somewhere" doesn't really appear to be a massive priority. Maybe when we've solved child poverty, deep social inequality and injustices and the smouldering planet there will be time to go back and look at all the trivial things the law can be used for.

I have to admit, the more frothing this raises, the more fun it is.

If we are going to ban all and any behaviour that is offensive and/or annoying in public spaces then there are a fucktonne more things ahead of the odd nude bike ride that I would list.

Good for you. I can think multiple things should be dealt with by means of legislation. It's not either/or.

Laws based on transient morality* are rarely a good idea. Or end well.

One marker of tyranny is arbitrary laws and their enforcement. And the UK** is already struggling under the weight of clear injustice. Why would we add to that ?

*Whose morality ???

**There is also the added complication that there is no such thing as "UK law". Scotland, Wales, Norther Ireland and England are quite capable of having differing laws in a lot of areas.

So why don't you start your campaign(s) ? Presumably you'd start with a petition and engagement with your elected representatives to advance your world view.

Well yes, I completely agree. This is why although public opinion may indeed initiate the passing of new law, it is not a guarantee.

Mob rule is not something to be desired.

British law (which isn't really a thing as whole anyway) isn't made and shouldn't be made just because "Barbara on MN doesn't like it"

How is public nudity as the law stands now damaging (carefully worded so people can't start using flashing or other illegal activity) or causing harm? Is it a quantifiable amount or is it just "Well, I don't like to see it?"

What quantifies an appropriate level of covering? Are bikini tops acceptable? What about vests? Is the law applied fairly across all - so men and women must cover up the same?

Where does breastfeeding come into it? Are women going to be expected to shut themselves away again because they might accidentally flash too much skin or show a nipple?

How does location work? Can you sunbathe topless at a beach? What about a local park? What about your own garden? What if someone happens to see you through your window?

Will nudist camps now be banned or will they have exemptions in place so as not to infringe on current freedom of expression? Will they have to increase security/membership systems/move into locations that can be fenced off?

This is just all off the top of my head quickly but the law would have to make sure it covered all of this, laid out very clearly

Now, I may be an outlier, but I'd rather we didn't have government departments tied up debating if shorts had to be longer than 2cm or 5cm and if parks and beaches were sufficiently different so as to incur different status with regards the law....

But of a reach. You don’t like what they say they saw (and the posts I saw on this matter were nothing but factual) so you decide they must be lying.
We can all draw our own conclusions from that.

Not really. Bicycle saddles have something of a reputation for causing erectile problems, not triggering or prolonging erections. If men sporting erections were a common feature of naked bike rides, I'm positive we would all know about it by now.

I am one of the posters who spotted several erections on the London bike ride.

I know what an erection looks like. I know what I saw. Other members (!) of my family saw the same.

Why would I lie about this?

Why does anyone lie about anything? MN has a strong anti-men bent, and there are many on this thread who are very much against the naked bike rides, and any nudity, particularly male nudity, in public.

No-one said they were a common feature. I said I saw some.

The fact that prolonged cycling may cause erectile dysfunction in some men has no relevance on whether some other men get a boner naturally or deliberately (e.g. through Viagra) at the end of a single mass participation event.

“Now, I may be an outlier, but I'd rather we didn't have government departments tied up debating if shorts had to be longer than 2cm or 5cm and if parks and beaches were sufficiently different so as to incur different status with regards the law...”
This is clearly not the issue as anyone witb half a brain can see, and bringing nudist camps, topless beaches and the like into play is absurd.
The issue is with men (namalt etc etc etfuckingcetera. Yawn) taking great and obvious pleasure in displaying ttheir genitals in public no matter whom it makes fearful, uncomfortable, or embarassed.
In truth, that’s the largest part of it. Because they love it. They get off on it. That is what prople object to.
Men and their dicks, eh? Yet again.

Mumsnet is not a consensus. It is a series of individuals making their own points. It is not reasonable for you to accuse an individual of lying because you assume they are part of some Mumsnet hive mind.

I have no problem with men or public nudity generally. I have no problem with the naked bike ride. The vast majority of people on it have nothing but a healthy attitude to their body, I'm sure. My parents were naturists. I had a childhood full of naturist holidays and naturist swimming. I didn't see any erections there.

I did see, with my own grown up family, men riding along the Mall with a stiffy. Do with that information what you like. It's true..

Billy Connolly did a routine about it once. It involved the phrase "discreet massage" to alleviate a priapism. 😂

Mumsnet is not a consensus.

True.

However MN is quite a faithful simulacrum of the country as a whole with it's obsessions, anxieties, hangups and frankly batshit ideas. So from this thread alone, it's clear there is a non zero number of people in the UK whose immediate thought when they learn of a naked bike ride is not "Oh, I wonder what the cause is ?", but "Oh no, male(?) erections !! The humanity !!"

Which is useful information. Especially if you are starting an Insta business selling custom shorts to hid male(?) dogs genitals.

I may not be engaging in good faith here .....

Except that is all part of what would need to be considered if nudity was banned completely

But keep harping about those nasty men walking around with boners like it's a normal thing and not ALREADY ILLEGAL

I would also put forward that to notice multiple erections you would have to be starting quite hard to see ...

We still haven't yet established any member metrics.

Does ten men with one erection over the ride equal one man with ten erections over the ride ? Which is worse or are they equivalent ?

Indeed. We understand that, but somehow it still keeps happening, illegal or not.
As attested by posters who reported seeing men with erections on the Naked Bike Ride, only to find the usual apologists out in force.
So what are we to do? It looks rather like the Met doesn't want to get into any difficult conversations over the Bike Ride. Meanwhile some people do have an agenda about normalising sexual behaviour in public. Small steps.

It looks rather like the Met doesn't want to get into any difficult conversations over the Bike Ride.

Probably worried it won't stand up in court.

The law is vague about nudity. I think it should be places not the general unless you offend.

You might need your eyes testing.