Grassroots naturism
Naturists need to use a "grassroots" approach to promoting naturism
In a recent post I discussed the unfortunate but obvious fact that the popularity of naturism in the U.S. has been declining for two or three decades. The evidence and likely reasons for this are reviewed at some length in that post. Concise summary: Fewer young people are entering naturism. If older naturists haven’t died or completely dropped out, they may spend more time in non-naturist activities to enjoy closer to home.
Younger generations commonly lack interest in - and even deprecate - many things older people consider important. Much of that is because younger people live mainly in a milieu of their peers that’s been shaped by recent events considerably different from what older people experienced. But some factors mitigate this effect. One is that individuals in a particular generation aren’t all alike - far from it. There’s always diversity. A second factor is that there are characteristics of attitudes and preferences that have intrinsic value and significance. Even if, for example, a style or type of music has lost popularity, there are reasons it still has value that simply isn’t appreciated as much as previously.
In particular, the characteristics of naturism and nonsexual social nudity that appealed to previous generations still exist. Naturists can still list many of them easily. The International Naturist Federation, for example, states that naturism is “a way of life in harmony with nature, characterized by the practice of communal nudity, with the intention of encouraging respect for oneself, respect for others, and respect for the environment.” Almost anyone would agree those are good things. But probably the first thing anyone who’s spent much time naked in a hospitable environment will think of is that being naked alone or with others simply feels really good.
Among young people today, there remain many who - if they have the opportunity to experience social nudity - can still appreciate those characteristics that have appealed to older naturists. The basic problem is that many fewer young people have had that experience. Most of their peers haven’t had that experience, so they have little understanding of or interest in naturism.
What this means for naturism is that young people who have had a good naturist experience can enjoy social nudity, and will want to interest people near their age to give naturism a try themselves. If successful, the latter probably will enjoy it just as much as older naturists have. The fact many fewer young people have had a positive experience with naturism doesn’t mean they can’t persuade others near their age to try it. What it does mean is that younger naturists will have to work harder to persuade others to try it than older naturists have had to.
Specifically, then, what should younger naturists be doing? I think young naturist should make an effort to persuade others near their age to become involved in naturism. After all, having more naturist friends directly benefits current young naturists. Older naturists and their regional and national organizations can certainly help. But younger naturists need to do the bulk of the work. Concretely, that means young naturists should work on forming local organizations - non-landed naturist clubs - that they can invite people near their age to join for a first-hand experience of naturism. Activities young people especially enjoy - such as hiking, camping, swimming, and other types of outdoor recreation - are even better with more participants.
Older naturists who’ve belonged to non-landed clubs and helped run them can be quite helpful with advice and examples. One good thing they should do is establish a part of their organization for the specific purpose of assisting younger naturists who want to start a non-landed club. However, younger naturists should still take the lead and do the work of encouraging others among their peers to participate.
This should be a grassroots effort. According to Wikipedia, “A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region, or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to implement change at the local, regional, national, or international levels. Grassroots movements are associated with bottom-up, rather than top-down decision-making, and are sometimes considered more natural or spontaneous than more traditional power structures.”
Some of the best-known examples include labor union organizing, the civil rights movement, and the advocation of environmental protections. There are numerous examples of grassroots organizations operating at local levels in support of those purposes. (If any of these people are naturists, their expertise should be helpful in naturist organizing.)
In the context of naturism, the objective isn’t to persuade large numbers of people to participate in clothesfree activities or adopt a clothesfree lifestyle. Clearly, that’s unlikely to happen any time soon. But common techniques can help promote naturism and encourage open-minded individuals to learn more about it - hopefully to persuade at least a few to get involved in naturist activities. If most young naturists can interest two or three others to join in, the numbers will grow quickly. This is exactly what happened fifty years ago as nude beach use grew rapidly. People hesitate doing something alone that seems a little risky. However, it’s much easier with a few companions. According to Mark Twain, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
There’s much to say about the steps younger naturists can take to recruit people into active naturism. The prospects for naturism’s future - in the U.S. and elsewhere it’s been in decline - need not be bleak. It’s not too late for naturists - younger ones especially - to reverse the decline. Briefly, here are the best actions to take:
Discuss what naturism is and why you enjoy it with as many people you know with whom you feel brave enough to bring up the subject. I recently posted ideas here for how to go about that. Finding even two or three people (outside your immediate family) who might be interested in naturism has two benefits: (1) You’ll have other people you can enjoy social nudity with. (2) It’s a start on taking the following step.
Find a nearby non-landed naturist group if you can find one you like that’s close enough or start one yourself. Non-landed naturist clubs are often, but not always, associated with landed naturist clubs and resorts. Either way you proceed, the club can plan activities to enjoy together, such as (1) social events in the homes of members, (2) naked hiking and camping trips, and (3) visits to clothing-optional beaches and landed clubs (if any are sufficiently nearby). If you’re not prepared to start a club, you can check for clubs listed with AANR or TNSF. You can also check Meetup.com, which has many naturist groups. Or you can ask others at landed naturist clubs whether they know of nearby non-landed clubs. If you want to start a group yourself, it’s best if at least one landed club or popular clothing-optional beach isn’t too far away (less than about 50 miles for most members). That makes activities involving visits to such places easier for members. Otherwise, if you live in an urban or suburban area, members may be close enough to each other for gatherings at each others’ homes. How do you find them in that case? It’s not easy - you might have to ask people you know whether they know someone who’s a naturist.
Once you’ve joined or started a non-landed naturist group, be sure that online social media are used to (1) facilitate the group’s operation, (2) provide one or more online places for members to interact with each other, and (3) enable non-members to become aware of your group and join it (if convenient). I recently posted detailed information here on the types of social media available. But only a few should be seriously considered:
Use an online newsletter so that planned events can be announced to everyone via email. Almost everyone has an email address these days, and (as long as it’s checked regularly) failing to learn about club events should be unlikely. Substack is easily the best choice - it’s a quality product and has many useful features. Best of all - starting a newsletter is free. Although subscribers can pay for “premium” content, a group generally wouldn’t want that. Only one or a few members manage the newsletter, but others can contribute by submitting content to the manager(s) and commenting on posts.
Consider using an account at Meetup.com for the group. There’s a modest cost for that, but it offers more ways for members to interact with each other - and learn about other members they may be unacquainted with. The service uses email to announce events but provides other services too, such as a place for discussions, posting of images, and information on other members. It’s also a way for other naturists to learn about the group before (possibly) joining.
In addition to Meetup (or instead of it), starting a Facebook group may also be worthwhile. Facebook provides more features for group members to interact with each other - announcements of events, sharing pictures, chatting online, and having general discussions. Facebook groups for naturists are usually private, for obvious reasons, and require a moderator’s approval to join. However, a parallel group could be set up to provide information for others who might be interested. Facebook, of course, is free for anyone having an account. But there are drawbacks too. Many people either don’t have Facebook accounts or else seldom use them. Young people, in particular, don’t especially like Facebook. Another problem is that it doesn’t have an automatic way to notify all members of events. And, of course, it’s hostile to “explicit” naturist pictures.
Non-landed clubs should consider affiliating with AANR, TNSF, or both. AANR lists all affiliated clubs on its website. TNSF lists clubs in its magazine (with a copy of the list on its website). These are the easiest ways for interested naturists to find nearby non-landed clubs. About the only other option is by word of mouth from naturist friends, or by word of mouth from people at naturist beaches and landed clubs.
What’s just described here is grassroots naturism. It’s a way of promoting naturism not from the top down - as with organizations like AANR and TNSF - but from the bottom up. Although those organizations have worthwhile functions, they obviously haven’t been sufficient to reverse “the disappearing opportunities for naturism” in the U.S.
I highly recommend information about this concept available online to anyone seriously interested. Here are two sources:
Some Advice on Starting a Naturist Group - A relatively short (9 pages) outline of how to start a non-landed naturist group. It was written by Nicky Hoffman of TNSF (though it doesn’t seem to be available on their site).
Grassroots Naturism: A Guide for the TNS Volunteer - This is a substantial document (85 pages) from TNSF. It provides much more information about the general idea of grassroots naturism.
One recent grassroots initiative to help the revitalizing of naturism is of course the Naturist Symbol.
Although it is not designed as promotion of naturism by itself, the goal is that naturists recognize eachother. Once we see we are not the only naturist in town, starting a conversation about naturism will be much easier.
The problem in naturism is the gap. A cohort of naturists went through through a particular time period. They were happy with the legal situation. They got to go to their clubs and be naked and that's all they wanted. They were just insecure enough they didn't want to rock the boat. These people were culturally conservative because the larger society looked askance on their "colonies" and wouldn't tolerate anything else.
The children were not always involved because children are the third rail of nudism. More often than not, the kids were kept in the dark, either because parents hadn't fully incorporated the nudist ideal or for security purposes.
There people grew older and didn't do any outreach because they didn't see nudism as a movement. They saw it as a raft in a dangerous sea. Bringing in more people might upset the raft. Then as they continued to age, young people became inherently suspicious. Young people don't share the same values. They play loud obnoxious music, imbibe larger quantities of intoxicants, and (horrors!) flirt. Troublemakers and rebellious anarchists wouldn't be tolerated.
TNS' efforts failed miserably. Today, most nudies are simply too old to outreach to young people. (At best we are old fogies pretending we can think young. We don't.) There is a 30 year gap of failure to be inclusive and do outreach. Twenty somethings don't want to hang out with their parents and grandparents. The next generation of nudies is small.
College campuses are the best place to go and we need young people to go there. (As if there were a "we" to do it. There isn't) It is the only place with high concentrations of young adults with open minds.