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Clothes free movement is a general reference to a cultural and political movement practicing, advocating and defending social nudity in private and public spaces.

The movement includes a range variants including naturism, nudism, Freikörperkultur (FKK), the free beach movement as well as generalized public lands/public nudity advocacy. While there is a large amount of shared history and common themes, issues, and philosophy; differences between these separate movements are sometimes contentious. Practice of the various philosophies also varies regionally and historically. The predominant movement centers around established, family-friendly, non-sexualized variations. The inclusion of the topfree equality movement within this movement is under debate.

The movement also works in parallel to and sometimes influences and is influenced by popular culture as well as individuals and activists (see clothes free people) as well as organizations (see clothes free organizations).

Terminology

• Naturists and nudists sometimes refer to people who do not practice nudity as textiles.
• Clothing optional usually refers to a facility that allows and encourages nudity but tolerates the wearing of clothes.
• A naturist or nudist community (club, resort or facility) usually insists on complete nudity where practicable (to ensure that no one feels inappropriately dressed).
• Topfree refers to the state of leaving chest and breasts uncovered, or to an area that allows uncovered female breasts (this term is generally preferred to "topless", which has a negative connotation in some parts of the world).
• A free beach is not so much one without an admission cost, but one in which people can be entirely free of their clothes.
• A landed organization is one that owns the real estate it is situated on.
• The term nudist colony is no longer a favorable term.
• Non-landed or travel clubs meet regularly at different locations such as clothes free resorts or facilities rented for the purpose.
• A smoothie is a person who shaves off much of his/her body hair. (See acomoclitism).
• In Germany the general movement is sometimes also referred to as Freikörperkultur (FKK), which translates as Free Body Culture.

Disambiguation

nudism and naturism

The terms nudist and naturist don't have the same meaning, and the association those words have varies historically and from region to region. Naturists don't always want to be called nudists, and vice versa.

Should not be confused with naturalism.

Naturism (pronounced "nature" + "ism") is generally defined as the practice of going nude, especially in a mixed social setting.

The term nudist is more widely familiar in North America, however within the naturist and nudist movements, people generally prefer affiliation with one label or the other. Those who practice naturism are called naturists. The exact meaning and association that people have with the terms varies between organizations, localities, and time periods.

The Naturist conversely is sometimes traditionally defined as an individual who prefers to seek a more natural setting for their clothing optional activities - such as the beach, lake, woods or mountains. They are not joiners in the sense of the traditional nudist nor do they often consider their clothing optional activity to be a remarkable thing but rather simply a part of their normal lifestyle. Some political contention exists between the traditional Nudist and the Naturist within the national organizations that represent clothing optional recreation for lobbying purposes; the former seeking a status quo while the later pushes for expansion of beaches and other outdoor facilities and their designation for clothing optional use. Naturists in America tend to be more supportive of public nudity than do nudists, who generally invest more focus on landed and non-landed clubs.

Many people operate under the general context of the formal movements without adhering to either term and without formal associations to organizations. This is common, for example on clothing-optional beaches and clothing-optional activities on public lands.

organized nudism in the US

In the traditional view, the nudist in the US is defined as a person who seeks out organized social settings for the practice of the nudist philosophy. This usually takes the form of membership in a landed or nonlanded nudist club with a well defined system of conduct and social structure. It is touted as a predictable environment and purports to offer the participants a safety factor that comes with enclosed facilities that permit nudism to exist lawfully without the threat of legal action or observation by outsiders seeking to view them for prurient purposes.

Conversely, the naturist is sometimes traditionally defined as an individual who prefers to seek a more natural setting for their clothing optional activities - such as the beach, lake, woods or mountains. Some political contention exists between the traditional nudist and the naturist within the national organizations that represent clothing optional recreation for lobbying purposes; the former seeking a status quo while the later pushes for expansion of beaches and other outdoor facilities and their designation for clothing optional use.

philosophy and practice

Some believe that the human body is not inherently shameful, rather that it is something to be cherished. People who enjoy clothes free activities reject views that being naked with other people is morally wrong (indecent), sexual per se (erotic or pornographic). They argue that nakedness is a natural state, that being nude is to be in your purest form, as everyone was born nude. They seldom consider their clothes free activity to be a remarkable thing, but rather simply a part of their lifestyle.

Social nudity is practiced in many cultures, especially in the context of social bathing, sometimes with mixed sexes. Activities can be indoors and outdoors. Typical activities are relaxation, sunbathing and sports, but some prefer also to be nude while working, etc., whenever the temperature and the social situation allows it (including when one is alone). A nude party (not to be confused with a sex party) may be public (e.g. Starkers Nightclub) or private. Some clothing-optional communities do exist for those who wish to live in a supportive environment.

Practitioners claim not to be primarily interested in seeing others naked (strictly, voyeurism) or by an urge to be seen naked by others (exhibitionism). People participate in clothes free activities for different reasons. Many are convinced that increased exposure to the natural environment, made easier through nudity, can result in numerous health benefits. Sunlight has been shown to be beneficial in some skin conditions and is required by the body to make vitamin D. However, with the increased awareness of skin cancer, wearing of sunblock/sun protection lotions is now part of the culture and recently more education has been carried out to warn of the harm. Whereas nudist parents do not require their children to put on clothes before going outside at a clothes free area, most do require them to put on sunscreen lotion. Overall, those who enjoy clothes free activities often claim that they are more relaxed and in a better state of mind when they shed their clothes.

Being around like-minded people can make interpersonal interactions, such as meeting new friends, easier and many organizations are socially-oriented. Some of these clubs have stricter entrance requirements than some traditional up-scale 'country clubs', including references, a sponsoring member, a trial membership, committee approval and, due to fears about sex offenders, criminal background checks. At the other end of the spectrum is 'unorganized' clothes free events and public lands activities in which there is nothing to join, no one to pay, and only civil, common and criminal law to serve as rules of etiquette. Many people get their first exposure to the clothes free movement through this kind of informal approach (e.g. a clothing optional beach, a friend's place in the woods, a party on the shore or skinny dipping).

History of social nudity

Prehistory

Genetic studies of the human body louse Pediculus humanus, which feeds on the body but lives in and requires clothing, suggests that humans started wearing garments 72,000 years ago +/- 42,000 years. This estimate matches that of the first appearance of physical evidence of clothing-making tools. The species Homo sapiens itself has existed for 200,000 or more years, so the 'natural' condition of humans is nude.

Historical era

Informal nudism has always been practiced. Ancient cultures (the Greeks and the Romans for example) sometimes had quite different attitudes toward the unclothed human body than is common today. In fact, the word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word "gymnos," meaning "nude," because athletics in Greece was routinely practiced naked by its participants.

Nudity taboos are often a holdover from a practical need for body covering, as with temperate or desert cultures, where people initially wear clothing in public by habit because of practical reasons, until it becomes ingrained in the culture itself that this is a requirement.

Objections against being nude are often religiously motivated, even when they start out as a cultural taboo as in the previous paragraph. Some peoples have started wearing clothes only after missionaries argued that it is more civilized. However, there are many devout nudists who attend services regularly and argue that they do not need to shed their morals with their clothes. Also, there is a Christian sect that practiced religious nudism, the Adamites. Although there is no well-defined date in Western society when it became unacceptable to be seen nude in public, the era of Queen Victoria certainly ended whatever remained of it, with nothing emerging until after her death in 1901.

The spread of philosophy and the rise of formal communities

In the early 1900's, a series of philosophical papers was published in Germany that examined the negative psychological impact of self hate of the body based upon both religious and overly negative community views. The basic position that the human body in and of itself was neither sinful nor obscene was combined with a new philosophy to create the nudist movement. The proposition was advanced that combining physical fitness, sunlight, and fresh air bathing with the nudist philosophy contributed to mental and psychological fitness, good health, and an improved moral-life view. The wide publication of these papers contributed to an explosive worldwide growth of nudism, whereas nudists participated in various social, recreational, and physical fitness activities in the nude.

The first known organized club for nudists, Freilichtpark (Free-Light Park), was opened near Hamburg in 1903 by Paul Zimmerman. At about the same time, another German, Dr. Heinrich Pudor, wrote a book titled Nacktcultur, which discussed the benefits of nudity in co-education and advocated participating in sports while being free of cumbersome clothing. The nudist movement gained prominence in Germany in the 1920s, but was suppressed during the early Nazi Gleichschaltung after Adolf Hitler came to power. However, it was later discovered that Luftwaffe (Air Force) head Hermann Göring had single-handedly written his own strict anti-nudity views into the Gleichschaltung. He has been one of its main authors and, in effect, this imposed Göring's views on everyone. Many in the Nazi party though he had gone too far, so the rules were eventually softened a bit. Nevertheless, all naturism clubs had to exclude Jews and Communists and keep all activities well out in the countryside. After the war, East Germans enjoyed nudism as one the few freedoms they had under the communist government. It quickly rebounded in the West also, and today, united Germany has many clubs, parks and beaches for nudism. Vacationing in Mediterranean France at the Cap d'Agde resort also became popular for Germans when it opened in the late 1960s.

In the United States, German immigrant Kurt Barthel organized the first nudist event in 1929, just outside of New York City (NYC), and founded the American League for Physical Culture (ALPC). Social nudism in the form of private clubs and campgrounds began appearing in the 1930s. In 1931, according to a history , a Baptist minister named Ilsley Boone was elected as vice president of the ALPC and gained a nickname as "The Dictator." He also began the American Sunbathing Association (ASA), which according to a decision in Roberts v. Clement, posted on the Naturist Education Foundation site , was organized in 1939 as a successor to the ALPC. Boone led a family atmosphere by prohibiting alcohol at all member clubs. According to the Federation of Canadian Naturists history and the Lupin Naturist Club history , Boone was toppled in 1951 by members dissatisfied with his autocratic style. This, together with Boone's desire to open a new club closer to NYC than others had wanted, led him to form the National Nudist Council.

Elsewhere in the USA, a 1935 advertisement claims Sea Island Sanctuary, South Carolina, was the "largest and oldest" year round resort where nudism could be practiced. Rock Lodge Club, located in Stockholm, New Jersey, about 40 miles (65 km) from New York City started in 1932 and is still in operation today. Nudism first began appearing on the US and Canadian west coast about 1939. Kaniksu Ranch, about 45 miles (70 km) north of Spokane, Washington, opened the same year and is still in operation. In 1995, the ASA renamed itself, becoming the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR).

In Canada, individuals around the country became interested in nudism, skinny dipping, or 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 Tans in Vancouver and the Sun Air Club in Ontario. Canadians who served in the military during the war met like-minded souls from across the country, and often visited clubs while in Europe. They formed a ready pool of recruits for postwar organizers. A few years later the wave of postwar 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 these clubs were united under the Canadian Sunbathing Association, which affiliated with the American Sunbathing Association in 1954. Several disagreements between eastern and western members of CSA resulted in the breakup of CSA into the Western Canadian Sunbathing Association (WCSA) and 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 to exist today as the Western Canadian Association for Nude Recreation (WCANR), 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 Québec. In 1986 the Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN) was formed with the support of the FQN. The FQN and FCN joined together to be the official Canadian representatives in the International Naturist Federation (INF).

Issues

Sexuality

Many non-naturists believe that nudity in a social setting is sexually stimulating and arousing. Some Naturists disagree, claiming that there is more sexual tension in the near-nude environment of a pool or a beach than at a naturist or nudist site.

Naturist and nudist organizations widely maintain and enforce a policy prohibiting sex in public, and many naturist sites describe themselves as family-oriented.

The possibility of getting an erection is a concern often cited by males who are apprehensive of naturism, but naturism do not generally consider this to be a reason for avoiding participation. Erections are not very common because the naturist environment is generally non-sexualized. Some naturists suggest that fear of getting an erection is itself a factor that can prevent spontaneous erections. Should an erection occur one can cover up, go swimming, or take a shower until it subsides. Overtly flaunting an erection is considered by many to be lewd behavior.

Involvement in naturism has not been shown to be harmful to childhood psychological development. Parents always need to be vigilant to guard their children from sexual predators and other concerns. This applies equally to naturists as it does for non-naturists.

Manners

Nudists will wear clothes if the weather demands it. Naturists generally consider themselves to be accepting people, the general idea being simply doing things nude that one would normally do clothed. However, the traditional nudist culture has its own rules of etiquette.

Some Nudists consider it essential to sit on a towel whenever sitting on a chair, bench, or anything else where others might sit, and they consider it very poor etiquette to do otherwise. Likewise, sitting on someone else's towel is also a breach of etiquette. For privacy reasons, there is a prohibition on photography without consent at the majority of nudist venues. Other rules may include a prohibition on pets, weapons, loud music, etc. These policies vary between nudist sites, and nudists recommend that new visitors make themselves aware of the specific rules prior to a visit.

Some nudist organizations do not allow people with body piercings on their premises. (Presumably this rule refers to the foreign objects in the piercings, not to the piercings themselves.) Most, however, accept people of all sizes, shapes and types including those with surgical scars, tattoos or interestingly trimmed (or absence of) hair. Recently some nudist organisations have expressed a preference for members to completely shave or remove all pubic hair as some believe that having pubic hair does not leave that body completety nude. But this is usually left to the members to decide and facial and head hair are acceptable. Many nudist organizations do not allow unaccompanied men,, whereas most nudist organizations not only allow but encourage unaccompanied women to join them. Whether this is hypocritical of a subculture which promotes acceptance is a topic often debated. Some nudist organizations, to avoid discriminating based on gender, enforce a policy of gender balance, meaning that they will allow neither a high male-to-female ratio nor a high female-to-male ratio.

Some nudist resorts, clubs, or beaches have the "undress code" of requiring full nudity at all times (with exceptions, such as when a woman is experiencing menstruation, or certain days/hours for new visitors and cold weather). Most have this policy only for the swimming pool, sauna, Jacuzzi, hot tub bath, etc., with clothing optional elsewhere. Recently, to avoid any possible litigation, some privately owned resorts and clubs in the USA forbid bringing any minor children from other families without written permission in advance. A few even exclude children of divorced parents without the written consent of the other ex-spouse (unless they can prove full custody). Of course, this does not apply to public beaches. If a visitor encourages another visitor to be nude, this may give rise to suspicion that nudity is desired for visual satisfaction, which may be considered inappropriate.

Many nudists feel it is inappropriate for males to openly display a spontaneous erection. However, some believe it should be included as a part of "body acceptance" — a key philosophy of nudists. This has been the subject of endless debate on nudist/naturist Internet forums. If an erection does occur, nudists recommend covering up with a towel, turning over (if lying down), sitting down, going for a swim, or otherwise minimizing the erection's presence until the penis is no longer erect. For some activities (e.g. water skiing or dancing) this may not be immediately practical or even possible, and typical nudist etiquette suggests it then be ignored by everyone. Public nude beaches tend to be less strict on this issue than private resorts. Also, nudists are generally more tolerant of spontaneous erection in pre and post-pubescent boys than in older teens and men.

Sexual stimulation whether direct or indirect is not acceptable, masturbation in public or in the view of others usually strictly forbibben. The direct touching, massaging of another's genitals which could cause sexual stimulation is also usually strictly forbidden. It is usually acceptable to apply suntan lotion to another's body including woman's breasts and buttocks as long as the intent is not of any sexual gratifaction. Organised sexual activity does occur at some private nudist establishments, but mainstream organisations tend to distance themselves from these establishments. Usually established registered clubs have very strict codes of conduct, values and decency.

Politics

• The Sex Party of British Columbia (Canada) would pass legislation requiring all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare to designate areas reserved for nudists.
• The Naturist Lifestyle Party in NSW, Australia "aims to bring naturism fully into the public eye, with view to getting an equitable allocation of public resources to those who support the naturist lifestyle".

See also

• Criticism of organized naturism and nudism
• List of public outdoor clothes free places
• Loxie & Zoot - webcomic
• Compare Modesty.
• Nudity in sport

References

• Story, Marilyn (Sept. 1984) "Comparisons of Body Self-Concept between Social Nudists & Nonnudists" Journal of Psychology 118
• Story, Marilyn (1979) "Factors Associated w/More Positive Body Self-Concepts in Preschool children" Jour. of Social Psychology 108 49-56 56
• Story, Marilyn (May 1987) "A Comparison of Social Nudists & Non-nudists on Experience w/Various Sexual Outlets" Journ. of Sex Research 23 No. 2 p197-211,
• Robin Lewis & Louis Janda (1988) "The Relationship Between Adult Sexual Adjustment & Childhood Experiences Regarding Exposure to Nudity, Sleeping in the Parental Bed, Parental Attitudes Toward Sexuality" Arch. of Sexual Behavior 17 No.4
• Mary S. Calderone, M.D. (1981) in "The Family Book About Sexuality" ISBN 0397013779

External links

General Sites

• The Naturist Campingguide - An extensive list of naturist campsites worldwide
• 205 Arguments in Support of Naturism
• Naturist Action Committee (NAC) - includes US and Canadian laws and legislative bill texts related to nudism, and a newsletter
• Nudist Naturist Hall of Shame - documents the connections between the nudist/naturist movement, child pornography and pedophiles
• Family Naturism
• Naturist Place - General naturist information, links directory, naturist blog
• Bare Beaches - news on nude beaches worldwide, in the form of updates to a book
• World Nudist Beaches - A Map-based Guide to Nudist Beaches around the World.
• Naturismo.org an online naturist magazine
• Reject Shame - on the harm of body shame from a Christian perspective
• Nudist Travel Blog
• Sunclad.com - On how decent naturists should avoid problems with cyber cops carrying out sting operations.

Regional Sites

• NudeCanadian.com - a Canadian Based, Supportive, Informative, Non-Sexual set of Resources Including Very Active Forums
• Bare Britain - nude beaches in the UK and Ireland

• Nudity
• Recreation
• Social movements