Naked Bike Ride

[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

I'm not sure about this reasoning. I think it would be quite possible to teach Johnny that the naked bike riders are nit at all like the scout leader getting his penis out. Just like kids can understand it's ok to be naked in the men's change room, or at a sauna, but that some kinds of nudity are not ok.

The origins of these rides in my memory were that it was about being a bit edgy and pushing boundaries in order to get attention for a cause. Which in some ways is a little old fashioned at this point in time when we can turn on our computer and see 10 naked people screwing any time we want.

However, what the people who want to be a bit edgy seem to miss is there is often a reason for a social taboo. I think there have always been some people who like an excuse to get a bit of attention when they are naked, there were always girls when I was a student who liked to do the naked bike ride and I think that's what it was about. It's not a great thing to encourage. And then there are the sexual exhibitionists, and I think it's very appealing to those people as well. Which again, it is really better not to give those people that kind of attention.

Bit hard when Susan’s shoving her fanny in yer’ face love.

not really something we want the children to see

Would we apply this logic to anyone walking down the street?

We were in a restaurant in central London last summer when a naked bike ride passed us, twice, the second time stopping at lights for some time.

Most of the people in the restaurant were laughing at them. At the lights several men got off their bikes for a quick stand/stretch/look around, all fully naked. Personally I found it uncomfortable and to me it was exhibitionism.

Seeing the naked women made me feel even more uncomfortable, although many had thongs/shorts on, and painted breasts or something around their neck. Despite their bravado I felt they looked vulnerable. I know this is me projecting to some degree, but a naked woman in public is vulnerable, even if only to voyeurs.

Changing rooms and saunas are areas designated for nudity. And people choose to go into them. They don't choose to be exposed to nudity on a public high street.

No-one should be in a situation where they're having to explain to children that indecent exposure is sometimes okay.

The question I ask myself is who is benefiting by men being able to legitimately parade naked through the streets? And who would be biting your arm off to do it?

You say, these people are naked because they know it's not normally ok and are trying to get attention for (whatever the reason is.) And you can add, it's stupid/daft/immature/dangerous/rude if you want to.

I don't think over-stating the difficulty of explaining it to kids helps the argument that it's impinging on others right to privacy.

Most of the people in the restaurant were laughing at them. At the lights several men got off their bikes for a quick stand/stretch/look around, all fully naked. Personally I found it uncomfortable and to me it was exhibitionism.

Absolutely exhibitionism.
You dont normally see cyclist hopping off their bikes for a quick stretch when on a red.
These clowns are just making a point.

I may not have brought stating it to kids into the argument at all if it wasn't for a poster saying normalising public nudity is good for kids.

I wouldn't have thought most people would think it's okay to try and explain to children why some men are walking around naked.

Indeed. And covering it in legitimacy by the entire premise of the bike ride being an attention seeking event, in the first place.

They've managed to get it past the authorities by saying we're trying to draw attention to something.

It's a neat trick if you can pull it off

Another thing I like about it, is it's all sorts of body types.
We are all exposed to so much ultra-sexualised media which is insidious and damaging to people's self esteem, but I can't understand why anyone is still worried about a load of wobbly middle aged bodies on bikes once a year.

I definitely think it's a great idea for young people and children to understand that air brushing isn't real.

I definitely don't think the way to do that is to expose them into a bunch of naked men parading through the streets.

I don't like it, and I avoid anywhere where it happens. Mind you, I also stopped going on 'Critical Mass' days which are fully dressed cycling 'taking over the city' events - which in practise meant taking your life into your hands trying to cross a road (even at a crossing) on those days. I'm making the disgust face just thinking about trying to do that whilst surrounded by a load of sweaty naked people.

Nothing against nudity - my kids still wander in for a chat when I'm in the bath and they're teens, but flooding a city is a display of dominance, not freedom.

And it's female and male nudity is obviously different. There's nothing to see for a woman - it's all hidden away between our legs - and boobs? Well it's not so long since more than one newspaper made a point of printing them on a dedicated page every day. So the one normally hidden bit is the bit that has been historically over-sexualised in society, and personally, I don't think that showing more of them in an attempt to de-sensitize/de-sexualise works.

It's not men though, it's people.

Another way to ask the question is what are the advantages and disadvantages of laws against all public nudity.

I think the claim that it's good for kids is a little simplistic, but I do actually think that a society that makes nudity in all contexts a sexual taboo is not taking the most healthy approach. The trend over the past few decades toward people being afraid to get undressed even in same sex change rooms or spas is generally unhealthy I think and in the end cedes more ground to those who want to sexualise the body in all contexts. And ironically it means many people are only exposed to other bodies in contexts like film and advertising which are not typically realistic. But the kind of protest nudity this involves isn't useful in that way imo.

I think the idea that it's "not ok" to explain to kids why some people are naked is a bit of an odd one though, I'm not sure how it would be "not ok.".

I think it gets past the authorities because it's not against the law.

You could make a law saying how much has to be covered, but laws like that have been open to court challenges in various ways. You'd also have to determine whether it would be different for men and women which is fraught.

I think this is why you typically see it mediated with ideas like what the community thinks is indecent, or whether the intent is sexual. Rather than exact rules about how dressed is dress, and where differernt levels of dress are ok.

Although if it meant less advertising of barely dressed people that might be nice...

I don't disagree with what you're saying about normalising average bodies for children.

This isn't the way to do it.

This is normalising men getting their cocks out in public.

Yawning and stretching at traffic lights? It's exhibitionism, and that's at best.

And yes, I know it's women too, but that's a whole different thread.

If you watch the videos it is noticeably mainly men though

I think that just because some people don't like it, doesn't mean it needs banning.

I guess you think men in trenchcoats flashing women and children isn't traumatising either.

If you don't understand why it can be traumatising, perhaps go and speak to a rape crisis centre, and battered womens shelter, or even rape survivors like me. You show a lot of Male Privilege, but even the average male would get it and not need it explained to them.

If it was just a case of some people not liking it, it wouldn't. But as it's a case of triggering SA victims, normalising red flag situations to children thereby being a safeguarding risk, imposing on non-consenting passers by, and attracting men sexually motivated by exposing themselves - it should be banned.

Jesus grow up will you. No one is ‘flashing’ on this bikeride

they wouldn’t be naked if wearing trenchcoats 🤪

you seem very bitter and hellbent on suggesting all men are sexual predators.

pleased to say I won’t be rising to your silly comments anymore, all the best with the future.

I don’t need explaining the awfulness of rape etc, this is not the case. Sorry but if you have took this thread in that way, you need help. Apologies.

Wow, what a heartless, misogynistic and nasty post that says more about you than it does about me.

We inadvertently came across it in Central London in June 2023 (about 4pm). All of a sudden we noticed hundreds of bikes and hundreds of naked men sprawled on the grass. Funnily enough there was not one naked woman to be seen. They were generally all men of a certain age (60+) & quite happy sitting around with their legs wide apart showing their (quite frankly, grim looking) genitals to the world.
We were a group of 4 adults (2 female, 2 male) & 3 children. All the adults agreed there was a an uneasy feeling around the group and the general consensus was they weren't partaking in the activity for the good of their health!!
If people are so passionate about these rides taking place why are they not happy to only organise them in rural areas, or at night? Oh yes, because there would be far fewer unconsenting people to impose their "right to be naked" & exhibitionism upon. Once again, it's all about what the men want & screw everyone else! (& yes, I'm well aware it's not a male only activity but it certainly seems that way).

Good god. Don't tell a woman who's told you she suffered from sexual abuse that she's bitter and needs help because she doesn't want to see men flashing themselves on bikes

A quarter of all women have been subjected to either sexual assault or rape. And a significant majority of the rest have been subjected to male harassment or intimidation of some sort.

It's absolutely endemic.

if you, as you claim to, understand the awfulness of sexual assault, take it up with the men who do it, not the women they do it to.