Chapter 2: A Psychologist’s View of Public Nudity in Society

“What do you think so far, dear?” Kimberly asked. “Isn’t that Roxanne hot?”

“Oh, we have a loaded question, it seems. Remember, I’m a psychologist, right?” Daan chuckled. “So my answer is: ‘Totally not as hot as you are.’ But yeah, she is hot. What do you think of that Devlin guy?”

Kimberly punched Daan lightly on his arm. “Good looking, although the makeup is kinda heavy. I hope he stands up so I can see how big his cock is. It looks pretty fat; I love fat cocks and yours is so fuckin’ awesome. He’s got a nice bod; but your ripped swimmer’s bod is what gets my motor running, sweetie. Now, what about the subject matter?”

“Really interesting; it’s a good summary of what I’ve been seeing when I’m out in the world, but in the insular high-school world, it’s so different. There are so many issues of kids’ personal image, cliques, potential bullying—both physical and mental. It’s a real tribal culture there and I’d love to figure out how to change that.”

“Ha. If you did, and if there were a Nobel Prize for sociology, you’d get it for sure.”

“Very funny. But I’d like to hear more about the technical side, so I’m waiting for Eleanor’s part.”

“Right. Me too.”

Soon the program resumed and Devlin began speaking.

“Welcome, folks, to the second segment of April’s ‘Monthly News Documentary,’ presented by ABO Network. Now, to discuss the questions about the basic philosophy of social nudism, why people should go nude, and nudist etiquette in general, we’ve invited a panel of practicing nudists to the studio. We’ll discuss with them issues of sexuality and body acceptance, how women, children and teens adapt to social nudism, and the appeal to nudists of their lifestyle. But before we introduce our panel, we’ll precede their discussion with a video we prepared which covers the current customs of public nudity in Europe and the U.S. The video presents some typical nudist activities and shows some nudist resort and nude beach scenes.”

The video began. It was narrated by a female voice, who introduced herself, and then after a quick introduction, she began.

“First, I will cover organized nude activities in Europe. Public nudity in most European countries has long been both culturally and legally accepted. Citizens of those countries practice their nudity in many ways, in both organized events and in personal ways. In this presentation, we’ll discuss these practices and show videos and images of many of them. One of the longer-running organized naked events, begun in 2003, is the ‘World Naked Bike Ride’ event which is frequently held in London, England and similar events are held in many other cities around the world. Playing on the screen now are some video clips of a recent London event...

“Another popular European nudity-friendly event is the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. It began in 1971 to benefit charity and it’s one of Europe’s largest rock music extravaganzas with attendance averaging 130,000. However, nudity wasn’t a feature of the event until 1999, when the organizers introduced a naked run around the festival site. Video of a recent race is playing on the screen now. Along with the naked race, the festival grounds have been clothing optional since 1999 and the festival’s shower facilities are communal and co-ed. Also from Denmark is an annual event held at Aarhus University in Aarhus called the Kapsejlads, meaning ‘racing,’ which features a beer-drinking kayak relay race and various skits and performances, and is organized by the university students. As many as 30,000 people are estimated to attend the event, whose festivities include a popular naked race around the campus where the racers vie for tickets to the Roskilde Festival.

“Yes, organized naked races are fairly popular in Europe, but some are held only occasionally. One such race, held in the Netherlands, is called the Blotebillenloop, or Bare Butt Run, and has been occasionally held at the nudist beach at Zandvoort, near Amsterdam. Another popup event in the Netherlands, ‘The Naked Run for Freedom’ was held at the Zwarte Cross Festival and was a one-time event sponsored by Amnesty International several years ago to raise awareness about suppression of freedom of expression. Run participants, naked except for a face-concealing racing helmet, ran around the muddy motocross track while thousands of spectators cheered them on. The London Zoo has capitalized on the fact that the collective noun for a group of tigers is a ‘streak.’ Thus, for several years, the zoo has held an annual nude-run fund-raiser called the ‘Streak for Tigers’ event, which involves participants running naked around the zoo to raise money for Sumatran tiger conservation.

“Yet another example of an ongoing organized naked race can be seen in the short video clip playing now; it’s the Nakukymppi, a naked 10-kilometer race/walk held in Padasjoki, Finland each year. The video playing now is from the most recent event ... A different kind of naked run, the annual ‘Running of the Nudes,’ is held as an animal-rights protest against the well-known ‘Running of the Bulls’ which takes place in Pamplona, Spain. Another event held in Spain, this one held on its northern coast, is the Sopelako Lasterketa Nudista, an annual nudist beach race on Barinatxe Beach in Bizkaiain near Sopelana. Spain hosts a number of other naked runs, notably in Barcelona, Tarragona, and Almeria, and in Portugal, races are held in Sesimbra and Almada. And in France, a well known race is held in Montbolo...”

“Did you know about those European events, darling?” Daan asked.

“Maybe a little, honey, the Roskilde one. One of the fellows at the hospital’s from Germany and she told a few of us how much fun that event was. Shit, wouldn’t it be nice to visit there and see all those activities first-hand?” Kimberley replied.

“Let’s add that to our bucket list, Kim.”

“Cool! Um, do we have one?”

“Sure. It just got started now,” Daan chuckled.

“ ... switching to other types of public events involving group nudity, Europe is a frequent location of various naked performance-art events and we have several video clips from a recent event in a Berlin museum, designed by the performance artist Vanessa Beecroft ... Central European cities, particularly ones in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czechia, and Serbia are frequent locations for nude street-performance events which are videoed and displayed on the internet too, such as the Body and Freedom Festival which has been held in Biel and Zurich, Switzerland. A Serbian organization also has begun holding a games event called ‘Naturist Games without Borders’ in Sfakia, on Crete, in Greece. There also occasionally occur pop-up naked performance events and most of these are coordinated in advance with authorities; now showing is a video clip of one such street performance...

“Next, we’ll show you a video taken of one of many highly organized, large-scale outdoor naked photographic events. This particular event, like many other similar ones, was orchestrated by photographer and performance art-designer Spencer Tunick, was held in Munich, Germany and greater than 1700 naked volunteers participated. Tunick periodically schedules similar massive nude outdoor photo sessions, which he calls ‘installations,’ around the world and involves hundreds or thousands of participants; people can sign up to be a naked participant on his website.”

The narrator now began describing other nudity-friendly activities in Europe and while she was speaking, the screen showed videos or still photographs of the activities she was mentioning. Then her narration continued.

“In addition to those numerous organized events, many examples of informal public nudity exist too. Social nudism is one such informal activity and is widely practiced throughout the continent. In fact, a recent survey of U.K. citizens revealed that 14 percent, or one in seven, described themselves as naturists or nudists. Nudism is economially important to countries like Croatia and Spain, which are major holiday destinations for Europeans wanting to get an over-all suntan. But naked loungers aren’t restricted to a few nudity-friendly countries; nudists and naturists are welcome on most beaches and parks throughout much of Europe. And the nudist visitors to the plentiful beaches and public park areas on the continent aren’t limited to Europeans; these venues attract visitors from all over the world. In Europe, the letters ‘FKK’ are universally understood to mean ‘nudism’ or ‘naturism’ and stand for the German word ‘Freikörperkultur,’ meaning ‘free-body culture.’

“Another example of a very popular informal activity is nude hiking and enthusiasts travel on both long or short routes on trails traversing mountain, meadow, and forest areas. These hikes are hugely popular in many countries. Perhaps the single most significant sign of the acceptance of public nudity in Europe may be the public co-ed nature of the locker or changing rooms and shower areas of many gyms, health facilities, saunas, and spas. In addition, many health spas and resorts reserve a nude-only day each week for guests who prefer to take their exercise and relaxation while naked. There are also numerous highly local nudity-friendly events, such as the monthly London, England ‘Starkers!’ events, which are nudity-required club nights held at various pubs and nightclubs in London. There are also dedicated naked dining nights at restaurants in several countries, naked museum tours, theater and comedy shows where the performers and audience are naked, and monthly or even weekly naked open swimming sessions at participating public pools.

“In international areas outside Europe, we are aware of organized naked events which include informal but organized naked rugby games in New Zealand and naked beach game events in Australia. These used to be called ‘olympics’ until the national Olympic organization complained about the trademark violation. But in South America, naked ‘Olympic games’ have frequently been organized in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And in Canada, the most well known naked race is the Wreck Beach 5K Bare Buns Run on that world-famous nude beach outside Vancouver in British Columbia.”

Then, the narration moved to U.S. events as the screen displayed video clips or still photos illustrating her words.

“Now, as compared to Europe,” she narrated, “there are dramatically fewer organized nude-friendly events in the United States. Chief among the ones which do exist, though, are events like the Burning Man Festival, where many attendees choose to be naked, and also San Francisco’s Bay-to Breakers run-bike-walk event, which attracts many naked participants. A version of naked beach ‘olympics’ has been held in San Francisco from time to time too. Also, organizers in a handful of U.S. cities have infrequently arranged World Naked Bike Ride events in their communities. In fact, the World Naked Bike Ride which generally sports the largest number of participants in the event anywhere else takes place in Portland, Oregon, and draws upwards of 10,000 riders.

“Now let’s take a look at the informal naked activities organized by students at some U.S. college campuses; we have a few video clips to display from some of these activities at colleges. Students at some schools arrange informal naked events, these are typically streaking events and many of these events have become campus traditions.”

A number of video clips began playing as the narrator described where they were from.

“Oh jeez, Kim, you see that third streaking clip? That was at Virginia! UVA has a ‘Streak the Lawn’ rite-of-passage tradition and just about everyone who’s a student there does it. It’s usually a nighttime thing ‘cause the campus cops frown on the nudity but they generally tolerate it. It’s school tradition, you know. You’re supposed to strip down completely and run naked from the Rotunda all the way down The Lawn to the Homer statue and kiss its butt, then run back to the Rotunda where the ritual says that you then peek at the Jefferson statue through the keyhole of the Rotunda’s main entrance door, the one that opens onto The Lawn, and call through it, ‘Goodnight, Mr Jefferson!’ I suppose that last part is to make sure you’re standing still long enough that lots of students can get to see your naked body. Then you can get dressed again.”

“Jeez, now that’s funny. You do it?”

“Of course! It’s virtually a graduation requirement,” he answered. “When I was there, the members of each sports team all did the streak together each year. It was great fun. And then, in my last year there, they started Naked Parties. But you needed to know someone involved with those to get an invite. I got to go to one, the second one they did, in fact. It was nice. No sex, just socializing while naked. And you saw on that video that a few other universities have streaks too.”

“Damn. We had nothing like that; I wonder if I’d have fun doing those things.”

The video narration was continuing.

“ ... while at Brown University, students have created one of the most inventive and intriguing public nudity traditions that we know of, the ‘Naked Donut Run,’ which is held twice a year before fall and spring final exams, where naked students deliver sweet donut pastries to students working in various randomly selected study areas of the university. Our next item is an unofficial, off-the-wall holiday; every year in a number of communities around the nation, some people celebrate the annual National Nude Day on July 14 and try to promote and encourage its observance by remaining naked for the day and even appearing that way in public. Here are some video clips of...”

“So your school didn’t have any naked traditions, sweetie?” Daan asked.

“Mmm ... nothing, really. University of Chicago did have a winter festival that used to feature a naked run, but it was the year before I attended, I think, that the school officials forced the organizers to ban the nudity. They still did the run, but no nudity. And Chicago had that World Naked Bike Ride maybe twice, but no one I knew went to that ... it wasn’t anything I paid attention to, actually.”

“Ah, the video is covering nude beaches now; let’s watch...” Daan suggested.

To conclude, the video switched emphasis to cover the country’s nudist beaches, showing short videos of activities at La Jolla’s Black’s Beach and North Miami’s Haulover Beach as examples, and finally, scenes were shown of activities at several large nudist resorts in Florida.

When the video ended, the show’s co-hosts had moved over to an adjoining set consisting mainly of two large sofas, placed so they angled toward the camera and partly faced each other. Standing in front of the right-most sofa with Devlin next to her, Williams spoke.

“Now we’ll introduce our nudist guest panel. Let’s welcome Nathan Peters, executive director of the National Nudist Recreation Society, U.S. nudism’s national organization. Our second panelist is Patricia Barnes, the owner and manager of the Palm Bares Resort in Pasco, Florida, and our third is Sandra Wilson, president of the Swift River Club, a co-op nudist club located near Tacoma, Washington. Welcome to the ‘Monthly News Documentary’ show, panelists.”

The three guests entered to enthusiastic applause; all were nude too. Obviously they would be. After shaking hands all around, everyone was seated. Devlin spoke.

“Again, welcome to our show, my friends, and let’s have you introduce yourselves to our audience. Sandra, why don’t you begin and tell us a bit about yourself, how you got into nudism, and about your nudist club.”

“Certainly, Rogers, but first let me say that all three of us agree that your doing this main-stream show nude is a ground-breaking achievement...”

She was interrupted by loud applause.

“ ... and we in the nudist community really appreciate your having us here to discuss our philosophy and tell you about our life style...”

After more applause, Wilson went on to relate her introduction to nudism and gave a brief description about her club. Then the others told their own stories. A round-table conversation began after that, with the panelists explaining their views on social nudism, how comfortable it was to swim sans any swimsuit and to relax in the sun while naked, on nudist etiquette, on families and women in nudism, on body-shyness and image issues, and on the differences between how first-time females and males adapt to being naked in a public setting. At one point later in the discussion, Devlin brought up a surprising topic.

“Panelists, this is a question for all of you. We at the ABO Network have heard rumors emanating from Washington about possible plans to introduce some kind of mandatory nudity program in the nation’s high schools, where all students would have to attend classes naked. Have you heard anything of this idea?”

“I’d need additional details about exactly what may be planned,” Peters commented, “but any plans to make some kind of mandatory program which forces kids to be naked would appear to me to be a bad idea.”

“I’d agree with Nate, Rogers,” Barnes added. “You know, doing something like that would be an unfortunate shift in government regulations and laws since virtually all of them are proscriptive—that is, the rule says that you can’t do this or that. The major exceptions are, ah, income taxes, military conscription, passports ... things like that. Things that protect or support the country. Also states protect the public by licensing professionals like doctors and teachers, and require driver licenses and insurance and that’s really to protect other drivers on the road. But a regulation that requires somebody to be naked goes way beyond the government’s police powers, it would seem to me.”

“And I concur; it would be a serious invasion of privacy,” Wilson commented.

“All right then,” Williams said. “To bring an expert opinion to this discussion, we’ve arranged to have another special guest join us tonight. But before we begin part three of the program, we need to let our sponsors tell you about their products and services. Don’t go away, we’ll be right back.”

Daan leaned back on the couch and sighed. “That was really interesting but that last part? The part about a mandatory nudity program in schools? I need to think hard about that. It’s very much like what we’re introducing in my school. You know, despite the new openness to nudity that’s been happening, and even though naked kids are on the streets and in the malls, in the closed school environment, it’s somehow different than when the kid is among lots of random strangers. These kids know each other really well; to them it might feel the same way as if they were getting naked with their family. That’s frequently said to be very awkward.”

“I think you’re right about that, Daan.”

“Yeah, I really need to read that stuff we got and talk to the other teachers to come up with a plan. Okay, so now that the show’s hosts were standing up...” Daan began.

“Oh be quiet, you. Yeah, Devlin’s dick is respectable; he’s pretty thick. It must be five inches soft and possibly it gets fat in girth. He’s big. But you way beat him—soft, you’re over six long and erect, you’re over seven long and your cockhead’s immense, almost six inches around. It’s a good thing your boner doesn’t get much fatter or else I could never get that monster in my mouth.”

“None of the gals we swap with could do it at first, sweetie, and ... oops, they’re starting again. Talk later.”

The break was over now and the program resumed. After some applause, Williams did the introduction.

“Welcome back, viewers, to part three of April’s edition of the ‘Monthly News Documentary,’ presented by ABO Network. For this segment, we’ve invited a special guest who will discuss psychological issues concerning public nudity. Let’s all welcome Dr Eleanor Garner to our show. Dr Garner is an educational psychologist from the Horning Institute and she’s noted for her work with adolescents and assessing their psychological problems and issues. Please join us, Dr Garner.”