cs1@oddjob.UUCP (Cheryl Stewart) (07/26/85)
When I was a freshman in college I learned a very valuable lesson
by swimming in two different environments. The first was a pool
under a waterfall in a gorge where nobody wore clothes. The second
was a beach on Long Island where everybody wore clothes. Funny thing
was, that with everybody nekkid, it seemed like the only way to swim-
healthy, natural and not very provocative at all. Families (hippy
families, granted, but families nonetheless) would bring their kids
there. It was a real granola scene, not oriented toward pick-ups
at all. You went there with your friends to enjoy the water. Jones
Beach was another matter. Oh, yeah, everybody wore bathing suits--
and women would strut around as if to say, "OK, I'm walking across
the beach now, everybody! Everybody look at the purple pieces of
cloth I've decorated my breasts with! I'm going into the water now!"
I mean it was a totally BOGUS scene, with LOTS of unnecessary
madonna-like provocation going on -- and this is seven years ago,
before anybody had ever even heard of madonna (although I'm sure
madonna got most of her ideas from the Long Island social setting).
I guess the point is -- it's not skin that's provocative, it's what
people do with it, and don't fool yourself: bathing suits are
DECORATIONS for certain parts of people's bodies, not a form of
modesty at all. Birthday suits are only natural.
"Mr. Natural, Mr. Natural, what does it all MEAN?"
"Don't mean shee-it"
cheryl stewart again
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