Before "Parties" Now "Nude Parties"

Naked parties are becoming a part of campus culture and Ivy League colleges are among the many institutions where students dare to bare in the name of fun. When Yale University student Molly Clark-Barol got the invitation, she was reluctant to go. A naked party? Where people stand around in their birthday outfit? It sounded awkward. But she quite enjoyed the experience, calling it “liberating’’. She said, “It was really low key, kind of just like any other party. Except you’re naked.’’

Yale is one of several Ivy League schools at which naked parties are popular. Ask the partygoers why they attend and they may tell you something about releasing academic pressure, selfexpression or experimentation. But push them a bit more and you’ll find that when you put 30 or so naked college kids together in a room, the pulse of youthful rebellion runs strong. Held late in the evening, the parties are usually a last stop after an evening of social revelry.

Full of liquid courage, the naked partygoers abandon their coats—and their clothes—at the door. The guest lists for the smaller parties are usually limited to around 30 or 40 people, and the conversations tend to be more intellectual, partygoers claim. And there are strict rules about touching and gawking. If guests start getting too friendly with each other, they’re asked to leave. “It’s more about breaking taboos,’’ says Clark-Barol. “You feel more like running around in circles than hooking up with someone.’’

The tradition of naked parties at Yale is not new. In the 1990s, a naked party held in a small campus dining area called the Buttery was dubbed, ‘Nude Night at the Butt.’ Also in the late 1990s, a secret society called ‘Porn ‘n Chicken,’ met together to watch pornographic movies while eating fried chicken in the nude, sources tell ABCNEWS.com.

The club gained national attention after its leaders threatened to make their own pornographic movie starring Yale students. Though the film was never released, in 2002, Comedy Central produced a fictionalised TV movie depicting the club’s activities. The prevalence of naked parties on college campuses is not only a Yale phenomenon—the university shares a certain national notoriety for the tradition with its fellow Ivy, Brown University, according to Luke Skurman, CEO of College Prowler, Inc, a company that produces ‘insider’ guides written by students for over 230 colleges.

At Harvard, public nudity is a form of stress relief. Baring it all at a naked party can have its consequences, however. Many students refuse to attend these parties fearing that their professional or political careers may be jeopardised