Sex is everywhere and everything has been sexualised. Most people are confused because we keep confusing them with all possible available thing everywhere, everytime. Segregating people is a way to entertain this confusion so to better control them and sell them crap. Stop putting label on people, welcome and respect everyone, and the world will be at peace. A naked smile goes a long way.

We like the pub analogy Anna, it works really well and it does hit the nail on the head, because for those of us old enough to remember those times, it was clear how unfair it all was, and it is a perfect reflection of what some are trying to do within naturism today.

Matt asks, where does all of this attitude of “Naturism is not decent” come from? It is quite simple really, there are two levels of the modern world which have had a huge impact on the way we view bodies, the first is the global elitists, and the second is large corporate business. Both peddle in body shame and division, and it is easy to blame porn, but that is actually to a degree unfair. Porn is the tool used for division by the elites who own pretty much most of the shares in everything in the same manner that a killer would use a gun. Porn is just a tool, it is those behind its use, that have created this mess.

Body shame sells products, and every advert is a subtle insult that drives insecurity, and once you fully understand that, you can see how advertisers have manged to infiltrate and control every walk of life, through media and most importantly Social Media. People are partly to blame, as we have all been guilty of using social media and through that it has left the internet and woven its divisive messages into real life.

Anna hit the nail on the head, when she mentions, “those who protest are just after the attention” Because that truly is what is at work here. For those with the power, promoting wholesome families does not pay off, if you want to sell more products, you need to divide and conquer, and that means you need to isolate everyone. It has been happening for well over a decade driving division between all of us, shaming our bodies, separating our races, causing frictions between our religions, and separating our genders, and a great deal of it has been achieved through academia, the law courts and our computers, all paid for by huge companies with a finger in every pie, and all earning bigger dividends for its share holders.

The crazy thing in all of this, is that naturism has always been the cure. Naturism once was a sound and confident community that had complete body acceptance, and held itself up to a wholesome idea of a family centred culture that welcomed all. Aspects of it still exist if you look hard enough, it is there in German parks at lunch time, on Spanish beaches, and in sauna culture, behind British hedges, and French and Austrian hiking trails.

Especially in the last decade we have seen what is in many ways alien to naturists happen, we have seen naturism corrupted by those of influence, and as unpopular as it may be to say it, naturism is currently the victim of its own eagerness to please, and the causality of its willingness to appease. The problem with naturism, is naturists, especially at its highest levels.

As hard as it is to do, try and look at naturism from outside, because if our goal is to get real, that is the best way to do it. In the UK, (and we know it is happening in other countries, but we experience it from here) we organise large events through our national organisation. If you look at these events and pull them apart as you would a textile, you do not see nudity for everyone, you see segregation, and also fear.

Nudfest is not really for families, it is branded as such to appease the naturist masses, but let’s be honest, it is in school term, and so therefore excludes families, and it is not really arranged to attract the young, it is more about the older generations. On the other side of the coin, we have NKD which is family orientated, and allows people up to the age of 35 to participate, but discourages people older.

How do the public see that? It is certainly not inclusive, Nudfest is too boring for the young, and NKD says the old are too past it and not to be trusted with the young, how is that even remotely inclusive? The women in naturism campaign says men are not to be trusted, and females need safe spaces, and Everybody, is not even a national organisation event, which has been slid into the bill as naturism, but they cannot use the word naturism, because that is seen as “off putting,” so it is clothing optional and open only to the young, but not children. Just for extra street cred, it is run under the guidance of Stonewall, and so there for LGBT inclusive.

The Gathering is pretty much adult only, as is Blackpool, what does that say to the public, we would suggest, “Children should not be naturists.”

Our National Organisations are creating the division, and then they sit back and scratch their heads and ask, “Why is naturism divided?” The public see all of this, and last year we pointed it out to our national organisation, it did make waves with many members, the response, we got a hell of a lot of flack on its toxic forum, but are we wrong?

We do not think we are, which is why when given the chance, we took it and used our view of naturism based on ANW’s policy of community and equality, and applied it to the events we ran, which were open to all fully inclusive, and turned no one who loved naturism away. NWNS may have divided from us now, but this year, they have a hell of a good reputation and foundation to build on, because everyone who came loved it, and we have had hundreds of messages thanking us for such an inclusive series of events.

We were saddened to see in the members poll that people stay in their national organisations simply because they feel there is a need for them, that is like keeping a dead house plant hoping that one day it might just grow back. Getting real is about being honest, and as unpleasant as that may be, it could be walking away from an organisation that has no real direction and informing them segregation is killing naturism, and it needs to pick a more open direction, and then you will be back. Once again, the problem with naturism “is” Naturists.

We cannot be silent forever and watch naturism be divided up to suit the needs and profits of the few, we are all responsible for ending the division, and that also means all of us need to play our parts. This forum is a great start, talking really helps, and we can also encourage those who want to build something different.

We feel naturim needs to look back to the past and look at what made naturism work for the better of everyone, and there is no greater example as that of Speilplatz, which was the model that inspired all of Naturism in the UK, in other countries, look to your oldest clubs, and really inspect how they were run, who they appealed to and find a way to emulate that in your way of being a naturist. One thing is as clear as day, Segregation cannot continue, and all of us need to use our voices and signal that to the wider naturist community, because that is what we are, a fully inclusive community, and we need to start pointing that out to everyone.

Thanks for that RnR - and yes it is sad that a selection of people stay with their national body purely because they love naturism and feel duty bound to show their support simply because it exists no matter how much it offends them or because of the promise of legal support. Obviously that legal support and the need for it will vary from country to country, but in a country where naturism is basically legal only someone who has done something very foolish would end up in the dock and will the legal support actually stretch to the thousands needed, or will they turn around and say - "What you did to get arrested is beyond naturism." I have read on social media that the legal support is no more than a half hour advice line, but you cannot believe all you read on social media, so the actually reality maybe much better. But there is great sense in what you say, if members of a national body are dissapointed by their national body and just stay with them out of loyalty where is the need to change. Walking away is the best way to actually show love of naturism as they won't change if they do not feel the pressure to change. Then once their policies come back in line with your beliefs of naturism then rush back and join them.

There were quite a few mebers of the survey who said that they had left their national body because of dissapointment so I guess not everyone is blindly loyal, but I do get it, there is this guilty feeling that if you are not paying into your natioanl body then somehow you are being neglectful of naturism in your country. But maybe if you feel they are neglecting you, or naturism, then you have to stand your ground. 

Incidentally of the 50% who were not national body members there reasons were as follows -  18% said cost, 8% said they were not happy with their national body, 12% said that they were not aware of their country having a national body and 62% said that they had no reason to join. Apart from the 12% who have not heard of their national bodies there is a suggestion that many of the others are dissapointed in some way. They do not see it as value for money, or see no point in joining, or are actuall say they are dissapointed. It does suggest that 44% of ANW members (after removing the 12% of the 50%) have considered joining their national body or did join and then changed their mind. If you also consider that 2/3 of those that said they were national body members made serious complaints about them it does suggest they are doing something very wrong. I would like to add that some national bodies did get the thumbs up from their members. I think the message I would take if I was on the board of a national body is to consider the complaints and whether they apply to my national body or not, and if they do look at changes, and if they don't then clap myslef on the back and see the complaints as things to ensure you avoid. 

Here is the overview of what I read in the survey:

The majority want their national body to offer them a nurturing fully inclusive community, they want the national body to be high profile and actively promote naturism in their country, they want their national body to get behind the clubs that are under their umbrella and help raise awareness of what these clubs are doing and send people their way. They want their national body to ensure that a genuine understanding of naturism is created and publicised by them and they want them to combat the distortion and misuse of naturism. They want then to fight for more naturists clubs and spaces and fill the gaps on the map that are lacking and they want then to inspire more and more people to try naturism. They want them to be accountable. They want more families in naturism.

The majority do not want segregation, they do not want a national body obsessed with profit, obsessed with running their own expensive events, hiding, not being vocal, ignoring families, creating adult entertainment that is in danger of sexualising naturism, ignoring parts of the country, running the body for their own glory, ignoring the wants of the individuals, damaging the reputation of naturism. 

I know you cannot please all the people all of the time, and it isn't always easy to do what they are doing, but there are some things that can be easily dealt with. They have a loving and loyal group of members, they need to ensure they make them feel like they matter. They should also not make excuses. If they create adult only events or women only events people will come and so they can appear a success, but that doesn't mean it is right and it doesn't mean people are happy. Naturists will grab naturism where they can, but how many more would grab it with joy and enthusiasm if there was no segregation. How many people go because that is the best on offer? How many more would go if better was on offer? But it is more than that. How many more people would understand naturism better if only family events existed and they were actively and honestly promoted? How many more people would try naturism? And how many more families (and lets face it women and young adults) would also be happier to believe in and trust naturism and try it? How many people are put of a life style when it suggests women need to be kept away from men? How many swingers, voyeurs and exhibitionists are enticed to naturism when it displays the term "adult only." How many people who are new to naturism are put off naturism when they are find themselves at an event with someone who is a swinger, voyeur or exhibitionist? Drunken young individuals getting all emotional and talking about things you simply do not want to hear or behaving in a way that attracts the wrong sort of negative attention. 

When we were at NKD two years ago one evening a young man was very drunk and was talking quite loudly almost hysterically for everyone to hear, including children, with uncensored words and descriptions about how every other single man at the event would come to his tent and expect a random sexual encounter with him. He was not the only bad behaved and inappropriate person at the campsite, but thankfully he was in a minority. He was out of his head, and obviously (we hoped) was highly exagerating the behaviour of others at the camp- but if we create adult only events aimed at younger adults then this is exactly the behaviour we are subconsciously or possibly even consciously endorsing. And it is scertainly the sort of behaviour those non-naturists looking on at naturism will assume is happening. A good mix of older naturists, families, middle aged couples etc will ensure that such behaviour is not only not unwanted and frowned upon but also ensure that people investigating naturism cannot assume it is happening. The only way to keep naturism growing, considered suitable for all and not labelled as something anti-social and perverse that is almost shaeful to admit to, is to ensure that it is inclusive, open to everyone and totally family friendly and welcoming of families. Universal! 
 

I have easy access to the opinion of a sympathetic non naturist as I live with one ! This topic has caused much discussion with my partner . Yesterday she stated something that you have just covered very well , Anna. That is , if she were ever to go to any naturist event , it certainly wouldn't be any that are tagged ' over 18' or 'adults only' for exactly the reasons you have stated.

Your partner is right Matt, because that is how those outside see naturism, and it is something we have tried to highlight for some time now. Naturists need to look inward and understand how they are perceived by the public, which they are not currently.

Anna states the case perfectly, where there are families, people respond in a more respectful manner, and the older generations, just like in extended families and society act to ensure the checks and balances of an event. We would go further as we have stated many times, we feel, younger naturists feel more secure when families are present, and in a sense, the single men tend to act as protectors, especially in the scenarios of say a beach visit. Anyone acting un toward, is dealt with not by one, but several men, and that does provide a show of force that is a deterrent to anyone wishing to cause issues, and also does provide a sense of security to the young.

It is exactly the same as in normal society or at any other kind of club, the dynamics are the same, and within that situation, normalcy is maintained, which does make naturism more appealing to those on the outside.

Rob is a trained counsellor, not only is he trained to watch and pick up on people’s behaviour and body language, he is also trained to listen on a level most of us do not, and he is fully aware of the use of words that people use, and what their real meaning behind them is. He has highlighted what he terms as “Fear Speak,” and we have seen too much of it within naturism, with national bodies using terms like, Protestor, Vigilante, and Militants, which have appeared in literature with a warning to a great many within naturism over the last four years.

It has a very negative connotation on the reading public, and it does create a feeling of inner fear, and it has been used to steer naturism in a very specific direction of late, and yes, we have spoken out against it, because it does divide and separate people, and has within naturism, which is why currently there are a lot of people who feel there should be division within naturism.

It has now created a situation where naturism has been divided up into neat little packages, that actually work against what are the sacred principles of naturism, and Rob has no fear of confrontation, he will talk calmly on any issue, and highlight the dangers if there are any, it is the reason we have spoken out against it to our own detriment, because we are aware we have challenged the system that is in place, but that challenge needs to be made for the sake of everyone.

The way we see it, because we passionately believe in naturism, is that it is now up to every naturist to embrace the true principles of naturism, and speak out for unity, even if that means challenging the hierarchy within naturism, because in order for us to really gain a sense of traction to move naturism forward into a successful future, we need every naturists to sing from the same hymn sheet in unison, so the public get a much better understanding of what we are really all about, and that will never happen if there is division and segregation. Anna makes the point perfectly, we have “to ensure that it is inclusive, open to everyone and totally family friendly and welcoming of families. Universal!”