Comments on: Rites of spring

By: Grad Student

Grad Student — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:45:27 +0000

Hmm…I have somewhat the opposite experience. None of my cherished college memories involve public nudity or semi-nudity and there was only once instance in which I was outside my dorm in anything but full clothing. While the SLAC I attended definitely had its share of public nudity (“picting” was certainly A THING one Saturday morning each spring, the guy in my dorm junior year who walked around in his boxers all the time and called it “business casual”), I generally found said nudity wildly inappropriate and tiresome. No, fellow classmates, you should not attend Hum lecture in the buff and please wipe the lecture hall seat with a sanitary wipe before you leave.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:17:31 +0000

It seems like most of us have a secret naked history, or perhaps even a secret naked present.

I’m sure that Big Boss Lady is right that nonwhite students probably think differently about nekkid campus rituals on historically white campuses, but I wonder about what goes on at HBCUs w/r/t nudity? We know that black and white fraternities and sororities alike engage in very similar hazing rituals on different campuses, for example. I wonder if there are parallel or similar naked rituals at HBCUs? (It would make sense, given the stories you all tell here about how nakedness/naked rituals, even when only engaged as observers, impart a sense of belonging or of a particular campus identity.)

A fun nekkid story: there was a very strange, academically underachieving party boy on my college’s co-ed brother campus who gained fame one night for his naked bicycle ride across town from his campus to ours. I can’t remember if his ride came to the attention of the constabulary or not, but it seemed like our amazement at the time had something to do with his flouting of campus boundaries while naked. That is, we thought it was cool and safe to be naked in some contexts on either campus, but to be *between* campuses in public space while naked was a horse of a different color.

Also: I think “naked bicycle ride” just sounds really uncomfortable for a man. (Also pretty funky for women too, I guess.) But any bare nekkid running is bound to be uncomfortable for both sexes (no jog bras for the ladies or jocks for the gentlemen.)

By: Western Dave

Western Dave — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:02:29 +0000

There was a naked run for charity down the main hall of my SLAC by men’s cross country every year. I’m pretty sure there was a fair amount of nakedness by the SF types playing live D and D in the woods but I did not participate in that. There was a certain amount of day to day nakedness in some of the dorms but not others (the ones with co-ed bathrooms seem to tolerate more nakedness). Most of my positive naked memories come from summer camp, which was all-male. The single sex aspect, wilderness setting, and communal showers led to skinny dipping and, in at least one summer, a “you must wear pants to dinner” rule. I remember in particular, doing a sweat by a stream, taking a quick dip, and then to dry off, playing ultimate in nothing but our hiking boots… because god forbid we should step on something and not be able to hike out. Good times, good times. Gave me a confidence about my body that I simply didn’t have prior to that.

By: Tony Grafton

Tony Grafton — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:49:19 +0000

Thanks to MsMcD for that interesting supplement. This is one area where it’s clearly both true, and a good thing, that the faculty have no idea what goes on outside their little corners of campus.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:50:29 +0000

I definitely recall some nude dancing in the spring (or maybe it was fall?) rain my first year…

By: MsMcD

MsMcD — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:38:13 +0000

I attended the same institution that Dr. Grafton mentions, and did participate in the last nude olympics there. It DID get out of hand which is a shame because it used to be a very joyous and liberating experience.

Ending the nude olympics did not stop naked events. As a rower there was at least one day a year where the men and women would row naked- to me it was a sign of acceptance of our bodies (it was communal showers anyway). And my roommate had to run around the street naked when she completed her first try (scoring in rugby). Of course, she had torn her ACL in the process so she did it on crutches.

So there were pockets of acceptance and comfort. However, there were also spaces and times where nakedness could be dangerous. It was all about the group you were with.

By: ej

ej — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:03:51 +0000

Streaking was a tradition at my SLAC, until the early 90s, when I was there. I never had the impulse to do it, but some friends of mine were actually charged with assault for running around the dorms naked. And the token “naked guy” on campus was told he had to start putting on clothes.

A turn towards the prudish maybe?

By: Z

Tue, 08 May 2012 07:36:14 +0000

There was the nude sundeck at the Hearst pool at Berkeley. People kept warning us that the guys from the business school, from their building, were looking with binoculars from their balcony, but my thought was, if they can actually see us, good luck to them.

By: Flavia

Flavia — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:57:41 +0000

There were a few organized streaking-type events at my Ivy in the mid-1990s, and a couple other opportunities for joyful semi-nudity (think: bras/boxers) en plein air. Never partook of them, but they were definitely A Thing.

(And then there were the occasion sexxxaay theme parties where people showed up in whipped cream & so forth, but I consider that the opposite of what you’re talking about!)

By: koshembos

koshembos — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:56:48 +0000

When I came to this country some Americans treated me as the guy getting off the jungle tree, i.e. primitive creature. We monkeys are always naked and having sex mucho. Back in the jungle we had out moments and they started in high school.

My youngest went to summer camp on a cool lake. One night, he organized a coed rowing on the lake. Dad was ordered to pick him up promptly, but the kid knows his staff; he convinced them to change their mind.