There is something about nudity that in the right context can stir up the most fundamental questions—of identity, home, naturalness and even humanness itself (Barcan 2004a:25) those who have visited nudist camps agree that sexual interests are controlled to a much greater extent than they are on the outside. Strict rules of behavior were enforced in the camps. ◊ Two grounds for expulsion are staring too hard and getting an erection. ◊ Dancing, drinking, touching, and unauthorized photographing were also grounds for expulsion, as was membership in the Communist Party, ◊ Body contact is taboo. Although the degree to which this rule is enforced varies among camps. Nudists mention that one is particularly careful not to brush against anyone or have any body contact, because of the way it might be interpreted My wife and I were dancing clothed, because naturist dances are generally clothed. I took my glasses off so that we could get our cheeks close and we got reprimanded by the Trustees for that. This was 1994! James, 60s ◊ Discussion of sex, politics and religion are always off-limits. ◊ Moreover, since nudism could bring together people of different social classes, it is in bad taste to ask anyone’s profession. ◊ It is ill advised to ask anyone’s last name as well. The Nudist, and later Sunshine and Health, airbrushed the genitalia of men and women from many of its pictures to ensure the magazine would be sold on newsstands and delivered through the United States postal system. There were ideas about nudism that could be articulated publicily and those that could not, at least until the 1970s. Whether or not the anciens of the FFN [Fédération Française de Naturisme] ever wanted to admit in the 1970s and after, sexuality had always been the elephant in the room. NO STARING This rule functions to prevent any overt signs of “overinvolvement.” In nudist clubs, eyes were not to linger on others’ bodies. Le flirt was not accettable, as it undermined the very notion that nudism was less, not more, erotic. Photos are out of question. “I tried not to, and even done away with my sunglasses after someone said, half joking, that I hide behind sunglasses to stare. To- wards the end of the summer I stopped wear- ing sunglasses. And you know what, it was a child who told me this”. EXPOSE FLACCID GENITALS This proves you are not a gawkers. Wear a t-shirt to protect from sunburn but nothing else. looking mainly at the sky Rather than reading the beach as a simple power While reifying dominant conceptions of normal and hierarchy where heterosexual males control this highly natural sexuality by relying on naturist discourse to contested space, I read it as a zone of rearticulation, mask sexual intent, the men also succeed in positioning where bodies and pleasures are inscribed and women in a very traditional female sexual role--one transformed. that is passive and subject to male control and the male gaze. In the complex flow of sexuality discourse on the beach, women and gay men disidentify with “proper” sexed This speaks to part of the sexual discourse built up and gendered norms and rearticulate the grounds on around women’s sexuality, e.g., if a woman is with which their bodies come to matter. a man then she is not sexually viable and therefore not approachable at a nude beach. Like the facade of The naturism discourse describes public nudity as naturist discourse, the men’s actions speak louder than “health, beauty, and purity though nudity and light” words; by not engaging with “attached” women on the (Merrill, 1931:10) whereas the discourse on sexuality beach they are respecting another man’s ownership by describes public nudity as part of a move to sexual keeping a distance. liberation and freedom from repression (Douglas, 1975: 29). ~ ~ Sexuality is therefore a contentious topic for nudists Therefore, in order to complicate the prevailing notion because of the negative connotations and implications of the male gaze offered by feminists, who understand of overtly sexual behaviors, e.g., arrests and the closure it as a kind of surveillance and control over the female of what are commonly referred to as “nudist colonies”. body that acts to construct the female body as passive, I want to demonstrate how the act of gazing on the beach ~ ~ involves a complex and shifting set of power relations. [The] separation of heterosexual and homosexual space What links gay men and women at Willow Beach is not is integral to the understanding of “proper” forms of only their seemingly marginal status in the sexuality public nudity and the construction of proper “nudists”. discourses of the heterosexual men, but also their Swingers and gay men are therefore not considered ability to rearticulate and redraw the boundaries of “proper” naturists because of their “overtly sexual” sexual subjectivity. behaviors. Men at the Mill [gay nudists] are While a hegemonic heteronormative construction of characterized by the straight beachers as having some sexuality plays itself out in the small space at Willow kind of uncontrollable sexuality while their own, in Lake, this construction is continually contested by a contrast, is controlled by naturist discourse and the variety of marginal discourses that have yet to be fully unwillingness and/or unavailability of many women. explored and illuminated. looking manly down earth ~ ~ Found In Naturism To Manage Sexuality: Manage To Naturism In Found Liberal Discourses* Increasingly 1.) a conservative discourse that discourages any link with sexuality based on normative and often heterosexual values; By revealing body in everyday activities in a natural setting, naturism was supposed to diminished “sexual perversion” (which had often meant 2.) a moderating discourse that encourages masturbation and homosexuality as well, as sex with multiple partners, exhibitionism, and voyeurism) control and management of sexual feelings and behaviour; The current culture of social nudity (naturism) would appear from this evidence to discourage sexual feelings or physical arousal and label sexual exploration as sexual deviancy, thereby reinforcing a perception of sexual 3.) a sexological discourse that emphasises exchange as primarily penetrative as Bell and Holliday (2000) suggested. the educative effect on relationships with the opposite sex of seeing naked bodies in naturist environments; 4.) a pro-sexual discourse that acknowledges and celebrates social nudity as an aspect of sexual experience and exploration. In contemporary society the only alternatives to private nudity are the virtual realities of commercial pornography with its emphasis on nudity as always sexual, commercial sexual environments such as swinging clubs which are often based on a prior knowledge of sexual interest and experience, or lap dancing clubs which play on the objectification and sexual exploitation of women and sustain sexism Naturist environments potentially offer a unique space in which people can explore the breadth of their sexual feelings in ways that are frank but non-exploitative. * The modern literature on naturism has identified that the relationship between nudity and sexuality is controlled by particular sexual discourses which are dependent on the social, spatial and cultural context. AmongAmong sex sextourists, tourists, elaborate elaborate rulesrules of ofconduct, conduct, known known only only to tothemselves themselves and and sociologists sociologists studyingstudying them, them, governed governed the the initiationinitiation and and course course of sexualof sexual activity;activity; the themeanings meanings. of. handsof hands signals,signals, of the of thepositioning positioning of legs, of legs, andand of looks of looks were were unique unique to these to these modernmodern libertins libertins But Butit is itdifficult is difficult are not controlledare to notcontrolled realizeto realize by thatthe by behavioralthattheeven behavioraleven Cap d’AdgecodesCap d’Adgecodes and andplages plages libres libres of theof peoplethe people who who dominate dominate them. them. In a In sense, a sense, control control camecame with with demand, demand, as the as verythe very people people who who proclaimed proclaimed libertyliberty also alsodefined defined it in it specific in specific ways waysthat thatdid didnot necnot- nec- essarilyessarily constitute constitute some some universal universal “liberty” “liberty” from from “repres “repres- - sion”sion” or “hypocrisy” or “hypocrisy” so much so much as their as their particular particular formu formu- - lationlation of it. of In it. the In end,the end, it is itdifficult is difficult not tonot see to thesee historythe history of Frenchof French nudism nudism as confirmation as confirmation of ofMichel Michel Focault’s Focault’s as- as- sertionsertion that thatthe twentieththe twentieth century century did didnot notundergo undergo some some simplesimple transformation transformation form form sexual sexual repression repression to sexual to sexual lib- lib- eration.eration. “[w]e must not think that by saying yes to sex, one says no to power; on the contrary, one tracks along the course laid out by the general deployment of sexuality. It is the agency of sex that we must break away from, if we aim--through a tactical reversal of the various mechanisms of sexuality--to counter the grips of power with the claims of bodies, pleasures, and knowledges, in their multiplicity and their possibility of resistance. The rallying point for the “[w]e must not (Foucault 1980: 157) think that by counterattacksaying yes againstto sex, the one deployment says no to power;of sexuality on the contrary,ought not to one be sex-desire, tracks along thebut course bodies andlaid pleasures.” out by the general deployment of sexuality. 45°06’58.7”N45°06’58.7”N 13°36’24.8”E 13°36’24.8”E It is the agency of sex that we must break away from, if we aim--through a tactical reversal of the various mechanisms of sexuality--to counter the grips of power with the claims of bodies, pleasures, and knowledges, in their multiplicity and their possibility of resistance.