62 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
62 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext
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Second of two postings continuing a thread:.....
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Clubs do not have to honor the Equal Rights Amendment, or other such
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laws allowing-for equality because they are, for the most part, private
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clubs or corporations. As long as they do not accept federal dollars or
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profit in any way from the federal government, or have special licenses
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(such as liquor licenses), they can limit admittance to anyone they want
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pretty much. If they were non-profit, or had licenses, admittance policies
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could be challenged, but that could prove to be a long court battle, and
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one that would have to be well-worded. It would be interesting to see
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where the ASA and their attorneys would be on such a case if it ever came
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about.
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There are a variety of ways to meet the goal of allowing more men. The
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question lies in whether club owners/leaders are willing to try new
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policies for more than one season. Quite often when new admittance
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policies are tried, the first "glitch" or problem person encountered is
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enough to get them to stop the program and go back to the old way of doing
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things. At one time people had to be married to get in. Now, for the most
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part, you need only be a couple (M/F). Also, you had to be sponsored by an
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existing member. That is slowly being replaced by "membership committees"
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who review applicant's for membership. This is usually done through the
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"three visit" rule (again something adopted by clubs - there is no ASA rule
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for this). I know of one club that admits M/F couples but does not care
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who or what comes in - in other words a man may show up with a girlfriend,
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sister, aunt, grandmother, or infant, as long as it's M/F.
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Curiously, I think the power to overturn limiting rules lies in the
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hand of the women of clubs. Rules that limit or prohibit single men from
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clubs is often excused as being for the sake of the female members. Of
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course, some of that could be males who don't like too many men looking (as
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noted in the other thread). If there ares true feelings among the female
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members, then maybe a rule is necessary, but if they do not care, maybe
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they should speak up.
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Keep in mind that for the most part, restrictions on single men is the
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product of the older nudist resorts. Those clubs that are affiliated with
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the Naturist Society or which came into being frm the free beaches, have
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policies that are more open.
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I am proud to say that in the 10 years of existence of my club, the
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New England Naturist Association, (NENA) we have only had to ask two men
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and one couple to please not come anymore. They were problem people for
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many different reasons. One was mentally immature, one was a heavy
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drinker, and the couple thought that "naturism" included free and open
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sexuality - liabilities all. As a non-profit corporation, we HAVE to admit
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all people regardless of race, creed, marital status, or sexual preference,
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and to date we have had little problem with the single men. In fact, if
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there are any problems, they seem to be with some of the couples.
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We do occasionally get complaints about gender balance, but that
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usually comes from people we invite to our acitivities from local ASA clubs
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where restrictions apply. I guess that's one of the major differences
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between "Naturist" groups and ASA clubs - that being the singles/couples
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issue.
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The reasons for limiting single men are archaic, and unreasonable for
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the times we live in. People must be observed and admitted for their own
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contributions, merits, and personalities.
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Dennis Kirkpatrick - Vice Pres & Director, NENA Inc.
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