Naked Protest In Public Spaces

The right to naked protest in public places is one of the most contentious forms of freedom in many countries. In jurisdictions like the USA and the European Union, where political speech enjoys a high level of protection as a way of preserving their democracy, protesting naked often raises two issues: one is the issue of the protest itself, which is often respected as political speech or expressive conduct that is worthy of protection in order to safeguard democracy - provided permission is secured for the protest. The other aspect is being naked in the course of the protest. Nakedness itself could be a form of speech (i.e. you are expressing your political beliefs by going naked, which ideally means that your actions should also enjoy a level of political protection to safeguard democracy). The problem here however is that protesting nude, in as much as it could be regarded as political speech, could also conflict with obscenity or indecency laws in some jurisdictions. If there is a conflict between free speech interests and the need to protect public order and morality using relevant laws, which one should triumph? In the USA, the First and Fourteenth Amendments would ensure a triumph of free speech unless it is proven that such a triumph would pose a ‘clear and imminent danger’ to the country.

In Europe, the Strasbourg jurisprudence on human rights now clearly mirrors the First and Fourteenth Amendments in the USA. In a landmark case, Handyside v UK, [1976], where the European Court of Human Rights had to decide whether the English obscenity law was a restriction on the freedom of expression, the court held that freedom of expression “constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the development of every man… it is applicable not only to information or ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the state or any other sector of the population.”

Aside from the legal issues involved in naked protest, there has been a noticeable rise in the number of people taking off their clothes to make their point. In April 2002 for instance some prostitutes in Madagascar stripped naked to demand the lifting of roadblocks set up by supporters of the country's embattled president, Didier Ratsiraka, arguing that the roadblocks deprived them of clients and money. In 2001, some 300 Kenyan women stripped naked and stormed the site where the government was attempting to annex their lands to extend a nature reserve, forcing the scientists on the project to flee. In Mexico, naked protest first caused a stir in 1985 when sacked miners took to the streets wearing only their hats, boots and tool belts. In 2003, a peasant group from the state of Veracruz in the same country (called the Movement of the 400 Villages), invaded the capital, nude, for three weeks in protest against repression. Similarly, in the run-up to the Iraq war, many groups across the world protested naked in a bid to prevent the war. In California for instance, about 100 women used their bodies to spell out the word "Peace" on a local beach. In 2002-2003 Nigerian women invoked the curse of nakedness when they staged nude protests against ChevronTexaco. In the wake of the inconclusive election in Ekiti in April 2009, a group of women clad in white attires protested around Ado-Ekiti, half-dressed.

But why do people need to protest naked ?

One, is that for some, especially in the West, the right to go naked is seen as a fundamental right, a demonstration of their right over their body, and a protest against an all-intrusive nanny state, which even has to tell people how to treat their own body. As the American nude activist, Terri Webb, puts it: "To be offended by the visual appearance of another person is prejudice, akin to racism. The right to exist, uncovered, should hold precedence over the right not to view this, for the objection is irrational."

Second, stripping naked grabs attention quicker than just carrying placards and chanting slogans. There is the fact of the courage to go naked in public, the unmasking of the mystique of the human genitalia, and the spectacle of naked human bodies in assorted shapes – from the inviting to the off-putting. In other words, going naked could be the easiest way of attracting human and media attention.

Third, stripping naked in many ways conveys a narrative of both desperation and transparency. On the one hand, it tells that the protesters are up against a mightier power, that they have been pushed to the wall, and that they could lay their lives for their belief. On the other hand, their nakedness communicates a narrative of transparency, that the protesters have nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. 

Fourth, an essential power of naked protest lies in the vulnerability of the protesters. Someone naked is vulnerable to the weather and prying eyes. Nude protesters, by the fact of their nudity, symbolicaly communicate that they have no protection of any sort, and therefore defenceless. In this sense naked protest preys on the compassion normally reserved for the underdog, the weak, and children.

Critics of naked protest however have their own arguments, one of which is that baring naked bodies in public places where children might see such is immoral and indecent. It is also argued that protesting nude could lead to sexual violence and rape, especially from people who could not control themselves from seeing unclothed human bodies.

While the moralists and the legalists may never agree on the issue, what is obvious is that with the increasing tendency for nude protest in Nigeria, the country will have to take a closer look at its laws: is there any law in Nigeria prohibiting naked protest in public places? If so, does such law undermine the freedom of expression, and concomitantly abridge the country’s democracy project? If there is a conflict between such law and freedom of expression (including from expressive conducts such as nude protests), how will the tension be resolved? It is instructive to note that in the UK and USA, it has been extremely difficult to secure conviction against nude protesters. Often the police tactic is to threaten to arrest the nude protesters ‘unless they put on their clothes’. So far nude protesters appear to enjoy similar freedom in Nigeria.

Jideofor Adibe is editor of the multidisciplinary journal African Renaissance, and publisher of the London-based Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd (www.adonis-abbey.com)