When you think about nudism there are certain countries and regions that come to mind. Places like Germany are renowned for having nude sections in city parks, and a very liberal attitude towards stripping off. Australia’s climate is perceived to be suitable for year round nudity (it’s not). Alaska is not somewhere that I would imagine has a great nudist movement. The northern European countries have a strong nude sauna culture despite their wintry conditions.
Roaming the profiles on Hangoutnude, as I do, it struck me just how many people in the UK are nudists. I would say they are over represented in terms of percentage of profiles, especially for an area with weather so conducive to rugging up and staying warm and also not having the culture of saunas to fall back on.
London has nude night club nights like Club Starkers and Naked and a host of others, there are nude swim clubs, the bathing pavilion at Hampstead Heath is packed with naked sunbathers within it’s walls on a nice summer day. How has this come about? Why is there such a popularity with nudism in a cold country like Britain? I think it’s great but haven’t got my head around it.
As someone who has lived in London, but the furthest thing from British, let me give you my Jane Goodall-esque observations. British society was arguably one of the most sexually-repressed in modern culture, up through the end of the second World War when they suddenly had immense contact with Americans and Canadians who they considered hyper-sexual (the reality was quite the opposite, but they only had the soldiers to draw from example). Add to this, in the 50′s and 60′s once the UK started moving closer and closer to the rest of Europe the younger generations saw how closed and repressed the generations were before them in comparison. So, today’s UK is extremely sexual, but in an odd and almost “pervy” way in that it’s almost as if the culture itself is trying to make up for 200 years of sexual repression.
Furthermore, on TV, Newspapers, Music etc it’s all about who is having sex with whome, what kind of sex, who is getting caught etc. Everything has a sexual connotation to it; especially nudism. Hampstead heath is still probably the biggest and most notorious gay cruising area in London– the same sun bathers in the daytime are hooking up in the forrest near the arboretum when the sun goes down. So, the disproportionate number of Brits is simply due to the fact that they see nudity as titilating and a possible prelude to sex (or at least getting to watch it), whereas other Europeans go naked just because. In other words, it’s a reality like wearing a hat on a cold day, and not a fetish, like it is for the British.
london also has a naked sauna – no towels required – http://www.the-lockerroom.co.uk – staff go nude too!!
I love the way you describe it as the ‘bathing pavilion’ on Hampstead Heath. That creates images of a grand building, rather than the tin shack that it actually is, squashed in beside the changing room! hehe
And the most people I have ever seen there is 10 at a push… and how many of them are British is another question???
I would’ve thought that northern Australia would be ideal for year round nudity