There’s been a bit of nudity around Guilford’s campus lately, most particularly the weekend of Sept. 22. That Saturday saw probably a dozen naked folk prancing through the apartments, and through the sometimes abusively disapproving partying crowd.

So why do streakers streak? And why are people offended by the streaking (or in Saturday’s case, parading) bodies?

As a member of the party of nudes that Saturday at the apartments, I’m convinced that nudity is great, and public nudity is even better.

As I was jumping out of my jeans that evening, my thoughts were primarily celebratory.. The human body is so completely alive. There is such beauty to be found in iit – and I don’t mean beauty as Elle and Playboy define it. Even the simple motion of walking, if seen with a little attention, can be found breathtaking.

The evening was characterized by fun and craziness, and a part of that for me was enjoying my body.

Some think that nudity is fine if kept in the home, but ask why people want to force their nakedness on others.

I want to change people’s minds. I want to advocate awareness of the human body, and challenge people’s nebulous reactions to it. I want not only to shock people, but to make them think about why they’re shocked, too.

What is it about bodies that gives rise to the thought that nakedness is something to which we have a right not to be subjected? Which we are afraid to show our children?

Being nude is not always about having or pursuing sex.

There is a distinct difference between a spiritual and aesthetic appreciation of the nude form and a sexual appreciation of a lover’s body.

When people are babies, they’re frequently naked and it’s cute. Even older children are sometimes known to strip, and that’s ok, too.

It’s only when bodies mature that they become offensive. This is what I will not tolerate.

There is something hypocritically ingrained in this society that tells us, vaguely, that the act of sex is evil – and by extension the involved bodies – while selling us pop stars in magazines barely covering their surgically enhanced nipples.

There isn’t anything innately gross about naked human bodies. I’ve heard several people express vague opinions that they don’t want to see naked people, that it’s nasty, that public nudity isn’t right, etc., but have yet to find someone who can intelligently detail what exactly is offensive. I don’t think that anyone will; we all have bodies. There can be no way to analyze the healthy naked body and honestly say, “yuck.”

Some people merely argue the fact that public nudity is against some state and/or federal law. The Guilford Student Handbook states that the college will uphold state and federal laws, and that is reason enough to not be publicly naked.

That argument sickens me.

First of all, the college is not currently upholding, and will never be able to uphold and enforce, all state and federal laws. Anyone under 21 – ever had a beer on campus?

Secondly, to outlaw all public nudity (thereby lumping the dirty flasher, and me, expressing my spiritual appreciation of the body, into one category) is wrong. The body can be many things, including a sexual weapon, but it is not right to presume that it is always one.

It goes against every grain in my body, naked or not, to follow a rule just because it is a rule.

I have sincere concerns about the society in which I live; I came here to learn how to analyze that society, that existence, to learn what questions to ask and how to process the answers. I quite vehemently disagree with both the societal taboos on nudity and the reasons behind them.

I came to college not looking to simply get a degree and leave, but to learn (not to follow) and to think about my values and their presence in my behavior. Can I do that here?