Nudism, in the modern, Western, sense seems to have started in Germany (NSFW) back around the turn of the century, and despite the efforts of the Nazis to eradicate the practice Free Body Culture (FKK), as the Germans call it, enjoyed great popularity in East Germany, the Communists thought it expressed solidarity, and everyone else thought it reflected West German freedoms they were being denied. After the reunification it turns out the West Germans aren't so hot on FKK after all... In Germany opponents say nudism is disorderly, in the USA they say its child porn in disguise (SFW) Laws in the USA vary widely. In Arkansas its not only illegal to be nude, but its also illegal to talk about nudism, while in New York its legal for women to be topless, as long as they aren't being paid for it. As usual the gods send mixed messages.
posted by sotonohito on Oct 25, 2007 - 37 comments

Naked as a Jaybird is a new book from Taschen chronicling the 8-year lifespan of Jaybird magazine, which rode the hippy wave into a new "groovy nudism." Published under various titles, from Campus Jaybird to Amateur Jaybird and even Women's Home Jaybird, the magazine found a gray area between naturism and porn, all the while embodying the same distinctively playful design aesthetic that typified the counterculture (think album cover art and Laugh-In). Here's an interview with Dian Hanson, editor of the Taschen retrospective and an interesting person in her own right.
(Obviously, many of these links are not safe for work.)
posted by me3dia on Mar 11, 2003 - 4 comments

Is this naturism, photography or soft-core child pornography? If you search for photographers like Sally Mann or Jock Sturges you'll come across this entirely legitimate purveyor of naturist books and videos. In the Fifties and Sixties nudist magazines, like Health and Efficiency, were an excuse for looking at naked bodies. Now that porn is legal, have nudist publications made a comeback as an excuse for looking at photographs of naked children? Their website is itself well concealed - the front page looks innocent enough but, the further you click into it, the more unsettling it becomes. Or are we all becoming to paranoid for our own good? (I'd say NSFW)
posted by Carlos Quevedo on Nov 9, 2002 - 110 comments

Decline in Nudists Threatens Tourist Attraction. Listen people, when you don't go nude, you're letting the terrorists win.
posted by kingmissile on Jul 29, 2002 - 11 comments

PIRELLI Calendar 2002: Beyond Nudity They blew it, flushed 30 years of tradition down the drain, destroyed a 20th century's socio-cultural phenomenon. Slow and erratic loading, but see all the Pirelli Calendars from 1964 to 2001. Is "...total nudity no longer fashionable..." or is this the real reason : "Bush niece is Pirelli Cover Girl." ?
posted by Voyageman on Nov 9, 2001 - 14 comments

This headline hasn't exactly gone *bad*... but it's starting to smell a little. [actually, I thought it was hilarious, though I couldn't quite tell you why.]
posted by baylink on Aug 21, 2000 - 5 comments

One last one before I run out to dinner (sorry for running off at the keyboard this afternoon, folks...)

The Supreme Court had to rule on this? That scares me a *lot*.
posted by baylink on Jun 21, 2000 - 2 comments