It is not an easy nut to crack. I really get it that an event aimed at women may make it easier for women to try naturism in the first instance - which of course is a good thing. But on the other side they are not really experiencing real naturism - as real naturism is surely about understanding that you can be relaxed and comfortable about your body in a naked situation without any concerns about those around you. To really appreciate how healthy and safe and honest and easy naturism is you need to understand that it doesn't matter if the people around you are young and old, male or female, families or couples or singles, black or white, what their sexual orientation is etc. A male only or female only event is almost a little like being in a single sex changing room. 

I think even the existence of female only events is a little in what it suggests to others. It suggests to newbies that there is a safety in being away from men. It suggests that it keeps you away from pests and gawpers. It suggests that naturism should be segregated to keep it non-sexualised. It suggests that mixed naturism is something other than it is. 

I don't think family only events are quite so bad - as they do allow a mix of age and genders - though there is a hint still that children are only safe around other families. The value of naturist children having other children to play with and communicate with can not be undervalued. But there is also a great learning curve and awareness to be found in children getting to associate with people of all sorts of age and background and lifestyle. As long as the event or venue is naturist appropriate it is by default family appropriate.  

The national body in the UK is currently heading in a direction that is creating an attitude of adult only naturism. I can understand that sometimes an event just may not be much fun for children. A naturist pub night for example. But camping events? Charity events? Swimming events? These should be fully inclusive as a default. To not allow them to be is sending out the wrong message to those that do not understand naturism and making it hard for families to feel wanted. 

There are times when it is nice to lie on the beach and have a read without being responsible for children. And occasionally it can be nice to be in a secluded situation for a chat with people who you share things in common with - other mothers for example. But generally a healthy society is a mixed society where we all get on and learn to understand and empathise with each other. In my view that should be the most common way we get to enjoy naturism. 

As I stated previously living in a country where naturism is ilegal my experience is limited, But when I was at the Serenity naturist resort I felt right at home in mixed company and the ladies I chatted with were very open and friendly, no one at any time time felt uncomfortuble. I know there are those (Mainly males) at the larger naturst events that are not we would politely call the best behaved and they have ruined it for the genuine single male, so many places now say "No single males". 

I have also been chatting to a single naturist mom with a 13 year old daughter who is also a naturist they both get really annoyed when the events are only for adults. If there were more family friendly places and events to go to they believe that the kids can only benefit from this as a whole. And that in turn would promote it to newbie female naturists as they would see it as "safe" as it's a family event but open to all.

For us this year, as we have been involved with organising events, we have looked at issues like this one very carefully as we built what is now the model we have applied to the NWNS events.

It is a hard nut to crack as Anna says, because there is a lot to consider, the most obvious being that men outnumber woman in naturism, which has also become a segregating factor. We talked for weeks looking at all aspects of how naturism has been applied across the board, in hope of finding a way that was ballanced and safe. 

We feel, that mixed groups work best, so how do we safeguard any vulnerable people? The way that was solved was behind the scenes rigourous checks, which is a lot of extra work, but for us it appeared that if we wanted our events to be a success, then the ork had to be done.

Our plan was built firstly around the full inclusion of families, odd as it may sound, the addition of children we felt made things safer, ie: adults are less likely to act out where children are present, and then on to that we added the layer of couples, which once again fitted well with a family vibe. Once we had a core group, we then brought in the singles, of which, yes, there were many men. 

We think the most important aspect of how we built this model, was we removed all age restrictions, so our group then became multi generational, and what we happily found was we actually had a very large community dynamic, and it has worked perfectly because the truth is, naturism feels safer, and works better, when it is all inclusive.

At Lammas which was our first real large scale camp, we fopund that most of the pilicing of the event was actually done by the guests, in a sense because we had a sort of large family/ community dynamic, everyone fell into their alloted family roles, the grandads watched the young men, and grandmas gave out advice and encouraged the mums to enjoy themselves, and everyone kept an eye on the children. We have had a few newbies join us to try it for the first time, and obviously we watched over them carefully and again, we have been delighted to see that because we had such a warm friendly environment with a family vibe, they felt safe and reassured and as a result fully enjoyed themselves.

Removing segregation, was actually what brought the success and the safe friendly environment within the events, and we were thrilled at the end of the camp to be met with really wonderful and positive feed back. 

All of this is new to us, it has been a learning curve and a very sharp one, but as we have seen at each event, there has been more couples and more famles attending, and the addition of children has been the icing on the cake.

It is our beleif, that whilst a one sex only group may feel appealing, it does lose some of the vibe of a full naturist experience. One issue we have been delighted with the result of, is the full inclusion of single men, who are to a degree excluded a great deal from many naturist activities due to quotas. Our experience has been that because we embraced them and welcomed them in, they were so delighted, they became a very positive force within the camp. they were happy to muck in and volenteer, they were joyous in all they did which lifted the whole vibe of the event, and they were amazingly respectful, and so happy to be a part of what we have organised.

Our conclusion as we go into Summer Camp in a matter of days, is that the onus is on the organisers to do the safeguard checks long before the event, and when they do it with full rigour (Which many do not) it is possible to welcome all, and have a fantastic, very friendly, and respectful time, which is actually True Naturism at its best.

What is needed now is the NWNS summer camp to be as good if not better than the Lamas camp, then both events need to be blasted throughout the naturist world starting with the BN and all the naturist places that exclude single men but far more importantly exclude kids which also excludes the parents,

I really don't understand their thinking as a whole! I mean if families are not included more how can naturism prosper. 

I know I have oversimplified the issue with my remarks. But we need to stop over thinking it and go back to grass roots naturism. 

NWNS has proved the all inclusive aproach does work. And I do realise it's not as simple as that the organisers did do an awful lot of behind the scenes work to make it so. But as I said they proved it can be done with great success.

Ok, enough said from me, I'll shut up now. 

I enjoy social naturism the most; however, there are times when it's nice to be alone.