Mo-ral-i-ty
noun
- Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior
- A particular system of values and principles of conduct, especially one held by a specified person or society
Take, for a moment, a look at the image above. Without really considering it, what does this image say to you? What are your immediate thoughts and feelings about it? Your answer, which no matter what it is, isn’t inherently wrong or right, will have been guided by your morality. Your personal set of morals upon which most of us rely on for ideas, decisions and actions. Morality in our society is divided into two sets of ideas upon themselves, universal morality and subjective morality.
Universal Morality is the idea that all morals are universally felt and to be adhered to by all of humanity. Adherents to this philosophy believe that these morals, usually given to us by a divine source, are the one and only guideline to a good and decent society. The problem with this philosophy is that, while many original universal moral ideas are good and decent, human beings on a general scale, are not. Corruption, greed, power and control tend to warp universal moral ideas into oppressive standards that benefit only those that have the power to enforce them.
Subjective Morality is the idea that morals are individual, dynamic, and subject to change. Followers of this philosophy believe that morals aren’t something inherent, but are part of learned behaviours, study, expression and understanding. That what may be good or evil or right or wrong at one time, may, with better understanding and learning, become the opposite. The problem with this philosophy is that, while having an open mind and better understanding and using it to correctly fix moral issues is a wonderful thing, once again, humans are not always to be trusted to understand how to use it correctly.
In a perfect world, we would have a symbiotic relationship between universal and subjective morality. Change what needs to be changed, and keep what needs to be kept. Harmful and dangerous actions and ideas towards people should always be universal, ideally, but we don’t live in a perfect world. What constitutes harm? How do we judge that as a whole of society?
This is where Moral Panic comes in. When Subjective and Universal Morality collides.
What is Moral Panic? Moral Panic is when a group or groups of people decide that something they don’t like must become the de facto idea or behaviour of everyone, and work hard at trying to convince us all that they are right, and the people they are against are very, very wrong. Moral Panic has historically been extremely destructive and it has almost always been proven that those panicking, have been wrong. Some examples of this are:
- The Salem Witch Hunts
- The Crusades
- The Satanic Panic of the 80s
- The D&D panic
- Pizzagate
- The Transgender Panic
One of these, the Transgender Panic, is current and ongoing, yet it falls right in with all the rest. A group of people that believe their moral feelings are universal and correct and — despite logic, science, proof and evidence — work extremely hard, to the point of violence, to enforce that morality.
Let’s go back to the image above. What was your answer? I don’t really need to know. Hopefully it was what any decent and well-adjusted (I use these terms VERY generally and loosely) person’s answer would be. That it’s a joyful, carefree, innocent depiction of two young humans being very human. Yet, like the moral outrage about Transgenderism, Naturism/Nudism is also under attack.
Nudity is about as natural as a human being can get, yet somehow over the generations, we’ve allowed it to become a source of shame, hate, anger and disgust. We’ve allowed religion, media and governments to bastardize the human form into a deep seated resentful idea. Religion has made it dirty and shameful and taboo, mostly in order to be able to control people more completely. Media has tied it almost completely to sexual lust in order to make it sellable. Government has tied it to illegality in order to win votes and to control people. Now that basic nudity is deeply seated in many people’s minds as being inherently immoral, is it no wonder that those of us that reject that skewed morality are under attack?
The thing is, nudity isn’t immoral. It is natural and beautiful. It is extremely beneficial and has countless positives. Body positivity, skin health, mental health… these can all be tied to acceptance of nudity, even if you yourself never go undressed a day in your life. Merely ACCEPTING that nudity is nothing to be ashamed or frightened of can have a huge positive impact. Not only on yourself, but on society as a whole. Yet here we sit with religious groups, governments and lobbyists trying to control us through fear, anger and misinformation.
What can we do about it? Fight back. Be vocal. Engage. The worst thing we can do during a Moral Panic is shut down and be quiet about it. The people panicking certainly won’t, and what they are shouting is always, ALWAYS, meant to control are subjugate you. It’s never based in reality or logic. It’s never about actually being good or right… it’s about being powerful. So don’t give in, no matter how hard it may be.
For all my Transgender and Nudist friends out there, try and stay strong. We all know that we are the ones that need protecting, not the ghosts of illusion that the morality police are projecting at us.
And those children that everyone keeps shouting ‘need to be thought about’? They’re just fine. Nakedness isn’t hurting them one bit. Being allowed to explore their gender identity isn’t dangerous in any way, shape or form. The adults that are allowing their children to express themselves in these manners are far more protective and moral than the morality police can ever hope to be.
The children will Be. Just. Fine.