The disappearing opportunities for naturism

Naturists need to take this seriously

Evan Nicks begins his latest post on Substack thusly:

DeAnza gets dressed

You definitely should read it. My first comment on the post didn’t disagree with any of it, but added my view of the situation (slightly revised here):

Yes, this is very sad. But it was quite foreseeable. Even at the time that ownership changed, it wasn't clear that any naturism at all would remain at De Anza. But we live in a society that favors the wealthiest, and if the owners aren't making as much money off their business as they want, then they will do whatever they think will work best to increase their profits.

Most of the naturist parks and resorts that still remain are in the hands of people who really believe in naturist principles. But they're always getting older, as are the majority of their customers. Neither they nor their customers can reverse that, of course. The sad fact is that there aren't enough customers. The law of supply and demand is a basic fact of economics. As demand declines, so also will supply. But increase the demand, and the supply will soon follow.

So exactly who should work harder to promote demand for naturist venues? Is that not the main responsibility of naturist organizations - at all levels? It's also a prime responsibility of owners/managers of naturist properties. But as De Anza shows, some think that abandoning naturism will increase profits much faster.

Individual naturists themselves need to play a significant role by promoting naturism within their own social networks. That's a very important type of "organization". Yet little seems to be happening there either. Yes, a few people, like Evan, are doing their part. But clearly there aren't nearly enough promoters of naturism at any level.

Naturists should get a clue from writers and actors in the movie industry. They're on strike now against the studios due to a reasonable fear of being given short shrift by the studio owners. That tactic may well work for them. Naturists will have to use very different tactics from those of the writers and actors if naturism is to survive and grow. But one factor remains the same: everyone who has a stake in the success of naturism must come together to organize and work for that objective.

But then by chance I just opened the latest edition (42.4) of TNSF’s magazine N. There I found a long article by Mark Storey on Southern California naturism. He mentioned De Anza Springs only briefly at the end. So I commented again on Evan’s article:

Mark writes about the trip he and his wife made to the area last December. Although they spent 3 weeks in the area, there was enough to do that they didn't quite make it as far south as De Anza. But Mark concludes, hopefully, that "we heard good things about what the new owners are doing there, and hope to visit the site in 2023." So much for that idea, I guess.

Mark also writes in that article about Joshua Tree National Park, saying "It's delightfully easy to hike miles free of clothes" there. And, guess what, right now there's a 94,009-acre wildfire in the general area, and it's only 34% contained. Although Mark may not have hiked naked in that exact area, there are now more than 90,000 acres perfect for nude hiking that won't be the same for hundreds of years. Joshua Trees don't grow outside that part of the country, and those in the affected location may never return. It's unclear at this point whether the cause was climate change or human carelessness (or both). However, such fires affect wide-open spaces that are among the last places naturists can enjoy nudity outdoors without hassles. Canadian naturists have probably lost much more from this year’s recent fires (in a climate that affords much less time for going naked in nature).

Bottom line: naturists seem to be steadily losing opportunities for nudity in the great outdoors as well as in private clubs.

It seems to me that these two circumstances, although quite different, point very much in the same unfortunate direction. Naturism in the U.S. is gradually shrinking in popularity - for various reasons noted above, though they are hardly the only ones. If naturism is to have much of a future in this country, it’s urgent for currently active naturist to step up their activity to a significant degree.

There’s nothing naturists can really do about wildfires in forests and other sparsely populated areas where outdoor naturist recreation is still possible. But there is actually quite a lot naturists could do - if they were willing - to reverse the loss of naturist beaches, clubs, parks, and resorts. I wrote about one quite viable possibility in the previous edition of my own newsletter (here). The short answer is: Recruit more people into active naturism. In future newsletter articles I’ll discuss various additional ideas for doing that.