Do naked protests, bike rides, charity strips and celebrity nudity in support of a cause help naturism as well?

I believe that naked protests, bike rides, charity strips and celebrity nudity in support of a cause emphasize the sensational deviance from societal norms to attract attention and have little to do with Naturism.

Protests are designed to create attention and kick up a stir. So, on the surface they have little to do with naturism. But I would say events like the WNBR and the Summer Solstace event in Portland,OR draw so many people who are obviously comfortable being naked, that these events can promote the naturist lifestyle. Another one is the Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco. Yes, there are some nude people there probably stripping for the thrill of it, but there are naturists who are obviously very comfortable being nude and this sends a vey strong message that living a naturist lifestyle is not as outlandish as most people think.  

It probably really depends on the actually event or protest and the people involve. Some charity runs for wildlife surely cannot do much harm. Like any protest if people misbehave then it reflects badly on the issue involves and nothing is learnt at all.

During research for ANW I came across events/marches that at first look seemed naturist but then on second glance were clothing optional and often incorporated kinky and revealing clothes rather than nudity. In my mind clothing that exposes genitals but covers up other parts of the body do more harm to naturism as they are making a point about exposing specific parts of the body - it is just the other side of the sword to being completely naked except for a small piece of material covering the genital or nipples up. The fact that this clothing is is also linked to masochism doesn't help. I am sure people have fun at these events but they can sure do no good towards attitudes to naturism if the clothing optional idea is connected in peoples heads. 

Okay, so suddenly we are sort of in the middle here, so we will approach this from our own mind set.

We took part in WNBR because we do actually try to live a sustainable life, and we do cycle, Rob especially has done a huge amount of tour cycling in the UK and Europe, so he is aware of the safety needs. Saying that, we are naturists, and also very big advocates for body positivity, we are sure if you read the article, we wrote for the public articles on this site you will understand why. Is WNBR or some of the other events that include nudity political?

Possibly, but honestly, we do not care, we have no desire to become involved in the politics of people, what they believe and support is their belief, and we have no judgement around that. We support naturism, and the right to be allowed to be naked, in this case it was public, and that is why we were there. Not only did we undress, we also spoke to people who we not going to be involved in the ride, we talked to several bystanders. 

It was fascinating to see the other side of the coin, as we explained our thoughts and feelings, and our joy of naked freedom within our lifestyle. We knew we would not convert these people, we knew they would not rip off their clothes and join us, but we hoped, that in the future when confronted with nudity, they would not rush to judgement. What we did was enlighten them, and in doing so, that is another person who understands us, and will allow us without comment in the future to enjoy our naked life.

Nudity is used to shock simply because it is not something we see every day, and actually there is a tradition of naked protests that goes back over a hundred years. From our own view point, the way we see it, is the more people encounter nudity in real life, the more desensitized they will become, and that was part of our aim on the WNBR, to literally show our bodies, so others will gradually feel lees and less shocked by it.

We honestly do not care if there are no new naturists, as long as those left who are not, do not try to prevent those of us who love being naked, from being so, it would be great to see other who watched us join in next year, but that was not our soul aim. We do not like people sexualizing naturism, that is a harmful road for us all, and gives the very wrong message to people, and we were pleased on the bike ride no one was doing that. WNBR as we found out, contains a lot of  full time naturists, and they feel as we do, that naturist activities need to be conducted within the rules of this community, it gave us a great sense of ease.

During the ride, thousands of people got to see 287 naked people on bikes, they cheered and shouted out messages of support, those people may never become naturists, but we are pretty sure, they will not try to stop us from being so either, and that really is the point of why RnR were there, to send out a relaxed and positive none political message.