Greater public acceptance and legalisation - the path forward
Have seen many posts (directly and indirectly) with ideas on how to achieve greater public acceptance and (I assume) legalisation of public nudity. Seeing these ideas is great and they have ranged from taking a petition and business case to government through to more of us wearing more revealing clothing. After a major battle to save a clothing optional beach in one State and the loss of one in another, and no real advance on legal reform we have to accept that things need to change.
My view is that the path forward to greater public acceptance and ultimately legalisation has two major objectives and strategic planks that first need to be laid down:
1. changing how the non-nude community see the 'public face' of the nude community; and
2. plans and ways to grow public awareness of the various forms of nude life and what it truly means
I have blogged and posted elsewhere that the common held view of the nude community is that its all about 'dirty old men'. And who can blame the greater public for believing this. Our community has an overwhelming appearance of being almost exclusively western European extracted middle aged males. Hop online or go to a clothing optional beach and guess what you'll see - an overwhelming representation by these folks (and that includes me btw). Almost all political endeavours (eg saving a clothing optional beach) are led by men too.
In 2023 the 'face' and leadership of our community, like all other organisations and communities, can only advance by having much greater diversity in its leadership and appearance. Western European extracted middle aged males in our community need to provide, create and support others, especially women the with the opportunity to take leadership and participate more in our community. I took the initiative last year and created a Group on here that has an objective of being gender balanced. This is not even a small step but at least I have lifted my foot in the right direction.
Websites such as this (TN) do a wonderful job in 'singing to the choir' (a bit like I am doing writing this) - but very few if any non-nude community folks ever see what we write and discuss. The same thing happens within nudist resorts and other nudist facilities.
It is my observation though that nothing gains greater increases in participation in the nude community than publicly legal nude events. Nude swims here in Australia attract more entrants each year, and even if a participant is publicly and socially nude for only an hour at least they have the opportunity to experience the freedoms of nudity in a safe and legal way.
Some will say we need another pandemic, as that certainly increased nude community participation...albeit some of that participation has now abated as folks return to the office and the events that haven't been held (eg World Naked Bike Ride here in Brisbane) haven't been held for some years and arguably due to the pandemic. So perhaps what we gained on the 'hurdy-girdy' we lost on the 'swings'.
Most importantly though we need to create opportunities for the non-nude community to interface with us - our history, our arts, our philosophies, our people and to do so via real humans. Like all communities we need to have a place where this can happen where non-nudes can either be clothed or not and experience our nude life.
We have to accept that non-nudists judge us by what they can't see and mostly by what they think we are all about. Non-nudists in most part are not going to 'gird up their loins' and go nude at a clothing optional beach nor are they going to visit a nudist resort. Most nudist websites are also subscriber/membership based. So non-nudes really have no visibility of us and what we are about. We can change this by creating a space where non-nudes and nudes can meet - perhaps a centre for nudity!
As always happy to hear other's opinions and ideas.
I think definitely need to be more planned events, nude swim nights, of which there are a few, naked shopping nights, have happened but not many, the plazza shopping centre in Oxford St, did it back in 2004, maybe some pubs could run naked quiz night, or naked karreoke, while these events particularly if we'll advertised/ publicised, might go some way to increasing awareness of naturism, I suspect 99% of people attending will be naturists and will do little to normalise nudity in general society, there will still be an us and them approach, IE, this is a nudist event so it's not for us...
Events like the naked bike ride are better, if you've ever seen the amount of people that come out to line the route and watch, goes someway to dispell the myth we hold that textiles are offended by nudity, soo many of them clearly are not,
As you say, they have little or no window into our world, so we are going to have to venture into there's wherever and whenever possible because even the idea of some sort of centre, with naturist or nudist in its name( which it would need to have ) will probably be ruled out by most textiles as a place to visit,
I think definitely need to be more planned events, nude swim nights, of which there are a few, naked shopping nights, have happened but not many, the plazza shopping centre in Oxford St, did it back in 2004, maybe some pubs could run naked quiz night, or naked karreoke, while these events particularly if we'll advertised/ publicised, might go some way to increasing awareness of naturism, I suspect 99% of people attending will be naturists and will do little to normalise nudity in general society, there will still be an us and them approach, IE, this is a nudist event so it's not for us...Events like the naked bike ride are better, if you've ever seen the amount of people that come out to line the route and watch, goes someway to dispell the myth we hold that textiles are offended by nudity, soo many of them clearly are not,As you say, they have little or no window into our world, so we are going to have to venture into there's wherever and whenever possible because even the idea of some sort of centre, with naturist or nudist in its name( which it would need to have ) will probably be ruled out by most textiles as a place to visit,
Completely agree with your views. I like the various nude events, which can be localised and low key too, that you mention. Albeit Karaoke - I'm not certain all nudies can sing!
Your observation and point about non-nudes coming out to watch the WNBR is interesting too. I think its a mixed bag of reasons why non-nudes line the route, for some it would be:
* absolute curiosity and a want to join
* Have a perv
* Possibly see who they know and can remark next time they cross paths
* Enjoy the enthusiasm even if they don't wish to join.
Its also interesting to see how many folks join Spencer Tunic's projects too - and I wonder how many of them were previously a non-nude
Its also interesting to see how many folks join Spencer Tunic's projects too - and I wonder how many of them were previously a non-nude
Or the well- attended annual Winter solstice swim in Hobart. (Compare those numbers with how many Tasmanians are on this site - they cannot all be tourists).
I know it is a chicken and egg situation, but as I have said in a forum post before, I cannot help but wonder if in Australia there were more accessible legal beaches if more people would feel safe trying nudity. We have a very beach-oriented culture, so it is an easy, natural place for people to be exposed to the experience, but while legal or unofficial beaches are in isolated places where feeling safe can be an issue I feel fewer people, particularly women, will either give it a go or come away feeling the place was full of pervs and they would not want to do it again.
Decades ago I went to a nude beach in Brighton, England. Given that the town at the time was considered a bit of a gay Mecca I was not surprised that it was only males there that day, but also given the high public visibility of the beach there was no way anyone there would misbehave. It was such a contrast to having to hide away from Police and creeps at illegal beaches in Queensland, it left me wondering how many people would give nudity a go in such a situation.
Its also interesting to see how many folks join Spencer Tunic's projects too - and I wonder how many of them were previously a non-nudeOr the well- attended annual Winter solstice swim in Hobart. (Compare those numbers with how many Tasmanians are on this site - they cannot all be tourists).I know it is a chicken and egg situation, but as I have said in a forum post before, I cannot help but wonder if in Australia there were more accessible legal beaches if more people would feel safe trying nudity. We have a very beach-oriented culture, so it is an easy, natural place for people to be exposed to the experience, but while legal or unofficial beaches are in isolated places where feeling safe can be an issue I feel fewer people, particularly women, will either give it a go or come away feeling the place was full of pervs and they would not want to do it again.Decades ago I went to a nude beach in Brighton, England. Given that the town at the time was considered a bit of a gay Mecca I was not surprised that it was only males there that day, but also given the high public visibility of the beach there was no way anyone there would misbehave. It was such a contrast to having to hide away from Police and creeps at illegal beaches in Queensland, it left me wondering how many people would give nudity a go in such a situation.
I completely agree with you. The swim in Hobart is a key piece in my thinking of things here in qld. That event is politically and community supported, legal and it attracts many. They can't all be tourists as you say but where they are it's also adding to the local economy.
The current situation with beaches here in qld is appalling. With no legal options our community takes great risks to swim free. A-bay now has greater visibility to the passing public but while the beach remains nit legal for nude swimming it attracts creeps hoping to get a glimpse of a nude body. However if made legal and with far more nudes attending am sure it would remove the tittalation factor and normalise nude swimming for a wider community
The Spencer Tunick nude photo shoot planned for mid November 2023 in Brisbane has been oversubscribed. I have no idea how many participants were required and by how many the number of applicants exceeded the quota.
If only every application included an option to sign a petition to have a legal nude space/place in Queensland we could have begun a message to government that people actually want the right to be nude in this state.
The Spencer Tunick nude photo shoot planned for mid November 2023 in Brisbane has been oversubscribed. I have no idea how many participants were required and by how many the number of applicants exceeded the quota.If only every application included an option to sign a petition to have a legal nude space/place in Queensland we could have begun a message to government that people actually want the right to be nude in this state.
Yes I missed out to join in the fun though of the shoot! Totally agree it should be a requirement to also sign a petition, but I am not sure all those attending are actually nudists....
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