Taking Naked Living out into the Outside World

Some parts of the Ridgeway are quieter than others, but there are usually other walkers about

The White Horse is one of Britain's most recognisable landmarks, and one of its most spiritual

At the London WNBR in 2018

We love naked living. What we love about it is the freedom: naked living makes us feel free. But what if we were free to live naked out of the confines of our homes and designated "nudist" spaces—the nudist beaches and the naturist clubs? Until now, lovers of naked living have been obliged to largely confine their lifestyle to spaces conceded to us by textiles, by way of a sort of tacit agreement.

The time for hiding nudism away behind high walls as though it were shameful, or an embarrassing secret, is over. It's time to take naked living out into the outside world and show people that there are a lot of us out there; to let them witness the joy of naked living for themselves; and to prove to them that naked living is a much more serious and complex lifestyle choice than the one the media likes to portray in their "cheeky" articles in which readers see "much more than they bargained for".

It is our dream that as well as in clubs, resorts and other "official" naked spaces, we can be free to enjoy naked living in the outside world. We would like to swim, walk, cycle, run and enjoy ourselves in natural public spaces without the fear (albeit very mild) of any backlash, just as people do while wearing clothes. As lovers of naked living, it is us that need to be taking our lifestyle out into the outside world; no one else is going to do it for us.

And this has already begun. There are events all over the world where public nudity is present outside official designated spaces, i.e. in normally non-nude places – including the WNBRs (according to estimates, there are about 70 annual events across the world), at a growing number of festivals (including Glastonbury, Burning Man and Shambala), the Great British Skinny Dip, NEWT, the Westfälische Naturistentage and the relatively recent Día al Desnudo in Mexico.

But these are annual, one-off, events; as opposed to year-round, constant opportunities for body freedom in non-naturist, public settings. And these also exist – some countries are more advanced in hosting the everyday occurrence of nudity in public spaces than others: we have the wellness centres in Germany and Austria, the onsen (separated genders) and konyoku (mixed-gender) baths in Japan, FKK areas and the Naturistenwegen in Germany (designated, but in open, public spaces), saunas in Scandinavian and some Eastern European countries and even White Spring in Glastonbury.

A sneaky way nudity has been visible in public for centuries is in the arts. It has been given licence to exist by kings and bishops since the early Renaissance, and they and their courts have enjoyed depictions of nudity in their everyday lives ever since. In the Vatican collection alone, there are tens of thousands of nude paintings, murals and statues. We need look no further than Michelangelo's Last Judgment and his ceiling frescos in the Sistine Chapel, or the Belvedere Torso, the Colonna Venus, The Apollo of Belvedere and a long et cetera of gods, saints and virgins, that decorate the rooms and corridors of the Vatican and other palaces across Europe.

To the present day, nudity is accepted in art to a greater degree than in real life. We see countless new nude sculptures, paintings and photographs hitting the art scene on a continuous basis. The work of Spencer Tunick is especially interesting for nudists, as he relies on naked people for the realisation of his artistic visions, and it's often, although not exclusively, naturists that step up to assist in bringing these visions to fruition. It can be said that the mise en scène is almost as important as the finished piece (if not, more so).

We can safely say, therefore, that nudity is present almost everywhere we look, but still mainly limited to controlled environments, and often frowned upon in normal, everyday situations. Nudity requires a surrounding framework to give it licence to be visible in society. We believe the time has come to drop this charade, and to take nudity out into the outside world, both with organised group activities and on an individual basis. This is already being done, but we need more.

Our clothed counterparts don't need a club, or an organisation, or special permission to justify simply going out and enjoying themselves, and neither should we. Legally, we are free to go out naked hiking, wild swimming and nude sunbathing on beaches and river banks, and a lot of us already engage in these activities, but we need more people doing it, we need to make it commonplace. There is an appetite for this, as we see time and time again with well-attended museum and gallery visits (two recent naked viewings at the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart were completely sold out) and other naked events, such as naked dinners, garden visits and boat cruises. All these initiatives are just the sort of thing that's needed, but we need still more, and more often!

Whether it's group events or on an individual basis, the time has come to raise the bar. Naked hiking has become a very popular activity in the past few years, with walks organised by BN and groups such as NatRam, as well as individuals taking the initiative and heading out on their own or in small groups. Like wild swimming and beach visits, naked hiking is a perfect activity for naked recreation, as it's natural and healthy, and gets us out into nature and the open air. 

We have done our fair share of naked hiking, and one of our favourite UK walks is along the Ridgeway, with visits along the way to points of interest like the White Horse or Wayland's Smithy. We don't encounter negativity towards our nudity, and most people we meet either exchange a greeting or are positively enthusiastic about what we are doing. This should be encouraging for anyone wishing to try naked activities outside the normal designated areas, and of course the more of us that do, the more it will be accepted by the rest of society. It wasn't legislation that moved men and women from wearing full-body swimsuits for bathing to where we are today; it was public appetite for smaller costumes and changing attitudes.

Until now, naked incursions into the outside world have on the whole met with a good degree of success, which is an encouraging start. Now we need to be even more visible outside designated "nudist" zones; we need to be seen in the outside world far more often, and it's our suspicion that the more this happens, the more others will join in.

Naked at Wyland's Smithy

There's nothing quite like a naked walk in the English countryside in the summer

There's nothing quite like a naked walk in the English countryside in the summer