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| In the early 1980s Craft became a ] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://nikkicraft.com/pottery/Webpages/gallery-01.html|title=Nikki Craft's Pottery Pages|work=nikkicraft.com|accessdate=2006-03-02}}</ref> at ]. One year she made 500 handthrown pieces and signed them all "Stop Violence Against Women." | In the early 1980s Craft became a ] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://nikkicraft.com/pottery/Webpages/gallery-01.html|title=Nikki Craft's Pottery Pages|work=nikkicraft.com|accessdate=2006-03-02}}</ref> at ]. One year she made 500 handthrown pieces and signed them all "Stop Violence Against Women." | ||
| In 1980, Craft started the ] Women's Brigade. Preying Mantis organized actions to remove '']'' from local liquor stores in retaliation for publishing violent ]. Over the next year they succeeded in getting ''Hustler'' removed from 28 stores in the Santa Cruz area. These actions were documented weekly in ''City on a Hill Press'' at ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/Porn/HustlerAction1981LA.pdf|format=PDF|title=Striking Flynt/Actions against Hustler|work=nostatusquo.com|accessdate=2006-03-06}}</ref>. | In 1980, Craft started the ] Women's Brigade. Preying Mantis organized actions to remove '']'' from local liquor stores in retaliation for publishing violent ]. Over the next year they succeeded in getting ''Hustler'' removed from 28 stores in the Santa Cruz area. These actions were documented weekly in ''City on a Hill Press'' at [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UCSC. | ||
| On ], ], Craft entered the UCSC Special Collections library and destroyed ''The Incredible Case of the Stack o' Wheats Murder'' print reproductions a ] colection of ] of ] by the ] ], by pouring chocolate syrup on their torn pieces. At that time she released ''In Defense of Disobedience''. Months later she donated another set of prints, exactly the same as the one she destroyed. She was arrested for felony ] and malicious mischief, but charges were later dismissed |
On ], ], Craft entered the UCSC Special Collections library and destroyed ''The Incredible Case of the Stack o' Wheats Murder'' print reproductions a ] colection of ] of ] by the ] ], by pouring chocolate syrup on their torn pieces. At that time she released ''In Defense of Disobedience''. Months later she donated another set of prints, exactly the same as the one she destroyed. She was arrested for felony ] and malicious mischief, but charges were later dismissed. She was later nominated for a chancellor's award for "significant contribution to campus understanding of ethical principles" by her arresting officer, the provost of her college and the then mayor of Santa Cruz. The action received widespread press coverage, was reviewed in art journals, and was documented in Diana Russell's book ''Femicide''. | ||
| In 1981, Craft formed the Cross Your Heart Support network and organized numerous ] rights demonstrations. Over a period of several years, members, including Craft, were arrested on state beaches in numerous demonstrations. During one of these demonstrations, they marched to the Santa Cruz police station. ] reproduced one of their photographs of this latter event in his ''World Guide to Nude Beaches''.<ref> | In 1981, Craft formed the Cross Your Heart Support network and organized numerous ] rights demonstrations. Over a period of several years, members, including Craft, were arrested on state beaches in numerous demonstrations. During one of these demonstrations, they marched to the Santa Cruz police station. ] reproduced one of their photographs of this latter event in his ''World Guide to Nude Beaches''.<ref> | ||
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| In 1981, and again in 1988, Craft was arrested at the ] while protesting against the proliferating use of ] in the USA. During the 1983 "Weight Slavery" Myth California protest, Craft vomited during a ] performance, in order to bring about public awareness about ]s. | In 1981, and again in 1988, Craft was arrested at the ] while protesting against the proliferating use of ] in the USA. During the 1983 "Weight Slavery" Myth California protest, Craft vomited during a ] performance, in order to bring about public awareness about ]s. | ||
| In 1983 Craft founded Citizens for Media Responsiblity. During the next year and a half, Craft and Dr. ] organized the National Rampage Against Penthouse which resulted in hundreds of arrests of women and men across the country to protest '']'' magazines publication of what they called "violent ]n pornography." That same year she founded Meredith Stockholders Against Penthouse to protest Meredith printing the magazine. The following year, ] stopped printing ''Penthouse''. Craft was arrested 16 times in eight different states over the next year and a half |
In 1983 Craft founded Citizens for Media Responsiblity. During the next year and a half, Craft and Dr. ] organized the National Rampage Against Penthouse which resulted in hundreds of arrests of women and men across the country to protest '']'' magazines publication of what they called "violent ]n pornography." That same year she founded Meredith Stockholders Against Penthouse to protest Meredith printing the magazine. The following year, ] stopped printing ''Penthouse''. Craft was arrested 16 times in eight different states over the next year and a half. | ||
| She was arrested in August 1984 while sunbathing at the ] for refusing to put on her shirt. She later organized a class action suit funded by ] against the Federal government, which manages the Seashore. Later in the proceedings, she and others withdrew from the case because the Society's attorney had made concessions to the respondents related to clothing requirements for Seashore visitors that included gender distinctions, specifically, the covering of women's breasts. | She was arrested in August 1984 while sunbathing at the ] for refusing to put on her shirt. She later organized a class action suit funded by ] against the Federal government, which manages the Seashore. Later in the proceedings, she and others withdrew from the case because the Society's attorney had made concessions to the respondents related to clothing requirements for Seashore visitors that included gender distinctions, specifically, the covering of women's breasts. | ||
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| In the early 1990s Craft published a newsletter called ''The Iconoclast'', which reported on ]s and naturists who had been accused or convicted of ] or ], and her assertion that the nudist/naturist leadership was not taking the problem seriously. | In the early 1990s Craft published a newsletter called ''The Iconoclast'', which reported on ]s and naturists who had been accused or convicted of ] or ], and her assertion that the nudist/naturist leadership was not taking the problem seriously. | ||
| In May 1990, Craft spent 23 days in jail for tearing up four copies of '']'' magazine on a ] mall bookstore, to protest its cover story, "Your Wife: An Owner's Manual," which included articles the magazine claimed were "humorous" about ] and ] |
In May 1990, Craft spent 23 days in jail for tearing up four copies of '']'' magazine on a ] mall bookstore, to protest its cover story, "Your Wife: An Owner's Manual," which included articles the magazine claimed were "humorous" about ] and ]. | ||
| In 1990 Craft opened the ] Online Library. In ], ] dedicated her book ''Femicide'' to Craft. In 1997 Dworkin dedicated her book ''Life and Death'' to Craft. In 2000, Craft and ] organized "Feminists for ]" and campaigned for Nader's presidential bid. | In 1990 Craft opened the ] Online Library. In ], ] dedicated her book ''Femicide'' to Craft. In 1997 Dworkin dedicated her book ''Life and Death'' to Craft. In 2000, Craft and ] organized "Feminists for ]" and campaigned for Nader's presidential bid. | ||
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| In 1995, the feminist journal ''On the Issues'' published Craft's article entitled "Busting Mister Short Eyes" about a naturist ] sentenced to 30 years in prison, partly as a result of Craft's advocacy. <ref>{{cite news|first=Nikki|last=Craft|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3327/is_199512/ai_n8033743|title=Busting Mr. Short Eyes|publisher=On the Issues|date=Dec. 1995}}</ref> | In 1995, the feminist journal ''On the Issues'' published Craft's article entitled "Busting Mister Short Eyes" about a naturist ] sentenced to 30 years in prison, partly as a result of Craft's advocacy. <ref>{{cite news|first=Nikki|last=Craft|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3327/is_199512/ai_n8033743|title=Busting Mr. Short Eyes|publisher=On the Issues|date=Dec. 1995}}</ref> | ||
| In 2001 she took a stand against the war in ] and called upon her feminist colleagues to do the same |
In 2001 she took a stand against the war in ] and called upon her feminist colleagues to do the same. In 2005, she created the "Hustling the Left" website<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.HustlingTheLeft.com|title=Hustling the Left}}</ref>, criticizing leaders in ] and ] movements who published articles, interviews and expressed public cooperation with ] and his magazine, '']''. The website took its name from a June 2005 article by feminist ], who protested the promotion of Flynt's support by the anti-war group ]. | ||
| ==Criticism of nudist/naturist movement== | ==Criticism of nudist/naturist movement== | ||
| One of Craft's major projects involves researching and publishing reports of alleged ] and ] within the ] and leadership. The first reports were published in ''The Iconoclast'', and they now appear on her website, The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame. <ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nudisthallofshame.info/ | title = The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame}}</ref> She contends that the naturist organizations ] (AANR) and ] (TNS) fail to address this issue by not doing enough to investigate and remove offenders, report them to ], or modify club procedures for dealing with ]. She notes that |
One of Craft's major projects involves researching and publishing reports of alleged ] and ] within the ] and leadership. The first reports were published in ''The Iconoclast'', and they now appear on her website, The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame. <ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nudisthallofshame.info/ | title = The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame}}</ref> She contends that the naturist organizations ] (AANR) and ] (TNS) fail to address this issue by not doing enough to investigate and remove offenders, report them to ], or modify club procedures for dealing with ]. She notes that ] is a child sex offender. For 15 years Craft has been insisting that children are not safe in naturist and nudist environments. The Virginia legislature, apparently agreeing, recently outlawed children's summer camps at nudist and naturist camps. | ||
| Her critics contend that many private nudist clubs do check the criminal histories of visitors to make sure they do not have documented histories of criminal activity that would be of concern in a family-oriented community. They also point out that ] are everywhere in society and all must be equally vigilant to making sure that both individuals and organizations take initiative in establishing protections against abuse and exploitation. {{fact}} | Her critics contend that many private nudist clubs do check the criminal histories of visitors to make sure they do not have documented histories of criminal activity that would be of concern in a family-oriented community. They also point out that ] are everywhere in society and all must be equally vigilant to making sure that both individuals and organizations take initiative in establishing protections against abuse and exploitation. {{fact}} | ||
Revision as of 22:23, 19 October 2006
Nikki Craft (born 1949) is an American political activist, artist and writer who is known for her provocative and controversial approaches to societal problems and political situations. She is also known for radical feminist grassroots organizing, though she has said, "My politics are much broader than feminism." Craft has been both a participant in naturism and an investigator of sex offenders within the naturist movement. She has worked against oppressive politics and culture since the early 1970s, and has been arrested 50 times for acts of civil disobedience. She has been recognized for this by numerous academics considered experts on civil disobedience including Marge Frantz.
Activism
Craft became a feminist and activist in the late 1960s, and was one of the first people to publicly protest against beauty pageants. In the summer of 1975 Craft organized her first anti-pageant action in Dallas at the Miss Texas Beauty Pageant, where the protestors threw raw steak onto the stage during the bathing suit contest. In 1976 she altered a billboard by changing it from "Miss America" to "Myth America," an action covered in the Dallas Morning News and Parade magazine.
In 1975, she presented the Rockwell International Board of Directors with "bloodied" dolls to protest their B-1 bomber called "The Peacemaker". The same year, Craft founded Women Armed for Self Protection (WASP), which advocated armed self-defense for women and retaliation against rapists by their victims; she wrote and recorded the Rape Song about Inez Garcia and Joan Little.
In 1976, Craft co-founded the Kitty Genovese Women's Project (KGWP) when she and and another activist posed as sociology students under the pretense of doing a "statistical study on violent crimes" and obtained the names of every indicted sex offender in Dallas County from 1959 to 1975. This was before such records were kept on computer and the activists worked for 9 months transferring all the names on index cards. A year later 25,000 copies of the KGWP newspaper was published. It listed all 2,100 sex offender indictments, 1,700 of which were multiple offenders, and was distributed throughout Dallas. On March 8, International Women's Day, the group read the names over local community radio KCHU for 13 hours.
In 1979, Craft helped organize the first Myth California Anti-Pageant in Santa Cruz, California. In 1980 Craft joined together with others, and over the next nine years committed various acts of protest, including throwing raw meat on the stage and pouring the blood of raped women across the entry way. One year three men locked arms on stage and yelled "Men Resist Sexism! Men Resist Sexism!" preventing the crowning until they were dragged away. There were many arrests, and each year the crowds grew larger at the anti-pageant protests which later resulted in the Miss California pageant leaving Santa Cruz. The protests continued in San Diego and in 1988, after the pageant left Santa Cruz and moved to San Diego, an anti-pageant infiltrator won the local pageant and advanced to the state finals where she unveiled a banner from her bra that read "Pageants Hurt All Women." An award-winning documentary called Miss or Myth examines these protests and Craft's role in starting them.
1980s
In the early 1980s Craft became a ceramicist at UCSC. One year she made 500 handthrown pieces and signed them all "Stop Violence Against Women."
In 1980, Craft started the Preying Mantis Women's Brigade. Preying Mantis organized actions to remove Hustler from local liquor stores in retaliation for publishing violent pornography. Over the next year they succeeded in getting Hustler removed from 28 stores in the Santa Cruz area. These actions were documented weekly in City on a Hill Press at [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UCSC.
On March 31, 1980, Craft entered the UCSC Special Collections library and destroyed The Incredible Case of the Stack o' Wheats Murder print reproductions a 1972 colection of parodies of forensic photography by the artist Les Krims, by pouring chocolate syrup on their torn pieces. At that time she released In Defense of Disobedience. Months later she donated another set of prints, exactly the same as the one she destroyed. She was arrested for felony conspiracy and malicious mischief, but charges were later dismissed. She was later nominated for a chancellor's award for "significant contribution to campus understanding of ethical principles" by her arresting officer, the provost of her college and the then mayor of Santa Cruz. The action received widespread press coverage, was reviewed in art journals, and was documented in Diana Russell's book Femicide.
In 1981, Craft formed the Cross Your Heart Support network and organized numerous shirt-free rights demonstrations. Over a period of several years, members, including Craft, were arrested on state beaches in numerous demonstrations. During one of these demonstrations, they marched to the Santa Cruz police station. Lee Baxandall reproduced one of their photographs of this latter event in his World Guide to Nude Beaches.
In 1981, Craft was arrested, along with others, for pouring her own blood ("the blood of raped women") across the entry way of the San Jose Miss Nude Pageant.
In 1981, and again in 1988, Craft was arrested at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant while protesting against the proliferating use of nuclear power in the USA. During the 1983 "Weight Slavery" Myth California protest, Craft vomited during a street theatre performance, in order to bring about public awareness about eating disorders.
In 1983 Craft founded Citizens for Media Responsiblity. During the next year and a half, Craft and Dr. Melissa Farley organized the National Rampage Against Penthouse which resulted in hundreds of arrests of women and men across the country to protest Penthouse magazines publication of what they called "violent Asian pornography." That same year she founded Meredith Stockholders Against Penthouse to protest Meredith printing the magazine. The following year, Merideth Corporation stopped printing Penthouse. Craft was arrested 16 times in eight different states over the next year and a half.
She was arrested in August 1984 while sunbathing at the Cape Cod National Seashore for refusing to put on her shirt. She later organized a class action suit funded by the Naturist Society against the Federal government, which manages the Seashore. Later in the proceedings, she and others withdrew from the case because the Society's attorney had made concessions to the respondents related to clothing requirements for Seashore visitors that included gender distinctions, specifically, the covering of women's breasts.
In March 1986 Craft and eight other women were arrested in Chicago, Illinois after chaining themselves in front of the Playboy Foundation demanding that Hugh Hefner "get naked" and pose in his own publication.
1990s and onward
In the early 1990s Craft published a newsletter called The Iconoclast, which reported on nudists and naturists who had been accused or convicted of child pornography or sexual abuse, and her assertion that the nudist/naturist leadership was not taking the problem seriously.
In May 1990, Craft spent 23 days in jail for tearing up four copies of Esquire magazine on a Bellingham, WA mall bookstore, to protest its cover story, "Your Wife: An Owner's Manual," which included articles the magazine claimed were "humorous" about domestic violence and murder.
In 1990 Craft opened the Andrea Dworkin Online Library. In 1992, Diana E. H. Russell dedicated her book Femicide to Craft. In 1997 Dworkin dedicated her book Life and Death to Craft. In 2000, Craft and D.A. Clarke organized "Feminists for Nader" and campaigned for Nader's presidential bid.
In 1995, the feminist journal On the Issues published Craft's article entitled "Busting Mister Short Eyes" about a naturist child rapist sentenced to 30 years in prison, partly as a result of Craft's advocacy.
In 2001 she took a stand against the war in Afghanistan and called upon her feminist colleagues to do the same. In 2005, she created the "Hustling the Left" website, criticizing leaders in leftist and progressive movements who published articles, interviews and expressed public cooperation with Larry Flynt and his magazine, Hustler. The website took its name from a June 2005 article by feminist Aura Bogado, who protested the promotion of Flynt's support by the anti-war group Not in Our Name.
Criticism of nudist/naturist movement
One of Craft's major projects involves researching and publishing reports of alleged pedophilia and child molestation within the nudist/naturist movement and leadership. The first reports were published in The Iconoclast, and they now appear on her website, The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame. She contends that the naturist organizations American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) and The Naturist Society (TNS) fail to address this issue by not doing enough to investigate and remove offenders, report them to law enforcement, or modify club procedures for dealing with abuse. She notes that William D. Peckenpaugh is a child sex offender. For 15 years Craft has been insisting that children are not safe in naturist and nudist environments. The Virginia legislature, apparently agreeing, recently outlawed children's summer camps at nudist and naturist camps.
Her critics contend that many private nudist clubs do check the criminal histories of visitors to make sure they do not have documented histories of criminal activity that would be of concern in a family-oriented community. They also point out that sexual predators are everywhere in society and all must be equally vigilant to making sure that both individuals and organizations take initiative in establishing protections against abuse and exploitation.
Quotes
- No nation on earth has ever gone to war for women's rights. We are not likely to be the first. "A Call On Feminists To Protest The War Against Afghanistan", November 8 2001
- But I wanna be part of the problem.
References
- "Myth America Billboard Enhancement". nostatusquo.com. Retrieved 2006-03-01.
- "War Stories: My Demo at Rockwell International". nostatusquo.com. Retrieved 2006-02-23.
- "Exposing the Rapist Next Door". nostatusquo.com. Retrieved 2006-02-23.
- "Nikki Craft's Pottery Pages". nikkicraft.com. Retrieved 2006-03-02.
-
Baxandall, Lee (1983). World Guide to Nude Beaches and Recreation (1st edition ed.). New York: Harmony Books. p. 23. ISBN 0517549832.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - Craft, Nikki (Dec. 1995). "Busting Mr. Short Eyes". On the Issues.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Hustling the Left".
- "The Nudist/Naturist Hall of Shame".
See also
- Feminism
- Anti-pornography movement
- Issues in social nudity#Handling incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation
- Criticism of Noam Chomsky#Hustler Interview (The only criticism Craft has of Noam Chomsky is his interview with Hustler magazine.)
External links
Nikki Craft sites and projects
- NoStatusQuo (main portal)
- NikkiCraft.com
- Nudist Naturist Hall of Shame
- Hustling the Left
- PeTA: Where only women are treated like meat
- Andrea Dworkin Online Library
- Nikki Craft Personal Homepage