Nude recreation
Encyclopedia
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
al activities which some people engage in the nude. Such activities can take place in private spaces, such as in a person's own property or in a naturist context, but also in public areas. Activities in which people engage in the nude include hiking
Naked hiking
Naked walking, also known as naked hiking or freehiking, is a sub-category of the modern form of social nudity....
, running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
(in some contexts this is referred to as streaking
Streaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
), swimming, cycling
Clothing-optional bike rides
A clothing-optional bike ride is a cycling event in which nudity is permitted or expected. There are many clothing-optional cycling events around the world. Some rides are political, recreational, artistic or a unique combination...
and yoga
Naked yoga
Naked yoga is the practice of yoga without clothes. The practice is gaining popularity, notably in western societies that have more familiarity with social nudity. While many practice naked yoga at home, there are a growing number of participants, including children, in group classes...
. More passive activities include sauna
Sauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
, hot springs
Hot Springs
Hot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...
, and sunbathing, such as at a nude beach
Nude beach
A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...
.
When such activities take place in a public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
context, they are subject to laws and social attitudes to public nudity
Public nudity
Public nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...
. Most nude recreational activities take place in private places, such as naturist resorts, and when on public lands participants try to be discreet to minimize any potential discomfort it might bring to an accidental passerby. Some public places have been set aside for the use of those who wish to engage in recreational activities in the nude, such as nude beach
Nude beach
A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...
es.
Motivation
People participate in activities in the nude for various reasons. Many consider nude out-of-door activities to have health benefits. They point to health benefits of sunlight for some skin conditions and the body's production of vitamin DVitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. In humans, vitamin D is unique both because it functions as a prohormone and because the body can synthesize it when sun exposure is adequate ....
. Some nude proponents argue that those who take part in nude activities are often more relaxed about their nudity and body image
Body image
Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
.
Away from their private property, many people have the first experience of a clothes-free recreation activity at a nude beach, at a friend's place in the woods, or a party on the shore or skinny dipping
Skinny dipping
Nude swimming, colloquially called skinny dipping, is a term used to describe swimming naked.-Etymology:The term skinny dip, first recorded in English in the 1950s, includes the somewhat archaic word skinny, known since 1573, meaning "having to do with skin", as it exposed the naked...
.
Recreational nudity is generally associated with the naturist movement, though some people participate in activities without membership of naturist clubs or adherence to the naturist philosophy.
European nudist culture
In the Nordic countries, with their saunaSauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
culture, nude swimming in rivers or lakes was a very popular tradition. In the summer, there would be wooden bathhouse
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
s, often of considerable size accommodating numerous swimmers, built partly over the water; hoardings prevented the bathers from being seen from outside. Originally the bathhouses were for men only; today there are usually separate sections for men and women.
Swimming and sunbathing
Nude swimming and sunbathing are the most common nude recreational activities. These can take place in the privacy of a person's backyard or pool or that of a friend, at a naturist facility or at a clothes-optional beachNude beach
A nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...
. It is not uncommon for private clubs to have nude swimming on a male-only or a female-only basis. Other water activities in which some people engage in the nude include snorkeling, diving, canoeing or kayaking (sometimes called canuding).
Hiking
Naked hiking
Naked walking, also known as naked hiking or freehiking, is a sub-category of the modern form of social nudity....
or walks (sometimes called free hiking or naked rambling) in the remote countryside. Some individuals also engage in nude hiking. Unlike the example set by Steve Gough, most keep to wilderness areas and do not seek or encourage publicity. In keeping with naturist tradition, participants do it for the enjoyment it brings to them, and try to minimize any potential discomfort it might bring to an accidental passerby.
Stephen Gough
Stephen Gough
Stephen Gough , also known as Steve Gough and the Naked Rambler, is a British former Royal Marine turned activist from Eastleigh, Hampshire, famous for walking the length of Great Britain from Land's End to John o' Groats in 2003–2004 with nothing on except boots, socks, rucksack and sometimes a...
, dubbed the Naked Rambler, in 2003/2004 made a long-distance walk from one end of the United Kingdom to the other, wearing only boots. He was arrested several times, and his walk was interrupted by two periods of jail time, together five months. Including these, the journey took seven months. He undertook his walk as a protest, in order to celebrate the naked human form, and to try to convince the public to stop being paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
about the naked body. He observed that anti-nudity laws are more strictly enforced in Scotland than in England. He completed a second walk over the same route in early 2006, punctuated by many arrests.
Team sports
Many nudist resorts own or lease facilities that allow members to play sports such as volleyballVolleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
in the nude. Typically these sports are played at a recreational level of intensity, and are not necessarily particularly competitive.
World Naked Bike Ride
Since 2004, World Naked Bike RideWorld Naked Bike Ride
World Naked Bike Ride is an international clothing-optional bike ride in which participants plan, meet and ride together en masse on human-powered transport , to "deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world."The dress code motto is "Bare as you dare"...
s have taken place all over the world involving thousands of people. These take place in mostly western cities, where cyclists ride either partially or totally nude in a light-hearted attempt to draw attention to the danger of depending on fossil fuels.
Bungee jumping
The performer Billy ConnollyBilly Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
is reported to have done the 134m Nevis Bungee Jump
Nevis Highwire Platform
The Nevis Highwire Platform is a bungee jumping platform in the Southern Alps near Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island. It is the third highest bungee jumping platform in the world at a height of 134 metres. It is suspended by high-tension cords, which are fixed at both ends on either side of...
naked, during his 2010 World Tour. Nevis, near Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
and other jumps in the area appear to waive the change for nude participants.
Drama performances
In Utrecht May 2011, some of the performances of the play Viva la naturisteraçion!, ( which is about naturism and where the actors are nude most of the time), were played before a nude audience.The naturist part of Cap d'Agde
Cap d'Agde
Cap d'Agde is the seaside resort of the town of Agde, France, on the Mediterranean sea in the département of Hérault, within the région of Languedoc-Roussillon. Agde can be reached by TGV SNCF train direct from Paris or Lille whilst the closest airports are Béziers-Cap d'Agde en Languedoc, with...
has an open-air cinema.
Quotes
- Body Acceptance is the idea, Nude Recreation is the way. -Lee BaxandallLee BaxandallLee R. Baxandall was an American writer, translator, editor, and activist, first known for his New Left engagement with cultural topics and then as a leader of the naturist movement.-Career:...
. Popular motto of The Naturist SocietyThe Naturist SocietyThe Naturist Society is a national naturist organization based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. It publishes a quarterly periodical called Nude & Natural which documents and coordinates naturist activities and provides information about issues related to naturism. The Naturist Society was established... - Every civilized nation has nude beaches. That's a mark of a civilized nation. -Lee BaxandallLee BaxandallLee R. Baxandall was an American writer, translator, editor, and activist, first known for his New Left engagement with cultural topics and then as a leader of the naturist movement.-Career:...
from video: The Beginner's Guide to Skinny Dipping. The Naturist SocietyThe Naturist SocietyThe Naturist Society is a national naturist organization based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. It publishes a quarterly periodical called Nude & Natural which documents and coordinates naturist activities and provides information about issues related to naturism. The Naturist Society was established...
. Fast Forward Images, Inc. 1991.
See also
- List of social nudity places
- NaturismNaturismNaturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
- Nudity in sportNudity in sportNudity in sport is uncommon but has not been totally absent from ancient or current sporting activities.-History:...
- Strip gamesStrip gamesStrip games are party games, usually involving more than one player, where players remove clothes when they lose a card hand, points in a game, or otherwise fail to come out ahead. Most board games, card games, sports, or other games, can be adopted to create a stripping variant. A classic example...
(often done in sexualized or semi-sexualized contexts)