I wonder if the survey should have asked about Naturist organisations not only defending but also establishing the right to naked at locations and events. If I were to ask my local sheriff (USA state of Georgia) to guarantee freedom, he'll likely lock me up on suspicion. However May be if AANR asked Gibbs Gardens to host a clothing optional day a handful of times each year, it might happen ?
Only one comment, for now. The editors seem confused as to why many people who value body freedom do not support abortion. The answer is that we value the life and body of the baby which would be terminated in an abortion. That baby has a right to continue to exist - the most fundamental basis of body freedom. The smallest and most vulnerable among us deserve our protection of their bodies.
This... look, not going into the arguments for why this is imho, just wrong. Suffice to say that I could easily point out that religion not only never mentions the idea, other than describing how to commit it, as a test of infidelity, but it is also blindingly clear in what defines "life", including I'm a child. There is a reason why it was a murder to kill a pregnant woman, or a born child, but merely a fine, like lost property, to cause the death of an unborn. But, let's set asside the church dogma vs actual scripture and talk about general value of life. Again, we run into a problem, because, like it or not, viability (i.e., if born now, could this grow into a child?), is what is used by medicine. Oftennthe answer is no, sonetimes it is not just no, but its also going to kill the mother. Lawmakers who try to ban it show, time and time again, that they do not believe in this basic fact of biology, or just don't give a damn. So, let's set that asside too, and talk practicality - can every mother/family, or even local community, actually give a child a life. Not an "existence", not some warped, "test" for the child or the parents, rtc., but the actual child itself a real life? If not, then you might as well be one of the craziest in the city of Omelas, arguing, "We don't actually kill the child we keep in the basement, torture, neglect, starve, refuse education, play and companionship to, etc., but.. sonehow making sure they are born, to have these things done to them, garrentees paradise for the rest of us. Sure, that is not what is intended, bit... same people passing laws to murder mothers, in hope that the doctor lied and the baby woukd survive, also pass them to garrentee poverty, lack of good schools, lack of women's pre/post stellar care, lack of adequate food for poor children... Seems like if such hardship are a test, "pro life" politicians get not an F, but a, "I - Incomplete, did not participate."
But, this is just my opinion. All things being equal, as the saying goes, I might even agree with you in principle, but nothing, from scripture, to actual real world outcomes, come close to "equal".
It is notable how many respondents were gay men -- a group I believe may be the only area of participation growth in all of naturism. I am not gay myself but see see the gay nudist community as natural allies of us all and who should not be overlooked or in any way excluded.
The survey and this detailed and thoughtful interpretation of it demonstrate the value of Planet Nude and efforts like it to the future of the naturist community. Kudos to Evan and team. This has raised the bar! Thank you
I'm very interested in taking this survey, as I wasn't aware that it was being conducted...or it occurred just prior to my discovering Planet Nude. Is there a portal to enter to take the survey or the next generation at this time?
The survey is still open (it’s linked at the top of the article in the first paragraph) but since we’ve already gathered and reported on the results, filling it out would mostly amount to a personal exercise. But you’re welcome to! We do plan on making this an annual survey so you can also stay tuned and participate next summer!
Loved participating in this survey. Would love to see you partner with a University that could further validate and potentially improve the questionnaire, but also get it out to a much larger audience and a more diverse demographic.
I believe this is a broad misconception about drag that resembles many peoples’ misconceptions about nudism. Some of it is adult oriented expression, but by and large it is perfectly family friendly.
So I took that question as promoting Drag events at family friendly naturist activities, which IMHO should be nude and therefore how can they be "drag" Now a guy at our club (and I am not sure if he is transitioning or what not my business), wears a big floppy hat and cool 1960s style white plastic sunglasses sometime necklaces and earrings, and nothing else and IMHO that is cool..but I do not think that is "drag".....a couple of ladies wear that too...I had to tell a male appearing visitor to our club that wanted to wear sexy lingerie and a pink parasol and threaten to kick him kick him out if he did not take that off (parasol was okay) just like I would have a cis-female or any female.......as we have a rule on stuff like that, trans, or whatever.......at just some random event or a parade in say downtown Ithica NY or Sturgis SD, hey drag or whatever, cool with me....but at a nudist club, nude is nude.. so maybe that question had a confused question gave answers that don't answer the question the asker was asking OR I am blind and cannot read
Very interesting data and analysis! Thanks for putting in this work.
Could be an interesting project to perform a survey like this on a larger scale. Reflecting on some of these outcomes and thinking about how they relate to my actual experiences interacting with people in naturist spaces, I'd be especially curious to see how much the broader culture of naturists aligns with the subset of "Planet Nude Readers".
Great survey! Thanks for sharing the results. I thought it was interesting that only “(27%) admitted to having found images of nudists sexually stimulating”. Do we really turn off our sexuality when we declare we’re a naturist or at the gate of a resort? Why would sexuality in a nude environmental differ from a textile environment? I understand wanting to fight the perception of nudity being inherently sexual but let’s be honest. This result feels a little dishonest or maybe it’s the wording “sexually stimulating” that was confusing. To be clear, I interpreted this as admiring sexually attractive features in others not saving images for a wank bank.
I definitely agree with you that sexuality should be considered a normal and healthy thing in a naturist environment. Regarding this prompt from the survey, when I consider the idea of an "image of a nudist" there's a layer of context that has been added. For instance, what came to my mind was a picture of someone hiking naked, or possibly people playing volleyball naked. To me, there is not anything inherently sexual about those ideas, the same way that I wouldn't find it sexually stimulating to see a person wearing hiking gear on a trail or people wearing volleyball uniforms playing volleyball.
If it were an image of a naked person in a provocative pose leaning against a tree or laying in a stream or just holding a volleyball, I might be more likely to say there's something sexually stimulating about it. But to me, the idea of "image of a nudist" contextually means a picture of a naked person performing a mundane activity. I understand why someone would find that to be exciting, but personally it doesn't do much for me.
I suppose this also brings to mind the question: When do we consider an image of a naked person to be an "image of a nudist"?
I would also make a generalized comment that the political stance shows that of Planet Nude readership not necessarily naturism as a whole maybe because of a "california bias" IDK (bias because based in California you get more California answers which skew the data because California is not represented as national as a whole, sort of like NBC polls etc, they over represent New York, as easier to get people near the NBC office to answer it. I have tried to unofficially try to get a sense of what our clubs are (left, right, center) and it is hard. Might take a year of listening to flush out what they are.....my guess is right of center. I have been saying this at NEF meetings we need to understand clientele of nudism to market it better because no one truly knows....and not easy to know. Right leaning people DO NOT trust polls, polesters, or anything associated with them....so they do not participate or misrepresent their stance....and it is only getting worse. Not really new, My grandmother who the only democrat she ever voted for was the guy that I worked for, not because she liked him, but to support me....even 30 years ago, would purposely misrepresent herself to poll takers, and her and all of her buddies would plot there answers ahead of election season......here in South Dakota ran into a very dejected poll taker, who could no one to answer his poll, I was talking saying participation rate was in single digits, and even in an area that in last 20 years has shifted from purple to fire engine red.....nobody much talking....even I could not be seen giving this man answers to his poll as it would out me as not a Republican.........you know, I do not think that woman who took that Iowa poll and was off by 20 odd points was fabricating it, I think she experienced this in spades.......red people think faithfully answering polls will only be used against you, so better to tell the pollster what they want to hear if anything at all, so these polls everyone takes and faithfully act that are true might not be.....and I hate to say this, it was true when I was a congressional staffer, most poll takers are left of center.......
the drag question on the poll sort of confused me, in that any time I have seen drag, it was men dressed like women, but more flamboyant or exaggerated.
there was an area, not addressed in the poll, and that is handicapped/physically disadvantaged nudists.. I happen to be on, due to health issues, not a missing limb. I'm on full time oxygen 24/7, so limits my participation to about 3 hours on a tank. more out of curiosity how many of us are handicapped? and how can we make it work?
My suggestion is to conduct another survey next year with only CIS women since only 2.7 of the respondents were CIS women. This survey was a lot of work and needed .Thank you . I will promote Planet Nude more. . It reminds me of the former TANR's - Trade Association of Nude Rzecreation (very expensive considering the TANR budget) focus groups results. They hired a professional firm and found a lot out about the attitudes of general pubic on nudity. It will be helpful on to focus on women to understand what other women and moms are thinking and experiencing. I have experienced a lot of women leaving social nude situations where there are very few women or they are the only one and a lot more of men. I stopped going to nude beaches years ago as I was followed to the parking lot several times, stared at, photographed from the bluffs of the beach and hit on when I wanted to just read my book.
It doesn't come as a surprise that the biggest group of responders to the survey was older men like myself but that doesn't mean that other groups aren't engaged in naturism. My wife likes to visit nudist beaches with me and is happy to go topless on textile beaches but she's not interested enough in naturism as a cause to fill in a survey on the subject.
The UK Channel 4 TV documentary 'My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist' (2012) looked at naturism among British young people. Interest in being nude is supposed to be rising among the 18 - 35 age group but again it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't interested in filling in a survey. I get the impression that for every teenager who thinks that it would be great to swim or sunbathe naked there are others who would almost rather die first.
Edit: My Daughter the Teenage Nudist is available on YouTube in a version subtitled in Russian. This was originally shown in the UK on free-to-air television.
I wonder if the survey should have asked about Naturist organisations not only defending but also establishing the right to naked at locations and events. If I were to ask my local sheriff (USA state of Georgia) to guarantee freedom, he'll likely lock me up on suspicion. However May be if AANR asked Gibbs Gardens to host a clothing optional day a handful of times each year, it might happen ?
Only one comment, for now. The editors seem confused as to why many people who value body freedom do not support abortion. The answer is that we value the life and body of the baby which would be terminated in an abortion. That baby has a right to continue to exist - the most fundamental basis of body freedom. The smallest and most vulnerable among us deserve our protection of their bodies.
This... look, not going into the arguments for why this is imho, just wrong. Suffice to say that I could easily point out that religion not only never mentions the idea, other than describing how to commit it, as a test of infidelity, but it is also blindingly clear in what defines "life", including I'm a child. There is a reason why it was a murder to kill a pregnant woman, or a born child, but merely a fine, like lost property, to cause the death of an unborn. But, let's set asside the church dogma vs actual scripture and talk about general value of life. Again, we run into a problem, because, like it or not, viability (i.e., if born now, could this grow into a child?), is what is used by medicine. Oftennthe answer is no, sonetimes it is not just no, but its also going to kill the mother. Lawmakers who try to ban it show, time and time again, that they do not believe in this basic fact of biology, or just don't give a damn. So, let's set that asside too, and talk practicality - can every mother/family, or even local community, actually give a child a life. Not an "existence", not some warped, "test" for the child or the parents, rtc., but the actual child itself a real life? If not, then you might as well be one of the craziest in the city of Omelas, arguing, "We don't actually kill the child we keep in the basement, torture, neglect, starve, refuse education, play and companionship to, etc., but.. sonehow making sure they are born, to have these things done to them, garrentees paradise for the rest of us. Sure, that is not what is intended, bit... same people passing laws to murder mothers, in hope that the doctor lied and the baby woukd survive, also pass them to garrentee poverty, lack of good schools, lack of women's pre/post stellar care, lack of adequate food for poor children... Seems like if such hardship are a test, "pro life" politicians get not an F, but a, "I - Incomplete, did not participate."
But, this is just my opinion. All things being equal, as the saying goes, I might even agree with you in principle, but nothing, from scripture, to actual real world outcomes, come close to "equal".
It is notable how many respondents were gay men -- a group I believe may be the only area of participation growth in all of naturism. I am not gay myself but see see the gay nudist community as natural allies of us all and who should not be overlooked or in any way excluded.
The survey and this detailed and thoughtful interpretation of it demonstrate the value of Planet Nude and efforts like it to the future of the naturist community. Kudos to Evan and team. This has raised the bar! Thank you
I'm very interested in taking this survey, as I wasn't aware that it was being conducted...or it occurred just prior to my discovering Planet Nude. Is there a portal to enter to take the survey or the next generation at this time?
The survey is still open (it’s linked at the top of the article in the first paragraph) but since we’ve already gathered and reported on the results, filling it out would mostly amount to a personal exercise. But you’re welcome to! We do plan on making this an annual survey so you can also stay tuned and participate next summer!
Loved participating in this survey. Would love to see you partner with a University that could further validate and potentially improve the questionnaire, but also get it out to a much larger audience and a more diverse demographic.
Hello to all the boomer men out there!
Drag shows many times turn sexual which is against the policies of AANR
I believe this is a broad misconception about drag that resembles many peoples’ misconceptions about nudism. Some of it is adult oriented expression, but by and large it is perfectly family friendly.
So I took that question as promoting Drag events at family friendly naturist activities, which IMHO should be nude and therefore how can they be "drag" Now a guy at our club (and I am not sure if he is transitioning or what not my business), wears a big floppy hat and cool 1960s style white plastic sunglasses sometime necklaces and earrings, and nothing else and IMHO that is cool..but I do not think that is "drag".....a couple of ladies wear that too...I had to tell a male appearing visitor to our club that wanted to wear sexy lingerie and a pink parasol and threaten to kick him kick him out if he did not take that off (parasol was okay) just like I would have a cis-female or any female.......as we have a rule on stuff like that, trans, or whatever.......at just some random event or a parade in say downtown Ithica NY or Sturgis SD, hey drag or whatever, cool with me....but at a nudist club, nude is nude.. so maybe that question had a confused question gave answers that don't answer the question the asker was asking OR I am blind and cannot read
Very interesting data and analysis! Thanks for putting in this work.
Could be an interesting project to perform a survey like this on a larger scale. Reflecting on some of these outcomes and thinking about how they relate to my actual experiences interacting with people in naturist spaces, I'd be especially curious to see how much the broader culture of naturists aligns with the subset of "Planet Nude Readers".
Great survey! Thanks for sharing the results. I thought it was interesting that only “(27%) admitted to having found images of nudists sexually stimulating”. Do we really turn off our sexuality when we declare we’re a naturist or at the gate of a resort? Why would sexuality in a nude environmental differ from a textile environment? I understand wanting to fight the perception of nudity being inherently sexual but let’s be honest. This result feels a little dishonest or maybe it’s the wording “sexually stimulating” that was confusing. To be clear, I interpreted this as admiring sexually attractive features in others not saving images for a wank bank.
I definitely agree with you that sexuality should be considered a normal and healthy thing in a naturist environment. Regarding this prompt from the survey, when I consider the idea of an "image of a nudist" there's a layer of context that has been added. For instance, what came to my mind was a picture of someone hiking naked, or possibly people playing volleyball naked. To me, there is not anything inherently sexual about those ideas, the same way that I wouldn't find it sexually stimulating to see a person wearing hiking gear on a trail or people wearing volleyball uniforms playing volleyball.
If it were an image of a naked person in a provocative pose leaning against a tree or laying in a stream or just holding a volleyball, I might be more likely to say there's something sexually stimulating about it. But to me, the idea of "image of a nudist" contextually means a picture of a naked person performing a mundane activity. I understand why someone would find that to be exciting, but personally it doesn't do much for me.
I suppose this also brings to mind the question: When do we consider an image of a naked person to be an "image of a nudist"?
I would also make a generalized comment that the political stance shows that of Planet Nude readership not necessarily naturism as a whole maybe because of a "california bias" IDK (bias because based in California you get more California answers which skew the data because California is not represented as national as a whole, sort of like NBC polls etc, they over represent New York, as easier to get people near the NBC office to answer it. I have tried to unofficially try to get a sense of what our clubs are (left, right, center) and it is hard. Might take a year of listening to flush out what they are.....my guess is right of center. I have been saying this at NEF meetings we need to understand clientele of nudism to market it better because no one truly knows....and not easy to know. Right leaning people DO NOT trust polls, polesters, or anything associated with them....so they do not participate or misrepresent their stance....and it is only getting worse. Not really new, My grandmother who the only democrat she ever voted for was the guy that I worked for, not because she liked him, but to support me....even 30 years ago, would purposely misrepresent herself to poll takers, and her and all of her buddies would plot there answers ahead of election season......here in South Dakota ran into a very dejected poll taker, who could no one to answer his poll, I was talking saying participation rate was in single digits, and even in an area that in last 20 years has shifted from purple to fire engine red.....nobody much talking....even I could not be seen giving this man answers to his poll as it would out me as not a Republican.........you know, I do not think that woman who took that Iowa poll and was off by 20 odd points was fabricating it, I think she experienced this in spades.......red people think faithfully answering polls will only be used against you, so better to tell the pollster what they want to hear if anything at all, so these polls everyone takes and faithfully act that are true might not be.....and I hate to say this, it was true when I was a congressional staffer, most poll takers are left of center.......
the drag question on the poll sort of confused me, in that any time I have seen drag, it was men dressed like women, but more flamboyant or exaggerated.
there was an area, not addressed in the poll, and that is handicapped/physically disadvantaged nudists.. I happen to be on, due to health issues, not a missing limb. I'm on full time oxygen 24/7, so limits my participation to about 3 hours on a tank. more out of curiosity how many of us are handicapped? and how can we make it work?
My suggestion is to conduct another survey next year with only CIS women since only 2.7 of the respondents were CIS women. This survey was a lot of work and needed .Thank you . I will promote Planet Nude more. . It reminds me of the former TANR's - Trade Association of Nude Rzecreation (very expensive considering the TANR budget) focus groups results. They hired a professional firm and found a lot out about the attitudes of general pubic on nudity. It will be helpful on to focus on women to understand what other women and moms are thinking and experiencing. I have experienced a lot of women leaving social nude situations where there are very few women or they are the only one and a lot more of men. I stopped going to nude beaches years ago as I was followed to the parking lot several times, stared at, photographed from the bluffs of the beach and hit on when I wanted to just read my book.
It doesn't come as a surprise that the biggest group of responders to the survey was older men like myself but that doesn't mean that other groups aren't engaged in naturism. My wife likes to visit nudist beaches with me and is happy to go topless on textile beaches but she's not interested enough in naturism as a cause to fill in a survey on the subject.
The UK Channel 4 TV documentary 'My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist' (2012) looked at naturism among British young people. Interest in being nude is supposed to be rising among the 18 - 35 age group but again it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't interested in filling in a survey. I get the impression that for every teenager who thinks that it would be great to swim or sunbathe naked there are others who would almost rather die first.
Edit: My Daughter the Teenage Nudist is available on YouTube in a version subtitled in Russian. This was originally shown in the UK on free-to-air television.