Are we sabotaging the effort to get women into naturism?
Unveiling mixed messages in naturism and their impact on women
The naturist community prides itself on taking up the charge for diversity, inclusivity, and body positivity in an effort to foster a sense of equality among all participants. However, recent incidents have highlighted inadvertent consequences of mixed messaging, hindering women's integration into naturist spaces.
As a naturist woman, I've advocated for women to embrace naturism, highlighting its positive impact on body image and mental well-being while consistently challenging societal norms perpetuated by print media, entertainment, and social platforms.
Social media
One avenue where mixed messaging is prevalent is social media. While it can be a powerful tool with a global reach, some advertisements for naturist resorts within the United States recently raised concerns. These ads featured women in sexualized contexts, sending conflicting messages about the true essence of naturism.
The first one was for a New Year's Eve event and showed an attractive nude woman posing in a champagne glass.
The second one centered on a Steampunk party and featured a younger, sexy woman in a steampunk costume.
The third one was what I considered the most egregious because it was a party entitled "Eyes Wide Shut," based on the film with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman about infidelity, orgies, and sexual exploration outside of marriage.
These images send the wrong idea about family naturism.
The clubs, when contacted, agreed that perhaps using stock imagery that features women in sexual situations was not the best approach. The majority of stock imaging that can be purchased for use in media is not geared to educating about naturism but instead conditioned selling of sex as an attention-grabber.
The messaging reinforces society's artificial beauty standards and what women feel is the Sisyphusian effort to measure up. They often feel compelled to conform to these improbable benchmarks, leading to feelings of inadequacy or self-consciousness when participating in naturist activities. While naturism champions body acceptance regardless of shape, size, or age, societal pressures still often dictate unrealistic beauty ideals.
Commercial art
Commercial art also perpetuates mixed messaging, as demonstrated by a recent gift—a set of shot glasses marketed with suggestive language. Such items reinforce outdated gender stereotypes and contribute to an environment where women feel objectified rather than empowered, and also serve as an indicator that we have not come that far in the equality of the sexes.
The set of clear shot glasses was in the form of a woman's torso. I almost couldn't get past the packaging. The box reads "Shots 4 The Boys" - "Perfect shot glass For Saturday with the Boys or as a Gift to Groomsmen. And, of course, please drink responsibly." The glasses are very nice, but the message is college frat party with a bit of sexual objectification thrown in the mix.
Men in naturism and their effect
Helen Berriman and I recently discussed men and their effect within naturism. Her article in the February 2024 issue of H&E Naturist magazine focuses on the impact men have on women in naturism, and not all of it is positive.
Listen:
The influence of men within naturism can either support or hamper women's participation. While the majority of naturist men are very supportive allies, instances of disrespect toward women in naturist arenas have been reported. Addressing these challenges requires collective action within the naturist community to eliminate contradictory messaging, promote inclusivity, and ensure women's voices are heard and respected. Men can flip the script by actively challenging the objectification, sexual comments, and misogyny emanating from the male community.
Next steps
As naturists, we must do better to eliminate demotivating, conflicting messaging and comments we see expressed. Naturism does not equal sex, so the use of scantily-clad or sexualized women gives the impression to those who are not familiar with naturism that this is the naturist philosophy. Such depictions can create unreal expectations from men that naturist women look a certain way, which leads to attracting the wrong kind of attention to naturism. It also causes confusion and apprehension, especially among women considering naturism for the first time.
By fostering a culture of empowerment and support, the naturist community can create a welcoming environment where all individuals, regardless of gender, feel valued and included. By addressing and eliminating adverse messaging, we pave the way for women to fully embrace the liberating aspects of naturism while strengthening our commitment to creating safe spaces for all marginalized communities within naturism. 🪐
 | A guest post by
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It’s not just Social Media, but the Internet is just as bad if not worse. Search Naturism or Nudism on any search engine and the results more often than not, will be an adult website hijacking Naturism/Nudism to “sell” their product. This also gives Naturism a bad name.
Madison Avenue has been telling us, Sex Sells for decades. Can you really blame the resorts or clubs for just following along? How do you attract attention and “sell” or advertise your product?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending them. I disagree with using the subjects in your examples to sell their product. It completely goes against what true Naturism is. And obviously gives the wrong impressions of what we try show the world True Naturism really is.
But to the outside world, to those who are curious, but clueless about Naturism, if we show them what it’s really like, will they find boring? Or will they find it intriguing? How do we make sure they don’t find it boring? Not worth their time, effort, and money?
Yes we are sabotaging the effort to bring not only women but anyone into Naturism. The exciting part of our lifestyle can’t be shown in ads, websites, or social media posts, it has to be experienced by each person. They have to see it with their own eyes, feel it with their bare skin. Just like we all did.
How do we sell this, make or allow people to see and really start to understand what Naturism is really like? Make it exciting? We’ve been saying for decades how exciting, freeing, exhilarating true Naturism is. There are several different websites, blogs, and even vlogs that do fantastic job. But even they sometimes slip into the “sex sells” mistake.
So how do we fix this?
When I first discovered Naturism it was in the pages of Health and Efficiency. I was about 12 and all I knew about it was prompted by 'saucy' postcards and ribald jokes. I saw a Pathe newsreel reporting on an INF meeting at Woburn Abbey and thought, I'd like to try that. Mum was horrified, so off to H&E I went... back then it had few photos and those it had were black and white and airbrushed cruelly - but the text was informative and I was hooked on the idea and off to the local beach I went to cavort sans trunks. Yes, it was as marvellous as the text said it was. I was hooked. So my point is that pictures do not sell naturism - the ideas behind it and the experience of being naked was what did it for me. Fighting the 'sex thing' is a negative approach - the camaraderie and, especially, honesty of naked communion is positive and inclusive. That was the positive message that sold it to me... perhaps it might work for others?