Don’t get me wrong. This is not a post about body painting.
I’m going to delve a little into the side of naturism of other ethnic groups. People of colour. Black people. Hispanic people. And why? Because I have found that around 95% of the naturist contacts I have on the internet are white. Caucasian. Whatever kind of ‘colour’ you want to put on them.
I asked one of my non-white naturist contacts about this.
Do coloured naturists feel part of the overall naturist community?
I wondered about that, because the naturist community as a whole is a very open and welcoming bunch. At least, from what I’ve found and experienced.
As it turns out, it depends very much on the group such naturists wants to join. Sometimes they are accepted as they are, no problems come up. That is how it should be. However, there are times, so my contact said, that coloured people are not so easily accepted and in the worst case they are actually shunned.
I’m glad he told me that there are people out there in
Are there communities of coloured naturists?
The answer to this was that he hadn’t been invited to any, but he is convinced there are specific naturist groups for ‘other ethnic groups’.
As an aside, I have to throw in here that I hate differentiating between humans and humans this way. We’re all people, regardless of skin tone, and it would be nice if we could just get along. I’m certain most people agree.
Are coloured people as much into naturism as non-coloured ones?
I had to ask. And the answer was ‘no’. That didn’t surprise me. Part of that is in the upbringing, which brings religion into play but also the ‘being different’ as in skin tone. Dark people seem to be ‘watched’ more so they have to stay below the waves of attention. That prevents them from coming out into the open as naturists, or even it will prevent them from even trying. Which is a shame, in my
And now to you, coloured reader…
I admit that this is not an in-depth bit of research, that I’m just scratching the surface. So I would like to hear your opinions, your experiences and even your hopes for your (and others) naturist future.
Please drop me a comment and talk about what you have done, what you think and so on.
Thanks for writing this! Made me feel like the struggle is worth it!
Thank you for letting me know, William.
I knew there would be people who appreciate this. I think it’s important to be aware that naturism isn’t just a white people thing.
Absolutely! We are all the same irrespective of colour and we should all embrace our bodypositivity!
I second and third that. Skin colour only means diversity to me.
A person isn’t just his or her skin tone. It’s what goes inside that makes the difference. I’ve met fabulous and horrible people on each side of the colourful spectrum. For me, someone is okay until they show me they’re not. Oftentimes they are very fast in showing that.
I agree with Mike B and Paul about body positivity and diversity. That includes all physical body differences. I don’t think “Dark people seem to be ‘watched’ more so they have to stay below the waves of attention” in most places. Skin shade should not matter to anyone. It’s just pigment in the skin. It doesn’t matter to sensible people, especially to nudists.
Thank you for that body-positive comment, Don!
The Chinese’s traditions certainly played a major role in limiting the growth of naturism in Chinese communities. “Nude equals sexual” is deeply ingrained in Chinese thinking.
It sounds as if the Chinese have a lot of ‘traditional’ deprogramming to do.
Thank you for your contribution!
It’s very hard to draw a line in this because there are so many different angles.
In Europe, we think that it’s fair to say that naturism is a white world. It happens rarely that we spot a black person in a naturist resort or nude beach. When it does happen, others tend to have a second look. Not necessarily in a negative way, but no doubt that this can make people feel uncomfortable.
In the USA, where the percentage of people with African or Hispanic roots is much higher than in Europe, naturism also seems to be a mostly white world.
This could be because naturism started in the white communities and then it becomes much more difficult to join. Again, it’s not necessarily negative. It’s just that the first step into naturism is already a big one and this is even more so if you happen to have other physical differences than the others.
And then there’s also the need we feel to connect with others on other levels. We don’t think that religion matters in naturism, but yet there are popular groups like the Christian naturists for example. This is also a reason why there are black naturist communities. The most known one is probably the Black Naturists Association in the USA.
Sometimes it’s said that black communities are less open to naturism and that it’s therefor more difficult for them to take the first step. We think that this is a huge generalisation. We’ve also seen many closed white communities and open black communities.
The most coloured people we’ve ever seen at naturist places was probably in Brazil, where pretty much everyone has a certain shade of brown. So there is no real difference in colour as we know it in Europe or the USA.
As we said… many different angles 🙂
Pourquoi se comparer toujours , pas de différence j estime ! Tous égaux. Il y a asser de place pour tous et dans tous les domaines . De même que les personnes naturistes a mobilité réduite! Pourquoi ne profiterai pas de cette joie . Quand on s aperçois des regards portés sur eux ! Vivons tous ensembles nus (es).
Of course naturists do not have anything against black or otherwise “coloured” people amidst them, because the skin colour is just natural as is the sexual orientation. Nothing in which anyone has a choice.
I once stumbled over an article on the net about a nudist resort somewhere in the US where a black couple had applied for membership and the discussion among the existing members whether they should be accepted or not.
That must have been a nudist colony, not a naturist one, real naturists wouldn’t need to discuss that point.
I’m Hispanic in the United States, in Central California, and I have been interested in nudism since 2014. I have no nudist resorts or clubs to go to near me, unfortunately. Therefore I want to make my own nudist resort or club in my area. I would welcome anyone in my nudist venue. I’ve never been bothered by nudity. Let’s make the future with much more diversity in nudism because the USA will get even more diverse in the future.
– coming from a 27-year-old Hispanic nudist
Good luck with your resort, Jose!
There really should be some formal outreach to people of color by naturist organizations, such as AANR, TNS, INF, etc. Also, we all have neighbors, some of color, and we should raise the issue with them in a casual way on a personal level. I photograph nude women professionally and I always bring up the subject, but to my great surprise, they are not even aware of nudism, nude resorts, etc. I’ve tried to teach them and some seem interested, but it appears they prefer to be paid to be nude.
That is quite remarkable, Bill. I know there are a few naturist groups that focus on non-pale-skinned people.
Obviously they need some marketing support…