It’s funny you should mention this because I actually just wrote an entire novel with that as the premise that I haven’t gotten around to reading and editing and publishing yet called The Year of Naked Penance where a man is sentenced to one year of public nudity as a form of punishment that is meant to shame a person in addition to prison time. So first they do their prison time and then during their probation they are basically not allowed to wear clothing in public.
I got around the issue of it being too cold by setting the story in California and I said it into a speculative future where a person could be implanted with a chip that would automatically alert people if they end up putting on clothing, sort of like being under house arrest where if you leave the house a machine or a monitor will let people know.
The irony is that his punishment was for harassing a naked woman who had her sentence completely revoked so later on she gets revenge on him by tormenting him while he is naked in public. It mostly focuses on his relationships with others who are likewise sentenced to nudity and how he deals with the fact that their sentences are over a lot sooner than his are.
I also wrote a similar story called His Weekly Nude Apology at the Women’s Center where a man is forced to spend time on stage naked at a women’s group as a punishment for harassment and stuff of that nature, of which people end up taking advantage of. One of the added punishments that was the fact that although you could legally go naked voluntarily there was a stigma that if a person was naked in public they were probably serving a criminal sentence so naked people were associated with criminals.
Now to address your specific points.
“but how would you cope if you were banned from clothing and had to spend a certain amount of time in public daily, or if there were places a bit like stocks where you would be publicly displayed. With social media these days, everyone who knew you would find out and either be there, or see the pictures of you which would of course be posted online.”
If it was just having to be naked whenever I go out in public for a certain stretch of time I would just go out as little as possible. As it is I only leave the house only on occasion and a mostly a shut in and a hermit and that would definitely be exacerbated if I was suddenly sentenced to a stretch of nudity, even though of course sometimes I would have to leave the house and it’s inevitable.
Now if I were put on display for a certain amount of time each day that would be a lot more difficult. If I didn’t have a choice about having to go out or if I were put into stocks or something like that or just had to be out in public that would be a lot more difficult because I am me naturally socially withdrawn individual so to be on display publicly naked where anybody can picture me or take pictures and uploaded to social media would be hard to live down. And it would be kind of extra embarrassing because if I encountered any dressed women in that state even though I wouldn’t want to I would inevitably find the situation arousing from the humiliation of it which would be doubly humiliating.
“It could be imposed, or it could be voluntary. Would you take a nudity sentence to avoid 3 speeding points, or a parking, littering or dog mess fine”
I don’t think that I would take it in lieu of some kind of a fine but I would take it in lieu of a prison sentence because I would never survive in prison. Especially if it was a short sentence I think it would be easier to accept that, but if it was like years of being naked in public that would be more difficult to deal with.
“Would you attend if one of your male or female co-workers or someone you know from a social club was displayed?”
I probably wouldn’t out of politeness although if an attractive female acquaintance was going to be on display naked there would be the temptation but I wouldn’t want to do something impolite that would make things awkward afterwards and I hope that they would probably extend the same to me. Even if showing up to show solidarity or support I think would actually be having the opposite effect since they would all be seeing me naked!
If I had been doing this as penance for a crime though I would probably grin and bear it and people would probably be less sympathetic. The people around me might be sympathetic but at the same time they would probably think that having to go naked was a light punishment compared to prison, so how sympathetic people around me would be as hard to say.
“If you were setting up the punishment, what would you do to maximise the shame and humiliation?”
In my novel it was simply that you couldn’t leave the house naked and you couldn’t put on clothing in your house either, but if you stayed out of the public eye or had the luxury of that you were a bit more fortunate, of course my character had a job and had debts to pay off so unfortunately he had to be in display on public all the time.
If I were going to maximize the shame and humiliation I think I would probably go with your suggestion though where the person has to spend a minimal amount of time every day in a public situation. And I think to make it especially cruel maybe I would make it such that they have to be on display in a place surrounded by the opposite sex. Like a male offender would have to spend his time working alongside women who get to stay dressed as that would be especially brutal I think!
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