Caliente Endangering Nudism?

On the ClothesFree.com forum today. LanceAtCaliente offers the following observation on potential law changes:

Rile up a zealously religious district attorney, state legislator or government official with clout, and they could initiate a legislative fire storm and eventually propose and pass laws to shut down nudist resorts...

Don't think it can happen? Call any of the AANR Government Affairs officers and ask them. They'll tell you! AANR and TNS officers struggle mightly and continuously to keep our lifestyle legal...

I know Chuck Foster (when he was alive), Bill Baldwin, Angye Fox (Angela Smits Whitaker), Steve Dorsey and have talked to them all at one time or another. They are steadfastly pursuing their present course, believe me. I know marketing and sales very well. I've repeatedly offered to help them sell our lifestyle to the masses above board as AANR intends it to be. All I got from them was disinterest and the cold shoulder. Wouldn't even discuss it at all. The strategy has been determined, and they're going to go with it, and that's that, thank you very much.

Why? The main investor wants them to, and he's the boss. He ultimately calls the shots. It's the old, "Want your job? Then do what I say." Period.

Yes, it's a free country. Yes, they've got big overhead. Yes, they've got to make money. We can say the same things about our man, Larry Flint and "Hustler Magazine." These arguments don't wash, folks. Sometimes, wrong really is wrong. This is one of those times. It's one of those times when the actions of the few will ruin things for the many.

I don't know if Angye Fox is the AntiChrist or not, but it's clear that her PR campaign has caught the attention of the news media, and no doubt has been noticed by public officials as well.

LanceAtCaliente also points out that Pasco County is in the Bible Belt, with McCain/Palin campaign signs lining the roads. He also warns about Ronda Storms, a Republican state senator representing Pasco County, who has advocated sterilization of child abusers, eliminated public funding for Planned Parenthood, and led her crusade for the county to officially abstain from recognizing gay and lesbian events held inside county lines (it passed). Her motto is "I am not apologizing for who I am."

Well, nudists aren't apologizing for who they are, either, but if a political firestorm flares up in Pasco County over nudist resorts, it's going to get ugly. The election of Barack Obama and Democrats nationwide who rode on his coattails doesn't mean that Evangelicals and hard-right conservatives have been eliminated. To the contrary, it's only fired them up to work and fight harder than ever.

The bottom line is that if Caliente has been found to be too decadent even for promoters and participants of The Lingerie Bowl, imagine what's going through the minds of the average citizens.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

"Lingerie Bowl" Cancelled, Nudism Suffers Again

The Lingerie Bowl scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday at Caliente Clothing Optional Resort has been cancelled.

The Lingerie Bowl has been officially canceled, Stephon McMillen, a spokesman for the Lingerie Football League, announced Sunday in an e-mail.

The cancellation is the result of a conflict over where nudity would be allowed during the event. The Lingerie Football League, which is organizing the game, has requested that people stay dressed in certain areas of the resort. That's something the clothing-optional resort would not agree to.

McMillen wrote that the league was "forced to cancel" the event because Caliente officials have "chosen to breach their agreement in relation to our previously agreed upon 'clothing mandate' during our broadcast and events at the resort."

Angye Fox, spokeswoman for Caliente, said this morning a contract was never signed with the league. "We never came to a full agreement so we haven't breached anything," she said.

This whole think stinks. First of all, why would Caliente publicize the event and sell tickets if there was no written contract? Perhaps Fox subscribes to the adage "there's no such thing as bad publicity."

And what's up with this so-called "Lingerie Football League"? You can't make up something this absurd. Wait a minute, somebody did make up something this absurd.

I don't think any of these people ever expected to pull off this event. Originally scheduled to be played in a vacant lot, the "game" apparently found the perfect venue in Caliente, a clothing optional resort. After a round of press releases and news stories about issues involving player salaries and indignation about playing at a "nudist colony", this non-event self-destructed. It's all just been a fabrication of huckster public relations trash.

"While this is a disappointing development for the thousands of fans that were planning on attending the festivities and the millions set to watch the broadcast, we feel ultimately it is in the best interest of the league not to place ourselves in what some would consider a potentially negative environment," McMillen wrote.

Negative environment? Caliente makes no effort to conceal its adult nature, marketing to swinger groups and cutting ties with AANR. And where are AANR and TNS on this issue? With nudism and naturism taking a huge PR hit, there is nobody out there trying to neutralize the negative impressions the public is getting from all this.

Tom Mullhall of the Terra Cotta Inn has weighed in on the issue.

Caliente in Tampa which has swinger parties said nudists did NOT support them enough and swingers do. They have bills to pay, thus they cater to swingers. Nudists have no one to blame but themselves for Caliente's policy change. I do not know how to change this thought process of the experienced nudist club member.

But, just remember, every time you book at a non nudist hotel or at a nude place not owned by nudists, you forfeit your right to say "why aren't there more nudist places to go to in the US," because you are part of the reason.

I wholeheartedly agree. The only way to counteract Caliente's negative affect on nudism is to support real nudist organizations and venues. Time will tell if nudism and naturism is strong enough and smart enough to overcome the damage done by Angye Fox and her sex-ed up selling and trashing of the clothing optional industry.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Lingerie Bowl to be Clothing Mandatory

If you will be attending next Sunday's Lingerie Bowl at Caliente Clothing Optional Resort in Florida, be sure to wear clothes.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

More Bad Publicity for Nudism

As most of you know, Caliente clothing-optional adult resort in Florida has been in the news lately. PR director Angye Fox has been marketing the venue to swingers groups, has quit AANR, and hosts parties like "Eyes Wide Shut" which pays homage to a group orgy scene from the movie of the same name.

In booking the annual Lingerie Bowl at Caliente, Fox has taken yet another step to exploit her resort, and further exploit women at the same time. The Lingerie Bowl features hot babes in underwear playing football for salivating males during the halftime of The Super Bowl.

News stories continue to refer to Caliente as "nudist", when it is not. Yes, there are nudists who frequent the place, but it is not family-friendly anymore, preferring to cater to the Hedonism crowd. Let me state here and now that I do not oppose what Caliente is doing because I am a libertarian on these issues, but what I find unacceptable is the perception that nudism equals sex, and it is this distortion which threatens to do long term damage to the nudist and naturist lifestyles.

Now the worst has happened. In a news story today, TampaBay.com is reporting that the women participating in the Lingerie Bowl are upset about playing in front of "nudists".

More problems have hit the Lingerie Bowl, but organizers say the game will go on.

Some players have quit the team over a pay dispute and because they object to holding the game at a nudist resort, said Lingerie Bowl quarterback Reby Sky of Temple Terrace and an agent who represents some Tampa Breeze players.

"I don't have anything against the lifestyle," Sky said, referring to the shift to a nudist resort. "But we as players were having a hard enough time dealing with and defending against the negative stigmas and stereotypes associated with the sport and playing attire before it was announced that we would be playing at a nudist resort."...

Ricker Yankowski, who represents six players through his St. Petersburg agency odels Without Attitude, said Horizon Productions failed to pay the players Dec. 3 as promised and that the company now says it will pay $1,000 to each player on game day -- about 70 percent less than the players thought they would get. He said at least three of his players have quit, and more resignations may happen.

"I never thought it would come down to this," Yankowski said. "Taking these girls away from home and family and work, then paying them a lot less, then making them play at a nudist resort, is below moral."

Holy shit. AANR and NAC need to address this issue now with a press release denouncing Caliente and distancing all nudists and naturists from this deteriorating situation. If girls who dress like porn stars and objectify themselves sexually are calling nudism "below moral", we have a big, big problem.

UPDATE: The Sporting News blog has picked up on this story. Look for it to spread like wildfire. This could all be a publicity stunt, but whatever the reason, nudism and naturism are taking a hit.

Then remaining members complained about the venue, a "clothing-optional resort" north of Tampa where guests may or may not decide to wear pants as they wander the grounds playing volleyball, playing volleyball, swimming, or playing volleyball in the pool.

(This is all there is to do at nudist resorts. I know this from sad, unforgettable experience, having gone one weekend to a nudist resort as a dare taken out of boredom. You will never, ever erase the image of a couple in their 60’s hosing off their RV, each wearing nothing but flip-flops and a fine coating of benign melanomas earned from years of exposure to the sun.)

The Sporting News also reports that Lingerie Bowl quarterbacy Reby Sky once posed nude for Playboy, and the blogger supports her decision not to play "with what she considers inferior goods".

UPDATE: Reby Sky has an arrest record. Can this get any worse? Probably.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Weekend Newds 1/17/09

• A judge in the UK ruled that a "convicted pedophile" can continue going on nude outings with British Naturism. The article mentions that the man was in possession of photos by "American author Robert Sturgess" which is likely to mean photographer Jock Sturges. The charges for the "indecent" images were dropped because the photos could be found in any reputable bookstore.
• Tampabay.com readers respond to the proposed stricter dress codes on Pinellas County beaches.

  "Let's stop being prudes and designate an area for "clothing optional" swimming. I'm sure the AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) and TAN (Tampa Area Naturists) would support this and any extra fee that may be incurred. Other states and countries, even Canada, have a nude or topless beach areas." - Walter Latham
  
  "Lest you think otherwise, I am definitely not a prude, but please quit treating us like people who only want to wear clothes from the 1920s. Fashion is one thing, but leave our beaches for everyone to enjoy." - MaryLou Tuttle
  
  "Are you kidding me? With the state looking to close some of our most beautiful parks because of the Legislature's fiscal irresponsibility, we waste our collective time and ever-shrinking resources to debate bathing suits." - Keith Richardson
  
  "Indeed, it is the easy answer to state the obvious: Turn away. Turning away is a viable option. Perhaps these "dismayed visitors" could elect to turn away from underclad beachgoers. The very idea that this issue is under discussion is insulting." - Barbara Audirsch McKee

• Joanna Weiss makes the following astounding statement in The Boston Globe regarding the Facebook breastfeeding photo controversy:

  "But elevating nursing to some exalted status doesn't seem so healthy, either, and that seems to be the danger in that flood of profile pics. Nursing gets equated with motherhood itself, and that doesn't do new mothers any favors."

  Read the entire article for context, and be sure to check out the reader comments.
• The MARNA nudist swim tonight is a "critic's pick" in the Baltimore Citypaper.
• A children's cartoon depicting the bare buttocks of a princess is causing outrage in Romania.
• A PR consultant is suing her plastic surgeon and Fox TV because she alleges that nude photos of her body were broadcast without her permission.
• Caliente resort continues to sex-up nudism by hosting this year's Lingerie Bowl.

  The event, which will be held Jan. 31 and broadcast on pay-per-view during Super Bowl halftime, features barely dressed women playing full-contact football.

• Did singer Katy Perry take a nude photo of herself?
• Eight celebrities have posed nude for Marie Claire magazine to raise awareness of violence against women.
• If you are caught up in the big Midwest freeze of 2009, you might be interested in this article on how the body adapts to cold weather.
• A citizen responds to an editorial calling for laws restricting adult entertainment establishments in Maine, brought on by the granting of a business permit for a topless coffee shop in Vassalboro.

  America is the most prudish nation in the free world. The European, South American, South Pacific nations that do not restrict whether a female chooses to go topless or not, do not have anywhere near the sex based crimes, especially rape, that the US has. If a law is going to be passed that a female cannot be topless, then it will have to be applied to include men as well, or it will be a law based on sexual discrimination which is unconstitutional. Bottom line: If you don't like the idea of topless wait staff in a coffee shop, don't go, period.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked