We happened across this useful overview of Le Cap d’Agde, the famous nudist resort TOWN!! Located in the south of France, most nudists have heard of this destination but (to our knowledge) few Australians have ever been there!!

Check out this article for a good overview – perhaps consider a trip, as our winter is about to set in!!

In a country that is primarily Muslim, the idea of a nudist hotel is an interesting one – apparently aimed primarily at foreign tourists, there’s even a shuttle bus that runs to the private nudist beach!!

Turkey is probably not the first place nudists would think of visiting for a nudist holiday, but we’re pleased to report that the times seem to be a’changin’!!

Click here for the short article

It would seem that the prudish minority is shrinking, but that doesn’t mean that the nudist community is growing – from media reports, and the use of nudity in everyday life, it seems more likely that the ambivalent majority is increasing!!

The use of nudity in everyday life, be it for promotion or protest, is reaching the point where it barely even rates a mention – we’re already finding we have to go out of our way to find articles of relevance to the community, nudity is not ruffling feathers enough to make headline news!!

And so this article from the UK Evening Standard further highlights how “normal” nudity has become all around us.

To quote from the article:

For Andrew Welch, commercial manager of British Naturism, this growing interest in eschewing clothing is no surprise. “A lot more people are getting involved in the whole idea of not wearing clothes,” he says. “There is more non-sexual nudity shown on television and in the theatre, and taboos are being eroded.”

And that’s the key right there – when it stops being sexualised, there’s nothing interesting or exciting about nudity. It’s just people being people, without clothes. Big deal, right?

Nudity in the context of promotions or protests is really no different to that old favourite marketing trick “FREE BEER!!! Now that I have your attention…” – and with nudity, the viewer is now moving on from the initial attention grabbing moment about as quickly as they do with the “FREE BEER” sign!!

Give the article a read – it looks like the Londoners are going to get closer to commonplace, everyday nudity like other parts of Europe much quicker than we will here in Oz!! But there is hope for us yet!

Some of you may have heard or read about the story of Erick Williamson, the Virginia man who was charged and convicted after a complaint was made that he was nude at home, and visible from the street. The case was interesting because the arguments seemed to revolve around whether the man was deliberately exhibiting himself, or whether the complainant was being particularly sensitive.

Well, the courts have reached a sensible conclusion, and acquitted Erick on appeal (and taking only 20 minutes to make the decision!!).

You can read a bit more about the original case on this link
And you can read the latest on this link

Keep in mind this is a US case – to our understanding, in Australia you are more than welcome to be nude in your house and even your back yard. But you can’t be visible to the street (ie to the public).

We’d like to think that Australian nudists take a common sense approach to these situations – like smoking and religion, just coz you like being nude does not automatically mean everyone else does. Be aware of your neighbours and do everything you can to be considerate. It’s one thing to be accidentally discovered sunning yourself in your back yard when a neighbour pokes their head over the fence, and another matter entirely when you position yourself directly in line of site of their upstairs windows!!

One of our readers reported living next door to a family of 6, with the 4 daughters all being under 14, and their 2-story house overlooking his backyard in the deal – clearly it might be legal to be nude in the backyard, but would it be a good idea?? Everyone probably knows the answer to that one…

Common sense people, we’re nudists, not show-ponies – be considerate of those around us, and you’ll at least be in a defensible position!!

Bit of excitement around April 1 – it would seem that almost every year, nudity or nudists end up in the centre of some April Fools gag, like being nude is such a shock to society that it couldn’t be anything but a joke!!

Which is why we didn’t post this sooner, it was a normal enough article that it didn’t filter to the top of the pile until now!! Anyway, an article was posted on The Border Mail, titled “Nude Beach Planned for Albury” – apparently Albury Council submitted the “secret plans” to State and Federal Govts as part of a funding hunt for developments…

To quote the article:

Efforts by The Border Mail this week to obtain a copy of the submission were unsuccessful but a public servant said there was not much point in seeing it as “it contains only the bare essentials’’.

Boom tish!

But these quotes were much more interesting:

While the council had nothing to hide about the proposal, she agreed some residents might baulk at the idea of sunbakers and swimmers being told that clothing was optional.

“Really there is nothing to worry about a nudist beach that follows the proper etiquette laid down by the Free Beaches Australia organisation,’’ a council spokeswoman said.

“They have rules like ‘no unauthorised photographs’ and ‘nude but not lewd’.

Not bad “comments” in the grand scheme of things, nude beach etiquette is quite core to the philosophy and does result in well-behaved beaches!

There are a couple of comments in response from readers, but nothing significant – and The Border Mail posted a comment confirming it was an April Fools gag. Is it just us, or is there really nothing that outlandish about a suggestion for a clothing optional river “beach”?

You know, there has been cases in the past where April Fools gags have been used as a real technique to float a potentially controversial idea and test the response. In this case, it looked like one against, a few in favour, a few more with general comments/observations, and that was it!! We think it’s consistent with society’s view of nudity in general, the vast majority are basically ambivalent, and there is a tiny minority who might get up in arms!!

Go for it Albury Council, we think this “April Fools gag” is a good idea that passed the temperature test!! And thanks Border Mail for getting such a good idea some airtime!!

(As a side note, we can’t seem to locate Heywoods Bridge, although we suspect it is the bridge that joins Talgarno Rd (NSW) and Hume Weir Rd (Vic) – the best spots seem to be on the Victorian side, but the little island that belongs to NSW could be entirel CO!! Not that you can easily get there, as far as we can see! Can anyone confirm this was the area being referred to in the article?)