War is Obscene, not Nudity
We previously saw this photo of Trey Allen being interviewed at a protest in San Francisco on Feb. 1, 2013, the day that a law went into effect banning public nudity in San Francisco (with limited exceptions for events having permits).
Here's Trey at the same protest, held at the San Francisco City Hall. Note the slogan on his back: "War is obcsene, not my body."
Trey temporarily left the protest to help a blind woman go up the steps and enter the City Hall building. The blind woman didn't care that he was naked, and to the protesters, nobody else should care, either. It shouldn't be a big deal.
But one thing bothered me: "obscene" was misspelled on his back. Above, we see Gypsy Taub, the event organizer and pro-nudity advocate, writing his message. So, however admirable her views on nudity are, I have to say she can't spell.
The protest was a test of the new anti-nudity law, and sure enough, the naked protesters got arrested. Here's Trey Allen being taken away by police.
And here's Gypsy Taub being arrested for her atrocious spelling. Just kidding; she's being arrested for being naked. But she misspelled "obscene" on her body, too.
However, this is a photo of Trey Allen earlier at the same protest, carrying a "War is Obscene" sign spelled correctly. What's going on?
I did a little more searching, and that sign had been used at an earlier demonstration on Oct. 30, 2012 (above). The anti-nudity law was being considered by the city council at the time, but the law had not been passed yet.
I even found a video of the pro-nudity demonstrators making their signs for the Oct. 30, 2012 demonstration (above). The pink sign that the guy is working on is the one that became "War is Obscene not Nudity" (spelled correctly).
At another pro-nudity protest in November 2013, after the nudity ban went into effect, we see Gypsy Taub at left and Jaymz Smith with "War is obscene, not my body" written on his body, spelled correctly.
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It was Inti Gonzalez (at left) who wrote on their bodies for that protest, and she knows how to spell.
The next month, December 2013, Gypsy and Jaymz got married naked in public outdoors. Well, Gypsy wasn't completely naked. She wore a wedding veil. Then the bride and groom were promptly arrested.
We end on a different continent. The photo above is from Cologne Pride in Cologne, Germany, June, 2024. It seems that the sentiment "War is obscene, not nudity" is universal.
5 comments:
The issue for SF wasn't nudity - it's what went along with it - quite out in the open. There are always people who ruin it for the rest of us.
What is the definition of nudity though? One could be completely covered by something and yet still show everything relatively unimpeded.
One could wear a double-sided board with a camera on the inside and display on the outside and one would not be directly exposing naked flesh in public, only a representation. What if that representation was the naked body of someone else, or a composite or even a construct?
Society has a long way to go to stop worrying about irrelevant things that are too logically complex to absolutely prohibit without other consequence.
My niece worked in San Franisco at that time. She told me that every time one of these nudist would sit down on the furniture just outside her business, the staff would have to completely disinfect the chairs--most of the newly found nudist were deficient in their hygeine. ie shit stains on the chairs.
Trey is such a hottie.
Thank you for a post that has pictures with Gypsy Taub included in them.I do find her very attractive, although I disagree with her views on drugs. I do feel that San Francisco's former liberal policy about nudity is more in tune with my opinions.
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