For the first time in my life, I was a bona fide naturist. And I had the beginnings of the all over tan, smile on my face and a membership card en route to prove it!
Chapter XI: Final thoughts
I am now a member of British Naturism and we will be returning in the future to a naturist resort. I am sure we will probably go again to La Jenny, as a first time introduction for naturism it was low-pressure, relaxed and wonderful. A lot of the activities start on the Mondays so we would go for a week from a Saturday onwards to take advantage of this.
That said, our holiday next year will possibly be to a similar resort, such as Euronat as my wife said she would like to try a few other places but both of us would like to return to La Jenny at some point in the future and very much enjoyed the four days we spent there; the staff were wonderful and the facilities were great. We never used the golf course, archery, sauna, tennis courts, volleyball courts, chess boards, pinball machines, pony club, petanque green, yoga area or kids clubs; there is so much more for us to explore there.
There has been a little muttering and averting of eyes when I recalled my experiences back home where I went on holiday but I find this is totally irrational. People have told me that they would be comfortable going topless/topfree and not bottomless or wouldn't want strangers or friends to see them and I can half-understand the discomfort about it, but not totally.
Didn't you all play strip poker when you were a teenager? Haven't you all wandered around at home or when you were a student with nothing on? Were there no drunken and naked escapades in your youth? Didn't you go swimming or to the gym with your friends and then get changed in the showers at the same time? Did no-one streak through their University halls in Freshers Week? The idea that we – as a nation or species – are never naked around our friends and family is a fallacy, we do it all the time, but we see it as a rarity not the norm.
Personally speaking, I cannot think of many of my friends I would not want to accompany me on a naturist holiday should they want to (although they might think differently!) and, as I said earlier, you really do not notice to the nudity after a few minutes; it fades into the background.
But even if this was not true and the nakedness was noticed, does anyone really think that they have something under their clothes that would make people startle or gasp when compared with 500 other human specimens? Perhaps they have two cocks, or a vagina with teeth? Maybe they can shoot missiles from their buttchecks or have a pair of luminous green testicles? No, thought not! It may be a silly point fatuously made, but the point remains: you are highly unlikely to receive anything more than a fleeting glance as naturists will have seen hundreds if not thousands of bodies. Indeed, while we were on holiday there was a lady who had had one breast removed, and was still happy to walk around the pool au-naturel and no-one that I saw gave her a second glance.
If it really is the length of the manhood that is frightening men then this is equally as silly. A recent study said the average size that a man “grows” during an erection is that of around 200% of the flaccid state – and those in the subset with smaller members saw a bigger growth amount – but in total it varied from around 120% to 400%, so even if women were “checking out” potential partners as they went about their business, it wouldn't be completely representative of what they could expect that evening. It's a complete fallacy and a nod towards unfounded male insecurity.
I am comfortable with me and even if I wasn't before I went, then I am sure I would be afterwards. There are clubs that do “open days” up and down the country; we didn't need to run off to the South of France for four days to experience getting our kit off in public! I have eyed the Manchester ride-around the city wearing nothing (World Naked Bike Ride) but these operate in cities all around the world and will look to do that in the Summer next year; I loved the feeling of being naked and will definitely want to do it again and again.
The feeling of embarrassment or being immodestly attired I think comes from being dressed differently to those people around you. I felt a little uncomfortable when we first went to the restaurant on the Monday as we were the only clothed people in the village centre (outside the waiters and waitresses). I felt a little conscious of myself and it didn't feel natural whereas only a couple of hours previous I was strutting around the pool without a second thought.
Personally, this is one thing I wanted to convey to people I spoke to as believing this makes the idea of trying naturism a lot less scary. If you were surrounded by a 1,000 people and they were all nude and you weren't, you would feel conscious and you would stand out. The remedy is to shed the cotton and join in, and then you would “blend in!”
So with all these positive thoughts, I remembered the documentary – filmed in 2004 – that we saw before we left and had to contact the young lady who had made it. She was eighteen when she made it, but would be in her mid-twenties now. I looked her up on Facebook and sent her a message detailing briefly who I was, my experience for the week, and whether she still held the so-so opinion of naturism that was aired eight years previous. My son is eight soon, and if we do adopt the lifestyle then he will be hitting his awkward body-conscious stage within three or four years when puberty starts, and wanted to know if Bianca outgrew her reticence. Unfortunately, she never replied, but they are questions I would want answering.
To me, our naturism reinforces the wide variety of body types that is woefully misrepresented in the media and by advertisers. I believe that it is our children seeing the same unhealthy type of body projected as “normal” that causes so many of the anxieties about their body they experience as they go through puberty, and naturism is surely the perfect antidote to the worries caused by the mass media.
It is unfortunate that naturists still receive a degree of hassle; the World Naked Bike Ride in 2008 in Manchester had several policemen stopping riders and being heavy handed with the participants. That was unfortunate because, as I understand it, there is no law prohibiting public nudity in the England.
In short, it is an offence if the person is naked to cause “distress, alarm or outrage” (i.e. flashing) or if the person violates the 600-year-old law and doesn't “keep the peace.”
Ironically, some women have been arrested in the UK for being topfree – most recently at the Olympics when Femen protested against Sharia Law. This interpretation of the law is solely from the male perspective. Why can a man be topfree, but a woman not? It is purely because of the reaction a man can have when confronted with a bare female chest, but can a woman or a gay man not experience the same reaction when confronted with a bare male chest? Breasts are, in no way, a sexual organ so the rationale for forcing them to be covered is simply not there.
I genuinely don't know why people have such a hang-up over other people being naked; if they are that offended, don't look! The issues in 2008 appeared to stem from a belief that if children saw naked bodies they might be traumatised; even typing it sounds it ridiculous. If our children are to have any appreciation of their bodies, they must realise that the images projected by our mainstream media and the magazines are unattainable pipedreams for most people and often unhealthy. Learning to be happy with their body and adopt positive vibes about them is a worthwhile aspiration.
Also, did anyone think that censoring normal people engaging in some au-naturel cycling was really the most important thing the police could be doing that day?
As a final comment, I cannot implore people enough to try it. Public attitudes in this country are changing slowly and idea of social nudity is no longer seen with the same furrowed expression as before. There are many benefits to swimming and being naked: less laundry; being more comfortable – especially in hot weather; all-over tans; swimming feels better (and is healthier); it helps prevent Lyme disease and cures Psoriasis; increases male fertility; naturists are less stressed; have better self-image opinion and possess better physical health.
In fact, I found a paper that looked at all the reasons to support naturism and ca
me with 205 reasons, drawing on studies that have been done, but also pointed to a dozen passages in the bible for those Christians among us. Being nude is good for your mental health, physical health and well-being!
I honestly felt less stressed and more at ease with myself. For the first time in years I enjoyed being by the beach and on holiday. I want to go back, and even my wife who was apprehensive at first, found it quite liberating in the end. Naturism promotes body-positive values and is certainly a great leveller in meeting people (a millionaire and a homeless person will look identical!)
As I end this assorted collection of ramblings, I want to say that there are dozens of naturist clubs up and down the country, naturist cycle rides or even naturist beaches – the ability to try it has not been greater and the Internet has brought it all to a click of a mouse. I just wished it is something I had done years ago.
The question posed by my son, was “do naturists put suncream on their willies?” I think, given that you have read pages and pages of my babblings and incoherent ramblings, I should answer this (only from my personal experience) and consider that this obviously only applies to male nudists. The skin in the genital region is very thin and sensitive, so if any part of your body is going to burn when lay out in the sun then it's perfectly probable that your loins would be one of the first to go.
My wife teased me jokingly for it but, yes, I did put sun cream on my manhood - and it was only part of me that got remotely tanned! That said, it would have been more fun if I could have got my wife to rub it in for me, but alas – even in the privacy of our bedroom as we got ready to go to the beach – she admonished me with “naturism isn't about sex!”
I could only agree!
Chapter XII: This Book
I decided to write this book before I left the UK; I am a member of the Macclesfield Creative Writing Group and I write adult literature under a pseudonym. I thought that a family trying naturism was an interesting subject for a short book and duly finished it in mid-September.
Having already sent it to my volunteer proof-reader, I posted the text onto the British Naturism forums before I intended to publish it to Smashwords and was amazed at the response. Dozens of people read it and lots of people offered advice. The working title for the book was “Do naturists put suncream on their willies?” and was advised to change it. Naturists were candid and offered real-world advice, while helping me remove the errors from my manuscript. I am extremely grateful for the time that they offered.
In the last few months, this is entirely consistent with the experience my family and I have had of the naturism lifestyle. Everyone seems so helpful and genuinely friendly – from the people I spoke to before we left the country, the people at La Jenny to the members of the British Naturism forums.
If shedding your worries and stress behind doesn't entice you to try naturism then surely the friendliness and welcoming smiles that you will be surrounded with, must be just as worthwhile a reason!
I hope to see some of you at the Manchester Naked Bike Ride in June 2013.
Chapter XIII: Photographs
I have included a few photographs to show what La Jenny is like. Unless specified, the images were taken by myself and all have been released on the same license – or similar CC license – as this work.
La Jenny (taken from GorillaGolfBlog)
Our villa (taken by myself)
The pool at night (taken by myself)
The pool during the day (taken from GorillaGolfBlog)
The beach (taken from kewlfriend)
The beach (taken from kewlfriend)
That Facebook picture
Chapter XIV: Links
In case you wish to look at any of the places mentioned in this book, here are the links:
Background material
Diary of a teenage nudist: http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/diary+of+a+teenage+nudist/1
Mail on Sunday: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2192033/Would-Adam-Eve-YOU-columnist-Liz-Jones-bares-Abbey-House-Gardens.html
Nick Scipio's Summer Camp: http://www.nickscipio.com
205 Reasons to be a naturist: http://www.naturistsociety.com/resources/PDF/205ARGUE.pdf
Travel
British Naturism: http://www.bn.org.uk
EasyJet: http://www.easyjet.com
Euronat: http://www.euronat.fr
La Jenny: http://www.lajenny.fr
Peng Travel: http://www.pengtravel.co.uk/
Osmand (free maps for Android phones): http://osmand.net/
World Naked Bike Ride: http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/
Photographs
GorillaGolfBlog (released article under a CC-license):
http://www.gorillagolfblog.com/travel/la-jenny-naturist-golf-course-revisiting-six-holes-of-bare-stroke-play/
Kewfriend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kewfriend/
Going Bare! Page 5