Platypusworld

This post comes to you courtesy of Mrs. Platypus. She noticed a new video series for children in the lineup of suggested titles in her Amazaon account.  Based upon popular books by illustrator Todd Doodler, it's called Bear in Underwear.  You can follow this link to one of the books on Amazon called  Goodnight Underwear  and see a few pages of it by using the "Look Inside' feature available on the site.  The accompanying description helps explain that the "underwear theme" is designed to inspire story time giggles among youngsters who will no doubt find it funny.  (There was a similarly popular book series under the name 'Captain Underpants' some years ago as we recall from trips to the bookstores with our puggles.) What Mrs. Platypus found interesting is that virtually all of the forest critters depicted are dressed in clothes of some kind.  And that the male characters are usually only wearing briefs or boxers, while the female animals often wear mo...

This week the Bare Platypus was assisting one of his puggles with working on her car.  It's that time of year and... you guessed it, the air conditioning unit needs a refrigerant charge.  Now, the good news is that there are instructional videos on You Tube for doing the job safely and in an environmentally friendly manner. There's also some good news in that the cost for a small canister of the refrigerant is not too bad. The bad news is that you can buy those products, watch the video, charge the air system, but still not get to cool off in the easiest, most natural, way possible: By just going naked over the summer! We have written posts about  Motoring Naked - Tales from the Road  .  We can tell you that, while it sounds like a lot of fun (and is) to "doff n drive," it's not without drawbacks.  For one thing, you'd get some interesting stares (and maybe a date with the police) if you drove up bare to the McDonald's drive thru at lunch hour. Joking asid...

Today Bare Platypus was checking the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) website for the most recent decisions by the high panel which were issued this morning.  Sure enough, within the images appearing on   http://www.supremecourt.gov/  , there is a picture of the Court's East Frieze panel.  And it has naked people!  You can see a close up of the image by clicking  Naked East Frieze Supreme Court Figures  . In pointing this out, the Platypus in no way wishes to demean the Honorable Court or to detract from the respect due to it.  We just continue to find it ironic that Facebook, Instagram, and other "institutions of justice" would ban users and their accounts for depicting the naked human form - especially for anyone appearing to be underage. They do so when the very same themes are celebrated within the U.S. Supreme Court as the embodiment of all that is pure, just, true, and wholesome - the things we want associated with our legal syste...

Some time back the Bare Platypus issued "A Call for Naked Yard Ornaments" in which we called upon fellow nudists to put a little nudity into their yard in the form of signs or statuary.  Read the post, which generated several comments, here:  A call for naked yard ornaments  . Maybe we were a bit too hasty. It seems that displaying something as innocuous as a garden gnome flashing his bare bum can get you into trouble - at least if you live in the U.K.  For example, consider this article which we read last week in which police threatened a man with arrest after a neighbor (who is also a retired police officer) complained, saying "his wife and children felt threatened for their safety" by the statuette:  Man faces arrest over naked gnome  . While searching for that article to write this blog post, believe it or not we encountered a different case in which a 60+ year old woman's  Naked Gnomes Ordered to Cover Up  from just a few months ago. What is ...

Have you considered how you could raise the flag?  No. We�re not talking about honoring Independence Day (but, by all means, please do honor the holiday.) We don�t mean the flag of the United States, or any country, or even a printed cloth representative of a nudist organization. We mean, gets a conversation going about nudity.  Get someone thinking about nudism.  Get someone to take the first steps in doffing their clothes.  Raising the flag involves stepping out� if only a bit� to advance what Platypus readers enjoy.  There are hundreds of small ways to do this: Put a bumper sticker on one of your cars (even the one that sits in the driveway) about enjoying life without tan lines; Leave a nudist magazine or publication along with several others on your coffee table and see what discussions it prompts; Hang one of those signs about �skinny dipping after 5 p.m.� or �skinny dipping is okay� near your backyard pool; Send an article about the ten best nude beaches...

The Bare Platypus team actively worked for about 15 years promoting nudity and nudism throughout the country (and a bit beyond).  For most of those 15 years they had the benefit of web pages, email, and monthly nudesletters er... newsletters.  But new technologies have emerged.  They're game changers. There is Facebook, of course.  And Twitter. And Google Plus. These get messages out several times per day in some cases.  But perhaps even more significantly for nudism, there are blogs like this... as well as Tumblr.  Tumblr allows clever memes and sayings.  But also images that are worth a thousand words (some for good, some for less good.) Just a few years ago, an activist, business, or organization could not have dreamed of communicating with customers and supporters several times per day or per week.  It would have been cost prohibitive. Email became an inexpensive and convenient messaging source.  But try to send any images (let alone nude...

The Bare Platypus values naked time.  The Bare Platypus values times of solitude for quiet reflection.  Lots of both, actually. But there's something special about communal nudity too.  Now, the non nudists who like to make jokes are likely to crack, "we know why people want communal nudity."  Wink wink.  Putting them aside, the truth is that there are times when group nudity does something for one's spirit.  And that something is closer akin to why group religious worship holds unique meaning.  Or attending a rock concert where the audience makes the experience so much different than listening to an MP3 of the same band... or even watching video. Sing the national anthem alone in your living room.  Then sing the anthem in a baseball stadium with thousands of other fans and you understand what we mean. There are group dynamics at work here.  People in one place with one purpose.  It's often referred to as "social nudity" or "communal nu...

Okay, Time for a brief write-up as we get ready to bring on Friday and the weekend.  In no particular order, and with no attribution to the original source(s), we'll offer the following catch phrases and slogans we've seen and heard used to describe the nudist experience: "Nudists aren't clothed minded" Enjoy Life Naturally "If God had meant for us to go naked, we would have been born that way." "Be a nudist and see more of your friends." "Go on a nakation." "I'd rather be in my birthday suit." "Happiness is no tan lines." "Nudist and I vote" Life is short... Play Naked! Play Nakey (seen on a children's shirt) Hike Naked!  It puts color in your Cheeks! Nude is not lewd Wear only a smile Put on nothing but the radio Pack less, relax more No shirt, no shoes, no shorts, no problem (seen on entrance door decals) "I got my allover (tan) at Haulover (nude beach Miami)" Feel free to add some of...

A thunder and lightning storm is about to begin around the Platypus habitat this afternoon so we will make this story quick.  Actually, our "story" is a collection of a few news stories about nudists or being naked: World Naked Bike Ride to Cruise Through New Orleans 6-13  - From the New Orleans Times Picayune ; Sleeping Naked is Good for Your Health  - From The Daily Mail; Naked Beer Festival to Hit London  - From The Drinks Business;  Tycoon Richard Branson and Judi Dench Pose Nude with Fish  - Metro News;  Miley Cyrus Poses Naked  - The Daily Mail; Naked Bike Ride in Cardiff   The Mirror. Yeah it's time to unplug the computer before the bolts start striking.  We wish you a happy, very Naked Monday.  We invite you to vote in our poll about whether you'll celebrate Independence Day with independence from clothes (the poll is on the right hand side of this web page, but you'll need to switch from Mobile App to full screen to see it....

If you want another reason that may persuade you  to choose going naked more often here it is: According to an article running in this month's edition of  The Atlantic Magazine  , "Your clothes are made by exploited laborers." The Atlantic  story relays the experience of the Patagonia clothing and foods company, which made a sincere attempt to root out any exploitation of its workers.  Not just in the "sweat shops" that cut and sew fabric.  But right down to the very mills that that supply fabric and beyond.  What Patagonia found over the course of conducting multiple fair labor practice "audits" of these suppliers was troubling. The same workers already making low wages in countries like Taiwan were further exploited by being forced to pay labor brokers for the privilege of getting their jobs in the first place.  In extreme cases, the fees assessed topped more than $7,000. The Platypus family often lists the exploitation of labor (including ch...

By now you are no doubt familiar with the term "Millennials."  That's the label used to describe the generation born roughly between 1980 and 2000. It numbers approximately 92 million strong, making it a larger generation than its parents, "the baby boom"... which made such a significant impact in itself at approximately 77 million. The millennials are younger than Generation X (a mere 61 million), to which Mr. and Mrs. Platypus belong. When some people think (stereo typically) of Millennials, they often think of hipsters who can't take their attention off of their cell phones for long enough to hold a conversation or a job in one place for very long. But that mindset is not helpful or necessarily accurate. More importantly, it misses the great potential that this segment of our population has for being the next big hope for nudism.  There are several reasons they could be: First, as has already been explained, this generation is huge - its numbers alone me...

The month of June has arrived.  That reminds The Bare Platypus that it was not too many decades ago when the covers of many magazines published at this time of year featured some idyllic skinny dipping scene set in a pond, stream, or other swimming hole. June and July meant and end of the school year.  It meant fishing with a cane pole.  And it meant going for a swim with friends in your birthday suit.  Norman Rockwell celebrated this almost annually as an illustrator of the Saturday Evening Post. But it didn't stop there.  Calendars for feed---and seed---companies were affixed to the walls of the general store depicting this rite of summer.  Advertisements in newspapers too. Nobody seemed to mind a cartoon or illustration of some bare butts.  Sometimes the drawings included a mischievous dog stealing the trousers of unsuspecting skinny dippers to run off with them, or a plot by the gals to make off with the clothes of the lads. All in good fun.  ...