It’s a Tuesday morning, the infinite blue sky of Byron Bay has opened up and the six naturists – four men, two women – have stripped down to their birthday suits for a quick dip in the buff.
This section of beach – an 800-metre stretch along the vast coastline – forms the only legal clothing-optional beach in the shire. Among those taking advantage of the opportunity to be out in the open is Duncan James, vice-president of Northern Rivers Naturists, who is something of an evangelist for “embracing the beach as Mother Nature intended.”
“Many of the beach users have described the clothing-optional beach as their happy place, a place where they can disconnect from modern day stresses, a place they can feel at one with nature,” he says.
There is, however, a metaphorical cloud on the horizon. On Sunday, Tyagarah is set to be stripped of its status as an official clothing-optional beach.
“I guess these values aren’t shared by New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS], who are hell-bent on closing one of Byron’s last alternative community hubs and experiences,” James says.
Is this the case of Byron becoming fashionable, hippies being gentrifuged out by rising prices and replaced by Liberal voters who wanted their slice of heaven to be more conservative and family-friendly?
as much as we all hate Liberal voters*, and gentrification and rising prices - Byron Bay is ground zero for hippy anti-vaxxers and the resurgence of measles in Australia.
So… I’m torn.
* for Americans, the Liberal party (capital ‘L’) are the conservatives. Basically, wannabe Republicans. They’re economically liberal, not socially liberal. That is, like all conservatives, they like wasting government money and giving liberal amounts to corporations.
Someone needs to explain to me why nudity is considered not ‘family-friendly’ but watching movies/playing video games with massive amounts of bloodshed and death is considered fine and dandy for kids.
I’m ok with people without clothes on at the beach, but I really don’t want to see a line of people tanning their assholes, so can we at least keep that to a minimum?
Why do you stare at people tanning their assholes? That’s considered very impolite germany.
Don’t get your Burkha all crinkled you doorknob
I know lots of kids were/are playing those without parental supervision. Those same parents had/have existential fits if their child sees a penis or breasts in a movie.
Because of the American Puritannical values, which dictate what the credit companies and advertisers are willing to do business with and the cultural zeitgeist along with it.
The Puritans were some of the earliest British colonists in the US, and were either thrown out of England for attempting a coup to replace the king with a puppet to force their more extremist form of Christianity on the country, or left by their own choice because they felt that the Church of England was too liberal. They were basically a bunch of prudes who believed that the human body and sex were shameful and disgusting.
This has led to the dichotomy where advertisers want nothing to do with sex/nudity, except when it comes to implied sex in advertisements. Because sex is bad, but it also sells, which is good.
They worded conservative creep perfectly to be completely misleading
These prudes would be terrified of San Francisco, whole city is clothing optional. No one ever really does it cause it’s too cold though saw a couple out today for pride. Sucks there banning it in a place that would actually be comfortable to do it.
Not sure if you mean -
[It] sucks there, banning it in a place that would actually be comfortable to do it.
Or
You’re just too lazy to learn how to be coherent for the rest of us
San Francisco is not actually clothing optional. Full nudity is mostly illegal. You have to cover the genitals
I thought walking around naked was part of Australian culture.
jeezus you really are dumb as hell aren’t you?
no.
covering up to protect against skin cancer has been so successful that for a while rickets were a concern in parts of Australia.
I’m sorry, I thought humor reached Australia a long time ago. Apparently not.
Its a cultural thing, in Japan and Europe its the opposite, nudity is considered less extreme than violence
Japan seems to have picked up more American-like attitudes about nudity over the decades. Older anime had a lot more ecchi nudity than current stuff, including anime that was meant for a younger crowd.
For example (NSFW link): https://animebathscenewiki.com/index.php?title=Mobile_Suit_Gundam/Episode_22
I may be making assumptions about a whole culture based on one aspect of it, though.
I understand that the subject of the OP is community space specifically for shedding judgement and all that, but
That URL is very suspect, even knowing that not all anime is made for kids
Judging from the screenshots, it seems to be completely non-sexualized. You could hardly get aroused by looking at the woman’s body there.
