Naked jogging now legal!

Blair Ensor at Stuff reports:

The right to go jogging in the nude has been upheld by the High Court.

Andrew Lyall Pointon, 47, was wearing only a pair of shoes when he was spotted by a woman while running at 8.30am in a forest near Tauranga in August last year.

The woman, who was walking her dog, was so offended and threatened by what she had seen that she vowed not to return to the Oropi Bike Park.

She should have just let her dog off the leash 🙂

“If it was [offensive] then God wouldn’t have given us genitals,” Mr Pointon told The Dominion Post yesterday. “It is a win for all libertarians and a setback for all conservatives in the country.”

Wellingtonians can relax – I have no intention to follow this libertarian trend!

Justice Heath compared the case with the hypothetical scenario of two patched gang members strolling along the same track.

“It would not be surprising for a person in the position of the complainant to be concerned and discomforted by their presence, and even to feel threatened,” he said.

“However, on any view, their behaviour would not be regarded as offensive behaviour. Should the sight of a naked man, in the circumstances in which the complainant found herself, be treated any differently? I think not.”

I think the Judge is right.

Justice Heath said Mr Pointon was a genuine naturist who had chosen a time of day when it was unlikely children would be on the track.

Which indicates that running naked outside a school is still likely to land you in court.

Mr Pointon’s lawyer Michael Bott – a specialist in human rights and civil liberties – said he could not understand why women were able to ride naked down the main street of Tauranga during the Boobs on Bikes event without intervention and yet days later his client was arrested going about his business in a remote area: “It just appears inconsistent and grossly sexist.”

A fair point – however I thought the women in Boobs on Bikes were topless, not naked? Anyone able to confirm?

Mr McCoskrie said there was a time and a place for nakedness and it was not in a public place.

“It’s offensive to most of the population – that’s why most of us wear clothes.”

I thought it was because of the weather 🙂