“Never, never in my life will I be naked in public,” a blogger, Ekaterina Petrovna, once told herself. “I come from a family where modesty is a virtue. I was shocked when I moved to the Netherlands and found an open approach to public nudity. I once saw a naked man in Amsterdam, riding his bike to work. I felt outraged and insulted.”

Sociologists believe public nudity is being frowned upon for issues of modesty, pornography, and religious as well as cultural tradition. Because nakedness is used as a form of torture or corporal punishment to impose humiliation, nudity has become embarrassing in some countries, explains anthropologist George Ryley Scott. Ekaterina agrees. “Some regard public nudity as exhibitionism. Others say that nudity sets a bad example for the children. In most states of the US, for a woman to be topless can result in a fine,” she says.

Despite this, everything has changed for Ekaterina. It all started when she first stepped into the world of the nude.

A nude awakening

“I became a nudist. My current boyfriend happens to be a nudist and on our first holiday he introduced me to the joy of being naked on the beach. And I rather liked it,” confesses Ekaterina. According to her, being naked gives you the feeling of being free and in union with nature. “And it is rather natural, considering that humans only started to wear clothes 72,000 years ago. For more than half of our existence we have been nudists,” she points out.

Ekaterina is now a part of the movement called Naturism, a cultural and political group advocating, practicing, and defending nudity in public. According to the International Naturist Federation, naturists like them seek to create a social environment where people can feel comfortable being in the company of nude people. To promote their cause, naturists stage nude events around the globe. Such events are usually tied to sports, such as nude hiking and “canuding” (nude canoeing), in the tradition of the Spartans who went to war and to festivals naked. Among these international events are World Strip Poker Championships that began in Ireland; Nude Olympics that is held in different locations such as Arizona and Australia; and World Naked Bike Ride, which is annually staged in various cities—from Amsterdam to Lima.

Other local nude celebrations include Spain’s Running of the Nudes, Italian Body Painting Festival, Seattle’s Solstice Cyclists and South Africa’s Sexpo. San Francisco gathers the most number of nude festivals such as the Breakers Hiking Fest, Nude Skating and Rollerblading Festival.

Clothing optional

All-year-round, naturists like Ekaterina have many places to turn to whenever they feel the need to be in their “birthday suit.” Nude camps exist in San Francisco, Bohemian communities like Soho in London and Taban in Budapest, and a profusion of public nude baths and resorts peppered across the globe. According to several sources, the trend in Europe is to allow both sexes to bathe in communal saunas, hot springs, and swimming pools. Even Hollywood celebrities do not mind sunbathing in their full glory in Plage de Tahiti in France and in Paradise Beach, Mykonos, Greece.

In Norway and Denmark, most beaches are “clothing optional.” In America, Europe and Australia, some beaches are classified as “topless only.” While there are beaches that do not allow children, some even encourage it, like Spain’s Playa d’en Bossa, where whole families can be seen swimming in their full naked glory.

Au naturel etiquette

Nudists reiterate that most people who visit these beaches come here to avoid tan lines or the discomfort of swimming with clothes, not to engage in sexual activity. Staring at naked people, public affection, sexually explicit language and material, photography, drugs and alcohol are also a complete no-no. Failure to heed to such etiquette would mean expulsion from the premises, if not imprisonment.

Additionally, Ekatrina advises bringing your own towel, keeping your swimsuit handy, shaving those “peek-a-boo” areas, and covering your “banner” with sand in case of an erection. Ekatrina believes that nude beaches are for people of all shapes and sizes, not only for those with Kate Moss or Brad Pitt physiques. “My nudist experience helped me to realize that human body is beautiful as it is,” she says. Perhaps, it is time to face the “naked” truth.