Naked Exceptionalism

On the subject of offense, indecency, and community standards - as they pertain to public nudity - a lot of people (unfortunately, many nudists included) make the mistake of confusing the way things are for the way they ought to be, just because it's familiar to them.

Although society is about getting along with one another, an important part of that is respecting individual differences. Generally speaking, if somebody is smelly, or you don't like their clothes, or the music they're playing in their car, you don't have much recourse to improve the situation. You can ask politely, but you don't really have any authority to demand their compliance, nor forcibly remove them from your presence. Your last line of defense is simply to leave - go someplace else.

And while compromises should try to be made when you have to share space with someone (e.g., if you're living or working together), the fact that these arguments do commonly arise just goes to show that we do not live in a society where you can dictate somebody else's choices or behaviors just because you don't like them.

And even if you could, how would we decide who gets to be the boss in any given dispute? Or would we live in some strange mirror-society, where people would get to micro-manage the lives of others, but couldn't make any decisions for themselves? It seems fair to me that if I'm not allowed to demand that you undress, then you shouldn't be allowed to demand that I cover up. The only reason these two actions aren't considered equivalent, is because we're used to one more than the other.

In any case, it remains to be proven to me that seeing the human body unclothed fundamentally damages the human psyche (more than the process of abuse that constitutes a prerequisite for being able to be so damaged by such a sight), in a way that, for example, another person's fashion choices or grooming habits or conversation topics (or what have you) do not.

And unless this can be satisfactorily done, it is unreasonable to restrict a free citizen's right to appear nude in the public commons (a separate argument would have to be made to overturn the right of businesses to enforce a dress code, if one were so inclined), especially outdoors, but absolutely on one's own private property, regardless of who (on or off the property) might be able to see them.