In this first of a two-part episode of Women in Focus, Helen speaks with Professor Annebella Pollen from the University of Brighton, author of Nudism in a Cold Climate. Pollen discusses her decade-long research into the visual history of naturism in Britain, revealing how photography shaped the movement’s public identity from the 1920s onwards. The conversation explores a fascinating paradox: whilst magazines like Health and Efficiency once sold 100,000 copies per issue, featuring idealised bodies of professional models, actual naturist membership numbers were much lower. Pollen explains how early practitioners hid behind pseudonyms to protect their professional reputations, and how the movement’s own promotional imagery created tensions between philosophical ideals and practical recruitment. Drawing on archival research conducted during lockdown, she offers an outsider academic perspective that complements lived experiences, examining how naturism has been publicly mediated rather than privately practised. 🪐
