Complaint Review: Howard Williamson

Advocates of "family nudism" should be concerned by two events on the NWNaturist list, a Yahoo e-mail list with more than 3,500 members. The list is owned and moderated by Howard Williamson, who is known
nationally in The Naturist Society (TNS) and in Seattle-area groups, including Lake Bronson Club Family Nudist Park, Fraternity Snoqualmie and SLUGS (Sun Lovers Under Gray Skies).

Williamson, and another vocal list member, nudist activist and author Mark Storey, would apparently choose to protect those who behave inappropriately at naturist events and resorts, to the extent they'll discredit, censor and even ban anyone who expresses concern about these incidents. This is done under the guise of "not giving nudism's opponents ammunition."  Storey and Williamson are active locally pushing Seattle Parks and Recreation to open a nude beach, and claiming that the nudism scene is completely non-sexual.

There have been at least two controversies in which the posters who brought incidents to light were punished rather than those who did the acts in the first place. Given that the list is heavily moderated, with only established members allowed to post without screening and this ability easily retracted by Williamson, it would not be surprising if even worse incidents never made it to light at all.

In the first case, a long-time poster was concerned about an event at the Lake Bronson club called "Critical D**k." Critical D**k involved male nudists gathering to discuss how much they liked their p**ises, and female nudists showing their support by wearing "strap-on" p**ises. The poster who brought this to light was
placed on moderate status and privately threatened with banning.

The second recent case was even stranger. Another long-time poster asked about the on-line boastings of another notorious local "nudist" named Shannon Kringen, also known as "Goddess Kring." In her blog, Kringen happily detailed an incident at a TNS gathering held at a family naturist resort in which she and a male rubbed paint between their chests and crotches by the pool while the other nudists cheered and children were present.

The NWnaturist member posted a link to the blog entry and then asked the sole question, "Is this encouraged at naturist gatherings?"  Storey angrily flamed the long-time poster, praised Kringen as
"creative," contended the incident was "fabulous" and added, "Keep it up Shannon!" Williamson banned the original poster, despite no previous controversies from this person.

Kringen's history is rather questionable. A former stripper for a club called The Lusty Lady, she is also known her public access cable show.  The hour-long weekly program often features her in the nude, discussing her
sexual exploits, rolling naked on the floor to music and sometimes pulling used tampons out of her v**ina.

Storey's defense of this woman is suspect. Storey, a professor at a local community college, lectures nationwide on the innocence of naturism, and writes for the naturist magazine, N. He attends family nudism events at Lake Associates Recreation Club. In his magazine interview with Kringen, readers are informed that she started in naturism when she "spent some time in Amsterdam with naturists at a spa." Actually, this
so-called naturist spa, Club Paradise, is a famous Amsterdam sex club with porn movies playing on the walls.

These recent events are very troubling, and lead one to wonder how many other concerned posts about other inappropriate behavior by new or screened posters have been blocked by Williamson. A review of the Yahoo profiles of frequent posters on NWNaturist reveals a high number of sexual solicitations. If you don't believe that pedophilia happens at Seattle family nudist parks, Google the names Wayne Arthur Silsbee or Roger
Reed Baker, with an empty stomach.  Rather than notifying the naturist community of those who behave inappropriately so the problems can be properly addressed, some naturists would prefer to allow these problems to proliferate. Ironically, this places naturism under an even darker cloud of suspicion.