A post on one of the forums alerted us to an article on The Naturist Society (www.naturistsociety.com) regarding the gender gap that exists in the naturist community. Everyone has noticed it - the distinct lack of females interested in the nudist lifestyle… or is it? Some might argue it’s actually a surplus of males, or perhaps there are plenty of females who simply won’t leave their homes to intereact with the community…

Whatever it is, the consequences have been felt by many (mostly males), and resulted in plenty of discussion all around the world.

Check out the article - Click here to read more - it does have a distinctly US perspective, but the issues are generally the same for all of us

It’s been a quiet few weeks on the beach side of things. The SurfCoast Shire put out an informal word (via emails to a couple of our persistent reps!!) that they’ll be inviting interested representatives to take part in their consultation process, but we’ve heard nothing since then. The State Government is basically in caretaker mode as we rapidly approach the election, so it’s unlikely we’ll hear much more on that front. And we’ve just had snow this week in a few places just two weeks out from the start of summer!!! What is the world coming to?

So apologies for the site updates being slow, but there really hasn’t been anything to report. To make amends, we did locate a couple of interesting spots of news around the traps, which you might like to check out!!

NATURIST EDUCATION FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEF/ROPER POLL 2006
A nationwide poll was conducted in the US on the topics of skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing, and the results were very interesting. Apparently, 74% of those surveyed supported nude bathing on designated beaches!! Click here to read more

BrokenLeftLeg continues analysis of Cr Humphrey, and all things political
We’ve become a real fan of BLL here at fbanavic.org. It’s nice to see someone who can clearly see through the bluff and bluster and is willing to say something about it!! BLL has even been threatened by the local rag (the Geelong Advertiser), who planned to “out” his identity.

We highly recommend you check out his Blog, it is a fascinating read (Click here for the site)

And if you just want to see is various comments on Cr Humphrey and the Surf Coast Shire, we’ve made it easy for you to get straight to the details!! Click here to read and laugh

Our little weather-o-meter down on the right side of this page is telling us Saturday is going to be cool 18 degrees. Weatherzone is saying it will be 20. Both are in agreement that it will be a bit chilly on the beach for too much nude sporting activity.

Feedback on the forums has suggested we delay the beach cricket day until later in the month when the weather picks up a little more. However, a few of us are still going to get along just to say hi, and chat about the issues facing the beaches and discuss ideas.

If you want to come along for a walk on a nice beach, or a chat with others from the community, please make the effort to stop in and say hi. We’ll probably be clothed, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t nudists - and it is a “clothing optional” beach after all!!

An article appeared in the Werribee/Hoppers Crossing today, by Kirsty Ross, titled “City must face” (Click here to read). Kirsty has written some nicely balanced stories in the past, and this one sticks to the facts - Wyndham has spent some money cleaning up the access and improving the general area, and may have done so on the assumption that they wouldn’t get any resistance to revocation of the clothing optional status.

Interestingly, Wyndham CC’s motivation appears to be related to tourism and redevelopment opportunities - both areas that the nudist community supports, and can integrate into, if there had been some consultation!! This holds true for all the beaches and the three responsible councils - all you had to do was talk to us and we could have actually worked on achieving mutually beneficial objectives!!

One day we hope the councils will realise that clothing optional beaches are identical in their requirements to the clothed beaches, the only difference between the two is the smallest amount of fabric. And a piece of clothing does not change the requirement for well maintained and managed facilities, appropriate monitoring and responses processes, and the protection of the legitimate users from the undesireable behaviour that occurs on ALL beaches, in beach carparks and toilet blocks.

Thanks to Rob for his comments, you’re right on the money as usual - check out the article if you haven’t done so already!!