Dutch law regarding nude recreation

Hello nudists,

In a Dutch town there was an action against discarding the local nude beach. (Report in Dutch here.)

A most interesting part in this article is: Strafwet. De strafwet staat bloot recreëren overal toe, zolang anderen zich daar niet aan storen.”

Criminal Law. Criminal law allows nude recreation everywhere, as long as others don’t take offence.

Now that’s something I didn’t know. Basically this says you’re allowed to go nude anywhere as long as you’re not bothering others. Quite cool!

This webpage for a Dutch naturist area (in Dutch of course) explains that the law article where this is detailed is number 430a. Most important part: “Het wetsartikel 430a maakte naaktrecreatie dus mogelijk op alle plaatsen die voor ongeklede recreatie geschikt zijn. In het algemeen zijn dit plaatsen waar geen openbaar verkeer langs komt.”

 

Law article 430a therefore enables nude recreation in all places that are suited for clothes-free recreation. In general these are places where no public traffic passes by.

(Public traffic here needs to be seen also as pedestrians and cyclists of course, not just cars.)

Another website (maintained by a lawyer), “Strict in criminal law” (Scherp in strafrecht) states: “Of een plaats voor naaktrecreatie geschikt is, wordt bepaald door plaatselijke omstandigheden en de redelijkheid.”

Whether or not an area is suitable for nude recreation is decided by the local circumstances and reason.

Which makes sense of course. With public awareness that nude recreation is more and more common, there would nothing against finding a silent/secluded spot in a forest and drop all clothes there for a while. Doing so in the middle of a town will certainly be frowned up (and that would be the least), so with these things in mind, the possibilities for nude recreation in the Netherlands become quite a lot more extensive.

Nude around the house

Do you sometimes walk around in your house whilst not wearing anything? Going around naked as on the moment you were born?

If so, you might be surprised to hear that you’re not allowed to just like that. If you walk by a window in your naked glory and someone from the street looks inside and sees you, that person can file a complaint against you for indecent exposure. Even when you’re in your own house! It doesn’t mean you’ll get arrested and thrown in jail, but there’s a good chance you get a warning from the police.

Now I have to add that I am not sure if this is true everywhere, but there are many places and countries where this is a fact. When you want to sit in your garden and feel the sunshine on all of your skin, you need to make sure that none of your neighbours can see you that way for the same reason. And don’t think that a good fence will be enough: if someone can see you from their upstairs rooms you’re at fault too.

Nude in your garden

Isn’t that dumb? No matter how liberated the world at large wants to feel, we’re constricted in our freedom by a morality forced upon us by a bunch of people who feel that nakedness is not a natural state of being. The more because it is a natural state of being. I have yet to hear about a baby being born with a diaper on…