Tag: Britain

Sherwood forest in the news.

Maybe you caught it too, the hoolabaloo around Sherwood Forest in Nottingham, UK. Maybe you aren’t interested in the antics of Robin Hood. This is not about Robin hood.

This is what it’s about:

Nudists spotted in Sherwood Forest

It was in the Nottingham Post last Friday. A bunch of non-nudists had complained about seeing nude people in the forest.

All the upheaval boiled down to nothing, which is good, although the textile community is still up in arms about it, probably.

Nude in a forest

In England, nudity is legal as long as the nude person(s) are not making a nuisance of themselves. See the official UK Crown Prosecution Service site.

The funny thing about this, when you look closely enough, is that the good and dressed people of Nottingham are screaming that this is illegal.

If they knew the law, or at least make the effort of looking it up, they would see that they’re wrong.

(But who would want to look for their own wrong, right?)

British Naturism

Image
Donna Price on talkRadio

Donna Price, British Naturism’s coordinator for Women in Naturism, had a video talk with a talkRadio host about the stir this all caused. At the moment of writing, there is a link to the talk here. Click at own risk, it might have been removed.

As so often, the biggest issue was that ‘people don’t want to see this’.

I think they should learn that the world isn’t just about what they want, but that there are other people with other views and ideas. If they don’t want to see this, they should look elsewhere. I have never been to Sherwood Forest, but if Robin Hood could stay hidden from the soldiers so long, it must be big enough for every kind of person.

Nudists were not and are not ‘ruining’ the forest, as the banner on the image states. That’s just in people’s one-track minds.

Unfortunately. Because there are so many of them.

Public nudity in Britain, and nobody runs for the hills.

Public nudity in Britain.

There’s naked yoga, naked dating, naked dining. But is it OK to take your clothes off in public? There’s only one way to find out…

This is the headline of a very interesting article in the Guardian that was brought to my attention a few weeks back.

‘Nobody runs for the hills’: is Britain ready for everyday nudity?

Charlie Gilmour public nudity
Charlie Gilmour: ‘Being naked is profoundly liberating.’ Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian.

It’s like a dream. I’m at the pub with a pint of stout and a packet of nuts, wearing no clothes. Families tuck into their Sunday roasts, darts players carry on unperturbed. No one gives me so much as a second glance. I could get used to this.

How things have changed. In 1974, when Sally Cooper stripped naked and attempted to run across Richmond Bridge in west London, she caused a national sensation. Caught momentarily in the jaws of a police dog and eternally by the lens of a tabloid photographer, she was one of Britain’s first streakers. At the time, public nudity was virtually unheard of. Naturists, or “sunbathers” as they often euphemistically called themselves, kept to the shadows.

Today, naked people are everywhere. No longer happy to be hidden in naturist clubs and on nudist beaches, the bare body has jiggled its way into areas previously reserved for the clothed, round the dinner table and on primetime TV. London had a pop-up naked restaurant, the Bunyadi, with a waiting list 46,000 strong, Last year saw the launch of Naked Attraction, Channel 4’s full-frontal dating show. We have naked yoga, a naked nightclub and, of course, naked Justin Bieber. Does this mean Britain has come to terms with collective undress?

I’m no naturist, but there have been moments over the years when it has felt appropriate to publicly disrobe. A mass skinny-dip after a friend’s seaside wedding was liberating, a slosh into the Serpentine on a sweltering summer evening was thrilling, and there was one time, perhaps slightly unwise, at a party where the drinks were flowing freely and the heating was on far too high and… nudity may have occurred.

Being naked is profoundly liberating. It’s not just the physical feeling of the air, sun or sea over your entire body: there’s a psychological release, too. When you shed your clothes, many social pressures also somehow fall away. A 2015 survey by British Naturism, the national society for social nudity, found that practising naturists had higher self-esteem and body confidence.

Yet, from personal experience, I’ve found reactions can be unappreciative, ranging from mothers screaming and covering their children’s eyes to hostile attention from security personnel. So which Britain are we: a nation of nudes or prudes? I decided to find out.
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You can read the entire article here, at the Guardian.