For many of us, going clothes-free is unthinkable. Why would you choose to go naked in public? How do people know where to look? And where do you keep your keys?
But for a growing number of the British public, getting nude in every day life is becoming more popular than you would expect.
In fact, an estimated 6.75 million people regularly take part in swimming or sunbathing in the nude, according to an Ipsos survey that found 14% of British people identify as naturists or nudists.
Meanwhile, membership to British Naturism, an organisation that aims to make social nudity acceptable, is growing all the time, with Covid lockdowns overseeing an explosion in naked online pub quizzes and nude fitness classes.
For Alison Smith and her partner Alan Birtwistle, going nude is a way of life.
Throughout the summer they live on a naturist campsite in Kent and they spend winter in Scotland, where the weather forces them to remain fully clothed. The couple discovered naturism four years ago when they spontaneously shed their clothes on the beach and they haven’t looked back. They now regularly visit naturist hotels, resorts, festivals and camping grounds – which they say have much more availability and better prices than other sites.
Alison and Alan initially got into Naturism to ‘try something different’ (Picture: Owner supplied)
For Alison and Alan going nude is a way of life (Picture: Owner supplied)
Alan, 58, a retired firefighter, explains: ‘We just wanted to try something different. We noticed at the naturist beach in Hastings that everybody talks to each other. There are no airs and graces, and no barriers. You take people’s names and come away from the beach and everyone’s forming WhatsApp groups with each other. You keep in touch. We’ve made so many new friends.
‘We visited a normal hotel in Gran Canaria last year, and compared to where we’d normally go, my God, everybody looked bored around that swimming pool. There was something missing. No atmosphere. Nobody chatting. It was a different experience altogether.’
Graphic designer Alison, 52, adds: ‘You go to a normal beach in Bournemouth or Brighton and nobody talks to each other. Nobody makes eye contact. So now we go to campsites, hotels and resorts that are purely naturist and it’s just a fantastic environment. People are much more open. It’s a like-minded community. Naturism is a very good leveller.’
The first time the couple stripped off, they felt a little self conscious, they admit. But soon forget they weren’t wearing anything and just ‘got on with it’.
‘That’s when you realise that nobody’s looking at you and everybody’s doing the same thing,’ explains Alan. ‘And then you really don’t think about it ever again.’
For Alison, going naked has helped her self image, as she often finds out she doesn’t know what to wear.
‘The thought of putting a bikini on, getting into the swimming pool, coming out and adjusting it and lying in it all wet… no,’ she says adamantly. ‘That just doesn’t do anything for me. It’s too much effort. It’s just easier to go without. I hate clothes. I hate shopping. I despair of it. Going up and down the rails, my heart just sinks because I never know what suits me. But I know my body suits me.
Alison thinks that Naturism is a very good leveller (Picture: Owner supplied)
Alison has found that she has better self image since becoming immersed in Naturism (Picture: Owner supplied)
‘There’s so many questions with clothes: Do I wear a one-piece on holiday? Or a two-piece? Do stripes make my thighs look bigger? When you’re naked, nothing makes your thighs look bigger. They just are. I have a better self image now. I know my body was slimmer four years ago, but I’m not beating myself up over it. Naturism helps with that.’
While Alan enjoys dressing up in the evening, when the weather is right and no-one is around to be offended, he likes to get his kit off. ‘I wish there was the flexibility to stay naked 24/7. It is simply the freedom,’ he admits. ‘It takes the stress levels down.’
A closer look into the world of naturism reveals a whole host of events where there is no dress code; archery, silent discos, yoga, 5k runs, bike rides – all carried out completely starkers.
Last month, performance artist Marina Abramović called for nude performers for her show at the Royal Academy, and this summer, actor Adam Scott-Rowley will perform his play You Are Going To Die at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in which he appears undressed throughout.
Adam, 30, admits to being terrified the first time he appeared nude in front of his audience in 2016, but now is fairly comfortable. The Londoner says the idea came from a previous show that audiences said ‘lacked vulnerability’.
‘I went and thought about it and chose to do the same show naked,’ he explains. ‘Since then, the feedback has always been really positive. For me it is about getting people to drop out of their heads and connect with a sense of feelings. I like people to have a sort of guttural response to my work rather than getting lost in thought and I think one of the best ways of tapping into that is through vulnerability.
‘Vulnerability isn’t really something you can force and I found over the years that one of the best ways of doing that is by being naked – because then you become the most vulnerable person in the room.
‘The first time I appeared naked I was petrified,’ Adam remembers with a laugh. ‘I stood there as the audience came in with my eyes closed and I remember a cold sweat running down my body. But I trained as an actor, so I have all sorts of techniques to shift my focus. And once you get started, it’s fine. I do feel vulnerable the whole way through. But sometimes, the fear just disappears.’
Adam doesn’t care for stripping off at the beach but believes everyone could benefit from being nude (Picture: Liam Bessell)
Adam will perform his play You Are Going To Die at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in which he appears undressed throughout (Picture: Liam Bessell)
While Adam, 30, has no intention of stripping off at the beach or on holiday, he believes we could all benefit from a little more nudity in our lives.
‘We all have these bodies, and yet, they’re only ever shared in intimate scenarios,’ he says. ‘It could be interesting to normalise nudity and bodies a little bit more, especially with all the emphasis on “perfect bodies” and all the anxiety that induces, especially for young people. So to have something that can dilute that a little bit and just show how varied everybody’s bodies are – and how normal that is – could be great.’
As much as the Mary Whitehouse’s of the world might protest, nudity has made a breakthrough on our screens. Not just in raunchy sex scenes, but naked reality TV is definitely having a moment. Shows like Naked, Alone and Racing to Get Home, Naked and Afraid, Naked Attraction and Naked Education are all seeing record viewing figures.
Jamie Frizzell, 29, risked his life when he went naked in the jungle as part of a TV game show Naked and Afraid.
Sent to live with no clothes and little more than a machete, in Guyana for 21 days in May last year, Jamie tells Metro.co.uk that the lack of clothes was less of a liberating exploration of the naked self than a way to make the jungle an even more inhospitable environment.
‘People ask why you have to be naked. A lot of people are grossed out by it and don’t understand,’ he explains. ‘But being naked makes you a lot more vulnerable to the elements. You feel the cold a lot worse; the rain gets to you quicker, and if I were fully clothed with boots, trousers and jacket – I could make so many things; a bag, a water container, something to filter water with, shelter, I could use my laces to tie things. So being naked makes it a million times harder.
‘Three hours in the elements without clothes on, without fire, without moving, can kill you.’
And it nearly did. Jamie remembers how during one tropical storm his camp flooded and his fire was extinguished.
‘I ended up with hyperthermia and started hallucinating,’ he recalls. ‘I saw people coming up to my camp and getting the fire started for me. But within a second, they vanished and I was staring at an empty fire pit again. I was delirious. I ended up passing out.’
Jamie lived in the Guyana wilderness nude for 21 years (Picture: Discovery)
For Jamie nakedness was less liberating and just made the jungle more inhospitable (Picture: Discovery)
Jamie caught hypothermia and became delirious after a tropical storm eventually passing out (Picture: Discovery)
The whole thing was caught on camera and the next day, when Jamie’s producer checked the footage, he admonished Jamie for not asking for help.
‘I was that determined to complete my challenge, so I didn’t radio in,’ he says. ‘The producer said it was one of the scariest things he’d seen. I’d known I was feeling funny, that something wasn’t right, but I didn’t realise it was hyperthermia. I thought I was fine.’
The next morning Jamie was checked over by the medics who told him he shouldn’t have woken up. ‘It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me on any challenge,’ he admits.
Despite this brush with death, being nude did bring Jamie a few benefits; he was able to stay cool in the jungle heat and his skin became hyper aware of whatever was falling on it; better to swat a poisonous spider or scorpion off your neck as soon as you feel it hit than risk it crawling under a collar or shirt sleeve.
The survivalist from Ayr remembers being worried the first time he had to strip off in front of 15 members of the crew, but says that as soon as he started thinking about shelter, water and fire, he forget all about his nudity. And when he completed the challenge 21 days later, producers had to keep reminding him to cover himself up.
‘I got told numerous times, “Jamie keep your robe on – you’ll offend people”. But it didn’t feel right and I kept wanting to take it off. It was hard to get back to normal. It just felt strange, the material on the skin of my shoulders and the top of my back.’
Next Jamie will travel to Peru for Naked & Afraid Solo, which will air on the Discovery Channel on 25 May. But does he go naked more now? No. In fact, the challenge taught him a new found appreciation of clothes; especially socks.
For Alison, the message is simple: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
‘People say “Ooh, I could never do that”, but it’s just a body. Get over it,’ she says.
‘Some ask us – do you feel self-conscious? No. Humans probably look at each other and make judgments more when they’ve got clothes on than when they don’t, because there’s a level playing field. And you don’t look at people’s bodies. You look at the person. You look in their eyes and forget all about it.’
Of course, no matter how much you embrace it, there is still that remaining problem about the keys, The solution? According to Alison: ‘Sadly – and forgive the pun – a very unattractive bum bag.’
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And where do we put our keys?
