A group of naturists at a nude beach in Crimea, 2008
Naturism, or nudism, is a cultural movement practicing, advocating, and defending personal and social nudity,
most but not all of which takes place on private property. The term may
also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family, or social nudity. Naturism may take a number of forms. It may be practiced individually, within a family, socially, or in public.
Definition and lexicology
- a way of life in harmony with nature characterised by the practice of communal nudity with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for others and for the environment.
Several other terms ("social nudity", "public nudity", "skinny dipping",
"sunning", and "clothes-free") have been proposed as alternative terms
for naturism, but none has found the same widespread public acceptance
as the older terms "naturism" and (in much of the United States)
"nudism".[citation needed]
Many contemporary naturists and naturist organisations feel that
the practice of social nudity should be asexual. For various social,
cultural, and historical reasons the lay public, the media, and many
contemporary naturists and their organisations often oversimplify the
relationship between naturism and sexuality. Current research has begun
to explore this complex relationship.
Sign at a naturist swimming pool with a warning that no clothing (including underwear) is permitted.
The International Naturist Federation explains:
- "Each country has its own kind of naturism, and even each club has its own special character, for we too, human beings, have each our own character which is reflected in our surroundings."
The usage and definition of these terms varies geographically and historically. Though in the United States, naturism and nudism have the same meaning, in Britain there is a clear distinction.
Nudism is the act of being naked, while naturism is a lifestyle
which at various times embraced nature, environment, respect for
others, self-respect, crafts, healthy eating, vegetarianism,
teetotalism, non-smoking, yoga, physical exercise and pacifism as well
as nudity.
In naturist parlance, textile or textilist is a non-naturist person, non-naturist behaviour or non-naturist facilities. e.g. the textile beach starts at the flag, they are a mixed couple – he is naturist, she is textile. Textile is the predominant term used in the UK ('textilist' is unknown in British naturist magazines including H&E naturist), although some naturists avoid it due to perceived negative or derogatory connotations. Textilist
is said to be used interchangeably, but no dictionary definition to
this effect exists, nor are there any equivalent examples of use in
mainstream literature such as those for textile. Clothing optional and nude optional
(US specific) describe a policy or a venue that allows or encourages
nudity but tolerates the wearing of clothes. The opposite is clothing compulsory; that is, prohibiting nudity. Adjectival phrases clothes free and clothing free prescribe where naturism is permitted in an otherwise textile environment, or define the preferred state of a naturist.
The social nudity movement includes a large range of variants including "naturism", "nudism", "Freikörperkultur (FKK)", the "free beach movement" as well as generalized "public lands/public nudity" advocacy.
Social naturism
Nude woman and man at 2007 Fremont Solstice Parade
Naturist facilities
At
naturist organised events or venues clothing is usually optional,
except by swimming pools or sunbathing lawns where complete nudity is
expected, weather permitting. This rule is sometimes a source of
controversy among some naturists. Staff at a naturist facility are
usually required to be clothed due to health and safety regulations.
Facilities for naturists are classified in various ways. A landed
or members' naturist club is one that owns its own facilities, while
non-landed (or travel) clubs meet at various locations, such as private
residences, swimming pools, hot springs, landed clubs and resorts, and
rented facilities. Landed clubs can be run by members on democratic
lines or by one or more owners who make the rules. In either case, they
can determine membership criteria and the obligations of members. This
usually involves sharing work necessary to maintain or develop the site.
Families bathing nude at a hot spring in Taiwan
The international naturist organizations were mainly composed of representatives of landed clubs. Nudist colony
is no longer a favored term, but it is used by naturists as a term of
derision for landed clubs that have rigid non-inclusive membership
criteria, and in meta-data on naturist websites.
A holiday centre is a facility that specializes in providing
apartments, chalets and camping pitches for visiting holidaymakers. The
center is run commercially, and visitors are not members and have no say
in the management. Most holiday centers expect visitors to hold an INF
card, that is, be a member of their national organization, but some
have relaxed this restriction, relying on the carrying of a trade card.
Holiday centers can be quite small, just a couple of hectares or large
occupying over 300 hectares.
In a large holiday centre there will be swimming pools, sports pitches,
an entertainment program, kids' clubs, restaurants and supermarkets.
Some holiday centres allow regular visitors to purchase their own
chalets, and generations of the same families will visit each year.
Holiday centres are more tolerant of clothing than members-only clubs;
total nudity is usually compulsory in the swimming pools and may be
expected on the beaches, while on the football pitches, or in the
restaurants in the evening, it is rare.
A naturist resort is, to a European, an essentially urban development where naturism is the norm. Cap d'Agde in France, naturist village Charco del Palo on Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Vera Playa in Spain and Vritomartis in Greece are examples.
In US usage, a naturist resort can mean a holiday centre.
Freikörperkultur (FKK)--literally translated as 'free body culture'--is the name for the general movement in Germany.
The abbreviation is widely recognised all over Europe and often found
on informal signs indicating the direction to a remote naturist beach.
Nude beaches
In some European countries, such as Denmark, all beaches are clothing optional, while in others like Germany and experimentally in France, there are naturist sunbathing areas in public parks, e.g., in Munich and Berlin. Beaches in some holiday destinations, such as Crete, are also clothing-optional, except some central urban beaches. There are two centrally located clothes-optional beaches in Barcelona.
Naturism and sports
Naturism encourages a healthy life style, and many naturist clubs at
times organize and encourage members to take part in local and
international sport events and competitions. The German Association for Free Body Culture (DFK) promotes recreational sports and is a member of the German Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB).
World Naked Bike Ride
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Nude people at 2015 World Naked Bike Ride, Los Angeles, California
The World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) is an international clothing-optional bike ride
and exercise in public nudity, that has developed outside the organised
naturism movement. Participants plan, meet and ride together en masse on human-powered transport (the vast majority on bicycles, but some on skateboards and inline skates), to "deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world".
Festival naturism
From Woodstock to Edinburgh, and Nambassa in the southern hemisphere communal nudity is commonly recorded at music and counterculture festivals.
The series of 1970s Nambassa hippie
festivals held in New Zealand is a further example of non-sexualized
naturism. Of the 75,000 patrons who attended the 1979 Nambassa 3 day counterculture Festival an estimated 35% of festival attendees spontaneously chose to remove their clothing, preferring complete or partial nudity.
Naturist couple at the Nambassa festival, New Zealand, 1981
Roskilde festival in Denmark hosts a naked run, that has become one of the most popular events there.
Perhaps the biggest and most famous modern festival where
participants spontaneously decide to go naked or take part in nude
events is Burning Man, which features a naked bike ride known as the "Naked Pub Crawl".
A few camps organize activities in the nude, including the famous oil wrestling by camp Gymnasium.
Florida Young Naturists has organized seasonal "bashes" hosted by several Florida nudist/naturist clubs and resorts since 2008.
Organized by the Federación Nudista de México (Mexican Nudist Federation) since 2016 when Zipolite beach nudity was legalized, FESTIVAL NUDISTA ZIPOLITE occurs annually on the first weekend of February.
Naked participant at Burning Man 2016 posing as Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
Nudist festivals are held to celebrate particular days of the year, and in many such events nude bodypainting is also common, such as Neptune Day Festival held in Koktebel, Crimea to depict mythological events; the Solstice Cyclists nudist events celebrating the summer solstice held in Fremont, Seattle, United States; the Naked Pumpkin Run held in U.S. to celebrate Halloween; and the World Naked Gardening Day held to celebrate gardening.
Summer naturism
The
prevalence of naturism tends to increase during the summer months
especially when the temperature is higher with some regions experiencing
first-time naturists and people who have transitioned to becoming a
naturist.
Some studies have observed that among some of these naturists, they are
clothed during other seasons, thus making them seasonal naturists.
This quiddity has caught the public perception and comprehension of
public nudity, and thus it is frequently equated with summer
destinations such as beaches.
History
Nudity in social contexts has been practised in various forms by many cultures at all time periods. In modern Western society, social nudity is most frequently encountered in the contexts of bathing, swimming and in saunas,
whether in single-sex groups, within the family or with mixed-sex
friends, but throughout history and in many tropical cultures until now,
nudity is a norm at many sports events and competitions.
It is difficult to nominate exactly when naturism started as a
movement. The word 'naturism' was used for the first time in 1778 by a
French-speaking Belgian, Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon (1734–1781), and was
advocated as a means of improving the hygiène de vie or healthy living.
The earliest known naturist club in the "western" sense of the word was established in British India in 1891. The 'Fellowship of the Naked Trust' was founded by Charles Edward Gordon Crawford, a widower, who was a District and Sessions Judge for the Bombay Civil Service. The commune was based in Matheran and had just three members at the beginning; Crawford and two sons of an Anglican missionary, Andrew and Kellogg Calderwood.
The commune fell apart when Crawford was transferred to Ratnagiri; he died soon after in 1894.
_-_1897_-_Freilicht_-_vmp_01.jpg)
Max Koch's Freilicht, 1897
In 1902, a series of philosophical papers was published in Germany by Dr. Heinrich Pudor, under the pseudonym Heinrich Scham, who coined the term Nacktkultur.
In 1906 he went on to write a three volume treatise with his new term
as its title, which discussed the benefits of nudity in co-education and
advocated participating in sports while being free of cumbersome
clothing. Richard Ungewitter (Nacktheit, 1906, Nackt,
1908, etc.) proposed that combining physical fitness, sunlight, and
fresh air bathing, and then adding the nudist philosophy, contributed to
mental and psychological fitness, good health, and an improved
moral-life view. Major promoters of these ideas included Adolf Koch and Hans Suren. Germany published the first journal of nudism between 1902 and 1932.
The wide publication of those papers and others, contributed to
an explosive worldwide growth of nudism, in which nudists participated
in various social, recreational, and physical fitness activities in the
nude. The first organized club for nudists on a large scale, Freilichtpark (Free-Light Park), was opened near Hamburg in 1903 by Paul Zimmerman.
In 1919, German doctor Kurt Huldschinsky discovered that exposure to sunlight helped to cure rickets in many children, causing sunlight to be associated with improved health.
In France in the early 20th century, the brothers Gaston and André Durville,
both of them physicians, studied the effects of psychology, nutrition,
and environment on health and healing. They became convinced of the
importance of natural foods and the natural environment on human
well-being and health. They named this concept French: naturisme.
The profound effect of clean air and sunlight on human bodies became
evident to them and so nudity became a part of their naturism.
Naturism became a more widespread phenomenon in the 1920s, in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and other European countries and spread to the United States where it became established in the 1930s.
By 1951, the national federations united to form the International Naturist Federation or INF.
Some naturists preferred not to join clubs, and after 1945, pressure
was put to designate beaches for naturist use.
From the middle of the 20th century, with changing leisure patterns,
commercial organisations began opening holiday resorts to attract
naturists who expected the same – or better – standards of comfort and
amenity offered to non-naturists. More recently, naturist holiday
options have expanded to include cruises.
Philosophy
Naturism had many different philosophical sources and means many things to different people.
There is no one definition. In 1974, the INF defined naturism as "a way
of life in harmony with nature characterised by the practice of social
nudity with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for
others and for the environment".
Ethical Naturism vs Recreational Naturism
Ethical Naturism vs Recreational Naturism is a concept first introduced by Stéphane Deschênes in the April 2011 episode of The Naturist Living Show Podcast. which attempts to create a taxonomy that classifies the various types of naturists/nudists.
Ethical Naturists are described as seeing themselves as part of a
philosophy with ethical and moral aspects while recreational nudists are
simply participating in a leisure activity that involves nudity.
Gymnosophy and religious nakedness
In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great encountered, in India, wandering groups of naked holy men whom he dubbed the naked philosophers. (Gr gymnos: naked; sophist: knowledge). The philosopher Onesicritus investigated their beliefs and lifestyle. Pyrrho the Sceptic was impressed and incorporated nudity into his philosophy. The Gymnosophists were Hindus, but Jain and Ajivika monks practiced nudity as a statement that they had given up all worldly goods. Nudity was not a new concept to the Greeks as the Olympic Games (founded in 776 BC) were exclusively male and nude events.
Historically, the Adamites, a Gnostic sect, practiced religious nudism.
A religious sect in Canada that immigrated from Russia, the Sons of Freedom,
went so far in the 1900s (1903-1950s) as to publicly strip in mass
public demonstrations to protest against government policies which were
meant to assimilate them. Today, Christian naturism contains various members associated with most denominations. Although beliefs vary, a common theme is that much of Christianity has misinterpreted the events regarding the Garden of Eden, and God was displeased with Adam and Eve for covering their bodies with fig leaves.
The first English naturists adopted the name Gymnosophy as a thinly disguised euphemism for their pastime. The English Gymnosophical Society was formed in 1922 and became the New Gymnosophy Society in 1926; they purchased land at 'Bricketts Wood' to become Britain's first nudist colony. One of the first members was Gerald Gardner, who in 1945 established the 'Five Acres Club' nearby, ostensibly as a nudist club, but as a front for Wiccans, as witchcraft was illegal in England until 1951.
The Digambar, one of the two main divisions of the Jain religion of India, remain skyclad, or naked, though generally it is practiced by males. Digambar means 'clothed with the sky'. Wiccans have adopted this wording and some practice their rituals skyclad.
Naturist writers
- Elton Raymond Shaw was a Methodist churchman and publisher who wrote on the Body Taboo.
- Heinrich Pudor wrote on methods to improve social hygiene in his book Nackende Menschen und Jauchzen der Zukunft (Naked people and the future of Mankind) and then Nacktkultur (Nude Culture). It prescribes an austere lifestyle and nudity.
- Paul Zimmermann opened the Freilicht Park in Lübeck which was open to those who subscribed to Nacktkultur principles.
- Richard Ungewitter wrote Die Nacktheit (Nakedness) which sold 90,000 copies, prescribed a similar Utopian lifestyle, where everyone would be nude, eat only vegetables and abstain from alcohol and tobacco. In his Utopia, everyone was to be Germanic with blue eyes and blonde hair.
- Adolf Koch, a left-wing primary-school teacher, sought to use social nudity to free the people from 'authority fixated conditioning which held proletarians in deference of their masters: parental authority, paternalism of the church, the mass media and organs of law and order. He used Organic-Rhythmic exercises in Berlin schools in the 1920s. In 1932 there were about 100,000 Germans involved with Naturism, of which 70,000 were in Koch's Körperschülen schools.
- Hans Surén taught nude gymnastics to soldiers for five years, and on being forced to leave the army, he wrote in 1924, Mensch und die Sonne (Men and the Sun) which ran to 61 reprints. Later, in 1936, Surén proposed physical exercise and naturism as a means of creating a pure German race and of beauty. In the early 1940s he was out of favour and arrested. By 1945, he had turned full circle and was writing religious texts. Though never a member of any FKK club he was awarded honorary membership of the DFK in 1952.
- Werner Zimmermann was Swiss. He promoted Progressive education, encouraging naked Physical education to eliminate body guilt and to encourage openness that would lift the repression of the human spirit, which he saw as the cause of sexual deviation. The basic position was that the human body, in and of itself, was neither sinful nor obscene. This was adopted into the emerging philosophy that created the modern Western nudist movement.
Naturist ideals
It is generally agreed by naturist organisations that eroticism and blatant sexuality have no place in naturism and are, in fact, antithetical to its ideals. Reasons that have at times been given:
- Ecological or environmental — rapport with the natural world.
- Health — bathing in the sun, fresh air and water (balneotherapy, thalassotherapy, heliotherapy). Sun is a form of medicine.
- Diet — Naturism has at times been associated with claims made for moderation with alcohol, meat, tobacco, drugs; leading to a teetotal, vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
- Spirituality — nudity, well being and direct contact to nature helps feel closer to the universe.
- Pedagogy — children should be respected as equals instead of being patronised
- Equality — clothes build social barriers.
- Liberty — no one has the right to tell others or their children that they must wear clothes.
Naturism and the romantics
Walt Whitman American writer, A Sun-bathed Nakedness:
Never before did I get so close to Nature; never before did she come so close to me... Nature was naked, and I was also... Sweet, sane, still Nakedness in Nature! - ah if poor, sick, prurient humanity in cities might really know you once more! Is not nakedness indecent? No, not inherently. It is your thought, your sophistication, your fear, your respectability, that is indecent. There come moods when these clothes of ours are not only too irksome to wear, but are themselves indecent.
Henry David Thoreau, In wildness is the preservation of the world., Walking:
We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other. To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.
Naturism was part of a literary movement in the late 1800s (see the writings of André Gide) which also influenced the art movements of the time specifically Henri Matisse and other Fauve painters. This movement was based on the French concept of joie de vivre, the idea of reveling freely in physical sensations and direct experiences and a spontaneous approach to life.
Naturism for health
Sunlight has been shown to be beneficial in some skin conditions and enables the body to make vitamin D, but with the increased awareness of skin cancer, wearing of sunscreen is now part of the culture. Sun exposure prompts the body to produce nitric oxide that helps support the cardiovascular system and the neurotransmitter serotonin.
There are also documented psychological benefits of naturist activities including greater life satisfaction, more positive body image, and higher self-esteem. Social nudity leads to acceptance in spite of differences in age, body shape, fitness, and health.
Demographics
- In 1999, the Federation of Canadian Naturists commissioned a national survey on Canadian attitudes towards nudity which found that 8.9% of Canadian have visited or would visit a naturist facility. A further 11.6% have gone or would go skinny dipping in mixed company; that 39% go naked in their own homes; that naturists tend to have above average incomes; that urban dwellers are more likely to be naturist than country dwellers; and that the under 25s are the most likely to be naturists.
- In 1983, the Naturist Society in the United States sponsored a Gallup poll, which was repeated in 2000, which found the following:
| Year | 1983 | 2000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Do you believe that people who enjoy nude sunbathing should be able to do so without interference from officials as long as they do so at a beach that is accepted for that purpose? | 72 | 24 | 80 | 17 |
| Local and state governments now set aside public land for special types of recreation such as snowmobiling, surfing and hunting. Do you think special and secluded areas should be set aside for people who enjoy nude sunbathing? | 39 | 54 | 48 | 48 |
| Have you, personally, ever gone "skinny dipping" or nude sunbathing in a mixed group of men and women at a beach, at a pool, or somewhere else? | 15 | 83 | 25 | 73 |
- In 2005 the British CCBN commissioned a survey of members, which found that, among British people:
| Beach abroad | 29% |
| Beach in UK | 20% |
| Newspaper | 15% |
| Friend | 9% |
| Parents | 8% |
| Conviction | 6% |
| TV/Radio | 5% |
| The Web | 3% |
| H&E magazine | 3% |
| Other | 2% |
| Yes | 58.5% |
| No | 41.5% |
| Often | 22.4% |
| Sometimes | 40.1% |
| Rarely | 18.7% |
| Never | 18.7% |
| Self-catering | 58.5% |
| Hotel | 41.5% |
| Own Tent | 12.7% |
| Hire Caravan | 10% |
| Own Caravan | 8.7% |
| Bed and Breakfast | 6.6% |
| Friends | 4.4% |
| Motor home | 4.2% |
| Own accommodation | 3.1% |
| Hire Tent | 2.4% |
| Other | 3.3% |
In Europe
In most European countries, nudity is not explicitly forbidden.
Whether it is tolerated on beaches which are not marked as official
nudist beaches varies greatly. The only country with substantially
different laws is Denmark, where beach nudity is explicitly allowed on
all beaches, except for two in the far west of the country.
Croatia
Croatia
is world-famous for naturism, which accounts for about 15% of its
tourism industry. It was also the first European country to develop
commercial naturist resorts. During a 1936 Adriatic cruise, King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson stopped at a beach on the island of Rab
where King Edward obtained a special permission from the local
government to swim naked, thereby designating it the world's first
official nude beach.
Finland
Finnish Sauna (1802)
In Finnish culture,
nudism is considered to be a relatively normal way to live. It is not
uncommon to see entire families spending time together naked. Families
may be naked while bathing in a sauna, swimming in a pool, or playing on
a beach, and it's not unusual to see children playing naked in a family
yard for example. Nudity as a whole is considered less taboo than many
other countries.
France
Marcel Kienné de Mongeot is credited with starting naturism in France
in 1920. His family had suffered from tuberculosis, and he saw naturism
as a cure and a continuation of the traditions of the ancient Greeks.
In 1926, he started the magazine Vivre intégralement (later called Vivre) and the first French naturist club, Sparta Club at Garambouville, near Evreux. The court action that he initiated, established that nudism was legal on private property that was fenced and screened.
Randonue in Les Concluses, Gard, 2008
Drs. André and Gaston Durville bought a 70 hectare site on the Île du Levant where they established the village of Héliopolis. The village was open to the public. In 1925 Dr François Fougerat de David de Lastours wrote a thesis on heliotherapy. and in that year opened the Club gymnique de France. In 1936, the naturist movement was officially recognised.
Albert and Christine Lecocq were active members of many of these
clubs, but after disagreements left and In 1944 Albert and Christine
Lecocq founded the Club du Soleil with members in 84 cities. In 1948 they founded the FFN, in 1949 they started the magazine, Vie au Soleil and in 1950 opened the CHM Montalivet, the world's first naturist holiday centre where the INF was formed.
Germany
German naturism was part of the Lebensreform movement and the Wandervogel youth movement of 1896, from Steglitz, Berlin which promoted ideas of fitness and vigour. At the same time doctors of the Natural Healing Movement were using heliotherapy, treating diseases such as TB, rheumatism and scrofula with exposure to sunlight.
Nacktkultur, a term coined in 1903 by Heinrich Pudor, flourished.
Nacktkultur connected nudity, vegetarianism and social reform. It was
practised in a network of 200 members clubs. The movement gained
prominence in the 1920s as offering a health giving life-style with
Utopian ideals. Germany published the first naturist journal between
1902 and 1932.
It became politicised by radical socialists who believed it would lead
to classlessness and a breaking down of society. It became associated
with pacificism.
In 1926, Adolf Koch
established a school of naturism in Berlin; encouraging a mixing of the
sexes, open air exercises, and a programme of "sexual hygiene". In
1929, the Berlin school hosted the first International Congress on
Nudity.
Young East German women at a naturist beach in 1988
After the war, East Germans
were free to practice naturism, chiefly at beaches rather than clubs
(private organizations being regarded as potentially subversive).
Naturism became a large element in DDR politics. The Proletarische Freikörperkulturbewegung subsection of the Workers Sports Organisation had 60,000 members.
Today, following reunification there are many clubs, parks and beaches open to naturists.
though nudity has become less common in the former eastern zone. Germans are typically the most commonly seen foreigners at nude beaches in France and around Europe.
Greece
Public nudity is prohibited in Greece and there are no official nude beaches. There are, however, numerous unofficial nude beaches especially on the islands frequented by tourists, like Crete, Mykonos or Karpathos but also on smaller islands like Skopelos or Skiathos where nudity is tolerated, usually at the more remote ends or secluded areas of beaches.
On the other hand, toplessness is not illegal and is widely
practiced by locals and tourists alike as there are no cultural taboos
against it.
Italy
Public nudity is prohibited in Italy and can be punished with high fines, but in the recent decade, a few regions have created naturism laws to help the tourism industry.
There are only a few permitted nude beaches in those regions, where
nudity is allowed without risking legal consequences. On all other
public beaches in Italy as well as normally tolerated nude beaches, police can potentially impose substantial fines.
On the other hand, female toplessness has been officially
legalized (in a nonsexual context) in all public beaches and swimming
pools throughout the country (unless otherwise specified by region, province or municipality by-laws) in 20 March 2000, when the Supreme Court of Cassation
(through sentence No. 3557) has determined that the exposure of the
nude female breast, after several decades, is now considered a "commonly
accepted behavior", and therefore, has "entered into the social
costume".
Poland
Nude men at the Przystanek Woodstock festival, 2014
In today's Poland naturism is practiced in number of the seaside and inland beaches. Most Polish beaches are actually clothing-optional rather than naturist. One such beach is Międzyzdroje-Lubiewo.
Portugal
The Federação Portuguesa de Naturismo (Portuguese Naturist Federation) or FPN was founded on the March 1st, 1977, at a meeting in Lisbon.
Slovenia
Beginnings of naturism in Slovenia started in the year 1852, when a 29 year old Swiss physician Arnold Rikli visited Bled
for the first time. In the following years he started to promote
healthy way of living, because he considered water, air and light to be the source for his healing therapy. He continued to build spa centers which included light therapy and hydrotherapy treatment.
Spain
Nudist man and textile woman on a beach in Spain.
Public nudity in Spain is not illegal since there is no law banning
its practice. Spanish legislation foresees felony for exhibitionism but
restricts its scope to obscene exposure in front of children or mentally
impaired individuals, i.e. with sexual connotation.
There are, however, some municipalities (like San Pedro del Pinatar) where public nudity has been banned by means of by-laws. Other municipalities (like Barcelona, Salou, Platja de Palma and Sant Antoni de Portmany)
have used similar provisions to regulate partial nudity, requiring
people to cover their torsos on the streets. Some naturist associations
have appealed these by-laws on the grounds that a fundamental right (freedom of expression,
as they understand nudism to be self-expression) cannot be regulated
with such a mechanism. Some courts have ruled in favour of nudist
associations.
Nudism in Spain is normally practised by the seaside, on beaches or small coves with a tradition of naturism. In Vera (Andalusia),
there is a wide residential area formed by nudist urbanisations. Nudist
organisations may organise some activities elsewhere in inner
territory.
Legal provisions regarding partial nudity (or toplessness) are
analogous to those regarding full nudity, but social tolerance towards
toplessness is higher. The law does not require women to cover their
breasts in public swimming, or on any beach in Spain. The governments of the municipalities of Galdakao and L'Ametlla del Vallès legalized female toplessness on their public pools in March 2016 and June 2018, respectively.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the first official nudist club was established in Wickford, Essex in 1924. According to Michael Farrar, writing for British Naturism the club adopted the name "Moonella Group" from the name of the owner of the ground, Moonella, and called its site The Camp.
Moonella, who was still living in 1965 but whose identity remains to be
discovered, had inherited a house with land in 1923 and made it
available to certain members of the New Gymnosophy Society. This society had been founded a few years before by H.C. Booth, M.H. Sorensen and Rex Wellbye under the name of the English Gymnosophical Society. It met for discussions at the Minerva Cafe at 144 High Holborn in London, the headquarters of the Women's Freedom League.
Those who were permitted to join the Moonella Group were carefully
selected, and the club was run by an "aristocracy" of the original
members, all of whom had "club names" to preserve their anonymity. The
club closed in 1926 because of building on adjacent land.
By 1943 there were a number of these so-called "sun clubs" and together they formed the British Sun Bathers Association
or BSBA. In 1954 a group of clubs unhappy with the way the BSBA was
being run split off to form the Federation of British Sun Clubs or FBSC.
In 1961, the BSBA Annual Conference agreed that the term nudist was
inappropriate and should be discarded in favour of naturist. The two organisations rivalled each other before eventually coming together again in 1964 as the Central Council for British Naturism
or CCBN. This organisation structure has remained much the same but it
is now called British Naturism which is often abbreviated to BN.
The first official nude beach was opened at Fairlight Glen in Covehurst Bay near Hastings in 1978 (not to be confused with Fairlight Cove, which is 2 km to the east) followed later by the beaches at Brighton and Fraisthorpe. Bridlington opened in April 1980.
In North America
Canada
In Canada,
individuals around the country became interested in nudism,
skinny-dipping, and physical culture in the early part of the 20th
century. After 1940 they had their own Canadian magazine, Sunbathing & Health,
which occasionally carried local news. Canadians had scattered groups
in several cities during the 1930s and 1940s, and some of these groups
attracted enough interest to form clubs on private land. The most significant clubs were the Van Tan Club, formed in 1939, and continues today in North Vancouver, BC., and, in Ontario, the Sun Air Club.
Canadians who served in the military during the Second World War
met like-minded souls from across the country, and often visited clubs
while in Europe. They were a ready pool of recruits for post-war
organizers. A few years later, the wave of post-war immigration brought
many Europeans with their own extensive experience, and they not only
swelled the ranks of membership, but often formed their own clubs,
helping to expand nudism from coast to coast.
Most of those clubs united in the Canadian Sunbathing
Association, which affiliated with the American Sunbathing Association
in 1954. Several disagreements between eastern and western members of
the CSA resulted in the breakup of CSA into the Western Canadian
Sunbathing Association (WCSA) and the Eastern Canadian Sunbathing
Association (ECSA) in 1960. The ECSA endured much in-fighting over the
next decade and a half, leading to its official demise in 1978. The WCSA
continues today as the American Association for Nude Recreation –
Western Canadian Region (www.aanr-wc.com), a region of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) which itself was formerly known as the ASA.
In 1977 the Fédération québécoise de naturisme (FQN) was founded in Quebec, by Michel Vaïs, who had experienced European naturism at Montalivet. In 1985 the Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) was formed with the support of the FQN. In 1988 the FQN and FCN formed the FQN-FCN Union as the official Canadian representative in the International Naturist Federation (INF).
Mexico
View of the far west end of Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico
Federación Nudista de México
is a members organization with both individual and organization
members. It promotes social nudity in Mexico, and it is recognized by
the International Naturist Federation as the official national naturist organization in that country.
As of 2016, Playa Zipolite is Mexico's first and only legal public nude beach. A "free beach" and unofficially nudist for more than 50 years,
this beach is reputed to be the best place for nudism in the country.
The numerous nude sunbathers, and the long tradition, make it safe for
nudism and naturism. Annually since 2016, on the first weekend of
February, Zipolite has hosted Festival Nudista Zipolite that in 2019 attracted 7,000-8,000 visitors.
United States
A group of naturists at Haulover Park, USA
Kurt Barthel founded the American League for Physical Culture in 1929 and organized the first nudist event. In about 1930 they organized the American Gymnosophical Association. Barthel founded America's first official nudist camp, Sky Farm in New Jersey, in May, 1932. Around 1932, AGA established the Rock Lodge Club as a nudist facility in Stockholm, New Jersey and Ilsley Boone, a Dutch Reformed minister, formed the Christian naturism movement. Naturism began expanding nationwide. Nudism venues were teetotal until 1970,
The American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) is the national naturist organization. Arnd Krüger compared nudists in Germany and the United States and came to the conclusion that in Germany the racial aspects (Zuchtwahl)
were important for the breakthrough (e.g. the Commanding General of the
Army served as patron for nudists events), while in the U.S. nudism was
far more commercial and had thus more difficulties.
In 2008, a young adults group organized as Florida Young Naturists
held their first Naked Bash which has since been repeated 3-4 times a
year, growing into one of the largest young naturist gatherings in the
world.
In 2009, a campaign to promote Nudism in the United States
occurred with an effort by AANR to record the largest simultaneous
Skinny Dip at several U.S. Clubs and beaches, occurring on July 11 of
that year.
In 2010, A new organization formed called Young Naturists and Nudists America which was mostly focused around the younger generation as well as social issues, such as body image. Young Naturists and Nudists America closed in 2017.
In 2014, an organization called Unconstitutional Arkansas was
created to highlight the unconstitutionality of laws that prohibit or
impede nudism. The organization uses Arkansas law § 5-68-204 as a case
study, but claims all anti-nudism laws infringe the constitutional right
to assemble.
In Asia
Sunrise on the beach, Taitung County, Taiwan
Indonesia
In the seventies, nudity on Bali's
remote and deserted beaches was common but with the massive growth of
tourism, this practice has disappeared. In 2002, nudity was declared
illegal on Petitenget Beach, the last beach in Seminyak
that tolerated discreet nudity. Individuals began to practice nudity in
private villas and resorts. Laki Uma Villa, the first naturist facility
to open, was for gay men only. Bali au Naturel, the first adult-only
nudist resort for both genders, opened its doors in 2004. It
subsequently expanded from 3 to 15 rooms and added from two more
swimming pools.
Thailand
Nudism was successfully introduced in 2012 by The Thailand Naturist Association in Pattaya (Chan Resort), and six more nudist resorts have been created all over Thailand.
Barefeet Resort in Bangkok, Lemon Tree in Phuket, Oriental Village in
Chiangmai, Phuan Naturist Village in Huay Yai, and Peace Blue Naturist
resort in Phukett all members of the Naturist Association of Thailand as
well as other international naturist organizations.
Issues in social nudity
Naturism addresses, challenges and explores a myriad of sometimes
taboo subjects: stereotypes and mores relating to the nude appearance of
the human body, mixed sex nudity, personal space, human sexuality, gymnophobia, modesty, physical attractiveness, vanity, objectification, exploitation and consent.
It can thus be controversial. Descamps assembled a list of criticisms
of naturism: it is too cold; normal bodies look ugly—it is only for the
physically beautiful; it is too embarrassing; it is against the laws of
nature, against the law, or against religion; "nudism makes me think of sex"; it is for primitive people or animals.
Naturism can sometimes contain aspects of eroticism, although the
debate about this is often simplified and seen negatively in the media
and the public mind and by many modern naturists and naturist
organisations. Historically the experience and discussion of erotic
feelings during naturist activities such as dance and gymnastics played
an important part in early Germanic naturism and formed part of its
'positive' connection with nature. However, it was when naturism arrived
in the more sexually conservative cultures of the UK and the United
States that the expression and discussion of eroticism within naturism
became frowned upon.
Glenn Smith states, "The main reason younger people are not
becoming naturists is the inability of modern naturism to engage with
the issue of sexuality. While it is true that "naturism became popular
in Germany...as a healthy outdoor lifestyle", this lifestyle also
included a recognition that, socially, nudity could sometimes be erotic.
It was only when naturism arrived in a more sexually conservative
Britain that sexual feelings were censored out to make naturism
culturally acceptable.
This statement is in response to the quote "The world of naturism is in
trouble. Membership is falling, and fewer young people than ever are
getting involved. Has the great nude adventure run its course?"
Smith and King pose the further points in their 2009 peer reviewed paper Naturism and Sexuality:broadening our approach to sexual wellbeing.
Issues for the naturist community
Many
countries and states have laws which adversely affect naturists.
Oftentimes, these laws are intended to address "indecent exposure", but
are so broadly written that they criminalize ordinary, non-sexual
nudity. Some laws, however, specifically target naturism. For example,
in Arkansas
in the United States, not only is nudism illegal (even on private
property), it is a crime to "promote" or "advocate" (i.e. express a
favourable opinion about) nudism.
Any social group is said to go through four phases:
forming, storming, norming, performing, wrote Bruce Tuckman in 1965. In this context one can understand some of the current pressures on various aspects of naturism:
- Naturist club isolation: established clubs excluding new members and rejecting new ideas.
- Paid staff and volunteers: many clubs were established as cooperatives, but the values change when a few members put in the capital or work needed. This became more difficult when some members were paid to act as site managers.
- Infiltration by other groups: for many years clubs had strict "No singles" policies to maintain the family nature of the club.
- Exhibitionists and voyeurs: as unwelcome in a naturist community as in a clothed community.
- Large numbers of clothed people visit clothing optional and nudist beaches and make the naturists feel uncomfortable, "like they've become a spectacle".
- An issue, a decade ago in naturist resorts like Cap d'Agde has been the clash between "fundamentalist" naturists and the échangistes who are sexually open on the naturist beaches and bars.
Magazines
Magazines published by, for or purportedly about naturists can be grouped:
- Magazines published by an "official" national organisation, such as BN (British Naturism), Going Natural/Au naturel (FCN/FQN), Nude & Natural Magazine TNS, gonatural (New Zealand Naturist Federation).
- Independent magazines published for naturists, such as Naturally, H&E naturist and TAN (acronym of The Australian Naturist).
- Magazines that print photographs only or primarily of young female professional models, which are disapproved of by many naturists and non-naturists alike.
Magazines in the second and, occasionally, third grouping feature
naturist editorial and advertising, while some naturists argue over
which magazines belonged in which of these categories – these views may
change as publishers and editors change. Many clubs and groups have
benefitted from magazines which, while not exclusively or even
predominantly naturist in character, made naturist information available
to many who would not otherwise have been aware of it.
(These days, the information and advertising provided online, and the
wide availability of free online porn, has meant the disappearance of
old-style 'skin' magazines presenting significant glamour content
masquerading as or alongside naturist content. Naturist magazines have
to appeal strongly to naturists to succeed – they cannot sit on the
fence between naturism and glamour.)
Some naturists still feel that the worthwhile editorial content in some
magazines is not a fair balance for the disapproved-of photographic
content.
Photography, films and videos
Some
naturist clubs have been willing to allow filming by the media on their
grounds, though content that proved not to be of genuine naturism can
end up being parodied by the media as the norm.
Some commercial 'naturist' DVDs are dominated by imagery of naked
children. Such material can be marketed in ways that appear to appeal
directly to paedophile inclinations, and ownership of these DVDs (and
their earlier video cassette incarnations) has resulted in successful
British prosecutions for possession of indecent images of children. One case was appealed, unsuccessfully, to the European Court of Human Rights.
The precedents set by the court cases mean that possession in Britain
of any naturist image of a child is, potentially, grounds for
prosecution.
Photo shoots, including major high-profile works by Spencer Tunick, are done on public places including beaches.
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