@Prof Green
“I was using “textile” as a label for people who stay dressed. Naturists use the word that way.”
I have never heard that term before but I am sure that if this scenario happened the dressed people would probably have a whole bunch of derogatory terms for all of the naked people. The sad truth is they would probably become the new underclass, not necessarily slaves but certainly very low on social status I would imagine.
To be fair I’m not very high on the social status totem pole but I think that being forced to be a public nudist would be a very major step down. It’s kind of hard to feel equal to anyone when you are the only naked in every situation. And I feel like it would be a very isolating situation because in most places you went you would probably be the only one naked. If it were affecting 1% of men that would be like in a crowd of 100 women and 100 men you would be the only one naked and would really stand out!
And I feel like making fun of the nakeds would be like the new acceptable prejudices in society, and you almost can’t get mad because it’s kind of hard to be mature about these things, and as a person who loves that type of humor to be on the receiving end, the butt if you will, pun intended, or just be like almost hard to comprehend just how maddening that would be.
And the thing is I feel that while there would probably be a lot of people arguing for more equal rights for naked people, I feel like that they probably wouldn’t be a kind of group who gets together and organizes on a large scale or anything like that so to speak. It’s one thing to say I am a civil rights advocate, it’s another thing a that I am a naked person and I am a naked rights advocate, you don’t want to draw attention to yourself when everyone’s going to see you naked. Imagine being a naked person and becoming famous, that would be like the ultimate nightmare!
But I think the truth is if you had a bunch of guys who were naked in society while some of them would probably advocate for better treatment and better rights I feel that most of them would probably just avoid each other, and I have to admit I would probably be no different. I would just sort of meekly accept my circumstances and be smiling and polite even as I am blushing as a jaybird everywhere I go.
In fact I think that most of the naked guys would probably end up gravitating towards being around women simply because I think women would probably enjoy seeing them in that state, and I feel like it would become a woman’s cause more than anything, like I was saying earlier with my friend from college. Naked women would be harassed, naked men are just a source of amusement.
For better and worse I feel like society would eventually just normalize the fact that there were naked people around and that sexual objectification of whoever was affected would become the norm and they would just have to sort of put up with it as best they can because it probably wouldn’t ever change beyond that.
Once again I have good self-deprecating humor about this but it would be kind of awkward to go from that shy sort of socially withdrawn nerdy academic type do when people hear my name people subtly smirking you say, oh, you mean the one who can’t wear clothing!
@John
“I actually get eczema on my legs and it is often caused by ckothing/washing powder etc.
I’ll have to have a word with the doctor”
You know I think that that might be somewhat partially the inspiration for this idea in my head first place. I actually do have very sensitive skin in general and I am frequently scratching myself all the time so if a virus like this actually did exist I would probably be one of the people who is prone to it.
Of course that would be especially embarrassing to go from why can’t you stop scratching yourself to oh my God you are naked everywhere you go now! I think it would probably be ironic if I ended up coming down with a condition like this seeing as in my family and friends group I am considered to be the weird one, so having to be naked in public would just be considered one more weird thing.
And I feel like maybe people wouldn’t be as sympathetic for that particular reason. Because I am always talking about all this weird stuff and how people shouldn’t be ashamed of their bodies and yet if I were in this situation I feel like I would be standing around covering myself up blushing profusely everywhere I go, so I guess it would expose me as perhaps not as body positive in action as I am in philosophy!
Although I think that again the irony of the situation given how shy and withdrawn I am is that I really do feel if I were stuck in this situation I would be more popular and be forced to be more social. Now I would be shy to approach any stranger that I don’t know but I can see in this scenario a bunch of women just coming over and being like I did the naked guy is probably a lot of fun to be around!
It reminds me of something I saw in a book recently where they were pointing out that if a woman was naked everyone would feel the need to protect her from harassment, but if a guy was naked he would be assumed to want constant attention from women, and in a situation like this even if you were ludicrously shy the way I was, just the fact that you are naked in public would be sort of like an invitation for people to go over and engage you, and again being very meek and shy I would probably just stand there blushing and cringing but continuing to be polite about it. Being naked in public is not a path towards greater confidence, although maybe over time as people enjoy seeing you naked it would lead to more body acceptance.