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The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, or SINA [pronounced "sinna"], was a satirical hoax concocted by serial prankster Alan Abel. The group used the language and rhetoric of conservative moralists for the ostensible aim of clothing "indecent" naked animals, including domestic pets, barnyard animals, and large wildlife. The society and its aims were then largely presented in the public arena on news and talk shows by comedian/improviser Buck Henry (in the guise of SINA president "G. Clifford Prout") from 1959 through 1963.
In 1959, Alan Abel wrote a satirical story about an imaginary organization for The Saturday Evening Post but the editors rejected it. [1] Abel then transformed his story into a series of press releases from the organization that garnered media attention. Looking to expand the range and impact of the hoax, Abel persuaded the actor Buck Henry to assume the role of the group president, G. Clifford Prout, Jr., in U.S. television news and talk show appearances. Henry, who had improv training, was able to play Prout with an intense deadpan sincerity, as well as to stay in character through unscripted interviews. During the interviews, Prout was often presented as an amusing eccentric, but was otherwise taken seriously by the broadcasters who interviewed him. Abel (seen far less frequently) played the group's executive vice-president Bruce Spencer.
Over time, the history of SINA and some of its specific aims were codified into a coherent (if unlikely) backstory. The group had been founded some years before by G. Clifford Prout, Sr., and was being carried on by his son. An alleged debate within SINA was how large an animal had to be to require clothing; the official position quoted by Prout was "any dog, cat, horse or cow that stands higher than 4 inches or longer than 6 inches." Slogans such as "Decency today means morality tomorrow" and "A nude horse is a rude horse" were offered.
The group received widespread American media coverage, beginning with an appearance by G. Clifford Prout on NBC's Today Show on May 27, 1959. Press releases and media appearances continued for the next few years, until the hoax was finally revealed in late 1962.
There was no membership fee to join SINA, as the official society policy for membership stated that "you must only demonstrate a desire to be decent by clothing your animals, and in some instances those of your neighbors." Headquarters were at 507 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, a real address which Abel used to receive SINA mail. Some letters were from people looking to subscribe to SINA's occasional newsletter; others were from potential newsletter contributors, as the organization also sponsored mail-in essay-writing contests such as "Why I Choose To Be A Decent Person." SINA also (falsely) claimed to have branch offices in London, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.
SINA actually acquired ardent supporters, some of whom attempted to contribute a great deal of money to the organization. [2] The money was invariably returned, as neither Abel nor Henry wished to be charged with mail fraud by accepting donations for a bogus charity. In public appearances (and in letters accompanying returned money or checks), "Prout" was careful to note that the by-laws of SINA prevented him from accepting donations, as he was independently wealthy and financed the operation through his own private means. He therefore did not require financial assistance.
Nevertheless, the letters of support and offers of money aided SINA's (false) claims of gaining momentum; at one time they claimed tens of thousands of members. They published a newsletter, in an issue of which is this anthem:
At least one LP record, Inside SINA, was released in 1964. By this time, the hoax had been exposed, and Henry was no longer affiliated with the project. The record contained interview material with "Bruce Spencer" (i.e., Abel); G. Clifford Prout was frequently referenced in the liner notes and spoken material, but did not make an appearance. The album contains several SINA-related anthems and songs, and a Q&A feature detailing SINA and its aims.
The hoax was exposed when staff on Walter Cronkite's CBS television news show recognized Buck Henry while broadcasting an interview of "G. Clifford Prout" by Cronkite. (Henry was known to some of the crew, as he was working for CBS at the time, albeit in another department.) The interview was broadcast on August 21, 1962, and Abel noted: "When Cronkite eventually found out that he’d been conned, and I was the guy behind it, he called me up. I’d never heard him that angry on TV—not about Hitler, Saddam Hussein, or Fidel Castro. He was furious with me." [3]
A 1963 Time article formally exposed the hoax. [1] Abel managed to keep the newsletter going for several more years, as not everyone had seen or heard of that Cronkite episode or read the Time article — however, numerous subscribers know it was a hoax by this point, but simply enjoyed the humor of the newsletter.
The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals hoax was chronicled in Abel's book, The Great American Hoax, published in 1966.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
Sina may refer to:
Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word modesty comes from the Latin word modestus which means 'keeping within measure'.
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different countries. It ranges from outright prohibition of the exposure of any body parts other than the hands or face to prohibition of exposure of certain body parts, such as the genital area, buttocks or breasts.
A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor and/or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms, statements and actions are typically offensive to much of society. It is a popular term within the radio industry. A shock jock is the radio equivalent of the tabloid newspaper in that both consider entertaining readers to be as important as, if not more important than, providing factual information. A radio station that relies primarily on shock jocks for programming has what is called a hot talk format.
Joey Skaggs is an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. Skaggs is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs has used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor, and the Rev. Anthony Joseph as aliases.
Buck Henry was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967) for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also appeared in Nichols' Catch-22 (1970), Herbert Ross' The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), and Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? (1972). In 1978, he co-directed Heaven Can Wait (1978) with Warren Beatty receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director. He later appeared in Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life (1991), and the Robert Altman films The Player (1992) and Short Cuts (1993).
A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use. The word "hide" is related to the German word Haut, which means skin. The industry defines hides as "skins" of large animals e.g. cow, buffalo; while skins refer to "skins" of smaller animals: goat, sheep, deer, pig, fish, alligator, snake, etc. Common commercial hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, buckskin, alligator skin and snake skin. All are used for shoes, clothes, leather bags, belts, or other fashion accessories. Leather is also used in cars, upholstery, interior decorating, horse tack and harnesses. Skins are sometimes still gathered from hunting and processed at a domestic or artisanal level but most leather making is now industrialized and large-scale. Various tannins are used for this purpose. Hides are also used as processed chews for dogs or other pets.
Alan Irwin Abel was an American hoaxer, writer, and mockumentary filmmaker famous for several hoaxes that became media circuses.
Animal Aid is a British animal rights organisation, founded in 1977 by Jean Pink. The group campaigns peacefully against the consumption of animals as food and against animal cruelty such as their use for medical research—and promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle. It also investigates and exposes animal abuse.
Clothing laws vary considerably around the world. In most countries, there are no laws which prescribe what clothing is required to be worn. However, the community standards of clothing are set indirectly by way of prosecution of those who wear something that is not socially approved. Those people who wear insufficient clothing can be prosecuted in many countries under various offences termed indecent exposure, public indecency, nudity or other descriptions. Generally, these offences do not themselves define what is and what is not acceptable clothing to constitute the offence, and leave it to a judge to determine in each case.
Christian naturism is the practise of naturism or nudism by Christians.
The history of nudity involves social attitudes to nakedness of the human body in different cultures in history. The use of clothing to cover the body is one of the changes that mark the end of the Neolithic, and the beginning of civilizations. Nudity has traditionally been the social norm for both men and women in hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, and it is still common among many indigenous peoples. The need to cover the body is associated with human migration out of the tropics into climates where clothes were needed as protection from sun, heat, and dust in the Middle East; or from cold and rain in Europe and Asia. The first use of animal skins and cloth may have been as adornment, along with body modification, body painting, and jewelry, invented first for other purposes, such as magic, decoration, cult, or prestige. The skills used in their making were later found to be practical as well.
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts, being associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.
The goat or domestic goat is a species of domesticated goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat. It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to use the facilities without membership in any movement or subscription to any personal belief. The use of the beach facilities is normally anonymous. Unlike a naturist resort or facility, there is normally no membership or vetting requirement for the use of a nude beach. The use of nude beach facilities is usually casual, not requiring pre-booking. Nude beaches may be official, unofficial, or illegal.
This timeline of social nudity shows the varying degrees of acceptance given to the naked human body by diverse cultures throughout history. The events listed here demonstrate how various societies have shifted between strict and lax clothing standards, how nudity has played a part in social movements and protest, and how the nude human body is accepted in the public sphere.
Private Dicks: Men Exposed is a 1999 American HBO TV documentary on the human penis. The film was directed by Thom Powers and Meema Spadola who previously made HBO's 1996 Breasts: A Documentary, a similar documentary on the breast.
Naturism in the United States is the practice of social nudity as a lifestyle that seeks an alternative to the majority view of American society that considers nakedness and sexuality to be taboo based upon the legacy of Puritan and Victorian attitudes. Enthusiasm for naturism began in the late 1920s with the establishment of members-only communities where naturists could gather to socialize and enjoy recreation without clothing in an environment that was no more sexual than that experienced while clothed. In later decades some groups began advocating for more general acceptance, and the opening up of public land to clothing-optional recreation.