Recently we wrote about a nudist movement called Pronudista that protested in the center of Madrid on June 7, same day as the World Naked Bike Ride was on in town. Today we bring you an exclusive interview we conducted in Spanish with Luis Pérez, founder of the group that aims to make public nudity a normal part of daily life in his country’s towns and cities. His answers are thought provoking and you might say a little revolutionary…

ND: How was Pronudista born?

Luis Pérez: For years, members of the (nudist) associations were talking about making a protest in Madrid. In June, 2007, in one of the meetings at FEN (Spanish naturist Federation) Isa (his companion) and I had the idea of actually doing a demonstration in the capital against the discrimination of nudists, even though we’re fully entitled by law to be nude in public. During this same meeting, the proposal for a protest in September was rejected. After a another year of deliberations, Isa and I finally decided to make the event happen for June 7 with or without the support of naturist associations.
This was like the starter pistol going off for what we hope will be an annual call for people to totally enjoy nudism. We didn’t pretend we were going to stage a huge event, we just aimed to have a good time and show that we nudists are tired of hiding and that they keep us penned inside “ghettos”.

ND: Being that public nudity is legal everywhere in Spain, what’s the real purpose of this?

LP: Because people are unaware of the legal status of nudism, we have to inform the police, politicians, and society in general that we’re here and it’s now time to push ahead with our vision of nudity. Even nudists themselves don’t know that they have complete freedom to go (nude) anywhere they wish in the Spanish territory. We want this action to convert itself into the catalyst that will, bit by bit, get people to respect us and make them stop discriminating against us.

ND: What do you hope to achieve in concrete terms and how do you plan to get there?

LP: As more time goes by and as we do more Pronudista events, more nudists will have the courage to go into the street and exercise their rights. As it stands now, we can exercise them anywhere in Spain. If we don’t act now, surely they’ll clip our wings just as they did in the rest of Europe. Furthermore, as more people get to know us, the greater power we’ll have to support and help, through the Pronudista Movement, those people who come out of the closet and wish to be recognized as nudists and enjoy nudism without a worry.

ND: Why did you do the first Pronudista protest on the same day as “The world naked bike ride”?

LP: We had already announced months ahead, and the organizers of the WNBR (Ciclonudista in Spain) decided to make their demonstration at the same time as Pronudista (not the other way around. We suggested they stage their protest in the afternoon, but they chose to overlap ours so as not to lose participants (to ours). The next Pronudista is scheduled for July 13, 2009…Let’s see if they once again make their’s coincide.

ND: Given the legal status, what can local authorities do to impede you?

LP: They just have to ignore the law. As a consequence, we’re forced into denouncing their illegal actions through the courts. They typically justify detentions, as happened to me, with charges of civil disobedience, public disorder and exhibitionism. In the first instance, police officers can’t force you to dress the way they want you to, lest we denounce them for abuse of authority and, if they force you to cover your genitals, they’re playing their morality against your’s, which according to Spain’s constitution all morals are on an equal footing. You can’t override one with the other. If it’s public disorder, it would have to be for disruption of public mobility or for aggression. If you hold a peaceful demonstration, there’s no way they can make such a charge stick.
As for exhibitionism, article 185 of the penal code stipulates that you have to be naked in front of a minor and, let’s emphasize the “and”, be provoking him/her sexually in the process. Being nude is natural and, on its own, can’t be construed as a sexual act. I’ll use the example of the showers at the public pool, where parents and other adults shower naked in the same area as children. Are they exhibitionists and should the minors have their own showers?

ND: Do you really believe there will come a day when it will be commonplace for people to walk nude in Spanish cities?

LP: Of course it will happen. Women now vote and can work, blacks can ride in buses, and gays can express themselves in the street. All of this thanks to the efforts of people, groups and movements who fought for it. For this reason, it’s clear that we nudists have to be out there where they can see us, and know that we have no reason to hide, that we’re not odd creatures. Let people see that it’s absurd to hide parts of the body and to discriminate against them. This is what the Pronudista movement is based upon, and we’ll give nudists the opportunity to be nude wherever they like.