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Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also be a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism.^[1][2]

The naturist philosophy has several sources, many of which can be traced back to the health and fitness philosophy in Germany in the early twentieth century, though the concept of returning to nature, and creating equality are also cited as inspiration. From Germany the idea spread to England, Canada, the United States and beyond where a network of clubs developed. The model of German naturism is to promote naturistic family and recreational sports, with the DFK being a member of the German Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB). French naturism, on the other hand, developed on the basis of large holiday complexes. This concept in turn influenced Quebec and then the United States. A subsequent development was tourist naturism, where nudist resorts would be built to cater for the nudist tourist, without any local base. This concept is most noticeable in the Caribbean.

More recently, clothes free beaches and other types of anonymous nudist activities have served those who wish to take part in naturist activities without belonging to any clubs.

Naturism does not include eroticism and blatant sexuality, although it is sometimes associated with this in the media and the public mind.

Contents 1 Naturism today 2 Types of naturism 2.1 Personal and family nudism 2.2 Social nudism 2.3 Nude beaches 2.4 Other nudist activities 2.5 Campaigning naturism 3 Philosophy 3.1 Gymnosophy 3.2 Naturist ideals 3.3 Naturism and the Romantics 3.4 Naturism for health 3.5 Naturism and equality 4 History of social nudity 4.1 Historical era 4.2 The spread of philosophy and the rise of formal communities 4.2.1 Germany 4.2.2 France 4.2.3 Poland 4.2.4 United Kingdom 4.2.5 United States 4.2.6 Canada 4.3 Free beaches 4.4 Naturism and sports 4.5 Festival naturism 5 Demographics 6 Issues in social nudity 6.1 Problems for the naturist community 6.2 Naturist and nudist magazines 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 References 9.1 Notes 9.2 Further reading 10 External links 10.1 National organisations 10.2 Organization and landed site directories 10.3 Other

[edit] Naturism today

The word naturism was used for the first time in 1778 by a French-speaking Belgian, Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon (1734-1781), and was advocated as a means of improving the 'l’hygiène de vie' (natural style of life) and health.^[3][4]

According to the international definition adopted by the XIV Congress of the International Naturist Federation (Agde, 1974), Naturism is:

"a lifestyle in harmony with nature, expressed through social nudity, and characterised by self-respect of people with different opinions and of the environment."^[1][2]

The International Naturist Federation explains:

"Each country has its own kind of naturism, and even each club has its own special character, for we too, human beings, have each our own character which is reflected in our surroundings."^[1][5]

The usage and definition of these terms varies geographically and historically.^[6] Though in the United States, naturism and nudism have very similar meanings,^[7] in Britain there is a clear distinction.^[8][6][9] Nudism is the act of being naked, while naturism is a lifestyle which at various times embraced nature, environment, respect for others, self-respect, crafts, healthy eating, vegetarianism, teetotalism, non-smoking, yoga, physical exercise and pacifism as well as nudity.^[10]

In naturist parlance, the word textilist is used to describe someone who is not a naturist, or the act of not being naturist. e.g.He stayed all week but was textilist all the time. It is also used as an adjective to describe a facility where naturism is not allowed e.g. "the textilist beach starts at the flag". Clothing optional and nude optional (US specific) describe a policy or a venue that allows or encourages nudity but tolerates the wearing of clothes. The opposite is clothing compulsory; that is, disallowing nudity, thus requiring the wearing of clothes. Clothes free/clothes-free and clothing free/clothing-free are used as adjectives to describe when naturism is permitted in an otherwise textilist environment.

The social nudity movement includes a large range of variants including "naturism", "nudism", "Freikörperkultur (FKK)", the "free beach movement" as well as generalized "public lands/public nudity" advocacy. There is a large amount of shared history and common themes, issues and philosophy, but differences between these separate movements remain contentious.

See also: labels, associations and terminology for an extended discussion and disambiguation.

[edit] Types of naturism

Naturism is practised in many ways: Marc Alain Descamps,^[11] in his study written in French, classified the types as: individual nudism, nudism within family, nudism in the wild, social nudism. To that we can add the militant naturist, campaigning or extreme naturists.

[edit] Personal and family nudism

Nudism is often practiced in a person's home or garden, either personally or with members of the family.

A Canadian survey showed that 39% of all Canadians would or have walked around the house nude. And in British Columbia this is as high as 51%. Individual nudism can also include sleeping in the nude, but this is sometimes seen as a health benefit, due to the fact that, when naked in bed, it can be much easier to relax and fall asleep, resulting in longer and more restful sleep but it can also be for the reason of comfort. ^[12]

[edit] Social nudism

Social nudism is nudism in a social context, either at ones home with friends or with acquaintances at a nudist event (e.g., a naked party) or facility, such as a naturist club, community, centre, resort or other facility. (The terms are loosely defined and there are some regional differences.) At naturist events or venues clothing is usually optional, except by swimming pools or sunbathing lawns where complete nudity is expected, weather permitting. This rule is sometimes a source of controversy among some naturists. Staff at a naturist facility are sometimes required to be clothed due to health and safety regulations.^[13]

Facilities for naturists are classified in various ways. A landed or members' naturist club is one that owns its own facilities, while non-landed (or travel) clubs meet at various locations, such as private residences, swimming pools, hot springs, landed clubs and resorts, and rented facilities. Landed clubs can be run by members on democratic lines or by one or more owners who make the rules. In either case, they can determine membership criteria and the obligations of members. This usually involves sharing work necessary to maintain or develop the site.^[14]

Some clubs have stricter entrance requirements than some traditional 'country clubs', including the requirement to supply references, a sponsoring member, a trial membership, committee approval and/or, criminal background checks. UK clubs are now required to have child protection policies in place, and designated child protection officers. Many clubs promote frequent social activities.

The international naturist organisations were mainly composed of representatives of landed clubs.^[1] A nudist colony is no longer a favored term, but it is used by naturists as a term of derision for landed clubs that have rigid non inclusive membership criteria, and in meta-data on naturist websites.

A holiday centre is a facility that specialises in providing apartments, chalets and camping pitches for visiting holidaymakers. The centre is run commercially, and visitors are not members and have no say in the management. Most holiday centres expect visitors to hold an INF card, that is be a member of their national organisation, but some have relaxed this restriction, relying on the carrying of a trade card. Holiday centres can be quite small, just a couple of hectares or large occupying over 300 hectares.^[15] In a large holiday centre there will be swimming pools, sports pitches, an entertainment program, kid's clubs, restaurants and supermarkets. Some holiday centre's allow regular visitors to purchase their own chalets, and generations of the same families will visit each year.^[13] Holiday centres are more relaxed about textilists than members clubs; total nudity is usual in the swimming pools and the beaches, while on the football pitches, or in the restaurants in the evening, it is rare.^[13]

A naturist resort is, to a European, an essentially urban development where naturism is the norm. Cap d'Agde in France, naturist village Charco del Palo on Lanzarote, Canary Islands,[8] and Vera Playa in Spain are examples.^[16] Here there are apartment blocks, with privately-owned and rented apartments. For some residents this is their year-round home. One finds all the usual facilities of a small town. In the US usage, a naturist resort can mean a holiday centre.^[17]

Freikörperkultur (FKK) (see article in German) literally translated as free body culture is the name for the general movement in Germany. The abbreviation is widely recognised all over Europe and often found on informal signs indicating the direction to a remote naturist beach.^[18]

[edit] Nude beaches

Clothing is optional at nude beaches (or free beaches). Some beaches have been clothes free beyond living memory, and their status has been formalised by becoming official nude beaches, while others, though not official, have become unofficial nude beaches through toleration by local authorities.^[19] In some European countries, such as Denmark and Norway,^[1] all beaches are clothing optional, while in others like Germany there are naturist sunbathing areas in public parks, e.g., in Munich.^[20]

A feature of bathing on a nude beach is the anonymity it offers, where membership of a club is not required with detailed application processes, nor pre-booking of visits.

Though free beaches developed separately from national naturist bodies, these bodies are taking an interest and helping to protect them legally, and through the publication of guidelines of acceptable behaviour.^[21] In North America, the Free Beach Movement was the name of a group that was opposed to the direction of the official nudist organisation, the American Association for Nude Recreation, and set up the rival body The Naturist Society.

[edit] Other nudist activities

• Skinny dipping is swimming naked in a river, lake, swimming hole or other body of water. Ernest Thompson Seton describes skinny dipping as one of the first activities of his Woodcraft Indians, a forerunner of the Scout movement, in 1902.^[22] Swimming was done nude at the YMCA until the 1960s in single sex groups. In some English schools, Manchester Grammar School for example, nude swimming was compulsory until the 1970s.^[23] This was also the case for some US junior high schools.^[24] A Gallup poll in 2000 showed that 25% of all American adults had been skinny dipping at least once.^[25]
• Nude snorkeling [9] and nude diving
• Canuding is the practice of nude canoeing ^[14] or kayaking [10]
• Free hiking, naked hiking or naked rambling is the practice of hiking in the remote countryside as a social activity while nude.^[26] The French term is 'Randonnue'. It happens worldwide from mountain forests on Tenerife[11]to densely populated areas like South East England.^[27]
• Free riding is the practice of riding in the remote countryside while nude.^[28] The German term is 'Nacktreiten'. The term can also be used to refer to naked cycle riding.

[edit] Campaigning naturism

• Vincent Bethell conducted the The Freedom to be Yourself campaign.
• World Naked Bike Ride, mass clothing optional (but substantially naturist) bike rides protesting the oil economy and vulnerability of cyclists.
• Steve Gough, UK walker who has walked from Lands End to John O'Groats naked.^[29]
• Spencer Tunick mass nude photography.
• Mark Storey is a member of the Naturist Action Committee, directed by Bob Morton, a sister organisation to the US The Naturist Society. He co-founded the Body Freedom Collaborative in Seattle with Daniel Johnson, Washington state in the US, whose goal is to bring attention for the need for legal clothing-optional beaches through "guerilla pranksterism", among other approaches.^[30]
• Émile Armand French anarchist?.
• The Sex Party of British Columbia (Canada) promotes normalization of all parts of the human body and destigmatizing human sexual organs. It would pass legislation requiring all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare to designate areas reserved for nudists.
• The Dutch party Naastenliefde, Vrijheid en Diversiteit would pass legislation to make public nudity legal everywhere, provided that a towel is used when sitting on a public bench.
• Starkers! and the emergence of clubbing culture and naturism developed in London.
• The short-lived Naturist Lifestyle Party in New South Wales, Australia aimed "to bring naturism fully into the public eye, with view to getting an equitable allocation of public resources to those who support the naturist lifestyle."^[31]

Nude protests have a long history :Doukhobor. Womens Institute Calendar

[edit] Philosophy

Naturism had many different philosophical sources and means many things to different people. There is no one definition. The INF have framed this definition:

Naturism is a lifestyle in harmony with nature, expressed through social nudity, and characterised by self-respect of people with different opinions and of the environment.^[1]

At one end of the spectrum are the nudists who just enjoy a nude life style, and at the other are the naturists, who have deeply held beliefs and see communal nudity as just one of many important principles. The INF definition is a compromise that has held since 1974. In it you can see the elements: lifestyle, harmony with nature, social nudity, self respect, differing opinions, respect for the environment.

[edit] Gymnosophy

see also Gymnosophist

In the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great encountered, in India, wandering groups of naked holy men which he dubbed the naked philosophers. (Gr gymnos: naked; sophist: knowledge ). Onesicritus, the philosopher, investigated their beliefs and lifestyle. Pyrrho, the Sceptic, was impressed and incorporated nudity into his philosophy. The Gymnosophists were Hindus, but Jain and Ajivika monks practised nudity as a statement that they had given up all worldly goods. Nudity was not a new concept to the Greeks as the Olympic Games (founded in 776 BC) were exclusively male and nude events. Gymnastics and gymnasium share the same root word (Gr gymnos).^{[citation needed]}

The first English naturists adopted the name Gymnosophy as a thinly disguised euphemism for their pastime. The English Gymnosophical Society was formed in 1922 and became the New Gymnosophy Society in 1926, they purchased the land at 'Bricketts Wood' to become Britain's first nudist colony. One of the first members was Gerald Gardner, who in 1945, established the 'Five Acres Club' nearby, ostensibly as a nudist club, but as a front for Wiccans^{[citation needed]}, as witchcraft was illegal in England until 1951.

The Digambar, one of the two main divisions of the Jain religion of India, remain 'skyclad', or naked, though generally it is practised by males. Digambar means 'clothed with the sky'. Wiccans have adopted this wording and some practise their rituals 'skyclad'.^{[citation needed]}

The Adamites, a Gnostic sect, practised religious nudism.

Another religious sect, the Doukhobors, migrated from Russia to western Canada. They practise or practised occasional nudity, such as while working in the farm fields. Members of one of the three subdivisions of Canadian Doukhobors, the small radical Sons of Freedom group, went so far in the 1900s as to publicly strip in mass public demonstrations to protest against government policies which were meant to assimilate them.^[32]

[edit] Naturist ideals

Groups have been formed to live their dreams, and then split up over questions of principles. There are many examples of the differences between various groups, often resulting in two or more national organisations. Here is a non-exclusive list, taken from Descamps,^[11] of the ideas that have united various naturists and become points of fierce contention for others.

• Rapport with animal life — having an ecological conscience
• Rapport with the environment — being an environmentalist
• Health — bathing in the sun, fresh air and water (balneotherapy, thalassotherapy, heliotherapy), Yoga, Tai Chi.
• Healthy food — moderation with alcohol, meat, tobacco, drugs; seeking out health foods and adopting healthy eating to prevent obesity. This can extend to teetotalism and Vegetarian or Vegan eating habits. The latter two also interface with having respect for the environment.
• Agriculture — avoiding unnecessary fertilisers and genetically modified organisms. Against factory farming
• Medicine — should be natural if not entirely homeopathic
• Psychotherapy — as a way of effecting personal changes
• Rapport with other humans — equality and respect. An anti-war, pro-world government stance
• Pedagogy — children should be respected as equals instead of being patronised
• Spirituality — man is no more than an animal, and nudity has a place in religion.
• Dress — nudism, as clothes are unnecessary, unheathly and build social barriers.
• Sports — to develop a healthy body.
• Arts — should be to develop individual talents, not as a means of financial exploitation
• Tourism — to understand other peoples' culture, concentrating on camping to remain close to the earth.
• Liberty — no one has the right to tell others or their children that they must wear clothes.
• Pollution — less clothing to manufacture and maintain means lower carbon footprint.

Some of these ideas have become mainstream. Others have been quietly forgotten. It is generally agreed among naturists that erotism and blatant sexuality have no place in naturism and are, in fact, antithetical to its ideals.

[edit] Naturism and the Romantics

Walt Whitman American writer, A Sun-bathed Nakedness:

Never before did I get so close to Nature; never before did she come so close to me... Nature was naked, and I was also... Sweet, sane, still Nakedness in Nature! - ah if poor, sick, prurient humanity in cities might really know you once more! Is not nakedness indecent? No, not inherently. It is your thought, your sophistication, your fear, your respectability, that is indecent. There come moods when these clothes of ours are not only too irksome to wear, but are themselves indecent.^[33]

Henry David Thoreau, Walking, in In wildness is the preservation of the world.

We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other.

To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.^[33]

Naturism was part of a literary movement in the late 1800s (see the writings of André Gide) which also influenced the art movements of the time specifically Henri Matisse and other Fauve painters. This movement was based on the French concept of joie de vivre, the idea of revelling freely in physical sensations and direct experiences and a spontaneous approach to life.^[34] Later this movement became called Naturalism.

[edit] Naturism for health

German naturism came from the Lebensreform movement. The Wandervogel youth movement of 1896, from Steglitz, Berlin promoted ideas of fitness and vigour inspired by thoughts of nationalism, rebelling against the thoughts of their parents. At the same time doctors of the Natural Healing Movement were using heliotherapy, treating diseases such as TB, rheumatism and scrofula with exposure to sunlight.^[35] (Sunlight has been shown to be beneficial in some skin conditions and enables the body to make vitamin D).^[36]

• Arnold Rickli in 1853, opened a light bathing clinic in Switzerland.^[37]
• Heinrich Pudor wrote on methods to improve social hygiene in his book Nackende Menchen und Jauchzen der Zukunft (Naked people and the future of Mankind) and then Nacktkultur (The cult of the nude). It prescribes an austere lifestyle and nudity.^[35]

• Paul Zimmermann, opened the Freilicht Park in Lübeck which was open to those who subscribed to Nacktkultur principles.^[35]

• Richard Ungewitter wrote Die Nacktheit (Nakedness) which sold 90,000 copies, prescribed a similar Utopian lifestyle, where everyone would be nude, eat only vegetables and abstain from alcohol and tobacco. In his Utopia, everyone was to be Germanic with blue eyes and blonde hair.^[35]

• Adolf Koch, a left wing primary school teacher, sought to use social nudity to free the people from 'authority fixated conditioning which held proletarians in deference of their masters: parental authority, paternalism of the church, the mass media and organs of law and order. He used Organic-Rhythmic exercises in Berlin schools in the 1920s. In 1932 there were about 100,000 Germans involved with Naturism, of which 70,000 were in Koch's Körperschülen schools.^[35]

• Werner Zimmermann, a Swiss, preached against body guilt and encouraged naked education. He sought to eliminate body guilt and encourage openness and end the repression of the human spirit,which he saw as the cause of sexual deviation.^[35]

• Hans Surén taught nude gymnastics to soldiers for five years, and on being forced to leave the army, he wrote in 1924, Mensch und die Sonne (Men and the Sun) which ran to 61 reprints.^[35] Later, in 1936, Surén proposed physical exercise and naturism as a means of creating a pure German race and of beauty.^[38]. In the early 1940s he was out of favour and arrested. By 1945, he had turned full circle and was writing religious texts. Though never a member of any FKK club he was awarded honorary membership of the DFK in 1952.

• Nudists became a large element in German Left Wing Politics. The Proletarische Freikörperkulturbewegung subsection of the Workers Sports Organisation had 60000 members.^[35]

With the increased awareness of skin cancer, wearing of sunscreen is now part of the culture.^[39][36]

[edit] Naturism and equality

Many people say that being nude in groups makes them feel more accepted for their entire being — physical, intellectual and emotional. They say that they tend to be more accepted, in spite of differences in age, body shape, fitness, and health. Without clothing, one's social rank is generally obscured. They report feeling more united with humanity, with less regard to a person's wealth, position, nationality, race, and sex.^[40]

[edit] History of social nudity

Nudity in social contexts has been practised in various forms by many cultures at all time periods. Social nudity is most frequently encountered in the contexts of bathing, swimming and in saunas, whether in single-sex groups, within the family or with mixed-sex friends.

It is difficult to nominate exactly when naturism started as a movement. In 1903 Paul Zimmermann opened the first club, Freilichtpark, near Hamburg.^[41] By 1951, the national federations united to form the International Naturist Federation or INF.^[11] Some naturists preferred not to join clubs, and after 1945, pressure was put to designate beaches for naturist use. The two groups did not cooperate until 2000.

In the twenty-first century, with changing leisure patterns, commercial organisations began opening holiday resorts to attract naturists who expected a standard of comfort and amenity equal to, or exceeding, that found at textilist resorts.^[41]

[edit] Historical era

See main article Nudity in History

[edit] The spread of philosophy and the rise of formal communities

The earliest known naturist club in the "western" sense of the word was established in British India in 1891. It was founded by Charles Edward Gordon Crawford, a widower, who was a District and Sessions Judge for the Bombay Civil Service at Thana. Evidence for its existence is only known by a few letters he sent to friends, and the club which had three members, reportedly closed in 1892.^[42]

In the early 1900s, a series of philosophical papers was published in Germany. Dr. Heinrich Pudor, under the pseudonym Heinrich Scham, wrote a book titled Nacktkultur, which discussed the benefits of nudity in co-education and advocated participating in sports while being free of cumbersome clothing.^[41]Richard Ungewitter ( Nacktheit, 1906, Nackt, 1908, etc.) proposed that combining physical fitness, sunlight, and fresh air bathing, and then adding the nudist philosophy, contributed to mental and psychological fitness, good health, and an improved moral-life view.^[41]

The wide publication of those papers and others, contributed to an explosive worldwide growth of nudism, in which nudists participated in various social, recreational, and physical fitness activities in the nude.

The first known organized club for nudists, Freilichtpark (Free-Light Park), was opened near Hamburg in 1903 by Paul Zimmerman.^[41]

[edit] Germany

See also: Freikörperkultur

The nudist movement gained prominence in Germany in the 1920s, but was suppressed during the Nazi Gleichschaltung after Adolf Hitler came to power. The state-controlled leisure organization of the Nazis, Kraft durch Freude, refused to recognize it. However, it was later discovered that Luftwaffe (Air Force) head Hermann Göring had single-handedly written his own strict anti-nudity views into the Gleichschaltung, thereby imposing his views on everyone (he had been one of its main authors). Many in the Nazi party thought he had gone too far, so after nearly a decade, the rules were eventually softened in July 1942.^[43] Nevertheless, all naturism clubs had to register with Kraft durch Freude, which meant excluding Jews and Communists. Also, they had to keep all activities well out in the countryside so there would be virtually no chance of being seen by others.

After the war, East Germans enjoyed nudism as one the few freedoms they had under the communist government, chiefly at beaches rather than clubs (private organizations being regarded as potentially subversive by the regime). It quickly rebounded in the west also, and today, united Germany has many clubs, parks and beaches for nudism.^[1] Since German reunification, however, nudity is said to have become rare at some locations in the former eastern zone. Vacationing in Mediterranean France at the large Cap d'Agde resort also became popular for Germans when it opened in the late 1960s, and Germans are typically the most commonly-seen foreigners at nude beaches all around Europe.

[edit] France

From 1857 Dr. Duhamel spoke of the importance of heliotherapy, and worked with children suffering from tuberculosis on the beach at Berck. In 1903 S. Gay created a naturist community at Bois-Fourgon. In 1907, supported by his superiors, Abbé Legrée encouraged the students at his catholic college to bathe nude on the rocky beaches near Marseille. A report on German naturism was published in la Revue des deux mondes.

Marcel Kienné de Mongeot, who came from a noble family and who was an aviator in the Great War, is credited with starting naturism in France in 1920. By then he was a journalist who wrote a defense of the dancer, Malkowski, in the journal Vouloir. His family had suffered from tuberculosis, and he saw naturism as a cure and a continuation of the traditions of the ancient Greeks. In 1926, he started the magazine Vivre intégralement (later called Vivre) and the first French naturist club, Sparta Club at Garambouville, near Evreux. Others quickly followed as did local opposition. His victory in court established that nudism was legal on private property that was fenced and screened.^[11]

Drs. André and Gaston Durville opened a naturist health centre, edited the La vie sage (1924) and bought a 70 hectare site on the Île du Levant on which they established the Héliopolis. The village was open to the public. Dr François Fougerat de David de Lastours, who was gassed in the Great War and was saved by exposure to the sun, in 1925 wrote a thesis on heliotherapy and in that year opened the Club gymnique de France. Jacque de Marquette wrote on naturism and vegetarianism. In 1936, government minister Léo Lagrange recognised the naturist movement.^[11]

Albert and Christine Lecocq were active members of many of these clubs, but after disagreements left and in 1944 founded their own travel club Club du Soleil. It was popular and had members in 84 cities, becoming the worlds largest naturist club. In 1948 they founded the FFN. In 1949 they started a magazine, Vie au Soleil and in 1950 they opened the CHM-Montalivet at Montalivet, the worlds first naturist holiday centre. In 1951 they assisted in the formation of the INF.^[11]

The Quartier Naturiste at Agde opened offering a different form of social nudity. In 1975, Euronat, the largest holiday centre (335ha) opened 10 km north of Montalivet which was running at capacity. In 1983 the FFN was accepted as an official tourist and youth movement. SOCNAT provided the management and financial stability to the movement and runs 5 centres in France and one in Spain.^[44] Holiday centres started to form cooperative marketing groups and aim for 5 star status. Publicity material was of a quality indistinguishable from textile holiday companies.

In this benign climate, Randonue, an unauthorised form of naturisme sauvage has become popular, and areas traditionally known for discreet sunbathing have been revisited. Naturist is accepted and can even be practised on many popular textilist beaches.^[44]

As of 2007, France has 150 members clubs offering holiday accommodation, 50 holiday centres, official naturist beaches, unofficial beaches and many homes where naturist swimming and sunbathing is normal.^[44][1] Naturism employs more than 3000 people, and is estimated to be worth 250 million Euro to the French economy.

France is represented on the INF by the FFN.

[edit] Poland

First reported naturist society was established in 1897 in Grudziądz. In pre-war and post-war Poland naturism was practiced in closed and selucted areas. Reported places for naturism were Zaleszczyki (in todays Ukraine) and Otwock. Under the communism regime, Poland's naturism became unofficial and was practiced mostly by the artistic boheme near Krynica Morska, Międzyzdroje and Dębki.

In the early 1980s naturism became popular mostly due to increased interest in media. As the pop song "Chałupy Welcome To" (about the naturist beach in Chałupy, featuring beach nudity in the clip) became the 1985 summer hit in Poland, the nude seaside locations like Chałupy or Rowy became known to an average Polish sunbather. Polish Naturist Society was formed and after the number of lawsuits naturism became tolerated in selected "unofficial" beaches and distant spots.

In today's Poland naturism is practiced in number of the seaside and inland beaches. The most of Polish beaches are actually clothes-optional rather than naturist. Among the most popular locations are Międzydroje-Lubiewo, Grzybowo, Rowy, Dębki, Gdańsk-Stogi and Piaski. The most popular inland locations include Warsaw (Wał Miedzeszyński), Kazimierz Dolny and Kryspinów near Cracow. In the winter season, naturism is practiced by organized groups in Warsaw and Tri-City. Public naturist events are held bi-monthly in Poznań-Koziegłowy and Łódź waterpark.

[edit] United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the first nudist club was established in Wickford, Essex in 1924. According to Michael Farrar, writing for British Naturism the club adopted the name "Moonella Group" from the name of the owner of the ground, Moonella, and called its site The Camp. Moonella, who was still living in 1965 but whose identity remains to be discovered, had inherited a house with land in 1923 and made it available to certain members of