Nudity Ban in San Fran

In San Francisco on November 20, 2012, the city Board of Supervisors narrowly approved the heightening of existing laws that ban nudity in some public places. This bill requires that people over pre-school age cover their genitals when in public places like streets and sidewalks, in restaurants, and on public transportation (although this does not apply to permitted-festivals, like Gay Pride parades or the Bay to Breakers; going topless is still perfectly legitimate for anyone at any time). In protest, when the motion passed, several concerned citizens stripped completely while in the courtroom. If signed into law, the ban would begin on February 1 of next year.

My initial reaction to learning this was “Wait, it wasn’t already illegal to be naked in San Francisco?” Having spent probably more than one-hundred days and nights in the city over several years, I have seen naked people on the streets and sidewalks, but never in a restaurant or on BART or MUNI; the vast majority of San Franciscans choose to wear clothes regardless of the absence of a mandate. This has “hegemony” written all over it. In class, we defined hegemony as “the consent-based way that individuals agree to follow the invisible rules within a society.” Additionally, it was cited that “ideologies function by seeming non-ideological,” and that over time people begin to take them for granted. San Francisco has a reputation as a very non-conformist city, but the fact that so few people in the city commence their daily activities without clothes that visitors and residents do not even realize that it is an option is a comment on firstly, how sneaky hegemony can be, and secondly, how ubiquitous it is.

Here are a couple of short articles if you are interested in learning more about San Francisco’s nudity ban:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/san-francisco-nudity-ban-_n_2171301.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/us/san-francisco-officials-vote-to-ban-public-nudity.html