My nude beach photos...

[Klondike]

Originally Posted by stevin6

The problem with men/voyeurs who don't have any respect for the 'objects' (woman/girls/couples) and other voyeurs who have that respect (i.e some distance) has result in my country, the Netherlands that on a lot of Nude beaches/lakes, especially the not guided ones, there less woman/girls/students then 9-10 years ago.
:mad

I have heard this from other sources and its kind of depressing. I also heard that Amsterdam politicians want to shut down the red light district.

Any theories as to what is going on? I ask because the Netherlands has always been seen as a model of progressiveness and liberation to us over in the US. Often in the cases of the beaches, the scene just shifts elsewhere in response to voyeur pressure or publicity. On the otherhand, I think the decline has been noted pretty much everywhere (I've also seen it on the west coast beaches here) and so it may be just part of a global trend. I think the only place where beach nudity remains strong is in the tropic and resort destinations.

The effect of the internet is also worth debating. I think a pyschologist could probably write a book on the subject.

Klondike

[Uncle_Bud]

The End of the Nudist Era

"Odd balls & Loose Skin"

I concur with your observations.. I googled, The aging of the "Nudist" generation, and found a couple of blog entries.

But aging is just part of the change. The cultural change that comes from the young finding their own preferences, partially by learning from observing their elders experience, and remembering..and add to that, the medias' contribution to the perception of nudity..being nude..etc..The internet and cell phones have definitely changed the way people communicate..
From my personal experiences, I've noticed less nice looking ladies laying out by the pool at my local fitness club than just five years ago.. In the past five years, Women only fitness clubs such as "Curves" have opened up..and, this lack of ladies could also be due to the fact the the sales staff warns them when they first join, about lecherous old men like me...more than likely, some of the other patrons complained and the rules changed...At any rate..I remember four ladies who would wear thongs out there..There were a couple chicks that would wear micro-minis..you should've seen some of those old WW II vets faces out there..Priceless..those were the days..
I am sure there are some psychologists' and sociologists' studying this topic at this moment, and more so when the weather gets better..I'm imagining laying out nude on the beach and have some guy come up to me holding his palm pilot taking a survey..

[Pedro the Fisherman]

Spanish girls are (on the whole) very free and easy with their nudity.

On the beach this morning (no pictures taken today) there was a girl (early 20's) who was about 7 months pregnant and she spent about an hour walking up and down the waterline totally naked, whilst listening to her MP3 player.

Her friend, equally naked spent about 5 minutes talking/chatting to anyone with a dog (she had a dog that was also friendly) without any qualms at all.

Spanish men however are no respectors of privacy, almost every day I see at least one clothed male sit down only a few feet from girls and just stare. They will often move around the beach, sitting near several groups during the course of this tour. I have never heard a word of complaint from the girls though. Still, although I give people plenty of room, I have been known to take the odd photo, so am in no position to be too critical

Possibly more pics later today.....

[dixler]

Originally Posted by stevin6

The problem with men/voyeurs who don't have any respect for the 'objects' (woman/girls/couples) and other voyeurs who have that respect (i.e some distance) has result in my country, the Netherlands that on a lot of Nude beaches/lakes, especially the not guided ones, there less woman/girls/students then 9-10 years ago.

I suppose technology is to blame for that. Nowadays, still and video cameras are small and inexpensive; anybody can become a voyeur. Plus, when you consider that there are millions of video capable cell phones around, you can never have a moment on this planet where somebody can't record you.

Imagine if you were a woman and went nude at the beach while on vacation then saw yourself in a Eurobeach video. You might be pissed because nobody asked your permission to film you while nude, and you might also be pissed because somebody is profiting from you without your consent. I would be hopping mad, if I were a woman. Or even if I were a guy in one of those for-profit videos.

Stevin, what percentage has the number of females going nude at the beach dropped? A lot? A little? I wonder if Spain, Germany, and France are experiencing the same thing.

[dixler]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Bud

The End of the Nudist Era

"Odd balls & Loose Skin"

I concur with your observations.. I googled, The aging of the "Nudist" generation, and found a couple of blog entries.

But aging is just part of the change. The cultural change that comes from the young finding their own preferences, partially by learning from observing their elders experience, and remembering..and add to that, the medias' contribution to the perception of nudity..being nude..etc..The internet and cell phones have definitely changed the way people communicate..

There is a huge difference between somebody sunbathing or playing in the surf nude and a hardcore nudist who is willing to pay money to be nude 24/7 at a nudist resort or colony. You really have to be into nudism to make it the entire basis for your vacation.

Originally Posted by Uncle_Bud

From my personal experiences, I've noticed less nice looking ladies laying out by the pool at my local fitness club than just five years ago..

Interesting. I read some reports that in the past five years or so in America that it seems that the really beautiful women aren't becoming strippers like they used to. I read a post somewhere from a guy complaining that the really hot strippers have disappeared, leaving mostly average looking women in the profession.

Could this be a cultural cycle? Back in 2000 you could go to a mall and see lots of teenage girls wearing midriff bearing shirts, low cut jeans, and stretch pants. And I mean girls as young as 12 all the way up to their early 20s. But I don't see as much of that anymore. Perhaps the Britney Spears effect has worn off and now females are becoming more modest?

[dixler]

Originally Posted by calypsos

Spanish girls are (on the whole) very free and easy with their nudity.

Do you happen to know the percentage of Spanish women who are willing to go nude on the beach?

A couple of years ago I asked a guy from Germany that same question, but about German women, and he told me that even though nudism is much more common in German, such that almost every lake has a few nude sunbathers, most women (and men) did not swim or sunbathe nude. He estimated that 40% - 50% of women go topless and only 5% - 10% are willing to go nude.

[Klondike]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Bud

The End of the Nudist Era

"Odd balls & Loose Skin"

I concur with your observations.. I googled, The aging of the "Nudist" generation, and found a couple of blog entries.

But aging is just part of the change. The cultural change that comes from the young finding their own preferences, partially by learning from observing their elders experience, and remembering..and add to that, the medias' contribution to the perception of nudity..being nude..etc..The internet and cell phones have definitely changed the way people communicate..
From my personal experiences, I've noticed less nice looking ladies laying out by the pool at my local fitness club than just five years ago.. In the past five years, Women only fitness clubs such as "Curves" have opened up..and, this lack of ladies could also be due to the fact the the sales staff warns them when they first join, about lecherous old men like me...more than likely, some of the other patrons complained and the rules changed...At any rate..I remember four ladies who would wear thongs out there..There were a couple chicks that would wear micro-minis..you should've seen some of those old WW II vets faces out there..Priceless..those were the days..
I am sure there are some psychologists' and sociologists' studying this topic at this moment, and more so when the weather gets better..I'm imagining laying out nude on the beach and have some guy come up to me holding his palm pilot taking a survey..

THe first link was interesting and reminded me of an article written by a young nudist on his blog:

http://www.gymnophiliac.com/2007/05/generation-y.html

Here you have a generation Y perspective on things, and the gist is that we are not witnessing the "end of the nudist era". What is more to the point is that young people just don't find the mainstream naturist movement or clubs to be very exciting, sexy, or fun. Maybe that applies to the older, more established beaches as well.

There is a real dichotomy in the naked images that we get bombarded with over the net, and I'm sure young people are very influenced that. On the one hand, you have pics of older people sitting around sipping tea and playing shuffleboard in nudist clubs. That must look kind of pathetic and unattractive to a young kid. On the otherhand, there are all these more exciting venues that get lots of photo coverage and show young people actually having....fun! Or well, so it seems (my definition of fun has changed over the years, too...).

Anyway, so attendance is strong at these events, and as a means of expressing ones sexuality and desire for liberation and attention, how can the beaches and clubs compete?

The naturist clubs especially have a huge image problem now netwise. And they need to deal with the inherent contradiction in their traditional mentality about things. Want long term survival (meaning want to attract young people)? Then start off by redesigning your websites which is most people's "first entry" into the scene these days. Show young people having fun like at Havasu or something. If you can't find any members that qualify as "young", hire some models OK, great, you say - now that attacks the image problem and gets young people's attention. But unfortunately, doing all that goes against their basic philosophy of what naturism is all about. So what do you do? You die...........or.........you reevaluate what "naturism" is all about.

Well, i don't think "naturism" should be all about wet-T contests either, but maybe there is a middle ground. My advice to the clubs - get into bodypainting! Seriously - the eurpoean clubs are big on that, and the young really seem to enjoy it! BTW - pics from European clubs always show lots of young people in fun type settings. They are truly family oriented over there. So the image problem seems confined to US clubs and their "leave the kids at home so that we can relax" mentality.

Sorry to go on. We were talking about beaches weren't we....

Klondike

[dixler]

One more thing pedro: what percentage of women have pubic hair versus shave their vaginas? I like a woman with a nice hairy bush.

[Klondike]

Interesting. I read some reports that in the past five years or so in America that it seems that the really beautiful women aren't becoming strippers like they used to. I read a post somewhere from a guy complaining that the really hot strippers have disappeared, leaving mostly average looking women in the profession.

Could this be a cultural cycle? Back in 2000 you could go to a mall and see lots of teenage girls wearing midriff bearing shirts, low cut jeans, and stretch pants. And I mean girls as young as 12 all the way up to their early 20s. But I don't see as much of that anymore. Perhaps the Britney Spears effect has worn off and now females are becoming more modest?

The Britney effect probably wore off the day she flashed her privates. I mean, as a role model, she probably did a huge diservice to everyone by doing that. Young girls who had followed her up until that point were not going to go that far, and so it may have had a chilling effect on their attitudes about public sexuality.

Otherwise, I'm not overly pessimistic, though. I'm not sure that the disappearance of hot strippers reflects any larger trend - it could be purely economic there.

Oh, and regarding my other post - here is a quote from a 24yo (see my link):

"There's one thing that the hasn't changed in the last half century - kids want to be cool above all else. And there's just nothing cool about being a nudist."

and there you have it...

Klondike

[Klondike]

I meant to add one last note about "image problems" afflicting US nudist resorts. In a nutshell:

Pics from European nudist resorts and camps often look like pics from summer camp. In otherwords, they look like fun.

Pics from US nudist resorts and camps on the other hand often look like, well - um, pics from expensive nursing homes. Sorry..... The truth hurts....

That is the image problem.

Klondike