The word “nudism” was first used in 1778 by Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon, who defended the natural lifestyle (“naturism” is another expression for nudism). The concept of not wearing any clothes is much older though. In the 4th century BC, there was a cloister in India, the members of which wore absolutely nothing on the premises of their monastery. And even the Olympic Games were originally designed for naked men as a celebration of the perfection of the human (male) body.
The modern organized nudism appeared for the first time in Germany. At the end of the 19th century, Heinrich Pudor, German advocate of the free culture of body published a book that became a milestone in the history of human nakedness – Naked People and the Future of Mankind. In this work, Pudor views nudity not only as an expression of freedom, but also as something that has a lot to do with hygiene and modesty. He prescribes an austere lifestyle, giving up on everything that is not necessary – including clothes.
The first recorded nude club was open in Hamburg in 1903 and it immediately received positive attention from many Germans. People were interested in and fascinated by the new, free and independent way of thinking and its application in praxis. The number of the adherents kept on rising until the 1920’s when Adolf Hitler became an important political figure. With his meager body no wonder he was not particularly fond of clothesless life.
Not just Germany boasted of richly developed culture of nakedness. France, Great Britain, USA or Canada should in no case be forgotten when talking about nudity. After the WWII, in 1951 precisely, the International Naturist Federation was founded. This institution nowadays connects nudists from 32 countries all around the world.
The first image most of us have when hearing about nudism is a nudist beach. These beaches became popular in France in 1950 and the trend of the sand grains creating pinholes on people’s naked butts quickly moved to Denmark and Norway, where it found many fans among the sauna-loving and thus nude-used inhabitants.
Lately, nudism and nudists are becoming the targets of marketing strategies in many branches of the tourism industry. The imaginary pockets on the nudist’s absent trousers are definitely not empty. Many are willing to pay for the extras. Extensive resorts are beginning to appear, surrounding world’s best known nudist beaches, resorts where clothes shops are simply useless. Thinking about the practical aspects, it is quite useful to go for your holiday without all the heavy luggage stuffed with trousers, t-shirts, underwear and swimsuits.
In London, a bar has been recently opened called Starkers, where you can meet your naked friends. In Netherlands, there is a chain of nude-only fitness centers. In Sweden, you can spend your holiday in a nude village. And not only resorts are focusing on the naturalists. With one German travel agency, you can fly nude to a nude resort where you can spend your nude holiday with other nude people. In Britain, you can spend a naked holiday on a ship cruising the ocean. The incomes of this special industry branch have been doubled every year in the past few years.
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