Ethical or philosophical nudism has a long history, with many advocates of the benefits of enjoying nature without clothing. At the turn of the 20th century, organizations emerged to promote social nudity and to establish private campgrounds and resorts for that purpose. Since the 1960s, with the acceptance of public places for clothing-optional recreation, individuals who do not identify themselves as naturists or nudists have been able to casually participate in nude activities. Nude recreation opportunities vary widely around the world, from isolated places known mainly to locals through officially designated nude beaches and parks and on to public spaces and buildings in some jurisdictions.
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The Nambassa hippie festivals held in New Zealand in the late 1970s were examples of non-sexual naturism. Of the 75,000 patrons who attended the 1979 Nambassa three-day festival, an estimated 35% of attendees spontaneously chose to remove their clothing,[24] preferring complete or partial nudity.[25]
Some nudist festivals are held to celebrate particular days of the year, and activities may include nude bodypainting. One example is the Neptune Day Festival held in Koktebel, Crimea, to depict mythological events.[26] Another is the Festival Nudista Zipolite organized by the Federación Nudista de México (Mexican Nudist Federation) held annually since 2016 on the first weekend of February.[27]
The earliest known naturist club in the western sense of the word was established in British India in 1891. The Fellowship of the Naked Trust was founded by Charles Edward Gordon Crawford, a widower who was a District and Sessions Judge for the Bombay Civil Service. The commune was based in Matheran and had just three members at the beginning: Crawford and two sons of an Anglican missionary, Andrew and Kellogg Calderwood.[36] The commune fell apart when Crawford was transferred to Ratnagiri; he died soon after in 1894.[37]
Organized naturism in Belgium began in 1924 when engineer Joseph-Paul Swenne founded the Belgian League of Heliophilous Propaganda (usually abbreviated to Hélios) in Uccle near Brussels. This was followed four years later by De Spar, founded by Jozef Geertz and hosted on the country estate of entrepreneur Oswald Johan de Schampelaere. Belgian naturism was influenced in equal part by French naturism and German Freikörperkultur.[61] Today Belgian naturists are represented by the Federatie van Belgische Naturisten (FBN).[62]
Marcel Kienné de Mongeot is credited with starting naturism in France in 1920. His family had suffered from tuberculosis, and he saw naturism as a cure and a continuation of the traditions of the ancient Greeks. In 1926 he started the magazine Vivre intégralement (later called Vivre) and the first French naturist club, Sparta Club, at Garambouville, near Évreux. The court action that he initiated established that nudism was legal on private property that was fenced and screened.[9]
Public nudity in Spain is not illegal since there is no law banning its practice. Spanish legislation foresees felony for exhibitionism but restricts its scope to obscene exposure in front of children or mentally impaired individuals, i.e. with sexual connotation.[88][clarification needed] There are, however, some municipalities (like San Pedro del Pinatar) where public nudity has been banned by means of by-laws. Other municipalities (like Barcelona, Salou, Platja de Palma and Sant Antoni de Portmany) have used similar provisions to regulate partial nudity, requiring people to cover their torsos on the streets. Some naturist associations have appealed these by-laws on the grounds that a fundamental right (freedom of expression, as they understand nudism to be self-expression) cannot be regulated with such a mechanism. Some courts have ruled in favour of nudist associations.[89] Nudism in Spain is normally practised by the seaside, on beaches or small coves with a tradition of naturism. In Vera (Andalusia), there is a wide residential area formed by nudist urbanisations. Nudist organisations may organise some activities elsewhere in inner territory.
In Canada individuals around the country became interested in nudism, skinny-dipping, and physical culture in the early part of the 20th century. Sunbathing & Health, a magazine targeted toward Canadian naturists and which occasionally carried local news, began publication after 1940. There were scattered groups of naturists in several cities during the 1930s and 1940s, and some of these groups attracted enough interest to form clubs on private land.[10] The most significant clubs were the Van Tan Club, formed in 1939, which is still operating in North Vancouver, BC,[10] and the Sun Air Club, in Ontario.
In general, public nudity tends to be condemned by the Brazilian authorities, which commonly see it as indecent exposure. However, the country has the highest number of official nude beaches in Latin America, being 8 in total, and this is partially explained by the fact that the Brazilian territory has more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi) of ocean coast. Moreover, there are a few private naturist clubs throughout the country where full nudity is accepted as well. Naturism in Brazil is regulated by the Brazilian Naturism Federation (in Portuguese: Federação Brasileira de Naturismo, abbreviated as FBrN).[123] 2ff7e9595c
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