Terrorist Newsflash from Munich

Yesterday as I was strolling through the English Garden (Munich's equivalent of New York's Central Park), I was shocked to stumble across a twenty-something-year-old woman sunbathing in the 80 degree weather completely topless. Yes, in public, in full view of not only myself but all the German citizens, even a child or two, this young lady was wearing bikini bottoms but nothing else. The police did not arrive before I fled from the scene, and I'm pleased to say I was not injured, and neither for that matter were any of the other park visitors. How we escaped serious harm is still a mystery to me, and as you might suspect, the German media is covering up the scandal. I'll need to check the web to find out the US response.

(I should thank the first six months of the year 2008 for honing my sarcasm to a level I never thought I would have had before.)

In seriousness, this blog is a continuation of my previous entry on Therme Erding (the huge spa and sauna complex), but I'll warn you up front it's a little more opinionated and liberal. If you like safe and vanilla, this may be another good entry to skip.

As I mentioned previously, when I visited Therma Erding this last Monday and enjoyed the spas, saunas and all the other incredible offerings, it quickly became obvious that this was not simply a clothing optional area, but for all intents and purposes it was a clothing banned area. Of the hundreds of adults who were walking around there that day, I believe I only saw two women, briefly, in bikinis, and even they quickly took their swimsuits off. For Americans, this is unheard of, or at a minimum scandalous and uncomfortable, yet for the Europeans this was as normal as can be. Nobody was acting like an exhibitionist, nobody gawked, nobody fondled, nobody really even seemed to notice or care that everybody else in the area was in the buff. (BTW, there were no children in this portion of the spa, as they were all in the "waterworld-like" area next door. I never saw a minimum age sign, so I'm not sure if it was an explicit policy or a self-policing one.) Men and women of all ages, from early twenties well into the sixties, and of all body types, were strolling about, enjoying the saunas, not the least bit embarassed. These were not swingers or fringe elements; they were housewifes and husbands, young married couples, old married couples, even single men and single women. And, it honestly, truly, was no big deal for anybody. After awhile, strolling about in the nude felt so normal you started to wonder why we were not born that way.

A night or so later, I briefly turned on the TV to a late night German show, and while it was hard to describe, the program was some combination of American Gladiator and strip poker, with two beautiful women competing against each other, the loser of each round required to remove an article of clothing. (Given that they started in only shorts and tank tops, it didn't take too long for them to get totally naked.) The cameras did not cut away, there were not digitalized squares covering body parts, and the two young women simply wound up nude on TV, with some advertisement underneath asking viewers to call in.

The next morning, I picked up a copy of Das Bild and on the front page there was a color picture of a model named Aimee, topless, wearing nothing but bikini bottoms. This, BTW, was in a paper rack on a public street, not tucked away in some adult section of a book store.

I think virtually all Americans are aware that Europeans are much more comfortable with nudity than are we, yet we as Americans don't really appreciate their attitude until it is experienced firsthand. Nudity truly, honestly, is no big deal for them: A naked body is nothing salacious, nothing tawdry, and the attitude that these people have---soccer moms, businessmen, waitresses and anybody else---is one of acceptance, relaxation, enjoyment. It's difficult to prove this, but in my heart it felt that there was less tension in the nude Therma Erding sauna than what we Americans feel at a clothed beach.

I have no problem with friends who are conservative and modest. Many individuals I know would never feel comfortable being nude in public, and I accept their feelings without hesitation. There's no need to explain themselves, as conservatism is their individual choice in this matter. What does frighten me, however, is that we as an American society, in the aggregate, just cannot handle something that the Europeans take for granted and never give a second thought. In the US, we tend to view anybody who might profess to visiting a nude beach as an oddball at a minimum, though most likely we really think the person is a pervert and is in need of mental help.

Europeans can handle things such as nudity. Drinking in public is tolerated---it's not uncommon to see a Municher riding the subway with an open beer in his hand. Smoking, while prevalent, is self-policed, and in the time I have been here I have never suffered cigarette smoke in my face.

These people are not the fringe element, they are not swingers, they are not pornstars. These are ordinary people, moms, dads, coworkers, who have no problem at all walking around in the buff or allowing another person to drink a beer in public.

We as Americans mouth the word "freedom" as if we invented it, but frankly it feels more free in Europe. With the freedom, Europeans also bring along responsibility, without laws dictating what they may do or what they may think.

In many regards, what bothers me most is that we as Americans limit ourselves and our lives to the lowest common denominator rather than allowing true freedom. Since somebody, someplace, in the US may not be able to control himself, we do it for him, and in the process we bring the entire society down to that level. Our laws are set to prevent somebody from doing things which are not only harmful, but which might make others feel uncomfortable. In this way, not only are actions regulated, but so are our thoughts.

In psychology, there is something known as the Pygmalion Effect, which for all intents and purposes is the notion of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Teachers who are told, for example, that students who are gifted will actually view those children as brighter than the average student, and in the process those pupils actually do better in school. I have to wonder if we, as Americans, don't do just the opposite: We tell ourselves our society is limited, and as such we limit ourselves.