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| -a Scientific Report titled: 'Community Standards Vote (2008) - a vote on the current Community Standards regarding proper attire - or lack thereof - on a public beach in Alberta'. |
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Short Summary: Just the Rules
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Women vote 25:1 in favour
of continuing to allow large-breasted men
to go topless on a public beach.
Teen females vote ‘No Way Dude’
to a topless beach.
Men feel more strongly
about man-boobs than woman-boobs
according to Community Vote.
Boobless Topless Women allowed
on a public beach, says Vote.
(but the size of the majority
is too small to apply to the
Community as a whole - it was not
statistically significant)
Nude beach-babes* OK, says Vote
(* babes means ‘babies’, NOT: desirable young women or desirable young men)
Only babies can get a woman topless
on a public beach, says Vote.
Voters split on child nudity
on a public beach.
Voters feel more strongly
about Male pubic hair
than Female pubic hair according to Vote.
No males-in-thongs
on a public beach, says Vote.
Females vote overwhelmingly:
less pride, and diminished family life
if tops-free policy were implemented.
One percent of voters believe that a
topless beach will decrease
ones chances of getting laid:
Is a bikini top a Christian Hijab?
Women vote 25:1 in favour of continuing to allow large-breasted men to go topless on a public beach.
In a privately sponsored Community Vote in and around the beach at Sylvan Lake Provincial Park, in the town of Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada, women voted by a wide margin (25:1) to continue to allow men with large breasts to go topless on an undesignated area of a public beach. Eligible Male voters rules almost 3:1 in favor and Teen Females voted 7:1 in favour of continuing to allow topless man-boobs.
As this researcher was soliciting votes on the beach, one large-breasted man declined to vote but a male acquaintance of his, who was sitting close by, consented, then was laughing about this particular question and made a few teasing comments to the large-breasted man whereupon the one being teased became very interested in the vote ballot. He laughed and vigorously insisted that he would never wear a bathing suit top and insisted that if a by-law officer tried to give him a ticket, he would "rip it up and throw it in his face" - yet, despite his strong feelings, he still declined to vote and no amount of coaxing by myself or his friend could change his mind.
Teen females vote ‘No Way Dude’ to a topless beach.
Teen Females, aged 15-17 voted nearly unanimously (12 votes to 0) against topless women being allowed in (an undesignated area of) a public beach in Alberta, Canada with only one teen voting that there should continue to be no written rule on that topic. There was a rather large age-effect among the different female age categories. The fraction of females who voted against ‘tops-free’ was very high for the lowest aged female voters (15-17), then decreased as the age of the voters increased from 15 to 30, then it increased slightly again as the age of the voters increased from 30 to 60. The lowest percentages of females voting against tops-free were in the thirties age group. It appears, then, that the thirty-something females are the most liberal, and the teen females have values similar to their grandmothers.
Excluding voters who voted for 'no written rule on this topic', 62% of eligible voters (18+ and residents) cast their ballot against a woman being topless on a public beach (in an undesignated area). The margin of error was ±10.9%, 19 times out of 20.
Man-boobs beat woman-boobs according to Community Vote.
In a privately sponsored Community Vote on what body parts are allowed to be exposed on a public beach, seventeen propositions were scored and ranked according to how strongly voters felt about each topic. Voters logged 31% more ‘strongly held’ votes than ‘regular’ votes on the topic of man-boobs whereas they only logged 5% more ‘strongly held’ votes on the topic of topless women on the beach. This means that voters feel six times more strongly about man-boobs than woman-boobs.
Men voted 3:1 in favour of men with man-boobs continuing to be allowed to be topless on a public beach. It was the women who drove the vote through the roof by voting 25:1 in favour. So women voted with an eight times larger majority than men.
When the ranked list of propositions are made for each gender; males logged 53% more strongly held votes on the topic of man-boobs whereas women only logged 17%. So men felt three times more strongly about bare man-boobs on a public beach than women do although feeling strongly about an issue does not necessarily translate into a large majority vote. Although we do not know exactly what kind of feeling was behind a voters decision to choose the ‘strongly held’ voting option, one wonders if it was laughter on the part of women and fear on the part of men – fear at being made to wear bathing suit tops. That would be a topic for another study.
Voters ruled in favour of a Boobless Topless Women being allowed on a public beach, but the 55.4% win was smaller than the margin of error so, statistically speaking, we cannot tell if the Community as a whole would produce a majority vote on the topic.
In a privately sponsored Community Vote which took place in and around the beach at Sylvan Lake Provincial Park, which is in the town of Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada, one proposition sought a public ruling on whether a woman who had had a double mastectomy could go tops-free on a public beach. After all, such a woman would have no breasts and no nipples so it would seem logical that she could. The voters ruled 41 votes in favour of such a woman being tops-free and 31 votes against. Female voters were evenly split, but male voters pushed the total in favour of the yes side.
Even the 55.4% win was not large enough to produce a statistically significant result since the margin of error was ±11.4%, (at the generally accepted confidence level of 19 times out of 20). It was a win for the group that participated in the vote but, unfortunately, it cannot be applied to the Community as a whole. We cannot be sure that a similar vote of the Community as a whole would produce a majority.
Nude beach-babes* OK, says Vote [* babes means ‘babies’, NOT: desirable young women or desirable young men]
It is not a violation of Community Standards for an adult to allow their baby to be nude at a public beach. So says a privately sponsored vote taken during the last half of 2008 in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada. The count was 54 votes for nude babies and 18 votes against - a very large majority (3:1). This means that; of every four people on the beach, three are in favour of nude babies and only one against.
In the men’s list of propositions, which are ranked in decreasing order of how strongly held they are, the nude baby proposition is fourth from the top at 31% more ‘strongly held votes’ than ‘normal votes’. In the women’s list, nude babies are number twelve.
Non-eligible voters voted nearly 10:1 in favour of nude babies.
Participants were given the opportunity to define ‘baby’. The average response, settled on two years old or less.
There were 94 voters overall. Twenty one voted that there should continue to be no written rule on the topic.
Only babies can get a woman topless on a public beach, says Vote.
Voters ruled: 50 votes to 31 against a woman being topless in an undesignated area of a public beach, but there was one exception to that rule. In a separate proposition, voters ruled: 65 votes to 23 in favour of a woman exposing her breast while in the process of nursing a baby. The results of both propositions were statistically significant.
This privately sponsored vote took place in the last half of 2008 in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada
Voters split on child nudity on a public beach.
There was a virtual tie on the following proposition: ‘It is not a violation of Community Standards for a child to be nude at a public beach’. The resulting vote was:37 votes in favour of the proposition, and 36 votes against. Additionally, twenty people voted that there should continue to be no written rule on the topic. When the results was broken down by gender, both men and women were tied – the odd vote being an eligible voter who did not specify their gender.
Even the non-eligible voter category, who were allowed to vote with the understanding that their vote would be used for comparison purposes only, cancelled out each other’s vote. Underage resident teen females voted against the proposition by a margin of 3:1 but non-resident voters ruled for the proposition by an equal amount, canceling out the teen female vote.
The vote on this particular proposition was not a complete waste of time though.
Seventeen propositions were scored and ranked according to how strongly voters felt about each topic. The three propositions dealing with nude children were dead last in the rank. People were generally unconcerned and apathetic about the topic.
A second finding was this: those who voted for child nudity defined ‘child’ as, on average, four years old, and those who voted against child nudity on a public beach, defined ‘child’ as, on average, 9.4 years old. Both groups were speaking of children of different ages.
In a separate proposition, the topic was a 9 year old nude boy and voters were against such a situation 45 votes to 42. In a third proposition, babies were ruled to be allowed to be nude on the beach at two years old, by a wide margin: 54 votes for and only 18 votes against. In a fourth proposition, adults, (over 18 years old) were forbidden from being nude on an undesignated area of a public beach by a wide margin: 59 votes against a nude adult to 23 votes for.
If support for a 2 year old nudie is high and support for an 18 year old nudie is very, very low and support for a nine year old is very close to a tie, but slightly against, according to my calculations, a boy of 8.5 years old would have the support of a simple majority (50% plus one vote). A similar line of reasoning would allow a female child to be nude for a similar age, if not a year older. Of course, these should be considered as upper limits and most people would not be comfortable so close to the line, although, I understand that in nineteenth century Victorian England, it was not uncommon for children to be nude at the beach, so, perhaps child nudity at a beach is not surprising under our English Social Value System.
The vote in question was privately sponsored and took place in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada in 2008. One hundred and seven eligible voters participated and twenty nine non-eligible voters were allowed to vote but their votes were used for comparison purposes only.
Male pubic hair beats Female pubic hair according to Vote.
No one is allowed to expose pubic hair in an undesignated area of a public beach in Alberta, Canada, says a privately sponsored vote in Sylvan Lake.
Voters were against exposed male pubic hair: 57 votes to 21 votes. Male voters were slightly more against exposed male pubic hair than were female voters.
On the other hand, voters were against exposed female pubic hair: 47 votes to 28 votes. Female voters were slightly more against exposed female pubic hair than were male voters.
In a list of propositions ranked, in decreasing order, according to how strongly voters felt about them, the proposition regarding exposed male pubic hair ranked 20% higher than the proposition regarding exposed female pubic hair. This was true for both the male voter’s ranked list and the female voter’s ranked list. Males felt 5% more strongly about exposed pubic hair of either gender, than females.
Teen Females were 4:1 against exposed male pubic hair but only 2:1 against exposed female pubic hair.
This vote took place during the last half of 2008.
No males in thongs on a public beach, says Vote.
In a privately sponsored vote in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada, voters ruled 54 votes to 28 votes against a male wearing a thong in an undesignated area of a public beach. Female voters felt 30% more strongly about the topic of males in thongs than did male voters.
Females vote overwhelmingly: less pride, and diminished family life if tops-free policy were implemented.
Female voters ruled overwhelmingly that the consequences of a Town Policy of Tops-free in all public swimming areas would be: that there would be less pride in the community (43 votes Less pride, 4 votes More pride ) and that their town would experience diminished family life (44 votes Diminished:5 votes Improved Family Life).
The majority of men ruled that there would be no change in either social area.
There was one major difference when different age categories were compared. Females voters were consistent over all age categories, but male voters under thirty years old had a majority vote of ‘more pride’, yet, this same subcategory voted majority: ‘no change in ‘family life’ siding with the rest of the males.
One percent of voters believe that a topless beach will decrease ones chances of getting laid:
If the town instituted a policy of tops optional in all swimming places (which is far less than the Province of Ontario which has tops-optional in all public places), what would the consequences be on the chances of getting laid? The results: 54% (61 votes) voted ‘Improved Chances of getting laid’, 45% (51 votes) voted ‘No change’ and only 1% (one person) voted the chances of getting laid would be decreased. Comparing the top two categories, the margin of error was ±9.2% (19 times out of 20) which means that the difference between the 54% and 45% are equivalent to 0.1 vote shy of being statistically significant and rounding the numbers does not resolve the situation. ‘Increased chances’ was a winner for the 113 persons who voted, but we cannot predict (statistically speaking) that a majority would result if the same vote were conducted in the Community as a whole.
How can you get 0.1 of a vote? In statistics, numbers are considered a range, so 61 votes (± the error of 9.2%) is considered to be a range of 55.4 to 66.6, at the 95% confidence level, and 51 votes are considered to be a range of 46.5 to 55.5 at the 95% confidence level. Since the two ranges overlap, the difference between the two is not statistically significant – even if they are maddeningly close. More voters may have lowered the error and produced a clear winner, but in science there are no guarantees..
Is a bikini top a Christian Hijab?
This question came to my mind when two different men on the beach said that a boobless woman still had to wear a bathing suit top, even if she had no breasts or nipples, “because she was a woman”. They answered this as a justification when their female partner challenged them after taking a law-dropping look at their man's response. The men indicated that the rule against topless women was about womanhood, not mammary glands. It reminded me of how, before the 1920s, women would keep their hair up – in buns – during the day, and only let their hair down at home, in the evening, for the enjoyment of, and to honour, their man, in the same way as Islamic women do by wearing the Hijab. Although, in the final result, a majority of eligible male voters ruled that a boobless woman could be at the beach, the question remains: do the minority of men believe that woman must cover their breasts to honour men? Is it a question of 'womanhood' not mammary glands?
Legal:
Bob Crawford, author, webmaster, researcher
email:nulldivorce (at) hotmail (dot) com
[This email address is placed in this format to foil web robots who steal email address, then their criminal creators sell the email addresses to spammers. A human will know how to put it in the proper form to make it work.]
This site was last updated 02/01/09
Notice: all written content, tables and graphs on this web site is hereby placed in the public domain for the public good. Anything else (photos) are covered under fair use since this is a scientific report. r.n.c. 2008