Israeli Lawmaker Proposes Ban on Public Nudity for Art

Spencer Tunick’s photography has provoked an Israeli lawmaker to propose a one-year jail term for public stripping.

Nissim Zeev, a member of Israel’s ultra-orthodox Shas party, is pushing the “Spencer Tunick bill,” which would outlaw public disrobing for commercial or artistic purposes, as reported in today’s Haaretz newspaper. The bill would allow nudity in areas designated for nude bathing.

Tunick is known for images of large groups of nude men and women in public. When the artist staged a photo shoot at the Dead Sea on Sept. 10, 2011, in which 1,200 Israelis participated, Zeev tried and failed to stop the event, calling it “an act of prostitution in the guise of art.”

According to the explanatory notes accompanying the law, Tunick’s public nudity “constitutes an insult to religious precepts regarding modesty and a serious transgression of forbidden sexual relations, and infringes on religious sentiments of religious citizens.”

Photo by Emil Salman