Brief History - NUDIST

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A Brief History of Naturism/Nudism

For most of human history, nudity was a natural and normal part of life. People were nude when environmentand conditions favoured it. The "bathing suit" is a very recent invention dating back only about a century. It isonly with the advent of scientific advancement and industrialization that humans began to be ashamed of their bodies. As we began to replace the natural world with manufactured goods, we grew to see all that was notman-made as imperfect. The human body became an object of shame to be hidden and shaped by clothing.

Naturism began as a self-help reform movement in reaction tothe debilitating aspects of industrialization and urbanizationduring the nineteenth century. At a time when medicine couldneither explain nor cure disease, many people believed thatcrowded and unsanitary cities, tenement housing, restrictivevictorian clothing, and oppressive working conditions all led to poor health and rampant illness. Some observers concluded thatwhat people needed was exposure to the natural healingelements or fresh air, sunlight, and water--preferably with looseor absent clothing. An informal coalition of natural lifestylereform movements took shape during the late nineteenthcentury, combining clothing reform, vegetarianism, abstinencefrom alcohol and tobacco, and naturopathy. Inevitably some pioneers suggested that nudity must be an integral part of lifestyle reform. Nudism found expression in several bookswritten in Germany at the end of the century by Heinrich Pudor and Richard Ungewitter, and the ideareceived cultural support when the first modern Olympic Games in Athens drew attention to classicalnudity.

From theory it was a short step to practice. Experimental clubs opened in Germany, and later in France andEngland as places where individuals could practice their natural lifestyle without outside iterference (as long asthey stayed on private property). Since the early clubs were experiments innatural living, they imposed the full natural regimen on all guests: nudity rain or shine, abstinence,vegetarianism, and mandatory callisthenics. Many guests decided that the practice was not as attractive as thetheory, but while some of them deserted the cause completely, others noticed that the social nudity had apositive psychological effect which they all appreciated. When people removed their cultural body armor they feltfreer and less stressed than during their everyday lives. People were who they were, not what they pretended tobe behind their textile uniforms, jewelry, and makeup. This relaxed social ambiance became the hallmark of twentieth century social nudism.Several other trends hastened the transition from naturism to nudism. The youth generation at the turn of thecentury embraced the great outdoors, and went off hiking and canoeing around the countryside--often nude, andoften in mixed groups. Western society underwent a sort of sexual liberation at this time, and relaxed many of itsmoral standards. The First World War had a similar effect. As a result nudism was poised for rapid growth

during the 1920s, especially in Germany, where tens of thousands of people romped in clubs, free beaches, and city parks and swimming pools. But other countries experiencenudism too, including the Sparta Club in France and Spielplatz in England. National magazines were wellestablished also

Health & Efficiency

in Britain,

Vivre d'Abord

in France. In 1931 representatives from thevarious clubs and societies gathered in Germany to form an international nudist organization. But the depressionyears were not the best time to start new ventures, and this early experiment came to an end. Yet the pioneershad established nudism on a sound footing, and it would revive and flourish in Europe after the next war.Nudism in North America followed the European pattern. Bernarr Macfadden, an early pioneer of health reform,promoted natural living in his

Physical Culture

magazine and at his Physical Culture City, as did William Call inhis Common Sense Clubs. But the first true nudist club was formed in New York State by Kurt Barthel and ahandful of german immigrants. Their Sky Farm Club became home to the early International Nudist Conference,which attracted Ilsley "Uncle Danny" Boone, who seized control, reorganized the American SunbathingAssociation, and launched

Sunshine & Health

. Other clubs soon appeared in nearby states, the Midwest, andCalifornia. When ASA members rebelled against his one-man show, he left to form the National Nudist Council.

Naturism/Nudism in Canada

In Canada, individuals around the country became interested innudism, skinny dipping, or physical culture, and occasionally foundtheir way to American or European magazines. After 1940 they hadtheir own Canadian magazine,

Sunbathing & Health

, which occasionallycarried local news. Canadians had scattered groups in several cities duringthe 1930s and 1940s, and some of these groups attracted enough interestto form clubs on private land; the most significant clubs were the Van Tansin Vancouver and the Sun Air Club in Ontario. Canadians who served in themilitary during the war met like-minded souls from across the country, andoften visited clubs while in Europe. They formed a ready pool of recruits for postwar organizers. A few years later the wave of postwar immigrationbrought many Europeans with their own extensive experience, and they notonly swelled the ranks of membership, but often formed their own clubs,helping to expand nudism from coast to coast. Most of these clubs wereunited under the Canadian Sunbathing Association, which affiliated with theAmerican Sunbathing Association in 1954. Several disagreements betweeneastern and western members of CSA resulted in the breakup of CSA intothe Western Canadian Sunbathing Association (WCSA) and EasternCanadian Sunbathing Association (ECSA) in 1960. The ECSA endured much in fighting over the next decadeand a half leading to its official demise in 1978. The WCSA continues to exist today as theWestern CanadianAssociation for Nude Recreation (WCANR), a region of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR)which itself was formerly known as the ASA.In 1977 theFédération québécoise de naturisme (FQN)was founded in Québec by Michel Vaïs. In 1986, DougBeckett, Helen Beckett and Petra Scheller, with the support of the FQN, formed theFederation of CanadianNaturists (FCN). The FQN and FCN joined together to be the official Canadian representatives in theInternational Naturist Federation (INF).

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