Naturism
For various sociocultural and historical reasons, the lay public, the media, and many contemporary naturists and their organisations have, or present, a simplified view of the relationship between naturism and sexuality.
[1] "Nudist colony" is no longer a favored term, but can be used by naturists to address landed clubs that have rigid non-inclusive membership criteria.
[6] 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.
[14] In some European countries, such as Denmark,[15] all beaches are clothing optional, and in others like Germany (and experimentally in France)[16] there are naturist sunbathing areas in public parks (e.g., in Munich[17] and Berlin).
Of the 75,000 patrons who attended the 1979 Nambassa three-day festival, an estimated 35% of attendees spontaneously chose to remove their clothing,[24] preferring complete or partial nudity.
A French-speaking Belgian, Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon (1734–1781), used the term to advocate nudism as a means of improving the hygiène de vie or healthy living.
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.
In 1906, he wrote a three-volume treatise with this term as its title, which discussed the benefits of nudity in co-education and advocated participating in sports while being free of cumbersome clothing.
[38] Major promoters of these ideas included Adolf Koch and Hans Surén [de], who was an instructor and manager at the German Army School of Military Physical Education in Wünsdorf.
[39] 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.
[40] In France in the early 20th century, the brothers Gaston and André Durville, both physicians, studied the effects of psychology, nutrition, and environment on health and healing.
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.
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.
Although beliefs vary, a common theme is that much of Christianity has misinterpreted the events regarding the Garden of Eden, and that God was displeased with Adam and Eve for covering their bodies with fig leaves.
[53] Naturism is usually promoted as not being sexual, but there are resorts where social nudity is practised alongside exhibitionism, voyeurism, and other alternative lifestyles like swinging.
[62] Organized naturism in Belgium began in 1924 when engineer Joseph-Paul Swenne founded the Belgian League of Heliophilous Propaganda (usually abbreviated to Hélios) in Uccle.
André and Gaston Durville bought 70 hectares (170 acres) on the Île du Levant where they established the village of Héliopolis, which was open to the public.
Four years later, they founded the Fédération Française de Naturisme [fr] (FFN); in 1949, they started the magazine Vie au Soleil, and in 1950, they opened the CHM Montalivet, the world's first naturist holiday centre, where the INF was formed.
At the same time, doctors of the Naturheilbewegung (Natural Healing Movement) were using heliotherapy, treating diseases such as tuberculosis, rheumatism, and scrofula with exposure to sunlight.
[43] Nacktkultur, a term coined in 1903 by Heinrich Pudor, connected nudity, vegetarianism and social reform, and was practised in a network of 200 members clubs.
[70] 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".
[69] After World War II, East Germans were free to practice naturism, chiefly at beaches rather than clubs (private organizations were regarded as potentially subversive).
[79] In all other public places, full nudity is generally prohibited by civil law and could be punished with fines that have been recently reduced (minimum €51 to maximum €309).
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.
[94] 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.
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.
It is a feature of many summer music festivals, including Convergence,[102] Kiwiburn, Luminate,[103] Rhythm & Vines, and Splore,[104] in a tradition going back to Nambassa in the late 1970s.
[108] Naturists who engage in casual public nudity, even in places where this is lawful, risk being reported to police by disapproving people.
[118] Around 1932, the 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.
Such material can be marketed in ways that appear to appeal directly to pedophile 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.
