Should there be a Beach in Hawaiia where Nude Swimming is Legal?

Armed with this scintillating question and a pair of re-soled bare feet, I again assaulted the University [of Hawaii] campus. (I also took another super-camera to take still-life photos of the inhabitants, which would show that there really is life at UH). Today was different from the last time I took a survey, though. Today it rained.

The U is a beautiful place when it rains. Masses of damp clammy people stand huddled at the entrances of buildings. Periodically some lucky klutz with an umbrella jabs his (her) way through the crowd and leaps gleefully into the downpour. You can always see two or three people galloping across the lawn, and maybe one of them will drop something and go dashing back for it, scoop it up and make it to shelter clutching the drowned body of a book or notebook.

Anyhow, today I dutifully trotted around trying to find out what people think about swimming in the nude. Since a good deal of us were swimming fully clothed already, it was an easy thought transition to make, and quite a few students had answers. But NOBODY wanted to have their picture taken.

Ah, but the meat of the subject is the nude swimming, and here's where we find out how the young minds are clicking. Eighty-percent of the replies were in favor of having some form of nude swimming, fifteen-percent were against it, and there was one abstention.

1. Yes — There should be at least one beach where nude swimming is legal, there is absolutely no reason why not.

2. Yes — Laws should be enacted which try to accommodate everyone as long as no one is harmed. It is ridiculous to arrest people for being free. (This group proposed an isolated beach where virgin eyes will not be violated or damaged).

3. No (a reaction to 1 and 2) — A major result of such a beach would be flocks of "gawkers" who would come for miles to exercise their eyes. Putting up walls or barbed wire [fence] would merely make the forbidden sights more appealing.

4. No and Yes — A particular beach would probably meet with the problems of #3. Nude swimming should be allowed everywhere, and soon people will get over their hangups.

5. Yes (sort of) — If people want to swim nude they should start a beachfront nudist camp where they could indulge to their own content.

It appears that most people (UH and elsewhere) feel that nudity is not anything to worry about. Rather, the majority of concern was for the swimmers and the possibility that they might be bothered or harmed by spectators. No one felt that the nudity would be immoral, and nobody thought that the sight of a nude body would offend them.

But here's a rub. Two years ago, male students at this institution called for a ban on bikinis in the swimming pool (I am correct?), claiming that the "over-displayed" bodies were a distraction, and made studying very difficult. The swimming pool is located in the middle of a huge athletic field under a monstrous cliff that hides the rest of the campus almost entirely. It is a hot ten-minute walk to get within appreciable distance of the pool, so it seems that a good many students were eager to be distracted. Now, if University students (who should be of the intelligent segment of society) are subject to becoming gawkers, will the general public react the same? Maybe the bikini incident occurred because University students are at the age (you know) when they are just becoming aware of the opposite sex, when they are experiencing new and wonderful changes within their bodies, and they aren't sure how to handle themselves (COUGH!)

We have seen today that Our People are confident that they have become more mature. It's other people they worry about. Certainly such subjects as nudity or sex require mature, rational thought, and who is more irrational than the person you think is wrong? Shall we have a swim and think about it?