[URBAN NOTE] "Clothing-optional policy at Hanlan’s beach displays Toronto’s tolerance"
The Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee writes in favour of allowing the unclothed to use Hanlan's Point nude beach. I support this, but I wish something could be done about the gawkers.
Big cities survive through small compromises. When people of different backgrounds, needs and habits are thrown together in a common space, it takes lots of give and take.
The “clothing optional” beach on Toronto Islands is a nice example of urban compromise in the flesh. Bathers can go naked without committing some kind of infraction. Those who prefer to keep their bathing suits on can use the beach, too. It’s a civilized compact that has held since 2002 when city council approved the mixed system for Hanlan’s Point.
But now there’s trouble on the beach. Some beach regulars say it is being taken over by gawkers and other clothed intruders, spoiling the experience. A homemade sign that went up warned: “Beyond this point you should be nude.” A woman who visited the beach with her male friend said a couple of men approached and encouraged them to disrobe before continuing.
That violated the spirit of this special place. The nudists don’t own the beach. It’s a public space and visitors should have the right to wear what they want. “It’s about freedom of choice,” said Lisa Rutherford, 47, a reinsurance broker who was visiting Hanlan’s on Thursday to sunbathe topless but opts not to disrobe further.
On a hot and sunny afternoon, the live-and-let-live approach seemed to be working. A group of men in bathing suits and sunglasses soaked up the sun. A naked woman helped a man in a bathing suit launch an inflatable raft. Older men with deep all-over sun tans walked back and forth along the water’s edge. A family - the woman naked, the man wearing his bathing suit, their young boys taking their suits on and off as they pleased - sprawled on beach towels as their small dog yapped and ran in circles.
Big cities survive through small compromises. When people of different backgrounds, needs and habits are thrown together in a common space, it takes lots of give and take.
The “clothing optional” beach on Toronto Islands is a nice example of urban compromise in the flesh. Bathers can go naked without committing some kind of infraction. Those who prefer to keep their bathing suits on can use the beach, too. It’s a civilized compact that has held since 2002 when city council approved the mixed system for Hanlan’s Point.
But now there’s trouble on the beach. Some beach regulars say it is being taken over by gawkers and other clothed intruders, spoiling the experience. A homemade sign that went up warned: “Beyond this point you should be nude.” A woman who visited the beach with her male friend said a couple of men approached and encouraged them to disrobe before continuing.
That violated the spirit of this special place. The nudists don’t own the beach. It’s a public space and visitors should have the right to wear what they want. “It’s about freedom of choice,” said Lisa Rutherford, 47, a reinsurance broker who was visiting Hanlan’s on Thursday to sunbathe topless but opts not to disrobe further.
On a hot and sunny afternoon, the live-and-let-live approach seemed to be working. A group of men in bathing suits and sunglasses soaked up the sun. A naked woman helped a man in a bathing suit launch an inflatable raft. Older men with deep all-over sun tans walked back and forth along the water’s edge. A family - the woman naked, the man wearing his bathing suit, their young boys taking their suits on and off as they pleased - sprawled on beach towels as their small dog yapped and ran in circles.