Well,
WNBR has finally arrived in Las Vegas. I wasn’t aware that this was planned, not that I would have participated. The bike ride itself starts at 8:00pm. There could be several reasons for the late time of the start of the ride, from the summer heat to traffic concerns. This museum is located just west of the strip and traffic on the strip or anywhere near it is mind numbingly tedious.
I am wondering about the association with the
Erotic Heritage Museum. I remember when this place opened thinking that it was yet another titillating offering to the tourists. Haven’t been to it, nor am I likely to, so I don’t know much about it. It closed after about 6 yrs. due to disagreements amongst the owners and landlord. Haaaah, what a surprise. It has since reopened with a different branding and owners.
The trouble is probably trying to label the sex business, in all it’s varied guises, as a legitimate concern for academic study (i.e. a museum). I’m sure it’s a tough line to follow without heading off into smarmy discussions with a nod and a wink or a dispassionate clinical presentation of body parts and functions.
I read about the ride in the paper this morning. It’s the 1st I had heard about it. I looked it up online, because apparently the paper didn’t cover it. The notice I read in the paper was in a gossip column. The only reason I saw it was it was the lead headline on the column.
Much of what I found online seemed to treat it as an amusing story with caveats at the end about what the laws are and to be careful or you might get arrested or cited. A couple of attempts at a straight story are
here and
here.
On reading the laws here with regard to public nudity and indecency I suppose it’s good someone is taking on the repressed viewpoint on the subject. The woman organizing the ride makes specific reference to the hypocritical stance taken by the government in the state, county and cities. So much of the entertainment, I use the word loosely, is centered around nudity, eroticism and sex that the laws affecting the citizens are at complete odds with those in “the business”. I can see why people want laws like that. They don’t want to deal with this on a personal level. They want someone else to handle it so they don’t have to see it.
A frank discussion of these matters within families and their kids would go much further than trying to regulate multiple segments of society and/or culture by using different sets of laws specific to each group. It makes for cumbersome law, murky and confusing rulings or decisions and gets people annoyed. If this event causes a conversation about the laws, I guess the sponsor of the event is irrelevant.
It does associate the ideas of normal public nudity with an organization affiliated with the “sex business”. Unfortunate, but no one else has stepped forward, including me, to challenge the pretzel laws regulating this.
I’ve always wondered why the ride never happened here. We’ll see what the response is from the media, the casinos (the elephants in the room) and law enforcement. The police have to try and enforce confusing and often contradicting laws, rules and regulations. I am certain mistakes will be made.
Duane
