Who will bell the cat?

The combined membership of AANR and TNSF is far smaller than the number of U.S. people who enjoy home and social nudity

Nobody knows at all accurately how many U.S. adults enjoy home and social nudity. After all, nudity at home - with one’s family and friends - or in isolated places outdoors - is impossible to measure. The few conventional opinion surveys concerning naturism done in recent years are unreliable. The U.S. adult population is currently about 265 million people. But even if the “real” number of U.S. naturists is only 5% of the adult population there would be over 13 million U.S. adults who enjoy naturist nudity to a meaningful extent.

13 million is a lot of people. But it’s less than the number of new cars (and trucks) sold every year in the U.S. - about 17 million. Now suppose only 25% of the 13 million (about 3.2 million) made an effort to explain naturism to some of their friends, relatives, and acquaintances and could persuade even one adult person a year besides themself to start participating in naturism. Let’s call these naturists “persuaders”. Assuming the 25% figure, in the first year, the number of people enjoying naturism would grow by about 3.2 million. So after the first year, there would be over 16.2 million adult naturists - instead of 13 million.

Of course, some numbers here - including the 13 million - are just assumptions. There are no scientific surveys to reveal the “correct” numbers. The number of U.S. adults who enjoy naturism in some form might be more than 13 million, but that could also be an overestimate. However, assuming 13 million naturists of whom 3.2 million are persuaders, there would be 25% more naturists at the end of the first year. If that 25% rate remains the same, then after only 3 years the number of adult naturists will almost double. That would be like earning 25% compound interest on an investment.

That 25% of naturists (or any other percentage) could be persuaders is merely an assumption. Another assumption is that the percentage remains the same each year. If so, there would be a similar increase in the number of persuaders every year. But a decrease might be more likely. Additionally, the total U.S. population tends to increase every year, so for any specific percentage, the initial assumption of naturist numbers could also increase - but it could also decrease, as some naturists will drop out (or die) during the year. The actual percentage of adult naturists who become persuaders determines how quickly naturism can grow. If persuaders on average convince just one other person to participate in naturism, the number of new naturists will equal the number of persuaders at the start of the year.

If only 10% of adult naturists are persuaders each year - about 1.3 million naturists - the total number of adult naturists will increase by only 10%, so there’ll be only 1.3 million naturists added each year. Then about 7 years would be needed for the number of U.S. naturists to double. That’s not as good as 3 years, but it’s not nothing - since currently there seem to be fewer U.S. naturists each year, considering how many naturist clubs and resorts seem to disappear every year. So any sustained increase is much better than a decrease.

The (bare) bottom line is that if enough naturists become persuaders who endeavor to explain naturism to their friends, relatives, or acquaintances and convince just one of those on average to participate in naturism, then the additional new naturists should reverse the declining number of naturist clubs and resorts. More naturists mean more demand for naturist venues - including clothing-optional beaches as well as clubs and resorts - because increased demand usually leads to increased supply.

At some point, any growth rate among naturists will eventually slow down. In an ideal world, everyone would enjoy clothesfree activities - but the world is definitely not ideal. Realistically, the number of “persuadable” people in the U.S. is much less than the population. Indeed, much of the population doesn’t want anything to do with naturism. There’s no country on this planet where naturists are close to a majority (although in a few enlightened countries, many may enjoy a public sauna or health spa fully naked.)

You probably see the main problem with these calculations already. It is that most people who currently enjoy naturism are very reluctant to discuss their clothesfree activities with anyone except other naturists, or perhaps an open-minded friend or family member. Few naturists even use their real names when discussing the lifestyle on social media.

Why are so many naturists fearful of discussing their enjoyment of naturism with others - even others who are generally open-minded? Undoubtedly most naturists can cite various reasons for their reluctance. So I need to refer to a story told by an ancient Greek who almost everyone has heard of. His name is Aesop, a teller of tales (known as “fables”) who lived around 600 BCE. It’s not certain this person actually existed, as perhaps his stories - now known as Aesop’s fables - may be tales told by various individuals and were added to and embellished gradually over the years. Written versions of his fables from his time do not exist. But that’s irrelevant, as many of the fables are now widely known.

Hundreds of fables attributed to Aesop are known in many languages from many countries. The one that’s relevant here is known as Belling the Cat. Many people have encountered it when young since versions of the story have been part of popular storybooks for children. (See here for some versions of the story.)

Here’s a synopsis of the story from Wikipedia:

The fable concerns a group of mice who debate plans to nullify the threat of a marauding cat. One of them proposes placing a bell around its neck so that they are warned of its approach. The plan is applauded by the others until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat. All of them make excuses. The story is used to teach the wisdom of evaluating a plan on not only how desirable the outcome would be but also how it can be executed. It provides a moral lesson about the fundamental difference between ideas and their feasibility, and how this affects the value of a given plan.

The moral of the story is simple: It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.

In the fable, a group of mice are debating how to protect themselves from a predatory cat by putting a bell on a ribbon around the cat’s neck, so that they can be warned and flee if the bell alerts them. Although all agree it sounds like a fine idea - none of the mice will volunteer to bell the cat.

Naturists face a different problem: they want to clear up misconceptions, so that more people will understand what naturism is actually about and that participation in it can be recommended - because it’s legitimately pleasurable. Most naturists would probably agree that discussing it with others can help clear up widespread misunderstandings of the lifestyle. Yet most are reluctant to explain and recommend the idea - even to good friends and family members. Why? Because they fear that discussing naturism with people who are important to them could result in some - or a lot - of unwanted consequences for their relationships. The results might not often be as severe as ending a relationship, damage to one’s reputation, exclusion from social activities, or loss of a job. However, the usual conclusion is likely to be why take the risk?

Will anyone volunteer to bell the cat?

There are no easy answers here for most naturists. There could be problems even letting others know that one likes being naked at home, visiting clothing-optional beaches, going hiking or camping naked, or occasionally visiting a naturist club or resort - near home or on vacation. So this is why just 10% of adult naturists assuming this responsibility would be great - while 25% would be fantastic.

Are there even 10% of U.S. naturists who’d volunteer to become persuaders to benefit the naturist community? I don’t know. But that would certainly be most welcome if it happened.

This kind of naturist activism can be called “Grassroots Naturism”. The first use of that term I know of was by the Naturist Society. TNS even published a long (85-page) guide on the subject - it’s still online here. My Naturistplace blog in 2019 covered the subject in two articles: Grassroots Naturism I and Grassroots Naturism II.

Addendum: In 2022, while Covid-19 was still a problem, there was a survey by the Ipsos polling organization of a sample of 2,249 British adults. The result: “14% surveyed describe themselves as naturists or nudists“. (The article is here.) That’s almost 3 times as many people as was assumed in the main article to be naturists (or nudists) in the U.S. The assumption for the U.S. was only 5% - so that could be a definite underestimate. However, British society is different in important ways from that of the U.S. Differences include: (1) The British Naturism organization is much stronger than AANR and TNSF together in the U.S. (2) Public nudity in Britain is generally not considered illegal (unless there’s an intention to affront or alarm), so there are many nude beaches in Britain. (3) The population density in Britain is roughly twice as large as in the U.S., so British naturists are more likely to live closer to other naturists, naturist clubs, and naturist beaches.

The net result of these differences could account for much of the difference between the 14% of adults surveyed in Britain who acknowledged being naturists/nudists versus the assumption of 5% in the U.S. However, it might be reasonable to think that a better assumption for U.S. naturists would be 7%. That would mean 40% more U.S. naturists than assumed - perhaps 18 million naturists rather than 13 million. If so, then it would be somewhat more likely that people who aren’t naturists would already know someone else who is, so naturism might be a little less likely considered “weird”.