Nudity as a punishment

[John]

Historically, there have always been judicial punishments that have involved humiliation and shame, from stocks in the past, to the current day, wearing uniforms in public places doing community service, or being tagged.

You know where I’m going with this already don’t you? Several avenues to explore, just take the thread where you want, but a few things that have crossed my mind…

The climate where most of us live is probably too cold for permanent enforced nudity, 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.

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? Would you attend if one of your male or female co-workers or someone you know from a social club was displayed? If you were setting up the punishment, what would you do to maximise the shame and humiliation?

 

Arthur likes this

[Arthur]

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!

John likes this

[Anonymous]

Lots to think about there! I understand that in Singapore, where they use corporal punishment for a number of offences, the offender is naked apart form a thick belt protecting their kidneys. The nakedness is part of the punishment.

Fortunately (in comparison) my only experiences of being kept naked as a punishment were as a child – least said the better!!

Being displayed naked as an alternative to community service is interesting. If they had their hands tied above their heads, that would add discomfort and additional humiliation to the punishment.

I wonder what to do about people who have no problem at all with appearing naked in public. They would obviously opt for the naked punishment, but it wouldn’t bother them. Maybe we need to keep community service but, for a second offence, add that the work must be done naked. That might not be too bad if you were litter-picking on a beach, but it would be embarrassing to do the same in your local town centre.

I’d go with a female friend if she wanted me there for support, but I wouldn’t go to gawp. It’s hard to place real friends in that situation, but perhaps one would want entirely female support, one might want me there, and another would pretend it wasn’t happening and would never talk about it to anyone. Maybe it could be made more humiliating by saying that some close family members had to be present, but then you’d have to decide what to do about people without any close family. You could insist that friends attend, but I imagine people would start rent-a-friend businesses quite quickly!!

Maybe next time I get a buslane fine, I’ll reply with some photos of me naked. I’m sure they’d be ok with that.

Ed and John like this

[Arthur]

I feel that if naked punishments became the norm that people would probably start to view it comedically more than anything, which might help because then at least you can joke about it, but it still wouldn’t change the fact that everyone was getting to see you naked.

Personally I wouldn’t want any personal close friends or family to see me in a situation like that, even if they were there to lend support. I feel that if there was going to be a naked punishment being in public in just public in general would be better. Why should you have to punish the family by making them watch their family member be naked in public and making it really awkward as they haven’t done anything?

I think that the best situation would just be to make people go naked in publicm because although a lot of people on this board are exhibitionists or nudists and probably wouldn’t think anything of it, the vast majority of the population I think would be very very embarrassed to be forced to go naked in public for any stretch of time, and I really do think it would probably go a long way towards perhaps reforming people.

In fact in the novel that I wrote on the topic one of the things that cause people to support it was the fact that it seemed like the recidivism rate was lower for people who were punished by the addition of nudity on top of their other sentence.

[Author]

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