At the state level in the US, I know that public nudity laws vary and in some states, it is sometimes claimed that "nudity is legal". Well, in post no 1, I defined what I thought is meant by "nudity is legal", but I also was under the impression that this only applied to states like Vermont and Oregon. Now, it seems the picture is a bit more complicated than that. There is so much to learn
At present, my understanding (and this could change) is that every state
but two (maybe more..) have indecent exposure laws which restrict nudity in public. Those laws fall into two categories - those that make the nudity a crime
only if it is accompanied by offensive or lewd behavior. In these cases, proof of a crime requires not only proof of nudity but a witness who was clearly offended or harmed in some way. But in other cases, the indecent exposure law is more restrictive than that, making even simple nudity without intent to arouse or offend a crime. Now I don't know which states have which version of this law, but by my earlier definition, those that require intent to offend regard mere simple nudity as legal. California would be one example of such a state. There are many others. Some cities and towns in California complain that it is too tough to convict people of indecent exposure under the state law, and enact tougher public nudity laws so that they can deal with local problems that arise. In other words, they ban nudity altogether - i.e. decree that even simple nudity by itself is illegal. Does this necessarily conflict with the state law? I don't really understand the state-town relationship there, but it may be something that has to be argued on a case by case basis. But in the meantime, you will often find references to "public nudity laws" or "nudity laws" or indecent exposure laws". All three of these names refer to more or less the same thing. Perhaps "public nudity law" is the more local variety where intent to offend is not a requirement for conviction.
Anyway, so that takes care of most of the states in the US. BUT......and this is the big but.....two states (there may be more), Vermont and Oregon,
don't appear to have indecent exposure laws at all. Or at least, not ones really identifiable as such when compared to the other states. Vermont simply has a "lewd and laviscious behavior" law which really applies only to the more overtly sexual types of activities, leaving wide open the acceptance of simple nudity. And Oregon seems to only have a public indecency law which sounds similar to the lewd and laviscious one in Vermont. Again, this leaves the door wide open for simple nudity to occur. I ran across an article about the Oregon law and how occasionally, some want it toughened to be better able to respond to situations where guys expose themselves and offend, because apparently it really is tough to convict unless the activity is very obviously sexual and lewd.
Anyway, so in how many states in the US is "nudity legal". If by that I still mean the states where simple nudity is not considered indecent exposure, quite a few besides Vermont and Oregon. But perhaps only Vermont and Oregon, with no indecent exposure law
at all, can be considered to have laws so relaxed as to make them almost like havens for public nudity in this country.
Like I said, there may be other states besides Oregon and Vermont (New York?) with no indecent exposure law like most other states. BTW, I mean - some stuff I write is going to turn out to need revising as i learn more so don't take anything here as absolute gospel..
Klondike