Let's normalize nudity
The folks in that picture look pretty comfortable wearing nothing at all, don’t they? They’re self-confident enough to pose for the camera without any embarrassment. How could they manage that? Perhaps two main reasons are that they like being naked and they’ve come to realize that nudity isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.
Continue reading “Debunking the misconceptions about naturism”
“Working with the human body is really beautiful, it has a personal connection that other artforms have a hard time accomplishing,” Merry says. Many more examples of her work can be found on her website and on Instagram. And here’s another article with additional examples.
Greek naturists are, necessarily, somewhat secretive about their enjoyment of nudity, since (according to the article) “the unaccustomed villagers often looked down on the foreign to them habit.” Nevertheless, there are “over 80 official and unofficial nudist beaches” scattered among the islands. Yet “until recently, most of these beaches were secluded and hard to find. Usually locating a bare-all beach was (and still is to some respect) done by word of mouth. That way only those who really needed and wanted to know knew where to go.” The article here provides directions to 10 island beaches considered the best for skinny-dipping. And the 11th is actually close to Athens, on the mainland.
Check here for one young woman’s rewarding and eye-opening experience at one Greek beach.
Most professional and scientific organizations have a long history of publishing respected periodicals in their field. In the past couple of decades almost all of these periodicals have also been provided in electronic as well as printed form – in some cases only in electronic form. Some national naturist organizations have more recently done likewise – British Naturism, the Federation of Canadian Naturists, and the American Association for Nude Recreation, for example. (Conspicuously, however, The Naturist Society has yet to follow suit.) In nearly all cases, it’s necessary to be a dues-paying organization member to access either printed or electronic versions of the publications. That makes sense, because it’s expensive to produce a reasonably high-quality publication in either form.
There have also been a few attempts in the past several years to produce online naturist publications that are more like magazines than ordinary websites, sometimes for free and sometimes for a subscription fee. If successful, such publications would be like the nudist magazines of years ago that are discussed in the following article. But none seems to have caught on.
Now, though, the people associated with Get Naked Australia (GNA) are making another attempt. Their magazine is delivered by email instead of on a website. And the first issue has already been distributed. Anyone can simply use the Signup page linked above to request a copy. It comes in the form of a PDF file, so nothing more than a standard PDF reader is required to view it. As a PDF file, it’s also easy to jump around from page to page, and even search for specific words and phrases (location names for instance). It can also be read on a smartphone or tablet. And at a total of 60 pages, it’s full of plenty of text and pictures. Best of all: it’s free.
This magazine looks like a very professional job, so quite a lot of work must have gone into producing it – all done by volunteers, presumably. It will be somewhat amazing if this continues to be available in the present form – without any fees or even advertising. But we can hope. If it is successful, it could make naturism considerably more popular in Australia. An even better outcome would be if both the “Get Naked Australia” idea itself, as well as the magazine, could be duplicated in other countries, but that might be too much to hope for. It would be surprising – but most welcome – if existing naturists organizations could adopt this model for themselves. (Don’t hold your breath though.)
The writer of this article explains: “NaturistVintage is a twitter account that concentrates on posting scans of nudist magazines and photographs. I wanted to learn why they did this.” So the article consists of an interesting Q&A with the account owner, who is an avid collector of vintage (roughly, before 1980) naturist publications.
Anyone who’s discovered the wonders of naturism only recently is probably unaware of the long, but important, history of nudist/naturist magazines. That’s because few remain, mostly those of a small number of national naturist organizations. But at one time there may have been such magazines were a lot more numerous. They probably were the main way that people discovered naturism – in spite of the rather condescending or derogatory way it was usually portrayed in mass media (if it was discussed at all).
Occasionally, before leaving home to go to college, I enjoyed the feeling of getting out of my clothes when nobody was around. But I had no idea that such a thing as nudism even existed until I chanced on a small pile of nudist magazines at a newsstand near my university. That was several decades ago, and I’ve often since regretted being too embarrassed to purchase any of those magazines.
Somewhat later, when I was living where there were many more naturist opportunities, I was able to enjoy naturism for real. But-by that time most nudist/naturist publications had disappeared. If naturism hadn’t remained a long-delayed interest of mine, I quite possibly wouldn’t have discovered it at all. The current lack of anything like the early nudist/naturist magazines available to the general public is undoubtedly one reason that so few people these days – especially in the U. S. – have any idea of what naturism is really about.
Even most newsstands that once carried nudist publications are now gone. Good naturist information certainly is now available on the Internet. But for people who may be curious about the subject, searching for accurate information about it is rather difficult, because porn sites have largely co-opted the terms “nudist” and “naturist” for themselves.
There are now a small number of “libraries” in the U. S. that have collections of the old nudist/naturist publications. But essentially none of the material is online. The libraries are not really open to the general public anyhow, even if people were willing to travel hundreds of miles to visit them. At least, though, there are occasional articles, such as the one linked here, that offer a few tidbits of information on the history.
In theory, it would be possible to digitally copy much of the material and make it available – except that the funds needed to do that are rather unlikely to appear. And it’s not clear whether the information about nudism/naturism as it existed decades ago would really be all that useful and relevant to naturism as it exists today around the world.
Yes, of course, because of COVID-19 the present time is pretty awful for a vacation just about anywhere. Thailand is, at present, only slightly affected by the pandemic – in sharp contrast with China and South Korea. But nobody can predict what conditions might be like by the time you can take a serious vacation, let alone are able to travel to the destination. So, at least, it’s good to know that the Naturist Association of Thailand has offered a “COVID-19 SAFETY PACKAGE”, which guarantees a full refund without penalties of any kind. The conditions include making the booking with the resort (not through an agency) no later than August 1, 2020, for a visit before the end of the year. Presumably, the refund covers any reason you can’t make the trip, including health problems in your family or cancellation of airline flights.
From the article:
“In a major new undertaking, British Naturism has taken over the land and property of The Sun-Folk Society. Not only does this secure the future of the Sunfolk site and its character as a popular naturist club, it will also present opportunities that we expect will form a central tool in the advancement of naturism in the years ahead. The property will in future be known as “British Naturism: Sunfolk”.”
Sun-Folk’s website says the club “occupies a beautiful five-acre site between St Albans and Watford.” So it’s a pretty small operation. But according to BN, it’s “one of the oldest clubs in the UK, founded in 1931. Arguably it is the perfect representation of the origins of UK naturism.”
The article’s not very clear about exactly what the relationship of British Naturism will be to this club. Evidently BN was able to purchase the land and facilities on the land. Did they purchase it outright, or take out a mortgage? Perhaps that doesn’t matter, but either way it’s an indication that BN is in good shape financially. BN apparently won’t actually operate the club, since the article says: “A question that might be asked is whether this means that British Naturism is now a campsite operator or a property developer, rather than a campaigning and community organisation. The answer is no.” Apparently the operation will be contracted to a third party. That’s smart, since BN probably has little expertise actually operating physical facilities.
It’s an interesting business model. Any national organization that’s financially sound ought to be able to buy existing naturist properties whose owners want to sell and then contract out the actual operation, perhaps to a single company for more than one site. Indeed, it should be possible to purchase guest houses, campgrounds, and small resorts that aren’t currently clothing-optional to transition them for naturist use. That’s assuming, of course, the properties are in locations that aren’t too expensive yet have many naturists in the general area – or a lot of tourist traffic. As the population density in the UK is much higher than in the U. S., this might be more difficult in the latter country. But it could work in states like Arizona or Florida with robust travel and hospitality industries.
Although Jessa was interviewed remotely via phone, the link did allow her to appear on TV – uncensored, in fact. She was quite pleased about that, remarking “I’ve seen myself naked on TV before so it wasn’t too much of a shock for me. I love the fact that it was uncensored. I think that’s super refreshing, so that was pretty fun.” She wasn’t embarrassed at all: “I personally am nude in front of people so often – I’m a naked yoga instructor – so I don’t personally feel embarrassed or anything.” And after all, there are plenty of naked pictures of herself on her blog. Undoubtedly, few naturists are as comfortable with their nudity as Jessa – but they should be, at least among friends and family, even if not on TV.
Many of the questions Jessa was asked are just what most naturists would expect – rather banal. But one of Jessa’s responses was exactly on point, something all naturists should emphasize: “what I’m trying to do is normalise nudity so it’s not seen as such a sexual thing because I’m around a lot of men and women and we’re all socialising nude and it’s definitely not a sexual thing.” The only way for nudity to become considered “normal” is to make very clear that it is, in suitable circumstances, just another reasonable choice of attire: NBD – no big deal. We simply need to explain that wearing nothing is merely what feels most comfortable to us at certain times, and anyone who respects us should respect our preference for this, just as we respect the clothing preferences of others.
Consider the (quite obviously staged) photo here. There are six people clothed “normally” – and one naked person, who is much like the others except for her nudity. Those who are clothed are looking down on the naked person with obvious displeasure and disapproval. Not only that, but those who aren’t naked are clothed almost exactly alike – even down to their bare feet.
What’s the reason for the very negative judgmental attitude of the majority? Is it because of the nonconformist’s nudity? Or is it actually because of how a nonconformist is regarded by the (very conformist) majority? I’d argue that the real reason is precisely the nonconformity with the majority, rather than the nudity, which is merely the particular way that the nonconformist differs from the others.
Continue reading “Why do so many people think that nudity couldn’t be “normal”?”
Not surprisingly, it’s also an ideal place for naturism – especially since part of one of the local beaches (Tyagarah Beach) is clothing-optional. There’s even a local naturist association: Byron Naturists. Because of the town’s tolerant attitude towards naturism, it’s also not surprising that the local WNBR usually gets quite a good turnout. According to the article, “Fine weather on Sunday saw 180 odd people don their Birthday Suits for a spin around Byron on Sunday.” (Was “odd” meant as a double-entendre?)
There’s something especially interesting about photos in this article. Did you notice it? Right: there’s full-frontal nudity that hasn’t been blurred or pixelated at all. A number of other similarly “explicit” pictures accompany the online article. The article is on the website of The Byron Shire Echo – the local free weekly independent tabloid newspaper. It’s exceedingly rare for print/web media aimed at the general public to exert no censorship of such nudity. Naturists can at least hope this is part of a trend to making nudity more “normal”.
New Zealand: Nudists bare all for environment and body positivity
This ride had about 80 participants in Golden Bay, New Zealand, which is near the northern tip of the South Island.
South Africa: Bottoms up — Cape Town celebrates Naked Bike Ride
There are no figures on the number of participants in the ride, which was held on Saturday, March 7.
Is it possible there’s anyone alive and conscious (and not still in diapers) now who isn’t quite aware of the COVID-19 pandemic? Probably very few. But this is a naturist blog, so we’ll keep discussing naturism, for the most part. You surely know much better places to keep informed about the pandemic. And if you’re confined to your home, you can’t spend all your time worrying about the bad stuff. So set aside at least a little time to enjoy being naked – and thinking about your plans for when this eventually is over. Just do all you can to be still in good health by then.
We know the possibilities for naturist activities will be limited severely during the next several months. But that doesn’t mean naturism must be forgotten about entirely. “This too shall pass.” In the meantime, you can think about spending even more time naked in your own home – especially if you’re temporarily unemployed. Sure, that really sucks. But you’ll probably find that just being naked will cheer you up – especially as warmer days are not far off (in the northern hemisphere). And if you’re still employed and working from home – you can finally work naked.
Keep in mind that there are still some very good opportunities for enjoying naturism with negligible exposure to the virus – if you’re careful. For example: naked hiking and naked camping.
It’s not a show put on by rank amateurs either. The venue is for comedians experienced in stand-up comedy – who also see value in the nudity. According to the article, “Naked Comedy shows regular people’s bodies, moving in nonsexual ways. That’s what Kendra Dawsey, a comic who’s done the showcase a handful of times, likes about it. “I should be allowed to have my body in its natural state in a nonsexual context,” she says. Performing in the showcase provides her with that opportunity.” Unlike the Naked Magicians, doing a striptease throughout the show, performers are naked the whole time. Certainly a very naturist attitude.
Amateurs – audience members in fact – are invited to perform too. “There’s even an opportunity for audience participation: [Andy] Ofiesh [who originated the event] invites audience members to walk up to the stage, undress behind the curtain, and tell a naked joke onstage.”
Portugal: Algarve home to two of world’s best “holiday destination for nudists”
Portugal is well-located on the coast just west of Spain, so it has almost as much coast on the Atlantic as Spain, despite having only about 18% of the land area. So historically Portugal has been intimately connected with the sea. During the 15th and 16th centuries it actually had the first global empire. Today tourism is one of the largest segments of its economy, with about 20 million foreign tourists per year. Two of its clothing-optional beaches (Ilha Deserta and Praia das Adegas) were ranked in the top 10, being 3rd and 6th, respectively. Check here for information about those two beaches – and many others where nudity is possible.
Croatia: Croatia has some of the best nudist beaches in the world – find out where
Croatia actually outshines Portugal in terms of exceptional nude beaches, having two in the top five: Punta Križ beach (#2) and Sovinje beach (#4). The first is near the northern end of the country, while the second is in the center. Both are considerably north of Dubrovnik, in the southern end of the country. Of course, Croatia has a long history with naturism – although that’s little known outside of Europe. In addition to the beaches, Croatia has some large naturist campgrounds. You can check here for much more about Croatian naturism.
The event in question here was held at a pub in the Bloomsbury district of London. According to the article, the meal featured “all the usual delights, including meat, vegetables and gravy.” So the food was evidently the standard British stuff – and only the nudity made it special. Attendees, however, were “also invited to join in on a naked swim before dinner.” Apparently, staff personnel working at such events have no problems doing so, since according to the event organizer, “the staff at places where we hold our events are happy to have us back.”
Here’s an article, based on the preceding one, that singles out the top 18 beaches: The 18 best beaches in the world where you can be naked. And here are some UK aticles about local beaches from the main list: Dorset beach named as one of world’s top nudist destinations, Devon nudist beach named one of the best in the world, A nudist beach in the South West has been named one of the best in the world, Studland beach is named as one of the world’s top nudist destinations
It’s not clear that the ugly neologism “nakation” is the best way to promote clothing-optional vacations, but nevertheless there does seem to be increasing mainstream interest in the idea – at least outside of the U. S. To be honest, except perhaps for Florida, the best “nakation” opportunities are in Europe and a small number of other countries, including Brazil and Thailand, as well as South Africa. The “nakation couple” (Nick de Corte and Lins van Wambeke) who were interviewed for the article observe that “Most resorts are near Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. Some tour companies now offer nude safaris.”
The link at the start of this entry contains a video showcasing some of the best work of Society members. It was, of course, censored by various social platforms, but is here shown uncensored. Naturists can wholeheartedly agree with the text accompanying the video that explains the problem:
“It is not just Facebook. This is the society that we live in. This is the climate of judgment and shame that you encounter when you share images of human nudity as art. It’s punishable for you to share images from classic works of art or a figure drawing class or even a mother breastfeeding her child. Censorship on Facebook is just a reflection of the bigger battle you face when you draw, paint or photograph a naked human being. We do not create this body of nude art to shock, offend, or arouse a mindless lust. We create so that all of us may come to see our shared humanity as a miraculous work of art.”
College streaking has a long history. According to this article, it dates back at least to 1804. Other schools that have had streaks at some time or other include the University of Michigan and the University of California at Santa Cruz. Another article mentions 7 schools where streaking is allegedly “an organized sport.” Denison is one of them, along with Dartmouth, Williams, and Reed. A third article mentions several more, including Swarthmore and Harvard. A few other schools have had annual streaking events, including Princeton, whose events attracted hundreds of participants and occurred for almost 25 years. Sadly, with tuition costs being what they are today and the pressure on students to perform academically in order to have any hope of finding a decent job, streaking seems now to be generally considered a frivolity lacking the same audacious cachet it may once have had.
Perhaps as an indication of enthusiasm for clothesfree activities in the UK, that country was awarded “The Naked Wanderings 2020 Prize for Country of the World Naked Bike Ride.” The article notes that “there isn’t another country in the world that will organize so many naked bike rides in the summer of 2020. … If you happen to be in the UK in June and July, you’ll get the chance to cycle nude pretty much every weekend.” Just about all of the events are now officially approved, with full nudity generally acceptable (although how much there is varies from place to place). This is a noteworthy example of normalized public nudity.
The same source has a list of 16 of Colorado’s most sizzling hot springs – some of which are clothing-optional.
Dan wonders “whether a media splash like this actually helps or hurts the naturist cause.” He wishes (as I do) that the article had broadened the topic to explain the Joys of Living Naked. He notes that it wasn’t necessary to go to Florida to learn about the naturist lifestyle, because there are naturists right in New York City “who embrace the clothing-optional lifestyle, but not just on vacation or in retirement, but on a typical Sunday morning when the apartment is warm enough to be naked at home, even in December, and clothing is simply an option that isn’t necessary.” It’s just not necessary to go to a Florida resort to enjoy living naked, because nudity is enjoyable even in one’s own home.
We can all, like Dan, welcome “the seemingly growing trend amidst the general public as related to the tolerance of social nudity” – as evidenced by the Times article. It’s encouraging that there’s even “a photo of a fully nude woman – from the backside – working in the kitchen” – which suggests “we’ve all finally agreed that the nation’s children will not be harmed by the incidental sighting of unadorned buttocks.” Well, maybe readers of the Times, at least, are enlightened enough to get that.
Dan argues that naturists themselves, and the resorts they frequent, aren’t helping naturism by being “at least inadvertently, self-deprecating if not outright ridiculing themselves,” because they “simply can’t seem to resist nomenclature, sign-posts, and newsletter headlines that actually perpetuate the idea that ‘You naked people are all a little crazy’.” Sure, being lighthearted about one’s enthusiasms, instead of overly earnest about them, is OK – but going too far with that can backfire and give the wrong impression. Naturism isn’t a weird eccentricity or crotchet, but it’s not a solemn religion either. There are aficionados of many things – sports, physical fitness, computer games, etc. – who may veer too far in either direction, and naturists can do the same. But avoiding either extreme is probably the best way to go. Living naked is an enjoyable lifestyle – no more, perhaps, but no less.
So much for the philosophy of naturism. Dan concludes with several very good points about how best to start living naked. Here’s the list (but go read the article for the details):
I’ll be posting another article soon with some similar suggestions for enjoying a naked lifestyle – and at the same time normalizing nudity.
Wait, what? Bowling??? Isn’t that something that went out of fashion, oh, 20 or 30 years ago? Well, yes, perhaps to some extent. But people – including naturists – still do it. Just stop to think about it for a moment. Bowling, despite its stodgy image, is an almost ideal activity for naturists. Bowling alleys (those still in business) are private (when reserved for naturists) and (usually) have comfortable temperatures regardless of the weather outdoors. The activity is generally very social, and individuals can concentrate on their own performance, instead of trying to defeat an opponent or win a competition (as in tennis and many other sports). Best of all, success in bowling depends more on skill than on strength, speed, or endurance – so people without exceptional physical gifts can do well. If naturists live somewhere there’s an alley nearby and they can get a sufficiently large group to rent the facility for a few hours, a bowling party could be a fun naturist activity at any time of the year.
More details: here
The “Wild Atlantic Way” (WAW) “is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland.” The spokesperson is calling for “providing signage and officially recognising many of the secluded ‘unofficial’ nudist beaches dotted along the region’s coast” – along the WAW route. The hope is that, given recognition, naturist usage of the beaches will become “very normal very quickly”, and consequently, naturists “will spend time and money in these areas.” Arguments like this should be effective in promoting naturist destinations elsewhere. This has definitely happened with Blind Creek Beach in St. Lucie County, Florida.
“The body-positive yoga allowed women to step into a safe, judgement-free [sic] space where they were free to take off as much clothing as they felt comfortable with,” the article says. So the class is actually just clothing-optional. There’s no information on how many opted to be naked. It’s a good thing, at least, that the option is available – even only once a month. Perhaps interest in nude activities will grow as more people have the opportunity to experience them.
More: here
Since many attendees spend much of their time on the beach, they often eat there too – but that’s only in addition to a variety of other common beach activities. For instance, volleyball, body painting, musical performances, yoga, or simply sunbathing. Since the beach is only about 15° north of the Equator, temperatures in January-February are quite comfortable – in the 80s (F).
More: Everything You Need to Know before Visiting the Zipolite Nudist Festival 2020, The Zipolite Nudist Festival 2020: Our Experience
In particular, there are several beaches in Florida that have long been popular with naturists, including Haulover Beach in Miami, and portions of Apollo and Playalinda beaches in the Canaveral National Seashore. And a new clothing-optional beach has just been approved near Fort Pierce (as noted here). It’s not entirely clear that those locations have officially been “set apart for that purpose”. This new legislation would take care of the ambiguities – if it becomes law, which isn’t a foregone conclusion. The bill would expressly allow being “naked in public … including, but not limited to, clothing-optional beaches.”
The bill could well become law, since Florida is slowly waking up to the benefits to its tourist industry of people interested in clothing-optional recreation. Given the prevalence of many naturist resorts around the state, local tourist bureaus may want to attract naturists to their own clothing-optional places. (The article is also here.)
The small parking lot is a problem, since it’s a 2-mile hike to the next parking lot to the north – especially if you need to carry much, like beach chairs or a cooler. Of course, if you’re not alone, you can drop companions and gear off, then go back to park. Still it’s a hassle, especially since the lagoon on the side of the road opposite the ocean is quaintly named Mosquito Lagoon, and appropriately so. Fortunately, the beach itself at lot #5 is not only clothing-optional but also less popular with the mosquitoes.
According to the article, regulars at the clothing-optional part of Apollo Beach are a fairly laid-back bunch. They’re not all naturists, but they have relaxed attitudes towards nudity, and are generally content to share the beach with others, whether or not they’re naked. One beach regular, who doesn’t get naked, was quoted remarking “Some people get naked, other people don’t, and everyone gets along.” If only the same level of tolerance prevailed in many other places…
Some of the beaches mentioned, such as Haulover, are frequently included in lists of best clothing-optional beaches worldwide, but others probably wouldn’t qualify. The actual criteria for inclusion of beaches here aren’t stated. Perhaps it’s mainly popularity, which would be related to convenience of access (certainly one important criterion). However, Black’s Beach is notoriously difficult to reach, as it requires steep climbs down and up tall cliffs just behind the beach. The reviews would have been better if they’d included more information on the convenience factor – things like distance from population centers, physical ease of access, typical climate, etc. Instead, there’s often more about the history of the beach, which isn’t necessarily useful for potential visitors.
In one case (“San Gregorio Private Beach”) the information given is confusing. San Gregorio State Beach is part of the State Park system, and as such is not clothing-optional. But there’s an excellent large beach adjacent to the north that is clothing-optional. It’s “private” in the sense that the parking area is on private land and not always open. The beach description, however, clearly describes the State Park beach. What a shame the description here isn’t better. The history of San Gregorio is actually relevant, since it’s regarded as the oldest established clothing-optional beach in the U. S. The location of the beach isn’t fortuitous, because it was selected in 1966 by a few young people from San Francisco’s nascent hippie culture as the most suitable beach for skinnydipping after scouting many locations not too far from the city.
To some extent, her reaction wasn’t too surprising. Jane describes herself as “a professional speaker and author, and an expert on the history and etiquette of afternoon teas, appearing regularly on TV and radio.” She’s also a managing director of a company in the UK “afternoon tea” business. So she’s paid to do these talks promoting somewhat of a niche industry. Why, after all, pass up another good opportunity to talk about something she loves merely because the audience comprises “people who have no clothes on. Absolutely nothing.” She was even “advised that my own clothing would be optional.” Evidently she didn’t immediately dismiss the idea, but eventually declined based on advice from her agent, on the basis that there would be a photographer.
The balance of the article has only laudatory things to say about the naturist audience and the overall experience. She “didn’t find the nakedness in front of me particularly off-putting, though perhaps a little surreal.” However, she does observe that “the majority of attendees at this event were middle-aged or older.” Still, one has to wonder whether her invitation to speak might have perhaps been less likely if the group were mainly younger and less interested in the “afternoon tea” business.
The subtext in this article is that naturism has some “special” relationship with cooking and eating. Actually, what’s probably going on is that the writer had to stress the food connection so the article could enliven the Times’s food section. The truth, of course, is that not only cooking and eating but almost anything that people take pleasure in can also be enjoyed naked. And besides, you might get naked to use a swimming pool or spa, and then get dressed afterward. If you’re not usually naked at home, there’d be little reason to get naked for cooking and eating. But if you are usually naked, you’d probably stay naked at mealtimes. Still, there is a connection, tenuous though it may be, between naturism and food, because some early forms of naturism also embraced vegetarianism. But that’s not much of a thread to hang a story on. Vegetarianism is certainly a valid choice, but these days the preferences of naturists with respect to food are as varied as among most other types of people.
The naturist element of the article focuses on life in Florida’s Lake Como Family Nudist Resort. Presenting the stories of various long-time habitué’s there – often in their own words – allows for highlighting some of the unique aspects of naturist lifestyles. In particular, sharing meals together informally or having more orchestrated dinner parties has always been especially popular with naturists – because it’s a natural justification for getting together naked with others. Just about everyone likes to eat, whereas not everyone cares a lot for board games, dancing, jigsaw puzzles, or what-have-you. Sharing food together is as old as humans and even their ancestral species. Those prehistoric folks were probably naked, too, as least in the warmer climes.
Having decent restaurants is a must for upscale naturist clubs and resorts. More recently there have been attempts to start clothing-optional restaurants as a business. One-off events of that type often sell out long in advance. Unfortunately, however, such things have had rather little commercial success. Even the mainstream restaurant business is very hard to break into. With a much smaller potential customer base, business is even harder for naturist restaurants. That’s not necessarily such a bad thing for naturists, though. Socializing in a familiar, comfortable space with others who share an unorthodox lifestyle – is bound to be more satisfying than what’s possible in restaurants full of strangers.
He notes that “nude public events have become much more common.” “Bare to Breakers” is just the informal name used by naturists who run or walk naked in the official Bay to Breakers event. But there are a number of similar examples where public nudity is allowed, some also in San Francisco. Additionally, there are also World Naked Bike Rides in many cities around the world, Seattle’s Fremont Solstice Parade, Spencer Tunick “installations”, political protests of many sorts, body painting events, public naked performance art events, and occasional naked museum tours (see below).
A more novel type of event with public nudity is do-it-yourself theatrical projects as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, which can involve nudity and which Fred is planning to do, as he describes here, here, and here. Another Fringe Festival event with plentiful nudity was a production of the play DISROBED, which was reported on here.
Fred also enjoys nude hiking, and his blog contains a number of reports of these treks. He summarizes his naturist interests thusly:
“As far as nudie activities go, I prefer to get off the reservation. Resorts can easily turn into expanded closets. They can become well-appointed ghettoes if you let them. Trips to hot springs, hiking in the wild, camping in remote places, parties, public events, that’s where I’ll find my space. I am not a big fan of highly regulated environments.”
Although the linked article is recent, it apparently describes an event in January 2018 at the National Gallery of Australia. A better, contemporary account is here. 120 people who wished to be naked for the tour got tickets to attend. According to the article “The event was held around his hyper-realistic exhibition exploring the human figure through a series of sculptures and paintings.” So much of the artwork on display involved nudity. Some of it was so “hyper-realistic” – as in the picture – that it’s difficult to distinguish the attendees from the art. There’s a video at the link that conveys the best impression of the event, even though the nudity of the attendees (but not the art) was censored.
The National Gallery has had naked events before, for example a 2015 event described here, here, here, here, here. and here.
Naturists may not be especially excited about Japan as a travel destination, but it’s at least worth noting a couple of things. First, there are two types of public bathing facilities where nudity is required. There are the well-known onsens, which are natural hot springs. Since these are located near volcanically active areas, they’re usually far from urban centers. There’s also another type of public bathing facility known as a sento. Since these heat water from the local water system, they may be found almost anywhere. Second, since onsens are mostly in unurbanized areas, they provide a much more “natural” experience and are a bit more likely not to require gender segregation. In either case, however, note that Japan, being what it is, has many unbreakable customs and rules which must be observed. In addition to many rules of proper etiquette for using any bathing facility, there are other “gotchas”, such as a strong Japanese prejudice against tattoos anywhere on the body.
There have, actually, also been a few protests for the right to be publicly naked, particularly in San Francisco when a stricter law against public nudity was passed a few years ago. (But naked protests and certain other events with public nudity are still allowed there if permits are obtained.) Nevertheless, this is pretty rare. In fact, this kind of protest could be counter-productive in most cases, because a right to even limited public nudity isn’t considered a compelling issue for most people – unlike, say, animal rights or climate change. Yet Nick and Hannah correctly observe “There is no escaping, however, that for many naturists, whether they realise it or not, there is an element of protest to their desire to be naked in a social setting.”
A general right to public nudity is too much to expect at this time. But what about a right to private nudity? Apparently even that is too much to hope for in backward places like Utah, as discussed here. While more enlightened places don’t put legal restrictions on nonsexual nudity in private spaces, such restrictions are still prevalent, simply because of social attitudes that nudity in most cases may be “offensive”, probably “immoral”, and certainly not “normal”. As the article points out, “We are brought up in a world where social nudity is anything but normal. Our bodies are emphatically not our own, they belong to ‘moral’ society. It is ‘moral’ society which dictates what we should wear to which occasions.”
Of course, the idea that simple nudity in itself is “immoral” is ridiculous – except in a very twisted notion of “morality”. The source of this aberrant notion is not hard to understand: it is the imperative for social control. Quite simply, as the article points out, “Step over the line and the disapproval will try to bring you to heel. ‘Moral’ society fears those it cannot control.” It would be one thing if society had a rational view of the morality of social nudity. But a rational view doesn’t exist now – not of nudity, nor of many other things as well. Unfortunately, society isn’t great at controlling serious crime, gun violence, racial prejudice, etc. But controlling nudity is easier, so it gets controlled instead.
In their article, Nick and Hannah observe that simply by doing what isn’t “normal” and enjoying nudity when and where we can “we are protesting, albeit to varying degrees and sometimes more subconsciously than consciously.” Furthermore: “You may not previously have considered yourself a protester but you should not be embarrassed by the protest element of naturism, rather you should celebrate it.”
It may not be clear to most naturists what their nudity is protesting. However, aren’t we “quietly protesting against being unreasonably controlled? Protesting in favour of issues such as body positivity and confidence, tolerance, inclusiveness and respect? Protesting about the sexualisation of the naked body?” They conclude “Our ultimate goal should be to take the protest out of naturism and to make social nudity entirely normal and unremarkable.” In other words: normalize nudity.
By the way, notice how often the idea of normalizing nudity comes up in many of the articles here. Naturists need to emphasize to anyone who’ll listen that nonsexual social nudity really needs to be considered normal, not some crazy, deviant eccentricity.
The writer, Vera Alves, a “Social Media and Trending Reporter” is responding to a couple of incidents – a nursing mother was asked to cover up while breastfeeding, and a family that was “shocked” to see naked bathers at a clothing-optional beach. Vera doesn’t mince words. “For such a progressive country – first to split the atom and all that – we’ve still got some pretty archaic views on things,” she says.
This really is an amazing article that naturists should share with as many people as possible. Vera goes on to make many very incisive points on public nudity, which I’ll quote or paraphrase. I don’t know whether she’s a confirmed naturist, but I don’t know how anyone could make all these points much better.
Wow. Hits it out of the park with three on the bases.
Mark Walsh, a spokesperson for British Naturism, is quoted pointing out that naturism often “starts at home, just by shedding your clothes, existing and just being comfortable in your own skin. As soon as you’re comfortable in your own skin, it really doesn’t matter where you’re comfortable in your own skin.” Provided that others you live with aren’t bothered by your nudity, the more time you spend naked, the more it will seem normal to you. That’s why your home is usually the best place to start experimenting with nudity – the people you live with are probably more likely to accept your nudity than random people you know, let alone (non-naturist) strangers. (However, if people you live with aren’t comfortable with nudity, you’ll need a Plan B.)
Mark explains that the basic reason naturism is the solution to low body confidence is because “it reinforces that there is no normal standard – we are all made different, and that’s who you are.” That assumes you’re ready to be naked not just in your own home, but also with a variety of others you’ll see in naturist activities and events. Stephanie Silom, the writer of the article, summarizes that “our body confidence and the extent to which we base our self-worth on our bodies improves massively once we learn that almost no-one has a ‘perfect’ body.”
The Meandering Naturist blog has much more information on Corsica.
Although Barefeet is a developed naturist resort, Chew, the author of the article, chose to stay in a tent she’d brought. So that allowed for a real camping experience, but also access to resort facilities. The location is ideal for camping, since it’s located in the Hat Chao Mai Marine National Park. On one side of Chew’s campsite “was a river with spectacular rock formations. The other was [a] stunning limestone cliff that was so close to me. In fact, the whole surrounding was a wide and open fabulous view with no block in any corners.” There’s an “unofficial” nude beach just a short walk away. In summary, “Barefeet is a wonderful place not only for naturists but also nature lovers, birding activity and meditation retreat for its nature preservation and tranquility as well as its laid-back and peaceful atmosphere in the surrounding areas.”
The Naturist Wanderings and Naturism Girl blogs have more information on Thai naturism. Here’s what Naturism Girl has to say about Barefeet. And here’s the Naked Wanderings review of it.
In addition to good sunscreen and a hat for protection from the sun, it would be wise to invest in really good sunglasses, since glare from any nearby water can be rather annoying as well as bad for your eyes. There’s other good advice in the article, but perhaps also a few more things to consider. Since you won’t have pockets, you might bring a small backpack or fanny pack to carry things like keys, money, sunscreen, reading material, and a cell phone (if allowed). In particular, another item to have with you is a water bottle – dehydration can be a serious problem if you’re in the sun a lot. If you tend to burn easily, you might also bring a small kitchen timer, so you can avoid dozing off for too long, especially if you don’t want to wear a watch.
Here’s an older article with some additional ideas. Insect repellant is certainly a good idea in most places, although it depends on knowing the types of insects you may encounter. You may also want to bring one or two sarongs (sometimes known as “pareos”) – in case your destination requires wearing a little something in certain locations, such as a restaurant, or if you want to leave the resort briefly. If nothing else, a sarong is a good substitute for a towel when sitting somewhere.
Another excuse for the censorship is concern about exposure of minors to nudity. Simple age restrictions (as used by YouTube and other sites) could deal with that. But even in that case, as discussed previously, there are very good reasons why children need not be shielded from nonsexual nudity. The actual reason for Facebook’s censorship policies has little to do with any of that. What it’s really all about is the $$$s that might be lost because advertisers are so squeamish about nudity. The fact that Facebook has such a near-monopoly on worldwide social media is actually a stronger rather than weaker reason why its blanket censorship of nudity is so odious.
In this case, the model is actually from a country that’s rather conservative about nudity – India. Indeed, she “was extremely hesitant at first”, as most people might suppose – even though she was drawn to the idea because her mother, grandmother, and sister also did nude modeling. “In fact, even when I modelled for the very first time, I cried for hours before,” she admits. Nevertheless, “after that, I got comfortable with it. I forgot all my inhibitions, and now it doesn’t bother me at all.” Naturists are quite familiar with that. It’s really too bad that most people can’t understand how that works. Nudity can be quite normal! Interestingly, though, she avoids nudity in other parts of her life. “My family,” she says “has no idea I do this. The day my husband finds out, he will divorce me.” So she lies to him about it. After all, India is where she lives. But most naturists anywhere probably understand.
More: ‘The Naked Magicians’ can charm audiences with or without clothes
In the picture above, Aleks Zain is performing his interpretation of Abramović’s piece called “Freeing The Body” – something naturists especially should appreciate. Aleks, a transgender man, “is naked apart from a tightly wrapped scarf covering the head… The performance continues until the dancer falls to the ground, exhausted.”
Another Abramović piece called “Imponderabilia” is performed by Andreja Kargacin, who is a 20-year-old published novelist, theater student, visual artist, and dancer, whose “real passion is performance art”. In the piece, Andreja and another performer stand facing each other, completely naked in a narrow corridor. To reach the rest of the museum, attendees (clothed) must squeeze between the two. If that idea sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because Imponderabilia has been performed a number of times. I recently wrote about it here.
Performance art doesn’t necessarily involve nudity. However, because it is intended to make viewers think deeply about what they see, nudity is certainly one way to make that happen. I really should write more about these artists sometime. But here are a couple more examples. Unfortunately, a still picture doesn’t convey much of the meaning of an actual performance – not anymore than a still picture of a dance performance.
The article is based mostly on information from an Irish Naturist Association spokesperson. He talks about the general virtues of naturism, and especially about the popularity of private naturist swims in leisure centers and naturist beaches in County Cork. (It probably helps that Cork is at the southern tip of the country.) Cork now has at least five such beaches. Although none are officially designated as clothing-optional, there are few problems, and the beaches could be even more popular and a benefit for the tourist industry if signage were provided to warn people who’re “offended” by nudity.
More: Naturists calling for politicians to make Cork the ‘nude capital’ of Ireland
Of course, it’s also important to point out that “boundaries” should be respected, and that there are many people who are sensitive or even embarrassed about their bodies. In fact, in the presence of nudity, it’s straightforward to explain exactly what boundaries should be observed and when consent is necessary.
This issue is now front and center because of a stupid decision by a local judge in Utah – one of the most backward, prudish states in the U. S. It was held that a mother could be prosecuted under an “indecency” law simply because, in their own home, her pre-teen sons happened to see her uncovered breasts. The mother, quite reasonably, believed it was good for her sons to see nonsexual partial female nudity. So, quite absurdly, naturism in a private home could be prosecuted as a crime, even if the only non-adult children present are family members – at least in Utah.
One of the stupid things about the judge’s decision was agreeing with prosecutors that “lewdness is commonly understood to include women’s breasts in American society”. That’s possibly true in a theocratic state like Utah, which is an extreme case. Yet in states that are more representative of the country as a whole, like New York, simple exposure of female breasts – even in public, let alone in private – isn’t illegal. During the summer in NYC many women go topfree in Central Park, Times Square, and elsewhere. The case in Utah doesn’t even involve full nudity – which would apply equally to men and women. Was the fact that there were children involved relevant? According to this report, there were three kids – ages 9 through 13 at the time. How many boys of that age haven’t seen bare female breasts, at least in pictures, and have been hurt in any way if they have?
To add to the absurdity of this judicial decision, last September a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th district (which includes Utah), struck down a Colorado city’s ban on women exposing their breasts, even in public. And many states don’t consider even full nudity to be “lewd” if the behavior isn’t intended to offend others. So much for the Utah judge’s opinion about how commonly female toplessness is understood to be “lewd”.
The biggest obstacle to the growth of naturism is the passing along from parents to children at a very early age the ridiculous idea that almost all nudity is inherently “wrong”, “indecent”, “lewd”, or “obscene”. And that nonsense is based on the false belief that seeing nonsexual adult nudity is “harmful” to children – the exact opposite of the truth. Naturists need to strongly oppose this nonsense. In order for naturism and nonsexual nudity to continue becoming socially acceptable, they need to be recognized as perfectly normal and harmless choices for individuals and families. Of course, children shouldn’t be forced to be naked if it’s uncomfortable for them. The best way for nudity to become normalized is for parents, from the beginning, to make clear that nonsexual nudity by family members in their home is always acceptable, at least as long as anyone who might be uncomfortable with nudity isn’t present.
In this article there is more about the judge’s reasoning. It’s basically that the Utah law is about “lewdness” in front of children, which applies to both men and women. The law, however, also requires either “intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desires” or knowing that the behavior would cause “affront or alarm”. Neither of those conditions seems to apply in the current case, so the defendant should be acquitted at trial – especially considering the harshness of the possible penalties. However, this interpretation is still very threatening for naturists, as all the criteria are highly subjective – especially the idea that exposed female breasts are inherently “lewd”, even though male breasts aren’t. That latter point was key to the Colorado decision that such laws allowed unconstitutional discrimination against women.
The state of Utah is highly dependent on tourism. But there’s hardly any reason to go there, except for the spectacular desert scenery. Everyone – not only naturists – ought to boycott Utah because of its laws that flout gender equality.
The idea is that this will help “improve body image issues caused by social media”.
“Artists want models to disrobe for young people and display the unfiltered human form, counteracting distortions of shape, size, and normality young people receive online.”
Some of the points made in favor of the proposal include:
These points are strikingly similar to arguments in favor of naturism itself. In opposition to the proposal, this article, contains many comments such as: “children will ‘sneer and giggle’ at naked bodies at a young age”; children 9 years old “have no contemplation yet on body image”; “Put a naked man and woman in front of a class they would be laughing their heads off. You only have to mention a body part and they’re off”. People who say such things should just ask themselves where those reactions come from. They might then realize it’s due to the corrupting influences children have already been exposed to from prejudiced older children and adults – who themselves acquired the attitudes in the same way. Positive experiences of nudity – like seeing nudity in a child’s own family or drawing nude models – are needed to better inform opinions of the human body.
More: Life Drawing for Schools,
Advocates have a suggestion on how to use art classes to promote body positivity
Naturists certainly will want to check out the video channels recommended in this article. One problem for English speakers, however, is that three of the five channels are mainly or entirely in other languages (French, Spanish, and Portuguese). Even so, naturists who are able to travel far from home can glean much about opportunities in other countries in spite of the language barrier. And people who already enjoy social nudity might want to recommend the videos to their open-minded relatives and friends who’d be interested in learning more about naturism – in the privacy of their own homes. For better or worse, people don’t read much these days and are far more likely to absorb information from visual media.
There are two other options to check out. Vimeo, which is a competitor of YouTube, is actually more welcoming of naturist material. And you can do searches in both YouTube and Vimeo for topics of naturist interest, such as “body painting”, “nude art”, and “naturist information”. In particular, many naturist/nudist resorts offer videos that can give you a good idea of what type of facilities and activities the resort has to offer. A number of national naturist organizations have similar information on what’s available in their country.
However, the list is far from exhaustive. In the U. S., for example, both national organizations have several “gatherings” and meetings around the country. Large nudist resorts have events such as clothing-optional music festivals, 5K and 10K naked runs, other sporting events (e. g. volleyball), and so on. For naturists whose main experience is with home or beach nudity, it could be a very good idea to check out nearby naturist/nudist resorts for special events where non-members and first-timers are especially welcome.
One has to admire the fortitude, as well as the skill, of those appearing in the nude scenes, given that the outdoor temperatures were in the 20s (°F). This item is not actually “recent”, having been out for over 5 years. However, somehow it showed up in a news feed, and it certainly illustrates how nudity can be effectively normalized, albeit not for naturist purposes. It might be described by the current buzzphrase “cultural appropriation” – meaning something appropriated by members of a dominant culture from a minority culture. But it’s difficult in this case to see how this couldn’t confer some acceptability on nonsexual nudity, even if unintentionally. Skiers, of course, love the sport for the thrills, so it’s not surprising that some actually do ski naked occasionally.
More: These pro skiers took to the hills naked for their latest shoot
