2010 May | The Nudist Magazine

Archive for May, 2010

The Surprisingly Serious Side Of Stripping In Public

Being naked in public can be fun, or naughty, or provocative, or health-giving, or political. It is almost always illegal. And, as anyone who has visited a nudist resort can testify, it is rarely, if ever, sexy. But, as Philip Carr-Gomm reveals in his academic romp through two millenniums of public exhibitionism from the ancient Greeks to animal-rights activists, you can be naked anywhere. You are only nude if someone is watching. Nakedness on its own is straightforward — it’s the context and the audience of nudity that make it interesting.

In religion, for example, there have been examples of ritualistic nakedness in Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism. Each faith uses the naked body in a different way. As Carr-Gomm says: “Contradictions and paradoxes abound. In religion nakedness can signify shamefulness?or it can symbolise innocence, a lack of shame, and even a denial of the body.” And, while the meaning of nudity has fluctuated, the image has never lost its power.

Carr-Gomm is at his most interesting when discussing nudity as politics. The story of Lady Godiva — whose husband said he would amend unfair taxes if she would ride through the streets of Coventry naked — may not be historically accurate, but it seems to have been the template for much of the naked political activism of the late 20th century. Just as Lady Godiva did, the modern protester embraces the supposed shame of being unclothed in order to lay bare their basic righteousness.

Likewise, argues Carr-Gomm, Michelangelo’s statue of David, which was installed in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria at the beginning of the 16th century, was the ultimate expression of the nude as a totem of defiance. “At that time,” he writes, “Florence was threatened on every side by more powerful states, and the statue conveyed a strong message of innate power and its potential for effortless victory.”

The American presidents learnt quickly that nudity is power. Benjamin Franklin preached the “gospel of ventilation”; John Quincy Adams enjoyed skinny-dipping in the Potomac most mornings; Theodore Roosevelt encouraged his entire cabinet to follow Adams’s example; and JFK used to hold pool parties in the nude. Lyndon B Johnson seems to have been the most avid exhibitionist, frequently bullying visitors to the White House, including the evangelist Billy Graham, into a costumeless swim, during which he would refer to his own penis as “Jumbo”.

Oxford dons also used to enjoy a spot of air-bathing, at a secluded male-only spot on the river Cherwell called Parson’s Pleasure. Once, probably in the 1940s, Maurice Bowra, the distinguished classicist, was reclining with fellow academics (said to have included Isaiah Berlin, Hugh Trevor-Roper and John Sparrow) when some women students floated by on a punt. Bowra covered his face with a handkerchief, while the others scrambled to cover their genitals. When asked about his reaction, Bowra said: “I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but in Oxford, I, at least, am known by my face.”

Bowra’s false modesty brings to mind the famous picture of the Australian Michael O’Brien, who streaked at the 1974 England v France rugby match at Twickenham and was photographed, memorably, with a policeman’s helmet covering his own. We learn that O’Brien streaked for a bet and now heartily regrets his misdemeanour, because it gave rise to a whole generation of exhibitionists. The accompanying picture of the topless Erica Roe following in his footsteps at Twickenham eight years later seems to underline his point, although Carr-Gomm is not nearly as dour as O’Brien. He sees the exhibitionist stripper as a joyful addition to national life.

It is no surprise, says Carr-Gomm, that O’Brien and Roe became notorious in the 1970s and 1980s. Nudity as a viable, if subversive, public act began in the late 1960s, when sexual freedom “seemed not only psychologically sensible, but also one of the few antidotes available to counteract the existential despair of the nuclear age”. It’s not clear whether this particular form of gloom was on Sally Cooper’s mind when she ran across Richmond Bridge in London in 1974 dressed only in jewellery and a smile, but she knew all about the viciousness of authority when a police dog bit her on the backside.

Certainly, public nudity seemed a little more life-affirming back then than it does now. Spencer Tunick’s photographs of masses of unclothed volunteers huddling for warmth, or standing on a melting glacier, are oddly lifeless. Antony Gormley’s identikit cast-iron nude figures are, for some reason, more moving. One is struck, when watching his sculptures disappear with the tide on Crosby beach, by how powerful an image a simple, naked figure presents. And then you see that some wag has painted the sculpture’s genitals green, and you are back to the peculiarly British notion of the nude as a figure of fun.

In perhaps the most insightful passage of the book, Carr-Gomm recounts the story of 40 women who, in 2004, marched naked to the army barracks in Imphal, India, to protest about a murder and rape by soldiers of the Assam Rifles. The press carried the story, but few Indian papers used photographs. One commentator observed that the Indian press “could not stomach the thought of showing middle-class Indian women (read ‘mothers’) naked! And this in a country where almost every newspaper has a scantily dressed woman poised in a corner of the front page”.

We, of course, can see the picture in this book. Indeed, there are 143 wonderful illustrations to accompany the text. These pictures are important because Carr-Gomm is an academic. For the most part he overcomes this impediment, but naturally there are moments when his prose dries the eyes. However, even in the dustier moments — when one is reading about how “as symbols of power and vulnerability?the genitals have always represented the final frontier of nakedness” — one’s experience is lightened by the prospect that, every dozen pages or so, there will be a fresh crop of images of exhibitionists on horses, or carrying loud-hailers, or playing the guitar. Truly, this should have been a coffee-table book with captions.
2010.05.31 / no responses / Category: Nudist Information
Supermodel Anna Naked At The Nudist Beach

Supermodel Anna posing naked during her holiday in a nudist resort. Enjoy her free nudist pictrures! Stunning body!
2010.05.30 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures
For 65 Years It’s Been A Place For Guests To Grin And Bare It

There are bares in the woods in Palmerton.

Guests at Sunny Rest, a clothing optional resort, don’t have pockets, but they do bring money. Sunny Rest grossed $1 million during its four-month season last year, the best in its 65-year history. Typically 500 to 600 guests visit on the weekends. The Fourth of July is busiest, with 1,200 guests.

“You’re going to love happy hour at the bar. I’ll be there,” promoted the friendly, clothed man in the gate house. Guests would see more of him later. Sunny Rest became the first nudist resort in Pennsylvania to get a liquor license in 2008.

To the uninitiated, a different culture is behind the gate. Naked people walk casually around the grounds, some pausing in circles to chat. A group of old friends sit nude, visiting around a table.

Couples stroll hand in hand, children splash in the pool and a long, naked line forms at the check-in counter where the jump ropes and Sunny Rest T-shirts were not selling on Friday.

Nudes linger at the bar and listen to open-mike night performers.

No one seems alarmed or even interested that their clothes are missing. That is actually the point.

Like kicking off a tight pair of shoes, nakedness is less restricting than being clothed. It is secondary to the usual resort activities.

While most resorts have a transient population, Sunny Rest has many repeat guests. They get to know each other and build close friendships.

Sunny Rest co-owner Irving Mesher, 85, first spent a weekend in the buff in the 1960s.

Mesher wore uniforms all his life; Navy uniforms in World War II, show costumes as a professional trumpet player, and a chief’s uniform from the New York Fire Department. Mesher wanted to shed his uniform and the reaction it got from people. He and his wife went to a nudist camp for the weekend. The next weekend, the couple returned with their children, ages 6 and 8.

The family became seasonal residents at Sunny Rest and in 1978 took the resort over from former owner Wally Rogers. Irving Mesher co-owns the resort with his daughter-in-law Myra Mesher.

Sunny Rest originally opened Memorial Day 1945 on rolling farm land owned by Reed and Jeanette Suplee. It has always been a clothing optional resort.

In past years, people were more secretive about visiting nudist resorts. Jack Strum, 71, and his wife, a retired kindergarten teacher, kept their trips to Sunny Rest quiet in early years so her job would not be jeopardized. In 1986, they built a house at Sunny Rest and became the first of 28 year-round residents.

Today, guests talk about it on Facebook, said Halsie Shoemaker, Sunny Rest marketing manager and Mesher’s granddaughter. Shoemaker will own Sunny Rest one day. She hopes to make the resort year-round eventually to accommodate the many people who request rooms after skiing at Blue Mountain.

Sunny Rest’s 65th anniversary reunion is Memorial Day weekend. Day passes are available.
2010.05.29 / no responses / Category: Nudist News
Nudist Kira Posing Naked In The Forest

Professional nude model Kira posing naked in a public location for the very first time. Enjoy these free nudist pictures!
2010.05.28 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures
Danielle Posing Naked In The Garden

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2010.05.26 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures
Nude Cruise Passengers Feel The Heat In Liverpool

The German passengers aboard the first cruise liner to visit Liverpool this summer must have enjoyed the fantastic weather.

Not only was the city bathed in glorious sunshine, but it meant they could make full use of the liner’s nudist deck.

In another first for Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal, m/v Aura yesterday brought the German habit of stripping off at the first sign of sun rays to the city.

Whether other passengers wanting an all-over tan will be quite so lucky with the weather during Aura’s next three visits is unknown.

But her arrival in the city from Hamburg via Dublin was a great triumph for Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal staff and the city.

She was the second ship to include Liverpool on four round-Britain repeat itineraries.

Aura, owned by Aida Cruises, followed in the wake of Princes Cruises’ third season of four similar voyages from Southampton, with megaliner Crown Princess due in on June 27.

Angie Redhead, Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal manager, said: “So many of Aida Cruises’ passengers requested Liverpool was included on cruises they added us to their itineraries.

“They are already so pleased with the response that they will visit 12 times in three years.”

Carrying 1,300 passengers, m/v Aura, 42,300 gross tons, was built in 2003 and has a distinctive livery, with giant lips and eyes painted on her bow.

This is not the first time the hard working crew on the landing stage have been exposed to such bare-faced German cheek.

The deluxe cruise liner Deutschland boasts an aft-end sauna for passengers, whose users let it all hang out over the stern.

Deutschland is the next cruise liner visiting the cruise terminal when she returns for an overnight stay on June 2-3.
2010.05.25 / no responses / Category: Nudist News
Amateur Nudist Teen Girl Naked By The River

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2010.05.24 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures
The World’s Best Nude Beaches and Resorts

This is the most up to date guide that I know of, the closest you can come to traveling with the actual internet in your hands. Grate photos, good descriptions and up to date web sites for more information. Every naturist should have a copy not only for planning your next vacation but also to learn what places are out there. This may not be a complete guide, there never could be, but it is a wonderful reference tool.
2010.05.23 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
Amateur Nudist Girl Posing Naked By The Pool

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2010.05.22 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures
Nudist Girlfriends Posing Naked For The First Time

Aurelia and Michelle are two best friends that enjoy being naked outdoors. Check out their free nudist picture series!
2010.05.20 / no responses / Category: Nudist Pictures