m as ecotopians, willing to let people do whatever they want, providing it doesn’t hurt others? If a woman wants to do an erotic dance, late at night in the ecobar after an evening of hot dancing, with few people around, can others demand that she stop? And if she has asked her friend to videotape her, with her own camera, does this somehow make the problem, assuming there is a problem, worse? The facilitator wanted to discuss how ecotopians view nudity and sexuality. The intention wasn’t to focus on the strip tease or its filming or even the rumors that the tapes were going to be sold, presumably to sex shops in the US. Instead, we intended to talk about the dancer’s perception that “naked dancing would be fine in a camp where there is naked swimming and (some) naked eating”. The camera-person and the dancer said the videotape was filmed for the dancer’s child, not Yankee sex shops. Some didn’t believe this and became angry; our process started to fall apart. In an effort to compromise, the two offered to erase the parts the group didn’t like. Some demanded the entire videotape be erased, but the dancer said it was a year’s worth of work. Others pointed out that they had been filming constantly at ecotopia. Some people wanted the cinematographer (and presumably the dancer) thrown out of the camp, others strongly objected to this. The discussion was out of control; some began crying. Bang! The dancer is fooled by someone from the circle, who pulls the tape from her camera and destroys it. The conversation shifts — how could this happen? What should we do? Is the “crime” of destroying the tape worse than the “crime” of filming a striptease? Who will pay for the damaged tape? What should be done with the tape destroyer? The story about what is on the tape now changes again; the camera wasn’t even on. More people are hurt, some leave the circle. Ecotopia is in crisis. We have so few structural tools for our utopian ecovillage. There are no police, no courts, no written laws, no possible punishment (except maybe exile). We were supposed Left and above: The ecobar and a Rampenplan meal. to work together, trust each other and use consensus. But the large group failed us, so we break into three smaller groups. One is just women, one is just men and one group is mixed. It was here where people argued about pornography, it’s social effects and the objectification of women. We talked about our sexuality. In those smaller groups we rediscovered some of the philosophy and spirit of ecotopia. In my small group, some Albanians told us (through a translator) how the naked swimming had changed their feelings about nudity. They were now more comfortable being around members of the opposite sex without clothes on, even though this was quite uncommon in their homelands. We also grappled with the videotape destruction, and the difference between terrorism and civil disobedience. After these small group talks, we came back to the large group and shared our most interesting conclusions. Some of the problems simply vanished: the dancer did not want any money for the tape or the possibly damaged camera. The tape destroyer left the campus for a while and was not available to the circle to discuss the act, but talked with others later. The camera operator left the camp and did not return. Despite the “do what you like” idea of ecotopia, we still have to take care of each other. When the strip dancing started, two people got up and asked the dancer to stop. They were being hurt, they wanted things to change, and they had the right to request it at ecotopia. We have to trust each other, and assume that people will respond responsibly to each other’s carefully considered requests. For me the destruction of the tape was a minor point, discussed and focused on too much. It is sad that people are so clear on the rights of property and ownership, but so unsure about other kinds of rights. The issue is far from resolved. What happens at next year’s ecotopia if someone wants to give a workshop on striptease dancing — maybe only for women? What will we say if someone proposes a lecture on “How to make big money producing and selling home sex videos”? But if we want things to change around such personally (and socially) repressed issues, we just may need to follow the advice of that silly song “Let’s talk about sex”. Despite these challenges, the camp lives in reasonable harmony. Some people don't get involved in the workshops, or community organizing, coming just for the cultural events, great food and campfires. When we needed everyone (for large RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3 Page 45
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