Sex and Death, Part One
I learned the other day that The Naked Guy had died. That he had committed suicide in jail. If you don't know who The Naked Guy was, he was a strapping, muscular young man who attended classes at UC Berkeley in the nude. Here are a a few pictures of him.



He was 6'4", handsome, confident, intelligent and, for the most part, happy. I used to hear about him occasionally, and what I heard was always funny and sexy: when he got an erection in a Russian Lit class it was reported in the SF Chronicle, the Village Voice and every campus newspaper in the country. Anyone who can make a single erection so celebrated and infamous...well, he has my vote.
He made what little money he had by loafing (Walt Whitman's favorite word for invaluable pensive non-activity) and selling a bumper sticker he'd made.


I like the bumper sticker for several reasons. First it addresses ("Hey man...") the fact that most of the people who protested his daily public nudity were men. Also it hits head-on the fact that the general populace has a relationship with men's genitals that's based in fear and anger and insecurity. I can imagine The Naked Guy saying "Give up the shame and just enjoy your dick, man." A sentiment a pornographer can certainly stand behind.
The Naked Guy was someone I admired. His activism was based in pleasure, humor and intelligence. He said, "I don't want to facilitate the power structure with my conformity," but his non-conforming protest was, ultimately, as gentle as Gandhi.
His family said that he had emotional and mental problems, no surprise given his non-conformity. He'd had periods of joblessness, homelessness. Resisting "the power structure" can play hell with a guy's life. And late one night, in jail for having been in a fight, he tied a clear plastic bag over his head and suffocated.
I'm sorry he's gone. He was 33 years old.
---Paul Morris


He was 6'4", handsome, confident, intelligent and, for the most part, happy. I used to hear about him occasionally, and what I heard was always funny and sexy: when he got an erection in a Russian Lit class it was reported in the SF Chronicle, the Village Voice and every campus newspaper in the country. Anyone who can make a single erection so celebrated and infamous...well, he has my vote.
He made what little money he had by loafing (Walt Whitman's favorite word for invaluable pensive non-activity) and selling a bumper sticker he'd made.

I like the bumper sticker for several reasons. First it addresses ("Hey man...") the fact that most of the people who protested his daily public nudity were men. Also it hits head-on the fact that the general populace has a relationship with men's genitals that's based in fear and anger and insecurity. I can imagine The Naked Guy saying "Give up the shame and just enjoy your dick, man." A sentiment a pornographer can certainly stand behind.
The Naked Guy was someone I admired. His activism was based in pleasure, humor and intelligence. He said, "I don't want to facilitate the power structure with my conformity," but his non-conforming protest was, ultimately, as gentle as Gandhi.
His family said that he had emotional and mental problems, no surprise given his non-conformity. He'd had periods of joblessness, homelessness. Resisting "the power structure" can play hell with a guy's life. And late one night, in jail for having been in a fight, he tied a clear plastic bag over his head and suffocated.
I'm sorry he's gone. He was 33 years old.
---Paul Morris


































