News
The naked truth: covering up is the best option
First published in The Independent, 26 September 2007
Lady Godiva is one of history's most curious - and infamous - figures.
According to legend, she was the wife of a lecherous landlord who had a practice of imposing oppressive tolls upon Coventry's inhabitants.
Lady Godiva protested to her husband about his unfair practice, but to no avail. In response, he told her that he would lower his oppressive tolls if she would ride through the streets of the city naked.
She did. And this ancient act of nudity led to an improvement in the lives of the good people of Coventry. It may well have been the first act of naturism used as a statement of protest.
Today, our society has a variety of different attitudes towards nudity.
At one end of the spectrum, we associate the naked body with sexual behaviour. Of course, many forms of nudity are directly intended in this context - such as pornography.
But there are other attitudes to the naked form. Nudists - or "naturists" - approach nakedness as a cultural or social statement. For people of this belief, shedding one's clothes represents the shedding of inhibitions - and can constitute a dramatic statement about one's beliefs and ideals.
But what if you have a naturist in your workplace? Does a naturist employee have the right to turn up to work in the altogether?
This question was recently tested before a Californian court.
A carpenter, Percy Honniball, had been hired to make cabinets in a private home. Honniball - who espouses a naturist philosophy - was spotted hammering nails in the nude. He later explained that he preferred to work naked because his nudity gave him a greater range of motion - and prevented him from soiling his clothes.
The Californian police took a different view. They arrested Honniball and charged him with indecent exposure.
But a judge later rejected the charge, saying that he was not acting lewdly or seeking sexual gratification. The owner of the house in which Honniball had been working was, however, less impressed. He fired him from the job.
What is the position in New Zealand?
The Summary Offences legislation makes it an offence "to intentionally and obscenely expose" genitals in a public place. It is, however, a defence for a person to show that they had reasonable grounds for believing that they could not be observed by members of the public.
That means that it is legal to be naked, providing people are not exposing themselves to members of the public.
In an employment sense, that means that if people's jobs bring them into contact with members of the public (such as working in a retail store) it is unlikely that they will be able to work in the nude without being in breach of the law.
What if they work in a more private setting?
If someone works at home, or in a private place that is only accessed by that person (and presumably others who have no objection to nudity) - they will not be in breach of the Summary Offences Act by working au naturelle. But, like Mr Honniball, they will have to be careful to ensure that they can't be observed by members of the public.
There is also a health and safety component. If the nature of work requires someone, for example, to wear protective gear, it is unlikely they can abide by the law by working in the nude.
Imagine the rather ridiculous situation of a welder, working nude but scrupulously adhering to health and safety requirements to wear a safety mask and protective gloves.
But what about for the rest of us? Most employees work in places which are not accessible by the public, but which are shared with a number of workmates.
For the purposes of the legislation, your workmates probably constitute members of the public, who could legitimately say that they were offended by their co-worker's act of exposure.
So, as a matter of practicality, it would probably pay a naturist to get their co-employees' approval before turning up to work unclothed.
And then, of course, quite apart from the long arm of the criminal law, there is a question of work-place policy. If an employer requires staff to wear "usual business attire" anyone turning up to work in the nude probably won't comply with policy (unless, I suppose, they work in a strip club).
In fact, in this context even partial nudity could justify an employer taking disciplinary action.
So in this modern era, Lady Godiva would probably be well advised to proceed with caution in staging her act of protest - let alone turning up in her workplace devoid of her clothes.
