Does naturism need revitalizing?

Introduction to the task of revitalizing naturism and an overview of the framework for the discussion

Would you like to have more naturist friends? Would you like to see a wider variety of activities available in naturist places? Would you like to see greater acceptance by people you know and society in general of the practice of naturism? Are you afraid to tell relatives and friends about your enjoyment of naturism? Are you disappointed that very little is available in mainstream media about naturism that takes it seriously and is accurate? Are you concerned about existing age and gender imbalances in naturist activities? Do you wish there were more places to enjoy naturism close to where you live? Are you angry that social media tend to censor naturist material?

If you answered “yes” to many or most of these questions, then that’s a strong indication that naturism at present definitely needs revitalizing. In many countries where naturism can be enjoyed, there were very probably more - significantly more - people active in naturism several decades ago than there are now. Of course, there’s considerable variation from country to country in the actual numbers that have decreased since naturism became possible. There may be even a few countries where the numbers have increased - but that’s rather atypical.

The decline has been especially noticeable in the U.S. since a peak around 1960-1980. This isn’t speculation. I’ve been around long enough to see it myself. There are also recently published histories of U.S. naturism that cover very little that happened after 1980 - probably because there wasn’t much to say. One of the best examples: Free and Natural, by Sarah Schrank.

The best evidence, however, is your own answers to the questions above. With respect to those, an active naturist several decades ago probably wouldn’t have been as concerned about the existence of convenient places to enjoy naturism or problems of gender/age imbalances. (But those naturists probably would still answer most other questions affirmatively.)

The main objective of “revitalizing naturism” is to reduce significantly the number of affirmative answers to all those questions - especially the last three.

Very recently I wrote a post on my blog that goes into more detail about some of the present difficulties that naturism has in many countries, not just the U.S. - About that article on nude beaches in The Atlantic. This is The Atlantic’s article: Is the Internet Killing the Nude Beach? (I was quoted by name in the article.) Although it mainly concerns clothing-optional beaches, the observations are relevant to naturism in general. My blog post covers the declining use by naturists of clothing-optional beaches and the problems of gender and age imbalances. Rather than repeating the details here, please just have a look at The Atlantic’s article and my blog post.

The purpose of this newsletter is to start a conversation among active naturists about what they can do to help revitalize naturism. In order to reach the largest number of people, the newsletter will be free for the foreseeable future. (And besides, I don’t need the money.) But it’s not solely for active naturists. Please feel free to forward this article to anyone you know who’s open-minded and may be interested in naturism - and invite them to subscribe. Also feel free to quote from this newsletter in blogs, social media, private correspondence, and similar venues where naturism is seriously discussed. (But please do properly attribute anything quoted, and don’t quote reader comments to articles without their permission.)

In fact, feel free to print off individual articles for distribution to naturist friends and active naturists you may meet at clothing-optional beaches, naturist clubs and resorts, and other places naturists can usually be found. Always keep in mind that revitalizing naturism is the prime objective. So the more current and prospective naturists have a chance to participate in this discussion the better. People who don’t consider themselves naturists but still enjoy one or more typical naturist activities might become more involved if asked. You may never know unless you bring up the subject with them.

Naturists may find some consolation from learning that participation in many other types of organized group activities has been declining for at least three decades. Examples: political and charitable organizations, amateur sports leagues, organized religion, craft and hobby clubs, social activism groups - as well as many others. This trend of decline is not at all unique to naturism. And so, in addition to reasons specific to naturism, there are reasons for the trend that are applicable in general. Understanding these general reasons will certainly be helpful for naturism in particular. The newsletter will try to describe and explain these trends.

Delving a little into sociology will be necessary. Explaining trends like this is tricky. But it’s easier to understand the problems posed by trends toward non-participation in social activities. Sociologists have a concept called “social capital”. Economists have long recognized the importance of other types of capital - physical capital, human capital, and financial capital. The idea of “capital” is pretty simple. It represents resources that are needed to accomplish particular goals. Physical capital involves physical resources like raw materials, products useful for specific purposes, modern technology, etc. Human capital involves the availability of people who are willing and experienced or trained to work on necessary tasks. And financial capital, obviously, involves having the ability to pay for physical and human capital.

So what is “social capital”? That’s a little more abstract. Even if the other types of capital are available, in order to accomplish a given objective while making the most efficient use of other forms of capital, it’s necessary that the people involved can cooperate smoothly and work together as well as possible. Any large project will require a variety of different skills of the people involved.

Consider a political campaign, for example. Required skills include good leadership, experience in prior campaigns, ability to use mass media effectively, etc. And it’s also necessary that the people involved can cooperate smoothly with each other. So everyone should get along well with others and respect others’ ability to perform their required role. That’s a lot more likely if at least some of the people involved have worked together before and already have good relationships with other team members.

How does a desirable situation like this come about? It’s necessary to look at the structure of the social network that exists among the people involved. For example, if the team realizes they need the skills of someone not already on the team, then hopefully one or more members would know personally someone with the required skills they could recommend to help. That other person may be a lawyer, computer specialist, experienced fund-raiser, or whatever. This highly skilled person will probably be expensive to hire, so it’s desirable that whoever recommends the person is confident of that person’s ability.

I know this all sounds rather abstract, but the nature of social networks really is important. For a simple, more concrete, and relevant example, consider a small group of naturists that wants to form a successful non-landed naturist club. The people in the group should have a few good friends in the group already. But someone in the group should also know a naturist who’s previously started a successful club somewhere else. Another person in the group might have a talent for coming up with creative ideas for group activities. And a third person might have experience with naked hiking and camping in order to plan good outings for the rest of the group.

So I hope this introduction gives a good idea of the newsletter’s purpose. To be more explicit, in subsequent articles I’ll first go into the details of why naturism needs to be revitalized. And, second, given the details, I’ll present ideas for how naturists can work together cooperatively to accomplish the revitalization. I hope newsletter readers will contribute their own thoughts about this. Let’s figure out together what needs fixing and how to do it.