Nudity

A battle over what constitutes "overtly sexual" art unfolded on Long Beach's trendy main thoroughfare on Monday, with an artist demanding that two of her abstract nudes be put back up on the walls of a public exhibition organized by a program that deemed them offensive.

Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Here's the naked truth: Male genitalia is getting unprecedented screen time at the multiplex these days -- in mainstream popcorn fare and broad comedies -- thanks in large part to comic mogul Judd Apatow (and his band of merry collaborators), who has pledged to shake Americans from their squeamishness about male anatomy in movies. Exhibit A: the Apatow-produced R-rated heartbreak comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which hits theaters Friday.

After a year of near-naked environmental activism in Ojai, the Pastie Lady has decided to hit the road for greener pastures. Jennifer Moss, 32, caused community strife and gained local celebrity for the bike rides she took daily through the center of town, clad only in a hemp G-string and pasties. But last week, she said she'd grown tired of police harassment in the Ventura County city of 8,000, and moved to Ashland, Ore.

CONSIDER this your early-warning Sundance Film Festival controversy alert: Cute little Dakota Fanning plays a precocious child sex-abuse and rape victim in Full Moon Films' upcoming "Hounddog." The issue: Fanning, who turns 13 next month, is reportedly depicted in the film nude or scantily clad during compromising scenes, and her face is shown in close-up during a rape scene.

Never in her 80 years has Flora "Flo" Nilson felt so exposed. After spending most of her adult life buffing up the image of nudists, the owner of Orange County's only nudist resort and one of the longest-running such refuges in the West is calling it quits. "It's time to move on," Nilson said. "For 53 years, it was quite a religious experience, chasing sunshine and health. Now it's over, and it's not easy."

Library patrons can check out books, but they can't check out the models in Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue. A magazine spokesman confirmed Thursday that the Time Warner Inc. publication withheld shipment of the Feb. 14 issue to libraries and schools after years of taking heat from critics who said the issue had become too risque.

The editor of Playboy Indonesia was cleared Thursday of charges that he published indecent material, but opponents said they would continue their campaign against the magazine in court. The publication, which does not contain nude pictures, "could not be categorized as pornography," ruled presiding District Court Judge Efran Basyuning. Its editor, Erwin Arnada, also is protected by press freedom laws enacted after the 1998 resignation of dictator Suharto, the court decided.

People usually strip for love or money. But Isaac Esquivel and thousands of other Mexican men and women dropped their clothes in neat piles early Sunday and pranced naked around the main plaza of this capital just for the heck of it. New York photographer Spencer Tunick, famous for rounding up people to pose naked in cities around the world, brought his fetching artistic gimmick here.

The Supreme Court's first ruling on an Iraq war protest is not likely to be remembered as a landmark in the law. In a 9-0 ruling, the justices rejected a claim for legal fees filed on behalf of a Florida nudist who wanted to form a peace symbol out of naked bodies on a state beach. Toni Anne Wyner's planned demonstration ran afoul of the state's Bathing Suit Rule, which, as its name suggests, requires beachgoers to cover up.

AN odd development for a neighborhood where a bikini with roller blades is standard attire: In 2005, a handful of Venice residents protested plans to erect a nude female torso by Venice artist Robert Graham in the middle of Windward Circle. Staunch feminists and conservative church leaders formed an unexpected bond in protest. One businesswoman deplored the sculpture as "a shiny sexual object."