[description: a "flasher" lays down his trenchcoat for a lady to step over]
Because "decency" is how you behave, not how you dress.
Because "decency" is how you behave, not how you dress.
Nudists have another saying - "nude, not lewd" - which is meant to emphasize the difference between a nudist's state of dress, and his behavior - that nudity is simply a state of being, while lewdness is a state of doing. "Indecent exposure" laws often presume that a person exposing their genitals to others (outside of a bedroom context) is doing so for illicit sexual gratification, and will therefore be accompanied by lewd behavior. But this is not necessarily the case. That's why I've taken the stereotype of the "trench coat flasher", and crossed it with the trope of a gentleman laying his coat down over a puddle for a lady to step over. A lot of people misunderstand nudism to be a form of exhibitionism - that nudists get some kind of sexual thrill from exposing themselves to others. Hopefully, this image demonstrates that that's really not the point. Nudists are (generally speaking) naked for reasons of comfort and convenience, and because they don't have the hangups about their bodies that many people have. The point that I think a lot of nudists would like to make is that what you're wearing isn't so important as how you behave - that you can be naked, and still be a perfectly decent human being.
[description: a lady in a pink dress and heels holds an umbrella while looking up toward the sky]
This pink dress worked out perfectly for this theme. I was very happy to be able to add a gender-bending clone shot to this series, since it's so characteristic of my work. I was very excited about this theme in general - I thought it was pretty clever. The shoot was challenging though, because it was cold - the high that day was under 50 degrees - and raining, and I was out taking pictures with nothing on half the time. Totally worth it, though. I was concerned about getting some good shots in such a short time frame (so I could go back inside and warm up), but I think it worked out nicely!
