"The kids were consequenced"

Several Minnesota students are in trouble for streaking and mooning at three separate St. Francis High School football games.

"The kids were consequenced," District Superintendent Edward Saxton said, adding that the students, all boys, were suspended for anywhere from one to 10 days...Immediately after one of the games, a road contest Sept. 18 in Fridley against Totino-Grace, three boys ran from one end of the field to the other "while the stands were still full ... and through the neighborhood," said police Detective Jennie Markham...The two 17-year-olds were accused of trespassing and disorderly conduct, she said. However, because of one of them "had no clothes, as in not a stitch [and] showing his genitals to people under the age of 16," a charge of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct could be leveled, Markham said.

I'm not sure if "consequenced" is even a viable word, and this bastardization of the English language comes from a school superintendent?

Even more disturbing are some of the comments to the article, including one person who compares the streakers to child rapist Roman Polanski, and another who believes that throwing the teens in jail and imposing sex-offender status on them will straighten them out. Someone even offers that "there is no constitutional right allowing a person to show their genitals". Last time I checked the constitution, there was nothing in there banning genitals, either. Some comments are supportive, calling the sex-offender charge "horrific", and not to ruin the kid's life over a harmless prank. One commenter blames the overreaction on our "PC liberal society", and another blames the "crazy conservatives."

Back in the seventies, when I was in college, streaking was at its peak. One evening about 50 students ran around the campus in the nude, another day a group of young men streaked the dining hall, and the fad was so widespread that Ray Stevens had a hit song called "The Streak." What has happened over the past 30 years to turn something so harmless and funny into a criminal act? Roll back the clock a bit and decriminalize streaking and sexting. These excessively harsh punitive actions against our own children expose our society's deep-seated fear of our own bodies.

UPDATE: Here is another report which claims that when one streaker was captured, between 500 and 1000 people surrounded the police, yelling and throwing things to try and prevent the arrest. One protesting student was shocked with a stun gun. They also busted him with marijuana possession.

The school principal is quoted as saying that streaking is "a lot bigger issue than it was in the 1970s and it won't be tolerated." He is also quoted as praising the police officers, saying they did a "fabulous" job, and warned any further protests could be dealt the same penalties as the streakers. Whose side is this principal on? Does he really want half his student population in jail?

Good for the kids in protesting this idiotic persecution of streakers. They should all go on strike until the charges are dropped.

The Sunday Newds 11/23/08

• A dance concert at Macalester College in Minnesota features nudity.

  "I started with nudity as the subject matter itself rather than the effect of some other concept, because I was-and continue to be-interested in it as a social experiment," (Emily) Gastineau said. "It's been very specific to the context of Macalester, because in some places a naked dance would be totally unremarkable and in others it just wouldn't be done, but we're somewhere in the middle."

• A couple of radio hosts did their show in the nude in honor of Australian Nudist Federation's National Nude Week.
• The Chicago Tribune features two stories on nude recreation here and here.

  Some people who haven't tried nudity say, "I wouldn't want to see that person naked on the beach." I overcame that attitude. Most people are flawed, but nudists don't care what size or shape bodies come in, so the experience equalizes fat and skinny, old and young, gorgeous and not so gorgeous. Everyone's just there to have fun, to tan, to chat or to relax. Since I could forgive them their supposed flaws, I forgave myself my own. My confidence blossomed in all areas of my life. My appreciation of people for all their differences expanded.

• An Illinois man was cleared on 5 counts of creating child pornography.

  The former manager of the Discover More! Store at the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal was charged because of photos of five naked boys he took at a 2006 birthday party for his son at his home.
  
  While Shoemaker admitted in court that taking the photos was inappropriate, he denied directing the boys. He also said didn't think the six photos were lewd, just young boys displaying locker room-type behavior.
  
  The appellate court agreed, saying in its ruling "the photos ... appear to be examples of nudity without lewdness and not child pornography."

• An article in the Cape Cod Times equates nude sunbathing and streaking with public masturbation and sexual intercourse as problems being faced by local police.
• More nude calendar stories here and here.
• Body painting is part of the Taboo Naughty but Nice Sex Show, but artists and models claim it's less about sex than it is about art.

  "You're a canvas for someone's art and we get the pleasure of wearing someone's art," said the professional model.
  
  "We don't want to walk around and say, 'Hey, we're naked.' We want people to look at how well these people can do their job."

• Three nightclubs at the nudist community Cap d'Agde in France have been destroyed by fire, and investigators suspect arson resulting from mounting tensions between traditional nudists (naturists) and those who want to live a swingers lifestyle (échangistes).

  “We don’t want to put the échangiste places out of business,” said Gilles Beaumont, a naturist and regular at Cap d’Agde. “It’s true that we don’t like being mixed up with the swingers. But we respect other people and their right to behave as they please.”

• A couple is suing McDonald's because they left a cell phone with nude photos of the woman at an Arkansas restaurant, and the images ended up on the Internet.
• Lawsuits have been filed in Seattle against a school district over nude photos of cheerleaders distributed by cell phone.

  Both lawsuits, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, accuse school administrators of violating the girls' due process rights, needlessly sharing the photos with other school staff members and failing to promptly report the matter to police as possible child pornography.

• Naturist activist and attorney Allen Baylis will be lecturing at California Polytechnic State University on "Recreational Nudity - With Impunity".

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