Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism.

Several other terms (“social nudity”, “public nudity”, and, recently, “clothes-free”) have been proposed as alternative terms for naturism, but none has found the same widespread public acceptance as the older terms “naturism” and (in much of the United States) “nudism”.

The naturist philosophy has several sources, many of which can be traced back to the health and fitness philosophy in Germany in the early twentieth century, though the concept of returning to nature, and creating equality are also cited as inspiration. From Germany the idea spread to England, Canada, the United States and beyond where a network of clubs developed. The model of German naturism is to promote naturist family and recreational sports, with the DFK being a member of the German Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB). French naturism, on the other hand, developed on the basis of large holiday complexes. This concept in turn influenced Quebec and then the United States. A subsequent development was tourist naturism, where nudist resorts would be built to cater for the nudist tourist, without any local base. This concept is most noticeable in the Caribbean.

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Naturism is practised in many ways: Marc Alain Descamps, in his study written in French, classified the types as: individual nudism, nudism within family, nudism in the wild, social nudism. To that we can add the militant naturist, campaigning or extreme naturists.

Personal and family nudism

Nudism is often practiced in a person’s home or garden, either alone or with members of the family.

A Canadian survey showed that 39% of all Canadians would or have walked around the house nude. And in British Columbia this is as high as 51%. Individual nudism can also include sleeping in the nude, but this is sometimes seen as a health benefit, due to the fact that, when naked in bed, it can be much easier to relax and fall asleep, resulting in longer and more restful sleep but it can also be for the reason of comfort.

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There are many activities which various people can do in the nude, either as individuals or in groups. These include nude swimming (sometimes called skinny dipping) in a river, lake, swimming hole or other body of water; nude snorkeling and nude diving; nude canoeing or kayaking (sometimes called canuding); nude hiking (sometimes called free hiking or naked rambling) in the remote countryside; nude horse riding in the remote countryside or cycle riding (free riding) in remote areas and in organised groups though cities; as well as other more traditional nudist sporting activities.

Campaigning naturism

Vincent Bethell conducted the The Freedom to be Yourself campaign.

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Many people say that being nude in groups makes them feel more accepted for their entire being — physical, intellectual and emotional. They say that they tend to be more accepted, in spite of differences in age, body shape, fitness, and health. Without clothing, one’s social rank is generally obscured. They report feeling more united with humanity, with less regard to a person’s wealth, position, nationality, race, and sex.
History of social nudity
Nudity in social contexts has been practised in various forms by many cultures at all time periods. Social nudity is most frequently encountered in the contexts of bathing, swimming and in saunas, whether in single-sex groups, within the family or with mixed-sex friends.

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In 1999 the Federation of Canadian Naturists commissioned a national survey on Canadian attitudes towards nudity which found that 8.9% of Canadian have or would visit a naturist facility. A further 11.6% have or would go skinny dipping in mixed company; that 39% go naked in their own homes; that naturists tend to have above average incomes; that urban dwellers are more likely to be naturist than country dwellers; and that the under 25s are the most likely to be naturists.

In 1983 the Naturist Society in the United States sponsored a Gallup poll, which was repeated in 2000, which found the following:

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Naturism addresses, challenges and explores a myriad of sometimes taboo subjects: stereotypes and mores relating to the nude appearance of the human body, mixed sex nudity, personal space, human sexuality, gymnophobia, modesty, physical attractiveness, vanity, objectification, exploitation and consent. It can thus be controversial.

Problems for the naturist community

Any social group is said to go through four phases: forming, storming, norming, performing, wrote Bruce Tuckman in 1965. In this context we can understand some of the current pressures on various aspects of naturism:

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Descamps assembles a list of criticisms of naturism: it is too cold; normal bodies look ugly—it is only for the physically beautiful; it is too embarrassing; it is against the laws of nature, against the law, or against religion; “nudism makes me think of sex”; it is for primitive people or animals.

Most popular criticisms for naturism arise from:

• situations of accurate usage of the term, criticisms of situations where naturists and non-naturists would share the same concerns. For example, naturism is often added as a tag to titillating websites that have naturist content.
• criticisms of activitites which are imagined to be naturist by a writer who has not researched it in the relevant libraries.

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