Since our last post regarding the nudist youth revolution that our community needs, there have been even more articles posted on the topic! Mostly in the US, these articles all largely say the same thing – the youth are the future of nudism, and that future is unlikely to involve formalised clubs, fixed club locations, or “memberships” per se.

Check them all out, definitely worth the read (particularly for all the nudist traditionalists):

• Nudist Movement Seeks Next Naked Generation
• Younger Nudists Avoiding Old-Style Resorts
• Seeking Young Nudists: Aging Naturists Recruit New Generation
• Another Change in the Wind?

A while ago, we here at FBANAVic were discussing whether it was going to be enough to simply set up a Facebook page, to be a part of the youth demographic (not that we’re “old” here, us 30-somethings have teh skillz to maintain this site after all!!) – the reality is that social media is the tip of the youth generation iceberg! In order for social nudism to be acceptable in society, it needs to become commonplace and de-sexualised. Social media is helping with spreading interest and awareness, but the fact that most “participants” in nudism do so behind closed doors or in their backyards means it may never see the mainstream (particularly in Australia).

The youth revolution is a good thing – current traditional approaches are clearly not going anywhere fast, so surely anything different must be a positive?? We’re not sure Australia will even see the kinds of nude social events that happen in the US and Europe (such as nude dance parties, etc), but we suspect this country will head in a similar direction!

Thoughts?

Nudism globally is in a bit of a crisis – not a new issue perhaps, since we were writing about it a couple of years ago. But there has always been an underlying current of concern within the traditional nudist ranks – a recognition that the nudist demographic was aging, and the new membership uptake was not following at the same pace. It’s simple maths – more “official” nudists are dying than new “official” nudists are joining! And within that statement lies the crux of the problem – it would appear that there are plenty of people who are happy to be nude, and not many that consider themselves to be “official” nudists!

There’s been a recent flurry of news articles around the world talking about nudist communities and the challenges of attracting the youth demographic. And there’s been a number of articles about a little bit of a youth nudist storm brewing, in the form of Young Naturists America (YNA) and the other new youth players on the scene such as Vita Nuda.

We’re not going to go into a lot of analysis of these articles, you really need to read them yourself – and believe us, they are worth the read! Why? Because the Australian nudist/naturist scene is in exactly the same boat, on a smaller scale. We don’t get 5,000 nudists to our beaches on a weekend like they do on Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook (NJ), but you can be sure our “official” nudist count is dwindling! And the Australian challenge is that we do not have the groundswell momentum that seems to be happening in the US with the youth nudists – in fact, we’d be hard pressed to identify if the youth demographic in Australia is getting their kit off at all, anywhere (beaches or otherwise!).

Check out the articles here:

• America’s Nudists May Be on the Verge of Extinction
• America desperately needs more young naked people
• Wearing Only a Smile, Nudists Seek Out the Young and the Naked
• Despite Recent Clashes – Young Naturists America Is Gaining Momentum

Back in January of 2007 (over 4 years ago!), an article was written but never published which did a high level analysis of the state of nudism in Australia. It was never published because others in the community thought it a little too blunt (this writer included!). Over 4 years later, we now wonder if that analysis should be published – if anyone wants to leave a comment suggesting they would like to see it, we’ll put it up. Our expectation of any feedback on this article at all is basically zero, like most articles before – we know from the site analytics that people are visiting and reading, but the participation rates are appalling!! Surely a sign that our little community is in dire need of an overhaul?

Check out the poll on the Young Naturist Association International (YNAI) – at the time of writing, there was almost 1600 votes in a poll asking “Is youth the future of the naturist lifestyle?” – an overwhelming 87% said youth is the future!! So what are the national associations (ANF and FBA) doing about it? What are the clubs doing about? Do the youth nudists even care about the structures that are in place nationally?? Would the youth nudist demographic even notice if the national structures and clubs ceased to exist?

Australia needs to sit up and take notice of the activity in the US and Europe – their nudist communities are larger, stronger, and have a much greater presence in both nude and textile society. There are lots of lessons to be learned, and the situation won’t improve itself!

Great article in The Age, titled Naked Planet: Going Nude Around the World. It talks about the notion that people tend to be more willing to get nude overseas than at home!! Amazing but true it would appear… According to the author, Ute Junker:

Personally, I find it’s not just my inhibitions I shed when I’m abroad: it’s also my clothes. Somehow, my getting-friendly-with-the-locals routine often seems to involve some degree of nakedness.

Ever noticed when you are on a holiday that you tend to try and shake off the everyday routine by doing things the more adventurous you would do without hesitating?? There’s a little bit of blame placed on the Finns for their part in all this – they came up with the great idea of the communal sauna, and there we are!! Ute concludes in the article:

When you’re travelling, there’s no one to judge you, so you can play by your own rules. You relax enough to become the person you’d like to be, not the person circumstances have made you. You shed the baggage you usually lug around with you – and as any frequent traveller knows, travelling light makes any journey much more enjoyable.

At the time of writing this update, 57 people were reading the article, and 29 comments had already been posted!! It’s a great article and well worth the read – and if you think about it, Australia is the “overseas” for people visiting us, so why don’t we help them shed their inhibitions here!! If you come across nude tourists at your regular beach/club/pool, make them feel welcome!! And, as always, remember the etiquette!

Nudism has always suffered a little with a (perhaps stereotypical) view by society that it’s mostly populated by old guys, and is a dying institution. But this is not so – certainly nudism is changing in a variety of ways, and there’s no doubt that the way nudists interact with textile society is evolving as well.

A couple of the drivers towards positive change is the requirement to enlist the support of the next generation of nudists. While the 30-45yo club is somewhat reasonably represented, the 20-35yo crowd are really the future of this community.

So it was with delight that we discovered the Young Naturists and Nudists America have created and launched an iPhone app!! Brilliant – many of us here are iPhone users, so an app that allows us to

find nudist and naturist events , parties , meet-up groups , beaches , groups, organizations and destinations anywhere in the world at a click of a button

is a pretty cool idea! Particularly since such an app has the potential for much wider use (integration with other sites/services like Facebook and meetup.com, etc)

But the excitement was quickly dampened, when a visit to the iTunes store to check it out revealed that it is going to cost $8.99 for us Australians ($6.99 in the US). Nine bucks for an app that searches for something, provides some detail and then draws a map? Isn’t that what Google does?? Sure, Google’s results are not as specific to nudists, but still??

I hope they do a bit more analysis and quickly realise that the best way to get their app out there is to make it attractive to the target market. iPhone app buyers won’t pay that kind of money for an app unless it does something that cannot be done any other way!!

As a side note, administrators of this site and probably those involved in the Australian Free Beach Association and the Australian Naturist Federation would probably be interested in getting involved, and perhaps assisting with keeping the Australian content fresh. It would make the app much more attractive to this market!

A couple of interesting articles came across our desks today, both of which are well worth the read!!

First off, The Lonely Planet has an article titled “Best Places to Get Naked”, and covers off a lot of interesting places around the world. If you’re planning that nakation, this article is well worth a look!

Yesterday, a small reference to Point Impossible was made in The Sunday Age “M” (weekend magazine) – the article, titled “The Beach is Back” indicated that Point Impossible is the best nudist beach!! We’ve been unable to locate an online version of the article, so there’s a scan of the relevant section below.

Check them both out, well worth the read!!