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.
What options does the community have? Was there no RFC by the park board?
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?
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 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.
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
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.
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.
Someday I hope to build up the courage to visit/participate a nudist beach. It seems far more comfortable and “normal” in Europe than in the States from my travels. Remarkably humanizing.
Went to one while in Spain. The spectrum was roughly the same as you would see at any beach. There were no creepers hanging around or anyone who was judgy.
I experienced the same at “regular” beaches out in Greece. Topless women and Speedos were just as normal as any other beachgoer. It was really rather relaxing thinking back to it now.
The Speedos were the French. They do love their budgie-smugglers for some reason
There’s one in my area of Florida. It’s the busiest part of the beach lol. Other people get judgy if you tell them you go, but the people there are super normal. It’s really more about yourself being free in nature. If you go to ogle at people you’ll be disappointed and also unwelcome, naturists don’t generally tolerate creeps. They like to keep it chill and everyone interacts like any other beach. Occasionally there’s even kids there.
But it’s technically illegal in the state… But the cops turn a blind eye and haven’t gone after it (it’s been this way for decades). The (federally run) park even put up signs to warn that you made encounter “nude sunbathers” at a certain part of the beach.
Playalinda beach on the space coast, near Titusville and next to the launch pads. Last parking lot is clothing optional. Really clean and natural beach. Also great for watching rocket launches, if they keep the beach open for it.
(The structures in the distance are rocket launch towers, it’s legitimately the closest you can get.)
Occasionally there’s even kids there.
Ew ew ew ew ew ew no. Just…just no.
Before I wasn’t going to go because I’m not comfortable with my own body. NOW I’ll never go, because I assumed it was 21+. I don’t mind catching a glimpse of adult male nudity (I’m a straight male), because at least it’s an adult consenting to it. But I DO NOT want to see 8 year olds running around naked. Both from a standpoint of I don’t want to see it, AND from the standpoint that I don’t want others knowing they can go there to see it.
Think about it. Prior to 2012 or whatever year it was, NOBODY would have thought anything wrong with Jarod from subway going to a nude beach. But would you want your 8 year old at the same nude beach as Jarod??? Nobody knew he was into that, and the only reason you know now is because it made the news. The people in your neighborhood WON’T make the news.
There are various search tools online to see who in your neighborhood has been placed on the sex offender registry. Of the 37 houses on my street, 24 of them have had some form of sexual based arrest since the 1970s.
Can YOU pick out the predators based on visual glimpse? I can’t.
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.
