If I walked over Westminster Bridge in my birthday suit, I would almost certainly be arrested. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, thousands of stark naked cyclists are permitted once a year to bare all along the very same route. In June, London’s naked bid ride returns to the capital. Last year, more than 1,200 people took part in what organisers claim is a body-positive protest against car culture and oil dependency. In characteristic style, the Reform MP Lee Anderson has a blunter and more accurate description: a freak show’.
If consenting adults derive pleasure from cycling in the nude, good for them. But they should do it on private land away from unsuspecting eyes
Not to go all Mary Whitehouse, but it has always amazed me how this annual display of exhibitionism is permitted. I know the authorities are notoriously craven when it comes to banning controversial demonstrations through the capital, but surely proscribing a bunch of freewheeling flashers is one of the more open and shut cases? Don’t just take my word for it. A sexual abuse charity is now accusing the Mayor of London of failing to protect children by allowing the event to go ahead. They’ve got a point, surely?
Emma Jane Taylor, founder of Project 90-10, has started a petition calling for the government to review the event’s legal and safeguarding position and encouraging Sadiq Khan to intervene. It is hard to dispute the logic of her position when she says ‘on any ordinary day, an adult exposing themselves in public could face legal consequences. Yet during this event, full public nudity is permitted without clear boundaries, oversight or participant verification. This inconsistency creates confusion around the law and exposes children and families to situations they have not chosen to encounter.’
The issue of consent is crucial. Whereas naturists who gather at nudist camps or beaches are fully aware of what they’re signing up for, which local or tourist is expecting to see hoards of bare-bottomed bike bandits when they venture into central London on a summer weekend? The event also requires no identity or DBS checks, which is even more alarming given the organiser of its equivalent in the US city of Bellingham was recently charged with allegedly possessing child pornography. As Taylor puts it, ‘desensitising children to adult nudity in public spaces, even once or twice a year, is not safeguarding. The more society normalises this activity, the more blurred the boundaries become. And blurred boundaries are exactly where predators operate.’
The event’s organisers benefit from a legal grey area. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, deliberately exposing one’s genitals must be done to cause alarm or distress in order to be considered indecent exposure. It requires ‘specific intent’, meaning the individual must have intended for their nudity to be seen and to provoke a reaction. But even if they’re not intending to cause alarm, isn’t provoking a reaction exactly what the participants are after? The event’s website explicitly states that it ‘seeks to draw attention to its themes’ by being a ‘spectacle’ that ‘attracts media attention’. In other words, they want our eyeballs on them whether we like it or not.
As for the issue of children, an event spokesperson says ‘no part of our campaign is aimed at children. We do ask that any children on the ride are properly dressed, and supervised by a parent or responsible adult. Many naturist families would be offended if we said their children were not welcome.’ Forgive me, but the sensibilities of the naturists themselves is not foremost among my concerns. What consideration have the organisers given to the children and families who, unbeknownst to them, will be forced to witness this spectacle? Is it really any surprise that last year a participant was punched off his bike by a binman who accused him of being a ‘pervert’?
If consenting adults derive pleasure from cycling in the nude, good for them. But they should do it on private land away from unsuspecting eyes. Emma Jane Taylor wants Sadiq Khan to intervene. Sadly for her, I wouldn’t hold my breath. If the pro-Palestine hate marches have shown us anything, it is that anything goes under this mayor. It won’t just be participants’ bodies being exposed this June, but – once again – the mayor’s appalling lack of judgement.
