Northwest Nude News 04/26/2014
AANR-Northwest
This week in the Northwest 4/25-51
*Friday*
Black Light Karaoke – 7pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
Opening the Mountain – Bare Backers
Road Cleanup, Food and Fun – Bare Spirits
AANR-NW Earth Day Tree Planting @ Rooster Rock
9am
Spring Annual Shareholder’s Meeting – 10am – Lake Bronson
General Membership Meeting – 1pm – Bare Backers
Retry Easter Egg Hunt – 2pm – Sun Meadow Resort
Spring Annual Membership Meeting – 4pm – Lake Bronson
Games Night 7:30pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Sauna Night 7:30pm – SLUGS
Karaoke – 7:30pm – LARC
Blakely’s After Dark Presents: Karaoke & Open Mic Nigh – 8:30pm – Lake
Bronson
*Sunday*
Brunch – 9:00am – LARC
Board Meeting – 12pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Membership Meeting – 1pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Next week in the Northwest 5/2 – 5/9
*Friday*
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
Work Party – 10am – Squaw Mountain Ranch
Taco/Burrito Bar – 12pm – LARC
Cinco de Mayo Dance – 7:30pm – – LARC
*Monday*
Spa Night @ LadyWells – 6pm – SLUGS
AANR Election
Every two years, AANR holds elections for its members. Ballots are
included in your May Bulletins..
There is a Proposed Bylaw Amendment
to modify the bylaws to refer to botha procedure manual and a governance
manual. This allows the office to manage day to day office while
allowing your board to make policy and governance decisions.
Only two of the offices are in contention. There are two candidates
running for President,Tim Mullins and
B. Price
And there are two candidates running for Vice-president, Sharon McLeod
Robert Roche
Click to view the campaign posters for Bev Price
Sharon McLeod
and the team ofTim Mullins and Robert Roche.
Traditionally, there has been about a 5-7% turnout. Go to
http://www.aanr.com/blog/welcome-to-the-2014-aanr-voters-guide/
make your decisions and vote. Let’s have a much improved turnout this year.
Nudity, Nudism and our Society – Part 5
by Mel Kanner
Number 5 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have
observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view
of nudity.
Archive: #1
#2
#3
#4
*More about Looky-Loos (LL’s)*
We have always had LL’s. Even in a “textile” environment: on a beach,
at a public swimming pool, or even on the street, there are going to be
people (particularly men) looking at others (particularly women).
Men look at women — with admiration, with hope, with desire, with … I
am sure that psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and other
observers of human behavior can give you more ideas on why and how this
occurs, and the variations of this behavior among our different
cultures, but in general this seems to be universal.
Women grow up with an awareness of the various degrees of looking: the
appreciative glance, the longer look when the men think they are being
unobserved. And they also experience the leers, the catcalls, the
invitations, the name-calling. They are taught at an early age never to
be seen by boys in a state of undress. They are taught to put up with
inappropriate sexual remarks, unwanted sexual advances, not to walk by
themselves at night in out -of-the-way places. And they experience that
every day. This is part of their lives.
(At the same time they have also learned that how they dress and how
they look is really important. The venders in our society take advantage
of this by providing ways to change their weight, or their hair, or
their eyelashes, or their boobs. More about that, perhaps, in a future
article.)
Women look at men too, but perhaps not in the same way. At least they
don’t seem to. Perhaps that is cultural, something left over from our
puritanical heritage. I am sure that those “-ologists” that I named also
have something to say about that. That appears to be changing some in
our society — “Playgirl” magazine has become almost as popular as “Playboy”.
There are various degrees of “looking” and most forms are not a problem,
even in a nude environment. Men who visit our parks or beaches solely
for the purpose of expected sexual excitement, are usually disappointed.
They find that the environment is not sexual at all, or not sexual
enough. Nudists are all different sizes, shapes and ages. The number of
nude “10’s” they expected to see are few or non-existent (there are not
many 10’s in this world — they seem to exist mostly in movies and
magazines, and our imaginations). Sexual “cavorting on the lawn” is not
standard behavior. They get bored and leave.
When there are large crowds at our parks or beaches, LL’s are usually
not even noticeable. At Blacks with only a handful of people on the
beach the LL’s stood out. It was obvious what their intentions were,
and the Blacks Beach Bares were able to circumvent those intentions. And
at our nudist parks the LL’s usually choose to leave or are politely
asked to.
But there are some LL behaviors that are a problem. One is staring.
Staring: to gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide
open, boldly or obtrusively conspicuous, or with intense scrutiny.
Staring is not polite under any circumstances. We just don’t do that.
It makes people uneasy, uncomfortable, and afraid. Especially women.
And women know why men are staring at them — it is sexual, and
objectifying, and demeaning. And it could be dangerous.
It is not surprising that women in the past have been reluctant to visit
nudist parks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Responsible nudists at beaches or parks
can, by observing undesirable behavior, intervene to “politely police”
the area to discourage unwanted behavior and thus make women and
families more safe and comfortable.