June 11, 2012 • 14 mins
Why are Germans so fond of nude sunbathing? How did Heinrich Pudor become the father of nudism? Where are the world's best nude beaches? Listen in to learn more about nude beaches.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Caroline and I'm Kristen, and as part
(00:20):
of our summer short series, we're wanting to talk about
nude beaches today. Because that's it's just gonna be a short,
old topic. We're not going to get too much into
it or whether we've been or not, but I I
want to I want to start you off with an
interesting bit of trivia. Okay, who do you think loves
nude sunbathing the most in Europe? Just throughout a guess
(00:43):
I know the answer, So what is it? Gemmans? The
German See that doesn't make any sense to me, which
is why I think it's an interesting piece of trivia. Yeah,
I did not have any idea. This is coming from
the Expedia twelve flip flop survey mark um, but they
took this big survey of the beach going habits around
(01:05):
the world, and Germans love nude sunbathing. Yeah, exactly to
the point where when East and West Germany were reunited,
people in the East where they were much more okay
with it, and and people in the east and West
there was a little bit of nude sunbathing conflict going
on there. Put your clothes back on it. Well, it
(01:27):
makes sense that Germany is the hot spot of nude
sunbathing and nude beaches because the father of nudism and
the whole free body culture, which is sometimes referred to
as UH started with German sociologists Heinrich Pudor in the nineties.
(01:47):
That's a long time ago. Yeah, I would not. I
really thought before we started reading this that it would
have been the years, all those hippies, all those hippies. Yeah.
And this Pudor gentleman actually wrote the Cult of the
Nude back in the eighteen nineties. And this whole idea
of his evolved as a reaction to rapid urbanization and
(02:08):
growing alienation from nature as people moved to the city.
So this this is coming from USA today talking about
Mr Pudor and and basically people were trying to break
free from nineteenth century restrictive social expectations yea. And as
a result, German Paul Zimmerman opened the first known nudist
camp near Hamburg in nineteen o three, and there was
(02:31):
another article that I found in Spiegel talking about all
the Germans enjoy sunbathing in the nude and the whole
origins of nudism, which we might think of nude beaches
and nudism is some kind of expression, some sexual expression,
you know, like everyone's just loose and freeze. So that
(02:51):
means that it's because they have lower sexual inhibitions. No,
not necessarily. Durch Piegel explains that along with vegetarianism, teetotaling
and clothing reform as well as calisthenics, new nudism belonged
to a new avant garde cult of the body. So
it really wasn't you know, It's nothing so tawdrey as
(03:11):
we might might think. It is exactly to the point
where this is. According to that Expedia survey that Kristen
mentionedent of German respondents said the sun bathed nude and
the second likeliest to come into that category, where Indians
and Spaniards at eight percent, and the French and British
trail way behind at five percent and two percent respectively,
(03:32):
and then the Americans also at two percent. But maybe
it's because nudism didn't gain traction in North America and
you could. You probably still doesn't gain like mainstream a traction,
but it didn't come over here in full force until
the free beach movement of the nineteen sixties, when people
just started hanging out nude on on California beaches. Surprise, surprise, um.
(03:57):
And we have a guy named Lee Backson all Um
to thank for nudism in America. He in nineteen eighty
launched the Naturist Society and published the first World Guide
to Nude Beaches and Recreation that same year. And it's
funny because even though such a small percentage of Americans
(04:17):
actually go bear at the beach, according to a pole
in USA to Day in two thousand and six, apparently
fifteen percent of adult Americans at the time actually really
wanted a nude recreation experience, a nude recreation experience as
part of their vacation. And there was actually just recently
June one and second, a nude expo going on in
(04:39):
Las Vegas. They requested that you keep your clothes on
for the expo, but there was a pool party later
and you could could bear all there. Um. And while
we might uh think that it's such a niche kind
of thing. The Wall Street Journal reported in two thousand
three that nude recreation in North America has grown into
(04:59):
a four hundred million dollar industry. Henston at two day Expo,
I guess, I mean, where's the money. I guess the
cruises and well, it's not going to close when it's
a lot of sunscreen, probably, And Americans who bathed in
the nude go to places like Blacks Beach in Lahaya, California,
(05:20):
which in the seventies attracted nearly sixty thousand visitors on
the weekend. And despite the fact that the city council
banned nudism in ninety seven, there, it really hasn't been
consistently enforced. Yeah, for the US, especially, nude beaches aren't
kind of just like under the radar. It's like, yeah,
(05:40):
you probably you know, aren't supposed to do it, but
they're not going to go out and arrestue um. For instance,
in Little Beach in Maui, which is a nudist hot spot,
nude sunbathing is illegal in the entire state, but it's
just not enforced. UM and Little Beaches also where you
might spot Dr Lee Sure, who is a famous nudist.
(06:03):
He's the author of the nineteen ninety Classic Creation and
Management God to public clothing optional beaches and parks, and
according to his snappy website, has testified in public nudity
cases as an expert witness. But apparently he's like a
big he's a celebrity among doctor leisure, Doctor leisure. Okay, Um,
(06:26):
well there's also Gunnison Beach. This is a New Jersey
which it used to be a military base, and it's
so it it actually does not have a brief history
of nudism. Oh no, Back when it was a base
and active based, the all male soldier population often skinny
dipped right there. And so now once it was decommissioned,
it's attracted. It started attracting nude bathers up until today. Yeah,
(06:47):
that percentage of I think it might have been from
the USA Today's survey or maybe from the flip Flop survey.
I just like saying that. Um, a lot of American adults,
even though he might not want to sign, bathe in
public in the buff, A lot of folks have gone
skinny dipping, probably after dark, Yeah, maybe after a few cocktails.
(07:08):
But this this nude bathing thing is not always so easy,
breezy and Wisconsin. Uh, there there having some trouble along
the Wisconsin River. There's this particular area where as many
as seventy thousand people visit in the summer. It's the
Nude Beach. It's part of a park. There's a lot
of woods around it. It seems kind of secluded except
(07:30):
their houses around and people are getting a little out
of control there. Yeah, Basically the folks in the houses
and there's some some businesses dotted around as well, are
tired of seeing naked people on the sand bars if
the river is low. And also there has apparently been
smells sexual and drug related activity happening in those woods
also in the buff So the Wisconsin Department of Natural
(07:53):
Resources is starting to crack down. Yeah. They actually arrested
twenty six people for a list at sex and sixteen
people for drugs in just nine days of surveillance last year.
And I would surmise that old Heinrich pudor, you know,
the father of nudism, would not approve of what's going
on on the banks of that Wisconsin rivers. That is
(08:15):
not what the naturist movement is about, exactly free body movement. Yeah,
but as you can imagine, Wisconsin not not the best
place in the world for the nude beach. What about
the top nude beaches around the world. We have some
internationalistens out there, and if listeners are trying to decide
(08:37):
where to go on summer vacation, you might want to
check out Red Beach in Santaini, Greece. Hippies apparently started
flocking there in nineteen sixty eight. Man, those hippies love
to being. Majorca also a hot spot for um for
a nude beach, but apparently the best new beach in
(09:00):
the world and the largest nudist colony in Europe is
in Yeah, that's France for those of you uneducated people
out there, and it's it's cap dog dogged Dog. I'm
glad you started. I took French, but I still was like,
I have no idea. I googled the pronunciation where we
(09:21):
came in here. Um, but yeah, so Germany. You would
think that it would be in Germany, you know, the
largest nudist colony, but nope, it is at this cap
dogged in France. I'm sure. Well. There's also some things
you should remember people if you're going on a nude vacation,
whether that's a nude cruise, a nude flight, take your towels,
(09:43):
or just going to a nude beach play and simple.
You should remember your etiquette. This is coming from the
American Association for Nude Recreation. You want to ask before
you take pictures that will feature strangers. Yeah, obviously, you
don't want to stare. That's not what this is about.
You want to respect other people's person in all space
and refrain from sexual activity. And come on, do not
(10:04):
show up in a nude beach fully clothed. You just
seem like a creeper. Yeah. Yeah, um. And there was
a question on the American Association for Nude Recreations website wondering, well,
men walking around nude do they get visibly aroused around
all these other naked people. I thought that was a
(10:26):
good question to ask. And they say often, no, men
did not get visibly aroused and nudist clubs because remember
that is not what that wasn't what all Heinrich Putter
was all about. Um, they say, but on the rare
occasion where this occurs, they simply will dawn a towel,
turn over, or take a quick dip in the pool.
(10:48):
And they say that a lot of times, nudist clubs
are far less sexually charged than places where provocative clothing
is worn. Ever since like everybody's nude, it sort of
takes away the mystery. Yeah, there's no mystery, takes away
the lore, the iagination because you can't. You probably aren't
imagining deeper below the skin. I wonder what her liver
looks like, esophagus. So basically, if you if you want to,
(11:11):
if you want to can in the nude, head to Germany,
or if you want to go to dance or France. Yeah,
best nude beach in the world is in France. Or
if i'm the Wisconsin River, be careful, they're on the
lookout for you. They're coming after you. They are on
the lookout. But it seems like in the US, California
is still the hotspot. I mean San Francisco, you can
you can be nude in the streets. There areas where
(11:34):
they'll just have nude day, like in the Castro and stuff.
I won't even go on cruises because I'm such a germophobe,
like because they tell you when you get on the boat, like,
don't touch anything. I'm just so being naked everywhere in public.
I just been like, oh, what can I touch? But
see I read an interview with some some nudists and
they were saying etiquette is definitely you put down a
(11:55):
towel before you sit down anywhere. And there is also
an article in the Slate and Slate asked whether or
not um, you can catch germs like if someone nude
sits down and rubs ther butt on something and then
you sit down, like, could you the chances of you
contracting any germs from that is slim to none. Yeah,
I'll just shake hands and stand. Yeah, but don't take
(12:18):
pictures without absolutely not and stare. Uh. So, nude beaches
that's our summer shorts topic for today. Uh anyone out
there who has been to a nude beach a nudist colony,
I am, I would like to know what it was like. Again,
no pictures for us in there, please and thank you. Um.
(12:38):
And in the meantime, we've got an email here. Yes,
this is an email from Christine. This is about our
Party Politics episode and it is a very interesting message.
She said, I just listened to the PTA episode and
at the end you read a note from a woman
who is ashamed that her boyfriend Piece sitting down, my
(12:59):
husband Piece sitting down, and I couldn't be happier about it.
I will admit that it took me by surprise when
I first figured it out, but it doesn't bother me
at all. He started this habit when we both worked
for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey and lived on
the circus train. He figured out that peeing standing up
while the train was moving could be quite hazardous to
his health. Interestingly, we've been off the show and living
in a stationary house for nearly eleven years and he
(13:21):
still sits down to pe, so obviously he thinks there's
some advantage to it. Anyway. Here are the advantages to me. One,
no toilet seats left up in my house. Therefore I
don't need to worry about accidentally sitting down on the
cold porcelain bowl in the middle of the night. To
no aim accidents, I don't have to clean up p
from the floor when I'm cleaning the bathroom. And three
less splash, I don't have to clean the underside of
(13:44):
the toilet seat as often as a result. So thank
you Christine for the perspective, and thanks everyone else who
has written in mom Stuff at Discovery dot com, and
of course, if you wanna let us know about your
new beach experience, you can also find us on Facebook
and tweet us at mom Stuff podcast. And if you
would like to learn more about protecting your skin from
(14:05):
the sun should you go to one of those new beaches,
you should head on over to how stuff works dot
com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
Is it how stuff works dot com brought to you
by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are
(14:27):
you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Caroline and I'm Kristen, and as part
(00:20):
of our summer short series, we're wanting to talk about
nude beaches today. Because that's it's just gonna be a short,
old topic. We're not going to get too much into
it or whether we've been or not, but I I
want to I want to start you off with an
interesting bit of trivia. Okay, who do you think loves
nude sunbathing the most in Europe? Just throughout a guess
(00:43):
I know the answer, So what is it? Gemmans? The
German See that doesn't make any sense to me, which
is why I think it's an interesting piece of trivia. Yeah,
I did not have any idea. This is coming from
the Expedia twelve flip flop survey mark um, but they
took this big survey of the beach going habits around
(01:05):
the world, and Germans love nude sunbathing. Yeah, exactly to
the point where when East and West Germany were reunited,
people in the East where they were much more okay
with it, and and people in the east and West
there was a little bit of nude sunbathing conflict going
on there. Put your clothes back on it. Well, it
(01:27):
makes sense that Germany is the hot spot of nude
sunbathing and nude beaches because the father of nudism and
the whole free body culture, which is sometimes referred to
as UH started with German sociologists Heinrich Pudor in the nineties.
(01:47):
That's a long time ago. Yeah, I would not. I
really thought before we started reading this that it would
have been the years, all those hippies, all those hippies. Yeah.
And this Pudor gentleman actually wrote the Cult of the
Nude back in the eighteen nineties. And this whole idea
of his evolved as a reaction to rapid urbanization and
(02:08):
growing alienation from nature as people moved to the city.
So this this is coming from USA today talking about
Mr Pudor and and basically people were trying to break
free from nineteenth century restrictive social expectations yea. And as
a result, German Paul Zimmerman opened the first known nudist
camp near Hamburg in nineteen o three, and there was
(02:31):
another article that I found in Spiegel talking about all
the Germans enjoy sunbathing in the nude and the whole
origins of nudism, which we might think of nude beaches
and nudism is some kind of expression, some sexual expression,
you know, like everyone's just loose and freeze. So that
(02:51):
means that it's because they have lower sexual inhibitions. No,
not necessarily. Durch Piegel explains that along with vegetarianism, teetotaling
and clothing reform as well as calisthenics, new nudism belonged
to a new avant garde cult of the body. So
it really wasn't you know, It's nothing so tawdrey as
(03:11):
we might might think. It is exactly to the point
where this is. According to that Expedia survey that Kristen
mentionedent of German respondents said the sun bathed nude and
the second likeliest to come into that category, where Indians
and Spaniards at eight percent, and the French and British
trail way behind at five percent and two percent respectively,
(03:32):
and then the Americans also at two percent. But maybe
it's because nudism didn't gain traction in North America and
you could. You probably still doesn't gain like mainstream a traction,
but it didn't come over here in full force until
the free beach movement of the nineteen sixties, when people
just started hanging out nude on on California beaches. Surprise, surprise, um.
(03:57):
And we have a guy named Lee Backson all Um
to thank for nudism in America. He in nineteen eighty
launched the Naturist Society and published the first World Guide
to Nude Beaches and Recreation that same year. And it's
funny because even though such a small percentage of Americans
(04:17):
actually go bear at the beach, according to a pole
in USA to Day in two thousand and six, apparently
fifteen percent of adult Americans at the time actually really
wanted a nude recreation experience, a nude recreation experience as
part of their vacation. And there was actually just recently
June one and second, a nude expo going on in
(04:39):
Las Vegas. They requested that you keep your clothes on
for the expo, but there was a pool party later
and you could could bear all there. Um. And while
we might uh think that it's such a niche kind
of thing. The Wall Street Journal reported in two thousand
three that nude recreation in North America has grown into
(04:59):
a four hundred million dollar industry. Henston at two day Expo,
I guess, I mean, where's the money. I guess the
cruises and well, it's not going to close when it's
a lot of sunscreen, probably, And Americans who bathed in
the nude go to places like Blacks Beach in Lahaya, California,
(05:20):
which in the seventies attracted nearly sixty thousand visitors on
the weekend. And despite the fact that the city council
banned nudism in ninety seven, there, it really hasn't been
consistently enforced. Yeah, for the US, especially, nude beaches aren't
kind of just like under the radar. It's like, yeah,
(05:40):
you probably you know, aren't supposed to do it, but
they're not going to go out and arrestue um. For instance,
in Little Beach in Maui, which is a nudist hot spot,
nude sunbathing is illegal in the entire state, but it's
just not enforced. UM and Little Beaches also where you
might spot Dr Lee Sure, who is a famous nudist.
(06:03):
He's the author of the nineteen ninety Classic Creation and
Management God to public clothing optional beaches and parks, and
according to his snappy website, has testified in public nudity
cases as an expert witness. But apparently he's like a
big he's a celebrity among doctor leisure, Doctor leisure. Okay, Um,
(06:26):
well there's also Gunnison Beach. This is a New Jersey
which it used to be a military base, and it's
so it it actually does not have a brief history
of nudism. Oh no, Back when it was a base
and active based, the all male soldier population often skinny
dipped right there. And so now once it was decommissioned,
it's attracted. It started attracting nude bathers up until today. Yeah,
(06:47):
that percentage of I think it might have been from
the USA Today's survey or maybe from the flip Flop survey.
I just like saying that. Um, a lot of American adults,
even though he might not want to sign, bathe in
public in the buff, A lot of folks have gone
skinny dipping, probably after dark, Yeah, maybe after a few cocktails.
(07:08):
But this this nude bathing thing is not always so easy,
breezy and Wisconsin. Uh, there there having some trouble along
the Wisconsin River. There's this particular area where as many
as seventy thousand people visit in the summer. It's the
Nude Beach. It's part of a park. There's a lot
of woods around it. It seems kind of secluded except
(07:30):
their houses around and people are getting a little out
of control there. Yeah, Basically the folks in the houses
and there's some some businesses dotted around as well, are
tired of seeing naked people on the sand bars if
the river is low. And also there has apparently been
smells sexual and drug related activity happening in those woods
also in the buff So the Wisconsin Department of Natural
(07:53):
Resources is starting to crack down. Yeah. They actually arrested
twenty six people for a list at sex and sixteen
people for drugs in just nine days of surveillance last year.
And I would surmise that old Heinrich pudor, you know,
the father of nudism, would not approve of what's going
on on the banks of that Wisconsin rivers. That is
(08:15):
not what the naturist movement is about, exactly free body movement. Yeah,
but as you can imagine, Wisconsin not not the best
place in the world for the nude beach. What about
the top nude beaches around the world. We have some
internationalistens out there, and if listeners are trying to decide
(08:37):
where to go on summer vacation, you might want to
check out Red Beach in Santaini, Greece. Hippies apparently started
flocking there in nineteen sixty eight. Man, those hippies love
to being. Majorca also a hot spot for um for
a nude beach, but apparently the best new beach in
(09:00):
the world and the largest nudist colony in Europe is
in Yeah, that's France for those of you uneducated people
out there, and it's it's cap dog dogged Dog. I'm
glad you started. I took French, but I still was like,
I have no idea. I googled the pronunciation where we
(09:21):
came in here. Um, but yeah, so Germany. You would
think that it would be in Germany, you know, the
largest nudist colony, but nope, it is at this cap
dogged in France. I'm sure. Well. There's also some things
you should remember people if you're going on a nude vacation,
whether that's a nude cruise, a nude flight, take your towels,
(09:43):
or just going to a nude beach play and simple.
You should remember your etiquette. This is coming from the
American Association for Nude Recreation. You want to ask before
you take pictures that will feature strangers. Yeah, obviously, you
don't want to stare. That's not what this is about.
You want to respect other people's person in all space
and refrain from sexual activity. And come on, do not
(10:04):
show up in a nude beach fully clothed. You just
seem like a creeper. Yeah. Yeah, um. And there was
a question on the American Association for Nude Recreations website wondering, well,
men walking around nude do they get visibly aroused around
all these other naked people. I thought that was a
(10:26):
good question to ask. And they say often, no, men
did not get visibly aroused and nudist clubs because remember
that is not what that wasn't what all Heinrich Putter
was all about. Um, they say, but on the rare
occasion where this occurs, they simply will dawn a towel,
turn over, or take a quick dip in the pool.
(10:48):
And they say that a lot of times, nudist clubs
are far less sexually charged than places where provocative clothing
is worn. Ever since like everybody's nude, it sort of
takes away the mystery. Yeah, there's no mystery, takes away
the lore, the iagination because you can't. You probably aren't
imagining deeper below the skin. I wonder what her liver
looks like, esophagus. So basically, if you if you want to,
(11:11):
if you want to can in the nude, head to Germany,
or if you want to go to dance or France. Yeah,
best nude beach in the world is in France. Or
if i'm the Wisconsin River, be careful, they're on the
lookout for you. They're coming after you. They are on
the lookout. But it seems like in the US, California
is still the hotspot. I mean San Francisco, you can
you can be nude in the streets. There areas where
(11:34):
they'll just have nude day, like in the Castro and stuff.
I won't even go on cruises because I'm such a germophobe,
like because they tell you when you get on the boat, like,
don't touch anything. I'm just so being naked everywhere in public.
I just been like, oh, what can I touch? But
see I read an interview with some some nudists and
they were saying etiquette is definitely you put down a
(11:55):
towel before you sit down anywhere. And there is also
an article in the Slate and Slate asked whether or
not um, you can catch germs like if someone nude
sits down and rubs ther butt on something and then
you sit down, like, could you the chances of you
contracting any germs from that is slim to none. Yeah,
I'll just shake hands and stand. Yeah, but don't take
(12:18):
pictures without absolutely not and stare. Uh. So, nude beaches
that's our summer shorts topic for today. Uh anyone out
there who has been to a nude beach a nudist colony,
I am, I would like to know what it was like. Again,
no pictures for us in there, please and thank you. Um.
(12:38):
And in the meantime, we've got an email here. Yes,
this is an email from Christine. This is about our
Party Politics episode and it is a very interesting message.
She said, I just listened to the PTA episode and
at the end you read a note from a woman
who is ashamed that her boyfriend Piece sitting down, my
(12:59):
husband Piece sitting down, and I couldn't be happier about it.
I will admit that it took me by surprise when
I first figured it out, but it doesn't bother me
at all. He started this habit when we both worked
for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey and lived on
the circus train. He figured out that peeing standing up
while the train was moving could be quite hazardous to
his health. Interestingly, we've been off the show and living
in a stationary house for nearly eleven years and he
(13:21):
still sits down to pe, so obviously he thinks there's
some advantage to it. Anyway. Here are the advantages to me. One,
no toilet seats left up in my house. Therefore I
don't need to worry about accidentally sitting down on the
cold porcelain bowl in the middle of the night. To
no aim accidents, I don't have to clean up p
from the floor when I'm cleaning the bathroom. And three
less splash, I don't have to clean the underside of
(13:44):
the toilet seat as often as a result. So thank
you Christine for the perspective, and thanks everyone else who
has written in mom Stuff at Discovery dot com, and
of course, if you wanna let us know about your
new beach experience, you can also find us on Facebook
and tweet us at mom Stuff podcast. And if you
would like to learn more about protecting your skin from
(14:05):
the sun should you go to one of those new beaches,
you should head on over to how stuff works dot
com for more on this and thousands of other topics.
Is it how stuff works dot com brought to you
by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are
(14:27):
you
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