A nudist Day reader, Lawrence from New York state, submitted this moving account of how he came to be a nudist and how it completely changed his outlook on life [edited]:
“Nudism literally saved my life during an episode of depression. I felt lost, insecure, alone and for some reason. I did not like myself. A man, noticing my sadness and depression, invited me to a private family nudist club. Working for me everyday, he could see the downhill direction I was going. I decided to accept his invitation. It turned out be the most wonderful experience I ever had and the best decision I had ever made. People of all ages…all the way up to a delightful 82 year old couple that had been nudists about all their lives. Everyone was totally clothes free. Happy, smiling, playing, talking, telling stories and I could easily see that everyone was having an absolutely great time and all in the nude. About 3 minutes later I also became nude. They made me feel welcome and a pleasant addition to their nudist family. The experience of the beauty, freedom, and the happy sincere welcome changed my life forever. I’m celebrating 18 years as a nudist and my lifestyle is now happiness.”
Lawrence confirms again what drew many to the lifestyle: Not just the feeling of liberation and discovering a fundamental truth about ourselves, but also the disarming kindness of nudists towards their fellow human beings. In turn, it is we who convey this aura of warmth to others who will take their first step after us.
Share your story through Nudist Day, just as Lawrence did, by writing to us via our story submission form. We also appreciate your opinions about a few key naturist topics by taking a couple of minutes to fill out our survey here.

There was a time when every nudist web site you came across offered the same things: a list of clubs and beaches, tips for newbies, links to other naturist sites, and a photo gallery. With the explosion of web content providers, standing out in the crowd meant finding niches, and this is no less true in the nudist realm.
Thus this site specializes in nudist news, while others have narrowed it down to a single activity done whilst nude. For example: NudeRuns.com lists only upcoming nude foot races. NudistVolleyball.com, on the other hand, is all about nude volleyball, of course! NakedMunros.com is about a Scottish couple’s attempt to climb every munro (a mountain of a certain height) in the nude, regardless of the weather [the link is to an interview we had with them]. Nudehiker.blogspot.com is a blog about nude hiking. MotorcycleNudes.org is for those who like to ride without the leathers.
Then there’s the slew of “naked days”, which call upon the world to do this or that whilst nude on a given date. WGND.com is the site for World Naked Gardening Day. Several other groups use nudity as a form of protest, such as the World Naked Bike Ride, which protests against motor vehicle pollution. Running of the Nudes seeks to put a stop to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, by holding a parallel event where people run sans clothes and sans bulls!
We couldn’t possibly cover the gamut of niches on the nudist web, but with a bit of surfing you’ll turn-up some gems!

Try as we may to let the world know that “nudist” is all about a healthy family-oriented lifestyle, there are scores of misguided, if not unscrupulous, individuals that have indelibly tied the word to “sex”. Recently this author came across an article that spoke of a “nudist” suing such and such, written by a major computer technology blogger. What he really meant to say was “porn star”, but to him “nudist” was synonymous. In the Internet age, this isn’t so surprising.
Try googling the word “nudist” and right in the first page of ten results, already we find 3 sites that are just disguised attempts to peddle racy pictures and videos. The “nudists” portrayed on these sites go from women with legs wide open, through couples having sex on a beach. In that bunch you’ll also encounter a Russian site that sells movies featuring under aged nudist girls engaged in various day to day activities. The creeps who produce this trash use domains containing the word “nudist” and of course use every keyword related to nudism in order to rank highly in search results. Smart people will surely understand that these aren’t real nudists…or will they?
The problem is that a number of people who consider themselves nudists also are other things, and unfortunately don’t separate this and that on their web sites. Thus, one popular blogger suddenly decided to sell sex toys on his site (but later had enough sense to remove it), while a young female’s personal “nudist” site features provocative photos of herself and links to porn sites. On another web site, this one proffering nudist holidays in Portugal, you’ll be treated to scores of sexually charged photos of a past-her-prime British ex-pat, who informs you she’ll strike poses of a similar nature for your camera if you stay at her bed and breakfast. Then there’s the scores of sites that rank other “nudist” sites, most of the candidates being soft or hard core porn venues. Need we mention FemJoy or Donai, profitable photo archives of beautiful young women in mildly erotic poses, which countless “nudist” sites link to and even feature their photos. We shouldn’t forget the “peeping Tom” sites like Coccozella which have thousands of “nudist” photos, the majority of which were shot by perverts stalking nudist beaches. Unbelievably, we’ve found an assortment of other “nudist” sites also linking to the latter.
We could go on for pages with other examples, but most of you already know that anywhere nudism is present, sexual themes aren’t far away. True, everyone is free to express themselves in any way they see fit, and no one is forced to visit these sites, but many nudists themselves are acting irresponsibly in blurring the line between their sex life and their chosen lifestyle. They may like their kinky sex, or their sex kinky, and that’s fine and dandy, but if they also love knitting, must they make a site about knitting while having sex? For that matter, would they go to a nudist club and pull out a vibrator at poolside and give a show? Is the Internet really the “anything goes” medium?
The web is today’s principal source of information about nudism. You can’t expect the uninitiated to discern between good and bad in a social group that is still eons from being mainstream, and if one takes as a whole what is labeled “nudist” on the web right now, one could easily get the wrong idea. The vast majority of nudists separate their sexual life from their nudist life and don’t take too kindly to a few bad apples strutting their stuff out there. Perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to start boycotting these sites…or is a “Nudist Approved” seal system not too far off, since it’s unlikely many of the perpetrators will voluntarily stop labeling their vulgar sites as “nudist”. Only then will the quotes start to come off “nudist”.

While France’s Cap d’Agde, is undoubtedly a nudist Mecca which many of us hope to visit once in our lifetimes, it’s not the only naked city. Spain, a country that has no rival in terms of acceptance of public nudity, has a fast growing nudist enclave in Vera, a town of about 6,500, in Almeria province, or “Costa del Sol” if you will. While not as ample yet as its French counterpart, the naturist section does have its shopping area, plus hotels and residences and of course its renowned beach, and you’re free to amble naked anywhere. Unlike Cap d’Agde, Vera has a long warm season and very little rain. The president of Spain, Luis Zapatero, even has a summer home adjacent to the naturist area, which has no barriers separating it from the textile zone of town, again unlike its French cousin.
Related Sites:

• Site about Vera

At 9 am local time, Saturday August 18, six hundred volunteers posed nude on the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland. The photographer was none other than Spencer Tunick, who this time was orchestrating one of his now famous mass nude installations in the name of environmental awareness. Global environmental activist organization Greenpeace funded the shoot as part of a campaign to raise public awareness as to the devastating effects of global warning, particularly on glaciers which are melting fast in every part of the world.
The bare models, who traveled here from various points of the world, had to bear 50 F (10 C) temperatures at an altitude of about 7,000 ft (2300 m). Special care was taken to protect the UNESCO Human Heritage area from potential environmental damage caused by the participants, of course.