It may be summer, and you may be wondering "What ARE the norms and practices in Europe about bathing in the buff?" But this topic actually began as writing related, and perhaps for our writers out there it's something you might want to know how to include more accurately. A friend is revising her gay romance novel, and has several chapters with her couple in Greece. Being the good, nerdy writer that she is, she looked on Google maps for the area she had placed them and noticed she had parked them next to a nude beach. This is how our discussion on the topic began, because it appears you really really have to explain to British and American people a concept that they cannot understand, that being nude is not forbidden in many places in the world. At least in many places in Europe. This clash with this idea that one must be prude all the time appears to be so foreign that it does reveal a certain cultural depth to how deeply engrained in these more prudish cultures the shame around nudity is.
The debate became about whether designated "nudist areas" were required. Which in the case of the unsuspecting characters of this novel, might "happen upon" and the less than desirability of "stumbling upon" this kind of thing brought back many experiences for me. I have frequently in the south of France been along the cliffs and found regularly groups of people bathing nude, not, of course, in the main beaches. However, there is no "designated area" required for people to decide to find a quiet spot to discard clothing.
Of course in France, it is also just part of collective consciousness that on the beaches women are topless. I had a shocking experience once enjoying this understanding when I heard some men behind me speaking in French about the women who were topless. Or more specifically I felt perhaps talking about me being topless. Based on the level of discussion, I expected they were teenage boys who had never seen women before. When I got up to go in the water, first I walked in that direction to discard of my gum in a trash bin, and saw a family from Africa with adult men and women wearing head scarves who had their entire bodies covered. I thought "these poor women if that's how the men talk about their bodies, and create this culture of shame that they have to sit here in the middle of summer on the beach in the south of France fully covered in black cloth."
Regarding the question of Greece, I have a German friend who holidays every year on the same island in Greece. There is somewhat of a community it seems from people across Europe who holiday there frequently enough to become closer friends and meet up for their holidays together. He goes to the beaches on that island and baths nude. Someone in our group commented "that takes confidence." Not really. Not when you understand the cultural norms are accepting and no one will balk the way a prudish American might if they see you with no clothes. It would, in fact, just be taken in stride as what people do. I have a literary reference here, because I did have to write a paper on East of Eden by Hemingway once - actually I was given the choice of any Hemingway book, and being rebellious wanted to chose the less expected option. Hemingway understood his characters could go to the beach in Greece and bath without clothes. The organizer mentioned that in nudist colonies, it only takes a few hours for your brain to stop registering this kind of shock by being surrounded by naked people or to register that you yourself are naked. My experience has been more as an athlete, and after several years, there was one day in particular on a training trip I was sitting on a bed talking to a friend in the hotel room, not even realizing that I had no clothes on.
I also felt compelled to discuss very nonchalant experiences in Germany. Being on a canal outside of the city in the summer, if you look up, the expectation should be just to see older, usually, naked Germans, frolicking in the summer sun. While FKK is part of the culture, and this does seem like an opportunity to include the cultural misunderstandings about it, it is not required for there to be an FKK designated area for people to be outside without clothes. It would never be in the city, of course, but there are not these restrictions about when and where clothes can be taken off if you are outside enjoying the country or beach, which everyone seems to think are required in certain more prudish cultures and societies.
Let me take a moment here to include a pet peeve, or an example of a pet peeve, about how German FKK attitudes or philosophies are represented by the English speaking protestant cultures. I am a big proponent of Germany being uncolonised by the U.S., in general. At least in US religious thought bubbles, if not UK - though frequently they share some similar DNA - FKK is this product in the east of Germany as this godless communist ideology. While in fact, FKK existed all over conservative protestant Germany long before any division of the country was made or any section was colonised by Russia in contrast to the section colonised by the U.S. It was not unique to Germany to think that when one was outside, it was beneficial to ones health to expose your entire body to the sun and air. Swiss philosopher from 1850 was a predecessor to the German FKK originator Diefenbach.
If you need a historical example of what Germany was like religiously prior to World War I, I can recommend the film the White Ribbon. So a contrast or context can be drawn between such a rigid religious culture and the belief that being naked outside was good for your health. The reality is that in the east of Germany which was NOT colonised by the US is the only place where the natural German philosophies and practices are seen to persist. However, the American religious narrative is that Communism told Germans not to believe in God and told them that being naked was acceptable, which is actually only something godless people would do.
If writers are going to include cultural awareness and accuracy, I will repeat myself yet again, that recognising the cultural bias that is being projected onto other people and cultures is incredibly important. Happy nudity writing everyone.
Opmerkingen