Gen Z nudist reporting for duty

Observations on how nudism might survive—and thrive—in a social media-driven world

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​Over the years and about a dozen nudist resorts and beaches later, I’ve met hundreds of my fellow bare brethren. In that time, two things always stuck out to me. The first is that over 90% of the nudists I’ve had the pleasure of meeting were over the age of forty. The second thing is that out of all the Gen Z nudists I’ve met, barely any of them use social media.

Sure, they all have accounts and follow their friends, but, at least in my experience, they aren’t “online” in the same realm that any textile Gen Z person is. Why is that? What is it about nudism that seems to attract those who don’t use social media in the same way as others?

The answer I’ve found, I believe, is the fundamental reason why nudism is dying, but also the key to how we can save it and see the next generations of nudists flourish.

My social survey

My introduction to nudism was very normal for anyone who didn’t explicitly grow up with it. Over the years, the topic would pop up, and out of curiosity, I would read into it, eventually leading me to practice it when I was able to. Add in my intuition to be naked when I am home alone or locked in my room sleeping, and my story makes up a large portion of the community.

Now, as a twenty-year-old, I am naked all the time and visit resorts and beaches whenever I have a weekend to spare. But if I stood on stage at a college campus and spewed my resolution to the social media problem by saying, “GET NAKED,” I would be asking for a nonstop flight to an all-white room with a straight jacket on. So, how do we get younger people to join in?

First, we must discuss the problem.

​For one of my projects in my Sociology class, we had to ask at least fifty people on our college campus a controversial question, and write an essay on why the question is controversial, then write an abstract on the whole experiment. Being the little nudist that I am, I decided to ask the question, “What’s stopping you from becoming a nudist?” (As a side note, I’d like to report that I scored a ninety-six on this project.) I have included a graph below with the most common answers summed up into six different camps.

When I tallied up all the responses, I was extremely surprised. Exactly half of the people who surveyed said they don’t feel that they have a “good enough body” to be a nudist.

My findings

At first, I was confused. As we all know, nudism is not an ideology that revolves around what you look like. You can be heavy, skinny, tall, short, black, white, anything. That is the entire point of nudism. The belief that you need a “You need to be this tall to ride” entry pass to practice nudism is downright laughable to the practicing nudist.

​But then, I thought about it more. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those who felt like they were not good enough, and I even talked to some of them again after the project was over. And my findings were incredible.

​On average (according to Statista), Gen Z people spend six hours a day on their phones, with over two-thirds of that being on social media.¹ Whether they’re doomscolling TikTok or texting back their friends, my generation lives on their screens.

But what do they see on social media that would make them feel like their body is not good enough, you may ask? What they see is…. nothing—or at least nothing real. What they see are carefully curated, fake personas that don’t reflect reality.

What they don’t see is real people. They see the shell of what they want others to see. Boys see the big, strong bodybuilder flexing his huge muscles, but they don’t see him throwing up after every meal to keep that same physique. Girls see supermodels on Instagram with their enlarged breasts and perfectly shaped curves, but they don’t know that the “supermodel” has had five surgeries and takes anabolic steroids.

Gen Z people see perfection, and then they look in the mirror and see imperfection. Because they spend a quarter of their day on their phones, they believe what they see is real and have no time to stop and really think about the extent these “influencers’ are taking to create the smoke and mirrors that is their life. And then when you ask them, “How would you feel about being naked around other people who couldn’t care less about what you look like,” their minds go straight to the supermodel or the bodybuilder, and they can’t cover themselves up fast enough. We’re losing new nudists because they’re losing their ability to accept who they are.

​Takeaways

So, what do we do? We can’t expect to take down all social media. There must be some way to show these children and young adults that nudism is how you cure yourself of your insecurities. And there is a way. And it starts with everyone.

As nudists, we can’t take a backseat and hope Gen Z and then one day Gen Alpha joins nudism. We must be activists. You don’t need to scream from mountaintops to get the job done. It’s as simple as inviting your child’s textile friend over for a playdate (with the parent’s permission, obviously) or being more sociable with your friends about who you are.

I was able to bring one of my friends, who I thought would never go to a nudist resort, and all I had to do was talk to him. Now he goes to beaches more than I do. We don’t need to win the war against social media or the “ideal body standard.” We just need to win small battles in our community, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and in our relationships. We need to pave the way for new, younger nudist by showing them that they can learn to accept themselves and not declare their worth by the number on the scale or anything else. They need to hear it from the US. For nudism to survive, it’s going to take all of us to bare all and show all. 🪐

1. Laricchia, Federica. “U.S.: Daily Phone Screen Time by Generation 2023.” Statista, 16 Oct. 2024, www.statista.com/statistics/1178640/daily-phone-screen-time-by-gen-us/.