For almost 6 years, we have been publishing at least one blog post a week and a question we regularly get is where our inspiration keeps coming from. The answer is simple: From you. From the people we meet online and offline. From long talks and intriguing social media conversations. One of the platforms that never fails to inspire us is Reddit. Like this recent post about what people see as the biggest problem within nudism.
In itself, it’s quite a simple question. But the 85 comments (at the time of writing) do give some very interesting insights into what naturists and nudists are struggling with these days. In this blog post, we’ll talk about the most recurring issues as well as the ones that we personally find particularly interesting.
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Gated environments
Nudism still happens a lot behind high gates, complete with gatekeepers who may ask for membership cards, proof of identity, and in rare cases even do background checks. It’s a way of keeping nudist places secure, but it’s also daunting for first-time visitors.
We remember going to a naturist campsite in Austria. We had found the address on the internet and just showed up in front of a large gate in the woods. We rang the bell. Several minutes later, an elderly man opened the gate just far enough to stick his head out. In basic German, we asked whether this was a naturist campsite. He replied “Yes”. We asked whether we could camp there, and he just closed the gate again. We looked at each other, thought that this probably meant no and walked back to the car. When we were ready to turn around in search of another place to camp, the gate opened again and another man came over to ask questions. Whether we had been to naturist campsites before, if we had any membership cards, etc. Eventually, we were allowed in. But we can’t say that we felt really welcome.
Another problem with gated environments is that they create some kind of mystery. On one hand, we like to shout that nudism is normal and that we’re not doing anything wrong. But on the other hand, we keep hiding from the outside world. This obviously raises questions and is often a source of rumours.
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Nudism is disappearing
Nudist clubs fail to attract younger members, which seems to turn them into naked retirement homes. The members who pass away are not replaced by new members, and eventually, the club has to close its doors. We’ve seen this happen with our own eyes, and it’s easy to conclude that there is less and less interest in nudism.
We’ve also seen something else happening though. Back in the eighties, which are often considered the heydays of nudism, there were the “nudist camps” and “nude beaches”. These were spread over a handful of countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania. Today, you can find nudist resorts in many different forms. The campsites are still the most popular, but there are also nudist bed and breakfasts, hotels, guesthouses, all-inclusive resorts, and cruises. And lately, you can also notice an uprise of nudist events, that don’t always happen inside nudist resorts.
The geography of nudism is changing as well. During the last decades, nudist organisations have been popping up in many Latin American countries, Asia, and South Africa. There are specific nudist groups for young nudists, Christian nudists, black nudists,… So we don’t think that we can say that nudism is disappearing. Personally, we think that it’s evolving and that the clubs that fail to attract new members are actually failing/refusing to join the evolution.
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Nudism is perceived as sexual
This has been seen as a huge issue of nudism for many many years. That’s not so strange. For centuries, there has been no such thing as recreational social nudity. When you were naked with other people, it was either for practical reasons (like communal showers) or to have sex. As nobody will drive for hours and pay an entrance fee just to have a shower, the conclusion was that nudist resorts must have something to do with sex.
There are other factors like the before mentioned high gates to keep curious eyes away. Or the uprise of sex clubs and swingers clubs where people were also naked together. It’s just a lot easier to make the link with sex, which has already been programmed in people’s minds than to try to understand the totally new concept of non-sexual social nudity.
Personally, we think that this just needs time. We have to remember that naturism as we know it only exists for a century and that it takes generations to adopt a new concept. There was a time when being gay was perceived as a kinky fetish or a mental disease, just because it was impossible for heteros to understand the love between two people of the same gender. Similarly, it’s still often impossible for people who only get naked to have sex to understand that you can also be naked with others without feeling the need to jump on everything that moves.
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Nudism attracts people with the wrong intentions
This problem is partially related to the previous one. If you think that nudism is about having sex in public or swapping partners, and that is something you would like to experience as well, you go to the nudist club (and end up disappointed or being kicked out).
Then there are voyeurs and exhibitionists, who get aroused by watching naked people or by being seen naked. For them, nudist places are obviously just a big playground. And there is the issue of sex on the beach. This is as illegal on nude beaches as it is on any other beach, but nude beaches do seem to attract more of this. We don’t know the exact reasons, but we think that these people often see a visit to the nude beach as foreplay. Another reason might be that at a nude beach, you can’t get caught with your pants down. You actually need to get caught while having intercourse in order to break the law.
Honestly, we think that voyeurism and exhibitionism will keep existing forever, but that we, nudists, will get better at handling them. Think about this: There are millions of people who have a foot fetish. They get sexually aroused by looking at your bare feet. Has this thought ever stopped you from wearing flip-flops? As nudists get more comfortable with their own nudity, we think that they will start to care less about the intentions of others.
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Nudist extremism
This is also one that we have unfortunately experienced with our own eyes. There was this nudist couple who invited a couple of textile friends to their mobile home at the nudist resort. These textile friends knew about the nude-obligatory policy at the resort and were interested in giving nudism a try. But they wanted to take it slow and not get naked from the first minute. They had barely emptied the car when some naked guy started shouting “Hey! This is a nudist resort! You have to be naked here! Take off those clothes!”.
They did not take off their clothes. Instead, they packed the car again and drove off. It’s likely that they will never try nudism again. We call this type of nudist the “nudist police”. Although they are not staff members, they feel like it’s their duty to make sure that everyone follows the rules to the letter.
Other types of nudist extremists are those who think that 10°C is still a comfortable temperature to be naked and that everyone else should think this as well, those who think that more years of being a nudist gives them a higher rank, and those who think that they know more about nudism than others. Shortly summarised, while equality is a very important value in nudism, nudist extremists like to believe that they are better nudists than others.
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It’s a secret
We personally believe that this is indeed still a very big problem in nudism: We keep nudism a secret. We go to nudist places, have an amazing time, and then we tell nobody about it. Not because we don’t want to share this great experience with anyone else, but because we’re afraid of the comments. We think that nobody will understand.
It’s definitely true that there are some stigmas around nudism, but we think that not openly talking about nudism actually feeds these stigmas. There are some horror stories about how people lost their job when their boss found out that they were nudists or people who were disgraced by their families just because of their naked pastime. But we believe that those cases are fewer than most nudists think.
When our story suddenly got published in newspapers around the world, literally everyone we knew learned that we are nudists. And we can tell you, the negative responses were little to none. Some of our friends had questions, some felt uncomfortable talking about it, and some made jokes, but nobody treated us differently just because we like to spend some of our time without clothes.
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Nudist influencers
Someone replied: “I think the biggest problem with nudism are the ones who get the most attention. They are the ones dropping nudes on social media just to garner followers and likes.”. In other words: nudist influencers. Obviously, this caught our attention because it felt really personal. Especially because later in the comment, this person talks about “The world travelers who have the ability to be nude in accepting exotic locations which also changes nudism from a nudist lifestyle to a nudist traveling lifestyle.”
This person’s point is that we picture nudism as something exotic. In our pictures and videos, there are always smiles, always great weather, and always beautiful locations. And this does kinda marginalize the everyday nudist who just goes to the local club or practices nudism at home.
We’re not that pretentious to think that this comment was only about us (or about us at all), but our personal opinion is that pictures with a big WOW factor just attract more interest than the typical “naked morning coffee in my kitchen” shots. It’s true that our pictures probably inspire people more to try nudism in an exotic location than at home, but at least they’ll try it. At least they’ll take the first step. And they’ll quickly learn for themselves that a beach in Jamaica is not the only place where being naked is fun.
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The lack of diversity
Another stigma of nudism is the “old white naked dude”. This is basically a summary of 3 issues within nudism: That it is male-dominant, white-dominant, and something for the elder generations. And there is definitely some truth in this idea. Let’s look at some possible reasons for this.
Male-dominant: It’s sometimes said that men have fewer body issues than women, but we’re not sure whether that is true. We think that this is mostly cultural. Throughout history, women have been taught that they always have to behave “decently”, much more than men. The concept of slut shaming also applies to women only. And women tend to be much more harassed than men.
White-dominant: Nudism started within white cultures and has always been very white dominant. So it requires a lot of courage from differently coloured people to join this community. We recommend reading the short novel Excuse My Nudeness to learn about the struggles of a black person joining a nudist club.
Elderly-dominant: We’ve talked about this earlier in the blog post.
We strongly believe that thanks to the changing demographics and mentality of nudists, this is something that will solve itself. We already notice this in places where nudism is rather new, like in Latin America or Asia. If you visit a nudist resort in those parts of the world, you’ll find that the “old naked white dude” is rather an exception.
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Our biggest problem
Before we talk about what we personally see as the biggest problem of nudism, we do want to give an honourable mention to the person who wrote: “Winter is the biggest real problem with nudism. Everything else is made up”. It’s funny, but we think that it is also spot on. Something typical for minorities is to think that the world is against them, and this makes us see problems where there are none.
A lot of nudists seem to think that everyone who is not a nudist is automatically against nudism. But from our experience, this is hardly ever the case. It’s like veganism. Most of you who read this are probably not vegans. Does this mean that you are against veganism? Personally, we couldn’t care less that there are people who refuse to eat anything derived from animals. As long as we can still get a steak and some cheese now and then, we don’t give a damn about what’s on other people’s plates.
The only times when we tend to dislike vegans is when they’re too bitchy about it. This brings us to our personal problem with nudism: The “the world is against us” mentality and the big deal some of us like to make about nudism. Of course, there are anti-nudists, just like there are anti-vegans. But the large majority of non-nudists just don’t care. Bombarding those people with pro-nudist propaganda will be counterproductive. We might think that we’re teaching them about nudism, but instead, we’re just annoying them. Instead, we’re just pushing them to the other side.
What do you think is the biggest problem in nudism/naturism?
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Just before reading your article I was checking out this other article and realized how similar these eco resorts were to nudist resorts. Some nudist resorts wouldn’t need to do much at all to legitimately rebrand their properties as eco nudist resorts. Perhaps not a great fit with RV hook-ups, but perhaps a business model that could work to help promote a healthier, family-friendly image.
https://pebblemag.com/magazine/travelling/best-eco-hotels-nature-breaks-and-conservation-holidays-in-the-uk?utm_source=pebblemag.com&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Sea+Change+Q3
Hi Gina, great that you mention this because we have a blog post coming up about the link between naturism and sustainability/eco-friendliness.
In Europe, you can already see that naturist resorts have also started to market themselves to people looking for an eco-friendly vacation, because of the apparent huge overlap. As this is a trend with a much broader audience than naturism, it’s the perfect way to show the option of naturist vacations to people who may have never considered it but might be open to it.
Bingo ! Let’s see naturism support sustainability and let’s see naturism support charities and let’s see naturism continue to promote wellness and good mental health.
Great to see your blog link on Reddit. We’ve been thinking about you guys and missing your YouTube daily vlogs. Hope all is well.
I saw the Reddit post you reference in this blog post, and didn’t post a comment because too many thoughts were circling in my head. You summarized them all well in this blog. Thanks for the post.
Nick/Lins,
From a North American perspective, there are numerous reasons; increasing property values near major metro areas, few attempts at “marketing” nudism to young adults, and that those who have resources never truly found a joy in being nude in a social setting.
I don’t buy into the idea “oh young people have no money”. They have $1000 iPhones, and some will camp out on the street in Boston or New York to be the first to get one. Young adults buy tickets to sporting events (Major League Baseball, the FA Premier League, etc.) and spend over $150 a ticket for it. Non-nude vacation spots such as the Dominican Republic, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, and so forth draw an under-40 crowd.
And most of all, young adults aren’t “joiners”. The r/nudism sub-Reddit is not a microcosm representative of young adults, but still – no one has taken up the concept of forming a young adult special interest group. Young Naturists of America failed to draw a continuity in leadership. From my understanding, it started with two people working on it, and after a couple years, it ENDED with two people working on it. No one wants to organize or step forward.
I just attended the Eastern Naturist Festival here in Lenox, Massachusetts. The event was organized by a dedicated group of volunteers – who worked their (rear ends) off for four months, and took chances. Save for two 20-year olds, who are the children of the leaders, THE ENTIRE VOLUNTEER GROUP WAS OVER 45! Some were in their 60s.
There has to be an outreach to the 25-45 group. And no, building a nudist event around video games won’t be the fix, we need ORGANIZERS.
But one thing that I really like – Nick, Lins, you are a great example, you take people to fantastic places they’ve never been. And most of all – you aren’t saying “look at us” BUT = “THIS COULD BE *YOU*”. We also need more Nick & Lins’ to show us the fun of naturist recreation. We want to go to Italy now, more than ever. We want to see Lanzalote some day. And we want to get into van life.
While you’ve inspired us – we’re 71 now.
Enough said. And our hot tub and smoked salmon or BBQ ribs await you, should you ever get to Massachusetts, U.S.A.
We agree that the younger generations do have money, maybe even more than their ancestors. And they are willing to spend it. We think that this is because of an important shift in mentality. There are two important currencies in the world: time and money. We believe that the older generations preferred to pay with time if this meant that they could save money. Younger generations started valuing time much more, and rather pay more money if this means that they can save time.
The whole volunteer system is based on the “pay with time” principle, this would explain why it gets more and more difficult to attract younger volunteers. It’s often said that young generations have become lazy and don’t want to take responsibility. But we don’t think that this is true. It’s just the mentality of rather paying someone to do it than doing it themselves. Of course, we shouldn’t generalize and we don’t want to say that the volunteer system is death. But it’s broken. And naturist organisations will need to adapt to this new mentality of they want to survive.
We love it that you realise that Naked Wanderings was not created out of vanity and that it’s not about “look at us”. From the very beginning, we wanted to show the world that you don’t need anything special to become a naturist. You don’t need special skills, a certain body shape, or lots of money. If 2 average people like us can do it, so can you 🙂
I agree with everything you said, except the notion that you two are average. I happen to think that you two are rather exceptional. You decided you wanted a certain life, and you made it happen. You have a good eye for engaging photos and videos. You are engaging writers. You are polyglots. A half-hour of scrolling through naturisthub posts compared to revisiting your old blog posts proves my point. And I’m not knocking naturisthub. I like it. Maybe because it is filled with postings and photos by truly average people. But you two and this site really are exceptional.
Ha! Thanks a lot, Bill!
But the things you mention are mostly about the content we create and not really about the things we do. Those are skills that took numerous hours to master. 99% of the NaturistHub users could get to the same level if they would invest the same amount of time into it.
Yes, we did dream our perfect life and then made the necessary steps to make it happen. And that isn’t for everyone. We’ve taken a lot of risks (and still are) by neglecting everything society has taught us (get a company job, a mortgage, a house) and just kinda inventing our own job. That’s just because we believe that we’ll rather regret the things we didn’t do than the things we did. And that mentality might have been an encouragement to try naturism as well in the first place. But other than that, everyone could just step into our footsteps and walk through the gate of a naturist resort.
I want to add = YNA was a great effort – but when “life got in the path” of one of the organizers (life being – motherhood) – as I understood it, no one stepped forward.
Just want to clarify that!
I always wanted to try going to a naturist beach but didn’t go with the “lads” on the “lads” holiday in my 20’s then did with my girlfriend in our 30’s and we loved it. Then for a few years we always went on naturist holidays. We then stopped going on naturist holidays when we had children to avoid the confusion for our children of when it is appropriate to take your clothes off and when it is not appropriate to take your clothes off. So when our children get too old to go on holidays with us we will go back to naturist holidays and intend to spend a lot of time on the beach naked. So my point is that even though I have been a naturist most of my life 90% of the time l will spend naked on a beach l will be a “old white dude” This l think is part of the reason why there seems to be a lot of old naturists.
We are strong promoters of family-friendly naturism and we definitely believe in all the benefits that living in a naturist family has on children. But we definitely understand that you want to avoid confusion. We know a couple who was asked to come to school because their daughter had drawn a group of naked people when she was asked to make a drawing about her latest vacation. Our friends were totally fine explaining that they went to a naturist resort, but not every parent wants to be put in such a situation.
In Ireland when we tell our Irish friends/family how we enjoy visiting naturist beaches as a couple on holiday we get a surprised and a positive reactions and some friends have gone to naturist beaches themselves because of what we told them so being open about it is good for naturism but there is a huge shift to a disapproving reaction if we involve our children so as much as we would like to support family friendly naturism we can’t be open about it because of negative reactions and expecting our children to keep it a secret is unhealthy so we don’t go to naturist beaches with our children.
Totally relate to these comments
Indeed, we’ve also noticed that the “family” side of naturism seems to have a much larger stigma than social nudity on itself. This has everything to do with people still connecting nudity to something sexual.
We understand the difficulty you have. However, we would simply disregard the disapproving reactions. You don’t need their approval.
This is a subject that annoys me hugely. For several decades now I have been completely open about my preference for being nude.
It’s rare, but occasionally, when discussing it with non-nudist/naturist people, and mentioning that the demographic at beaches includes singles, couples and families, the reaction is, “Wait, what, are there children there?” And they have gone as far as saying it’s wrong. I’ve had both men and women ask, “So you walk around with your [dick, cock, penis, etc.] out in front of little girls?” (Why they are specifically concerned about girls rather than boys I don’t know) Adding, “That’s just wrong!” or “It’s disgusting!”
Well, put it this way: I have a daughter of my own and have had two partners who had daughters. All of them have spent time with me in the nude at beaches and at home from as young as 6 up to 15, and none of them have been in any way upset, disturbed, damaged, embarrassed or whatever by the sight of my penis.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to think that nudity has some adverse affect on children. It has been proven to have a positive affect on them.
We intend to give our children the opion of being naked.
SEXUAL
We have feet placed firmly in both camps. We are naturist and we are swingers. However, just like in the textile world, we don’t let sex creep into inappropriate places, such as family spaces.
That aside, we feel there is a slight issue with the sexuality aspect of naturism. And to be fair it is something which is very difficult to balance.
On one level, as naturists we need to distance the lifestlye from the perception it is some sort of sex fest. This is certainly off-putting for newbies and tbh, even as swingers, it is problematic if we want to bring our children to naturist events / locations.
Having said that, the attempt to distnace naturism from sex sometimes creates a strange asexual world. For example, if you were in a textile setting, with friends, and someone attractive walked by – would you completely refrain from commenting on their lovely legs, beautiful hair or whatever feature you like about them ? Whilst initially, to establish the very clear line between naturism and swinging, it is important to delineate the difference, it is very artificial to completely scrub sexuality from naturism. After all, isn’t naturism the very same as textilism, just without clothes ?
GATES
With regards to high-walls, gated communities and identity checks, we actually feel this to be beneficial. Of course, we see the issues it creates. Making naturism out to be some sort of mystical exclusive club does little for the lifestyle.
However, for people like us, who like to control our privacy a bit more, such places are important. Perhaps 30 or 40 years ago, we would not have been so bothered. The big issue today is the cameras and social media. Our biggest fear is someone snapping a picture of us or screenshotting conversation and putting it out on Insta, Twitter or FB.
We don’t want everyone to know about our lifestyle. Actually, we kinda do. We just don’t want certain people to know. People are very judgemental, understandably, but their treatment after judgement can be very adverse. Which is what we want to avoid.
NORMAL
The best way forward, we feel, for naturism is creating an ambivalence, of sorts. When we use changing rooms at clothing stores, we will open the curtain to get the opinion of the other. Then to change to the next item, we might not close the curtain. Although, we’re not naked, we are in our underwear.
Recently we stayed at a hostel. I (Sebb), took a shower and returned to the dorm in a towel. There was nowhere in the shower room to change without getting clothese wet and the dorm was too cramped to hide. So I proceeded to dry fully naked and then get get dressed. There were some people sleeping, and nobody saw. But I wasn’t making an attempt to hide.
Which raises a related point. I’m not so sure I would have been so ballsy if Ellen were not with me. As a MF couple, I think some people would think it weird but not threatening. However, as a single male, there is a strong chance it might have been perceived as some sort of sexual assault.
Swingers are often seen as the devil in naturist circles, but we absolutely agree that both can live together and that people can be both. It’s all about respecting the rules and etiquette of the different places.
And yes, one of the problems within naturism is that it’s often pictured as asexual. The problem is fear. Naturists fear that others might be there for the wrong reasons, and that others may think that they are there for the wrong reasons. Therefor, remarks that are considered normal in the textile world are often avoided in naturist places.
Very true. We are more cautious in new naturist company with remarks we might make, so as not to perceived to be there for the wrong reasons.
In fact, sometimes we are the most ardent defendents of naturism. When speaking with colleagues and acquaintenances about naturism, if they hint that things might get ‘saucy’, we completely counter the idea.
This is especially important because as mentioned we are also swingers. However, we have always said that if we both lost our libidos tomorrow, naturism would still be a choice lifestyle for us. We would also give our children the freedom to be clothes free.
It’s often assumed that the intimidating thing about ‘social nudity’ is the nudity, but in some cases it might be the socialising! You go to a nudist club essentially to hang out with a group of total strangers of unknown age and interests. That’s probably not something that many people feel inclined to do, even if they do like being naked!
The social aspect really depends from place to place. Some venues are very social and visitors are also expected to be (somewhat) social. At other venues is very common to not talk to anyone you don’t know.
Depending on what you prefer, you can choose the right place.
We feel that a lot of naturists have the need to talk about naturism. Naturist places are the only places where this can be done without having to fear judgement.
James,
That was not what happened last week at the ENF/Lenox. BUT – those newbies, those guys and gals who came in for the first time, had no hesitation about socializing with others. AND – they were made to feel welcome.
Yes, I do read often “I don’t know anyone there”… you will after five minutes.
“I have no friends there”… you will after a very short period of time.
But I agree with you, to a degree. Social nudism CAN get the introverted guys and gals out of their shells.
Yes, I suppose my point was more about the barriers to people getting involved rather than the reality when they do take the plunge!
This is undoubtedly a complex issue. Very relevant points were identified, so I will only underline or add other dimensions that seem relevant to me.
NUDITY AS NORMAL
DAY BY DAY
Nudity has been losing some normality in gyms, bathhouses, saunas, … in several countries. On one hand, they are not mixed and/or on the other hand nudity is avoided by using towels and cubicles to change clothes or shower. This leads to the feeling that my naked body should not be seen by others. It’s possible to think about other situations like these.
MEDIA
In many countries, programs and TV news cover penises, vaginas or female breasts with blurred or black stripes, hiding nudity, although they may appear in films or series in seduction context or sexual activity. Now, if public and private channels consider nudity offensive or inappropriate to be shown in a normal context, there must be some problem in doing so. It conveys an idea, that nudity is not acceptable in any context and that where it is still possible is in intimacy (at least in the movies). It reflects a society’s culture or way of thinking.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media prohibits people nudity and suspends or bans whom violates the rules. This means that even those who promote naturism or nudity end up caught in a trap because they have to photograph/film so as not to show frontal nudity or cover it up (in reality or editing). In this way, we all contribute to nudity censorship, creating a collective unconscious that nudity must be hidden or it’s not normal.
Very good points David!
Regarding (social) media, we are still wondering about the underlying reasons. They often blame the advertisers. As advertising revenue is the most important revenue stream in most media, they have to adjust to what the advertiser wants. But why would advertisers have such a problem with simple nudity? Will people really think that Coca-cola is evil just because a Coca-cola ad appeared in a video that contains nudity?
We believe that the main difficulty for the media is to make a difference between sexual and non-sexual nudity. It’s something we can often see on first sight, but it’s very hard to train an algorithm to recognize the difference. So they just take the easy road and ban all nudity altogether. They can do this, because most ads don’t specifically benefit from being related to nudity.
To give an example, to support the growth of renewable energy, the media could decide to ban all content related to polluting transportation. But they will never do that, because that’s the exact type of content where airlines, car companies, etc want to see their ads. We can’t think of many companies who could specifically benefit from having their ads in content containing nudity.
I’m not sure that algorithims are entirely to blame. On Twitter, many posts involve nudity and more. It is only when reported that they are then reveiwed by a human and a decision is ultimately made.
For me, a big issue with nonSex-nudity v sex-nudity is that there many nuances. One that hits me is the type of social media account who reposts images if naturists and naturist places. The images are certainly not the property of the account owner. Rather they are posted in the guise of naturism but with some intended titilation. Furthermore, many of the photos are often covertly taken, and presumably without the permission of the subject.
Regarding companies being connected to nudity, it strikes me as odd that they don’t want it. I say this given the fact that sex has been selling point of many industries for many years. Think: beverages, cars, sports, holidays.
That’s the thing, all nudity is allowed on Twitter, both sexual and non-sexual. But we don’t know of any mainstream social media that only allows non-sexual nudity. And we think that this is because it’s just not possible (yet) for an algorithm to make the difference.
Of course, as you mention, there’s the nuance of the voyeur industry. They make non-sexual nudity sexual.
Sex sells indeed, but not explicit.
That’s absolutely right. It’s impossible to separate nudity from sex. No matter how innocent or normal the nudity is, some, many, individuals will be aroused by it. And that includes naturists! No one grows out of it. After well over 50 years of being a “naturist” and being used to seeing naked bodies and their intimate parts, there are still times when a young, attractive female will catch my eye and I’ll have a good look at her and enjoy what I’m seeing. If any straight nudist man denies doing that, I’m pretty certain they’re lying.
This is where it always gets really fragile. The fact that you enjoy the sight of an attractive naked woman is not a problem. It becomes a problem when you can’t handle this in an acceptable and respectful way.
It’s similar to what we keep saying about swingers. To many naturists, swingers are the devil. We don’t think that there’s a problem with swingers at naturist places, but only with those who don’t stick to the “naturist etiquette”.
TimA, do not assume that your own opinion and behavior is the general rule for everyone else. Many people have too much respect for women to consider and treat them as objects for their pleasure.
Replying to Jo… I don’t know why some posts don’t have a reply button. You need to fix this, or if for some reason it’s deliberate you need to stop it!
Jo, I’m not assuming anything. I’m stating a fact. It’s nothing to do with my opinion or behaviour or disrespect for women, it’s normal human behaviour, animal instinct. We are a two-genre species that survives because the two sexes are physically and sexually attracted to each other. You can’t suppress that attraction no matter how much you want to try to hide it.
**Gender** for crying out loud! Stupid auto-correct!!
TimA, humans are not animals. Unlike animals, humans have the brain capabilities to think and to control their behavior.
It is a choice whether or not to ‘have a good look’ at women for personal enjoyment.
Apparently this is your choice. It is just an assumption (not a fact) that everyone makes the same choice.
Again, response to Jo…
Utter rubbish. Humans *are* animals. Yes, we’re more intelligent than most, but we are still animals with animal instincts, and if you’re not in the upper echelons of the intellectual range of the human race, I can excuse you for your inability to understand.
The bottom line is, nudist or non-nudist, you will at some point be attracted to and sexually aroused by someone of the opposite sex. You can’t control that, it’s natural!
This is one of the points that really annoys me. “Naturist(s)” is an excuse for enjoying being nude on the basis it’s close to nature, Well how about that sex is natural and close to nature, and there’s actually nothing wrong with enjoying seeing someone of the opposite sex naked?
TimA, I regret that you start insulting me personally.
It is clear that we have different points of view. You have yours, I have mine. Let’s agree that we disagree and end this discussion now.
Great points. I am a 55 yr old second generation nudist woman and I have seen many changes. We need the younger generations to try and enjoy to keep it going. We will always be able to be nude at home but it is so wobderful to be nude on a beach or with others.
A survey only a few years ago (about 5 years ago) here in the UK revealed that over 50% of young Brits under 30 would be happy to go nude at beaches.
Also, during the Covid pandemic, more than 10% of the entire UK population admitted to spending most of their time at home and in their gardens during the lockdown, in the nude.
Some of the issues sound familiar. Here in Germany some of them apply, too.
For disclosure: I´m a “part-time nudist”. I enjoy swimming nude and being on a lake or beach, but I´m not into nude vacations or BBQ. As I´m mainly interested in swimming for health reasons, swimming comes first, therefore sometimes I prefer the trunk when it´s colder or the waters too crowded.
Why I wouldn´t join a organisation:
TBH I don´t see any advantages for me. I can go to a lake and have a swim, enjoy a good time and that´s my need fulfilled. So I´m not overly eager to join some club where nudity is totally mandatory on the site(and some really yell at others if they don´t ged nude in 5 seconds after entering – some nudists can be as close-minded as people demonising nudity) and I have to mow the lawn, and most people are not of my age group. I don´t mind the “old white guy” and I don´t want to generalise about a specific age group, some are ok but there are also some that think they are superior just because they are older. An attitude that puts most people off, including me. So thanks, but no organisation for me.
Clubs are not for everyone, and that has little to do with naturism. Take cyclists, for example. Some like to join a club so they can ride in a group and have some beers together after the ride. Others just like to ride solo because it enables them to enjoy the experience more and to focus on whatever they want.
That is awesome you have a place you can consistently swim naked. I would love that option
I very much enjoyed reading the compilation of the people as well as you reporting on your travels.
I think I mentioned it to you, that the words you write in any publication on any media I feel as if I am with you on your travels. Keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Cheri Dawson
South Carolina
This discussion proves by the fact that there are so many differing opinions on what nudism/naturism is and the way different individuals prefer to enjoy it and where, that there is no definitive standard by which you can categorise it. The only common theme is people like to be naked. That’s where it ends. Why, how and where different people prefer to practice social or public nudity varies almost by the number of people who do it.
I am a Muslim from Malaysia. I’m trying to open my mind and get closer to the nudist world in 2018. Currently, I’m happy and enjoying being a nudist. I joined a nudist organization or club in Malaysia led by Mrs. Chew.
I joined a Club because I don’t have any privacy at home, and can’t wonder outside in the nude as my neighbors could be offended,
In New Zealand there are no laws about being naked in public, but there are laws that say you cannot cause offence to another person by things you do. So if I am naked in my backyard and my neighbor takes offence then I could find myself being convicted for my behavior.
This is in response to the paragraph in the OP headed “Nudism is disappearing”
I have consistently stated on here that, certainly in the UK, this is not the case. Club memberships are dwindling and clubs are not attracting new young members, “Nudist clubs fail to attract younger members”. This is true, but it doesn’t mean nudism or naturism is disappearing. At least in the UK. Here’s why:
Ipsos Mori poles this year have shown that nudism/naturism has doubled in a decade, with 1 in 7 Brits identifying as naturist or nudist. The figure is now 14% when 10 years ago it was only 6%.
But here’s the interesting thing, a very recent (October) Ipsos Mori pole has shown that nearly half (47%) of young adults between 16 and 24 in Britain identify as nudists or naturists and take part in nude activities including skinny-dipping.
Naturist organisations are saying, “It turns out there’s a huge, hidden enthusiasm for nudist recreation. Attitudes to nudity are changing as taboos and stigmas are eroded.”
I’ll reiterate my views that much of this is down to the laws in the UK in which public nudity is legal.
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that naturism or nudism is not “disappearing” it is in fact growing, but now publicly, not behind closed doors, gates and high fences.