News of the Nude, Sep. 2025
Volume 33: Our latest monthly media review of naked narratives and newsy nonsense
Welcome to another edition of News of the Nude.
I’m a day late on this—life’s been moving fast—but I’m glad to finally bring you this month’s roundup of news stories shaping how nudity and the weird, wonderful people who embrace it are represented in the media.
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As always, this month’s News of the Nude is first and foremost a media digest. We review stories in the news and the ways nudity, nudism, and nude expression are framed in the press. Just to be clear: the headlines below are pulled directly from the original publications—we don’t rewrite or soften them. That’s intentional. It helps illustrate how the media chooses to frame these stories. This month, a wave of dramatic headlines like “Nudists declare war” or “Nudists revolt” show up in the mix. More often than not, this kind of language reflects the media’s taste for clickbait over the (usually less sensational) reality behind these stories.
Still, it’s worth asking: when nudists are portrayed as rebellious, disruptive, or controversial, how does that sit with you? On one hand, it can be refreshing to see naturists framed as engaged and outspoken. On the other, it risks pushing nudism further toward the fringe. What’s your take?
I think you’ll find this month’s batch of stories to be a curious collection—and I’ve added a short reflection at the end with a few takeaways I see emerging. Once you’ve read it through, let me know what you think in the comments. 🚀
News of the Nude, Vol. 33 🪐
Nudists declare war on SpaceX
Headline from Futurism • August 30, 2025 | Space.com • September 5, 2025 | Vice • September 15, 2025
What began as a routine infrastructure proposal has escalated into a cultural flashpoint: nudists vs. SpaceX. At stake is Playalinda Beach—a remote, clothing-optional gem within Florida’s Canaveral National Seashore. If SpaceX’s Starship launch plan is approved, Playalinda could face closures up to 60 days a year.
The FAA is currently reviewing a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) allowing 44 annual launches from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A. Naturists argue the safety closures would displace users, strain nearby beaches, and endanger one of the last accessible nudist coastlines in the U.S.
AANR Executive Director Erich Schuttauf and others have raised these concerns in FAA hearings and the press. “Absolutely, people need to weigh in,” Schuttauf told Planet Nude. “The volume of comments will matter.”
Coverage of the conflict has been mixed. Futurism dubbed it “Nudists Declare War on SpaceX.” Vice dismissed the opposition as “retirees” on Zoom. Space.com, by contrast, offered a thorough breakdown of environmental risks, beach access, and military alternatives to the proposed site.
Beyond the clickbait headlines lies a real threat to naturist spaces—places that don’t appear by accident, but through decades of advocacy and work. Like the sea turtles who also rely on these shores, nudists can’t simply relocate. Closures like these erode the rare public spaces where body freedom is accepted.
The FAA is accepting comments on the proposal through September 22 (Docket ID: FAA-2024-1395). Win or lose, nudists’ resistance is important. It shows that we won’t go down without a fight. 🚀
More reading:
Nudists revolt by suing new property owners for civil rights violations
Headline from The Guardian • September 4, 2025 | Los Angeles Times • September 5, 2025 | KTLA • September 3, 2025
A deeply personal and painful fight is unfolding quite publicly this month at Olive Dell Ranch, Southern California’s longest-standing nudist resort, where more than 50 residents are suing current ownership over what they allege is harassment, constructive eviction, and the forced abandonment of their clothing-optional way of life. The lawsuit accuses owners of civil rights violations, elder abuse, and a calculated attempt to drive out low-income residents—many of them seniors, veterans, or disabled—by stripping the resort of its amenities, enforcing new clothing rules, and allowing the property to fall into dangerous disrepair. The story has been covered by KTLA, The Guardian, CBS Los Angeles, and more—with stories highlighting the deteriorating conditions and the human cost of what residents call a betrayal of Olive Dell’s founding mission.
As someone who’s visited Olive Dell many times over the years, watching this struggle unfold has been heartbreaking—not only because we have seemingly lost one of Southern California’s few clothing-optional spaces, but because it’s affecting real people I know and care about. I’ve followed the events there closely over the years and every time I’ve written about it for Planet Nude (including the most recent story), I have wrestled with the impact: Would the coverage help or hurt? Ultimately, I’ve determined that Planet Nude exists to advocate not just for the idea of nudism, but for actual nudists. Like many other nudists active in southern California, Olive Dell is my community, and I stand with those fighting to preserve what it was—and what it could still become. 🚀
More reading:
Nudist walk cancelled over safety concerns
A planned nude walk organized by the West Midlands Naturist Association was cancelled after online backlash and safety concerns. The walk, set to begin at Queens Park in Birmingham, drew criticism and unfounded accusations of indecent exposure, prompting organizer Leah Crowley to pull the event following “ignorant” and “sometimes threatening” abuse online. Crowley defended the intent, emphasizing that naturism is about self-connection and that nudity should not be seen as inherently offensive. 🚀
Removal of Oakland mural depicting Ohlone people paused for community feedback
A beloved 20-year-old mural in Oakland depicting the colonization of Ohlone people is under threat of removal after a single complaint objected to its nudity.
Titled The Capture of the Solid, the Escape of the Soul, and painted by Rocky Rische-Baird, the mural features stark scenes of historical trauma, including smallpox-infested blankets given by Spanish missionaries—portrayed through haunting surrealism and partial nudity.
Critics of its removal argue that the complaint reflects more discomfort with historical truth than with exposed bodies. Local residents have rallied in support, citing the mural’s educational and emotional power. While the property managers initially planned to paint it over, they’ve now paused those plans indefinitely after widespread community pushback. 🚀
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What do Americans think of public nudity?
A new YouGov survey explores American attitudes toward public nudity, revealing a mix of discomfort and curiosity. While only 10% say they love being naked, more than half of Americans report having been nude or topless in public at least once, most commonly while swimming or in a sauna. Still, nudists and naturists face a perception gap: only 18% hold a positive view, compared to 27% with negative feelings. Most support nudity at private resorts or nude beaches, but far fewer approve of it in public parks or cities. The results also highlight a generational divide, with younger adults more self-conscious but more open to toplessness and nudity in nature.
Planet Nude recently published a piece on this survey and its implications. We also just released our 2025 Member Survey results, which, unlike the YouGov Survey looking at the larger population, takes a closer look at the nudist community that makes up our readership, and the demographics, values, and attitudes of that group. Both of our recent articles are linked below. 🚀
More reading:
Man visits ‘naturist’ beach and is stunned by one thing
Cornwall Live • Sept. 25, 2025 | Daily Star • Sept. 25, 2025 | Yahoo News UK • Sept. 25, 2025 | Plymouth Herald • Sept. 26, 2025 | Mirror • Sept. 25, 2025
A Reddit post about a man stumbling upon a UK naturist beach—and finding it underwhelming—sparked a flurry of British tabloid coverage this week. The anonymous poster shared a photo of a sign warning that “you may encounter naturists enjoying this area naked today,” only to quip that he had not. “Alas, I didn’t,” he wrote. “But really, I’m quite glad I didn’t.”
From there, media outlets spun a story around the, uhh, humorous(??) thread, highlighting user comments on the legality of public nudity in the UK, American prudishness, and the cultural shame around aging bodies. While ultimately little more than a social media anecdote, the coverage did perhaps inadvertently amplify public understanding of the UK’s stance on non-sexual nudity—namely, that it’s legal unless intended to cause distress. 🚀
Are Private Pictures Safe In Cloud Storage? Woman Sues Tech Giant After Nude Images, Sex Videos Leaked
A German woman known as “Laura” has filed a landmark lawsuit against Google after intimate nude photos and sex videos—stolen from her private Google Cloud account—were repeatedly published on pornographic websites and indexed by Google’s image search. Over 18 months, digital rights nonprofit HateAid helped report more than 2,000 URLs, but the images kept resurfacing, including AI-generated deepfakes. The lawsuit, filed in Ireland, where Google’s European headquarters are based, argues for stricter enforcement of the EU’s “right to be forgotten” law. 🚀
More reading:
Vienna’s most naked secret lives in the open on the Danube
This beautifully written essay by Vienna-based journalist Alexei Korolyov reflects on the Freikörperkultur (FKK) tradition, which is still thriving on Danube Island, a 21-km stretch of urban riverside where nude sunbathers mingle freely each summer. Korolyov traces the political and cultural roots of FKK—from 19th-century Lebensreform ideals to its varied adoption under Nazi, East German, and modern Austrian contexts—before joining a group of contemporary naturists himself. Rather than idealize the scene, Korolyov offers a grounded, intimate portrait of today’s FKK community: relaxed, diverse, and quietly radical in its ordinariness. For nudists, the piece affirms how nudity can foster authentic social connection in an alienating world. 🚀
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So… what does all this say about where we are?
If you zoom out across these stories it paints a strange, contradictory picture of where nudism is in 2025. On the one hand, we’re visible. The stories are getting told. Naturists are organizing, speaking up at government hearings, and filing civil rights lawsuits. That kind of advocacy is real, and powerful.
On the other hand, it’s clear we’re still treated as fringe—clickbait at best, or a nuisance to be legislated away. Nudist stories in the press still lean heavily on spectacle, misunderstanding, or mockery. The same goes for artistic nudity and body freedom: misread, under attack, or outright censored.
But I’m not pessimistic. I’m energized. Because what I see here is a global community—imperfect, under pressure—but refusing to disappear. Naturists are showing up. We’re holding our ground. And even when we’re sensationalized or misunderstood, we’re part of a bigger conversation about who gets to be seen, what counts as “normal,” and what kind of world we want to build. I don’t think the outlook for nudism is grim. I think it’s alive.
And maybe the question isn’t how do we make nudism more accepted—maybe it’s how do we keep building spaces where it already is? 🪐
(Note: This isn’t a real Brubeck performance — it’s a 2020 mash-up by musician Laurence Mason, syncing his Golden Brown cover to vintage Brubeck footage. But I liked it so I’m sharing it here.) - Evan