Weighing in on the San Onofre Beach Issue

N Magazine published Part 1 of a comprehensive feature article on the battle for continuing clothing-optional access to San Onofre State Beach in the Spring 2010 issue. Coincidentally I happened to sign on to the forums at the AANR website last evening and learned that quite a few nudists are extremely upset that AANR did not in their opinions do enough in helping The Naturist Society in the battle to preserve the rights of nudists to continue using San Onofre as a clothing-optional beach. I for one am not in the camp of those ready to take AANR to task over the issue, in spite of the fact I think I can understand and sympathize with the frustrations that other nudists feel about this particular issue. Yes, it may be true that AANR did not do much in the way of saving San Onofre and certainly they did not partner with NAC in the legal battle. But I think for several reasons, anyone who had the expectation that they would doesn't really understand the history of AANR.

AANR is the Conservative Nudist Organization

The fact is, AANR has pretty much always been and in my estimation will continue to be a very conservative nudist organization. It is not an activist organization in any way, shape or form. The strategy of the organization is primarily to work within the framework of public relations to cast nudism in the most favorable and non-confrontational light possible. The leadership believes that this approach is the best approach to gaining the favor of non-nudists and eventually gaining wider acceptance of nudist culture within the broader culture. Confrontation is simply not the style of the organization and I am sure is seen by the leadership as counter-productive to their strategy.

Rank and file nudists have frequently disagreed with the AANR approach which some have even gone so far as to label appeasement. Many nudists believe that AANR cares about nothing but the member clubs and sits idly by without lifting a finger when nudist rights are threatened on any other front. Actually that is to a great degree the truth and it really should not come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, disagreement with the way AANR does business is the very reason that The Naturist Society came into existence.

TNS is the Activist Organization

TNS through its political adjunct, the Naturist Action Committee has always been the nudist activist organization. Proactive and confrontational when necessary, NAC is the organization that sees its mission as advancing and protecting the rights of nudists to access and use public lands for responsible nude recreation. Personally I think NAC did an otstanding job trying to save San Onofre despite the fact that in the end the efforts failed. If you read the article in N Magazine I think you will readily understand that the refusal of AANR to join the legal action was a non-issue.

The loss of clothing-optional access to San Onofre State Beach, at least superificially, is simply attributable to two things. Currently the California Department of Parks and Recreation is headed by a director, Ruth Coleman, who is nothing more than a figurehead. She permits DPR to be run by her underlings and she has no real input into the policies of DPR beyond rubber-stamping the decisions made by those beneath her.

The N Magazine article clearly revealed that Ms. Coleman's minions intercept written communications intended for her, withhold information and largely insulate her from any policy making decisions. Others within the department decided that the long-standing Cahill policy would be ignored and that clothing-optional access to San Onofre would no longer be permitted. As long as Californians, especially California nudists suffer an ineffective political appointee to "run" DPR who is obviously either unable or unwilling to lead the department, the future prospect of any clothing-optional beach access in the entire state is in serious doubt.

The Real Reason Behind the San Onofre Debacle

Instead of laying the blame at the feet of national nudist organizations, nudists in this country need to wake up to the fact that the responsibility for advancing and protecting the rights of nudists to access public lands lies not with the national organizations but with individual nudists. I find it alarming and more than a little disturbing that nudists seem content to sit back and expect the national organizations to fight the battles and then simply hand over the victories while the average nudist does little or nothing. I have a few questions for the nudists who are so critical of AANR is the San Onofre issue, especially those who live in California.

• How many letters have you written to governor giving your opinion about the lack of leadership in DPR?


• How many letters have you sent or phone calls have you placed to your local government representatives to convey the truth about nudism/naturism and how important you feel it is that our culture be permitted equal access to public lands?


• How many personal visits have you made to the offices of your elected government officials where you have stated politely but firmly that you will not support or vote for representatives who show themselves to be unfriendly towards naturist issues?


• How much have you contributed to organizations like NAC and the Body Freedom Collaborative?


• Are you a dues paying member of AANR or TNS?

The truth is, nudists are an invisible subculture in this country to large extent. So much so that it is actually a miracle that we have any access to public lands and what little we have is due to the generous past contributions of those like the founders of the Free Beach Movement. We can continue to sit on our collective duffs and indulge in the fantasy that the national nudist organizations are going to do all the work and then we can watch our freedoms being eroded and taken away until the legacies of people like Lee Baxandall are nothing more than footnotes in nudist history.

The withdrawal of clothing-optional access to San Onofre need not stand. If it is a battle important enough to nudists to win, then they can take back the beach. The image above is that taken April 6, 1997, of the demonstration by Australians to secure clothing-optional access to Belongil Beach, Australia. The same tactics that work in Australia will work here. Instead of relying on backroom, handshake deals too easily broken, like the Cahill policy to secure our freedoms, nudists need to organize, demonstrate and become a noticeable thorn in the side of backward thinking politicians and political bureaucrats until we get what we deserve. A failure to do that in essence means we really deserve nothing more than what we got with the San Onfre decision.

In conclusion, look at the past histories of minority cultures in our nation. None of them were ever given anything. Those that were successful decided what they wanted, chose their priorities and their battles and they got involved. No longer content to be pushed aside by the government or society, they suffered indignities, lost jobs, made sacrifices and faced the threats of fines and arrest. In the end however, they got what they wanted, that which was rightfully theirs. Until nudists and naturists are willing to accept personal responsibility for their own destinies, San Onfre will be the rule and not the exception. If that is not a priority for us then we might as well get used to being cloistered behind the protective walls of AANR resorts until those too are taken away. San Onfre will either be a wake up call, or it may very well be the death knell of naturists rights.

The Relevancy of National Nudist Organizations

North America is served by two naturist or nudist organizations; the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) and The Naturist Society (TNS). While it seems that many nudists and naturists have a rather apathetic attitude towards membership in those organizations, I make no apology for the fact that I am a staunch supporter and member of both. In fact I at every opportunity encourage others to join one or both organizations. While I allow that it isn’t likely necessary to be a member of both, I choose to be because I think there are some differences between the two organizations that cause membership in both to have value for me and others who enjoy social nudity. Another thing is that both offer excellent periodicals and I wouldn’t want to forgo receiving either of them. AANR publishes a monthly newspaper, The Bulletin and TNS publishes quarterly, a full color magazine, Nude & Natural, often simply referred to by naturists as N.

What do these organizations do besides collect dues from their members? In a nutshell, AANR is primarily responsible for the oversight of nudist clubs and resorts. They have core values such as associated organizations must provide an environment that is family friendly and free of any sexual atmosphere. They promote positive body acceptance. AANR also by committee does become involved in issues where governments or other entities attempt to infringe on the rights of people to engage in responsible social nudity.

You could say that AANR is the “nudist” organization and is most concerned about the more urban practice of social nudity. TNS on the other hand, has the more naturist type philosophy and is primarily concerned with the preservation and expansion of the rights of naturists to responsibly utilize public beaches and other public lands for nude recreational purposes. I think it fair to say that TNS is the “green” organization as they promote responsibility in interaction with nature and the environment. TNS is also active in protecting nudists and naturists from those unfriendly to social nudity. They have a legal adjunct called the Naturist Action Committee which regularly intercedes when federal, state or local governments raise issues designed to restrict the use of public lands by naturists.

Recently I submitted an article to the editors of Nude & Natural for their consideration. In part that article encourages all naturists and nudists to unite under the umbrella of a national coalition by becoming active and participating members of AANR, TNS or both. In the article I drew a comparison between naturists and nudists and gun activists, citing the effectiveness of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in shaping legislation that affects a citizen’s rights to own firearms. I see some compelling similarities in mission between the NRA and the national nudist organizations. While it is the mission of the NRA to protect and preserve what they view as the rights granted under the Second Amendment, both AANR and TNS seek to protect and preserve nudist rights from a First Amendment issues perspective.

While I’m not going to give away the whole of my proposed Nude & Natural article since that wouldn’t be fair to TNS until they make a decision about whether they will publish the article, I would just like to expound a bit more on the idea of how naturists could benefit from following a model similar to that of the NRA. The NRA is consistently rated by members of Congress as the most powerful lobbying organization in the country. NRA members are noted for registering to vote, showing up at the polls, calling their congressmen and holding their representatives accountable for the kind of legislation they introduce or support. NRA members support their organization through dues, donations and active participation in volunteer activities and recruitment. In 2004, the annual revenues of the NRA were about $240 million. Yet no matter how large NRA becomes (estimated now to have more than 4 million members), they remain true to their heritage as a grassroots organization that very effectively serves the interests of their membership.

The biggest successes I find in the NRA model are there ability to grow and retain their membership base through active and aggressive recruitment and their ability to attract additional revenues in the form of donations, allowing them to finance court challenges when necessary and support the bills and politicians that they believe are most aligned with their member’s interests. Big money and a large membership of individuals standing together, ready and willing to engage in the political process are the secrets of the NRA’s success.

In comparison, the two largest nudist organizations combined have an estimated dues paying membership of less than 100,000. While I have no figures on their annual revenues, certainly it would pale in comparison to the NRA simply by virtue of the huge difference in numbers of members. This is not to say that there are only 100,000 or so naturists in North America, as I am certain the number would easily surpass a million or more, yet that doesn’t count for much when they haven’t banded together to present a united front. 4 million members and about $240 million in annual revenues get people’s attention on Capitol Hill and in the various statehouses. That to me is a lesson that naturists must not only learn but emulate if we are ever to win the battle for respect and legitimacy that we have been fighting for since 1929. Since that time it seems we have vacillated between trying to “fly beneath the radar” and escape the notice of non-nudists or else we have been engaged in a war for the hearts and minds of clothed society through diplomacy. Neither of those strategies has brought us much success. My personal belief is that we are never going to enjoy becoming a part of mainstream society and gain at least tolerance from non-nudists until we become, to borrow a phrase from Al Gore, an “inconvenient truth” that the political forces in this country are forced to reckon with. Individual naturists need to look deep inside and find the will to become participating parts of a vital and effective united group and our nudist organizations need to discard the old ideas that haven’t worked and look to new and innovative ways to attract broad support from those who embrace naturist principles. If we could learn to shape public policy and legislation in the manner the NRA does so effectively, I think we would then be light years ahead of where we are now.

Much of the hostility and depreciative attitudes we get from a large segment of society is because we are viewed as being a fringe group of questionable morals, character and I suppose intelligence. Those kinds of opinions must be dispelled along with all the ridiculous misconceptions that many people harbor about who nudists are and what we are about. Our culture, our philosophies and our practices are good and noble and demand the same respect as those of any other alternative lifestyle. Gaining that respect is an achievable goal if only we will take a united stand. Instead of being perceived as a group of weirdoes who are always fighting city hall, let’s plug into the system and learn to use it effectively to achieve our purposes and secure the rights that are due us. As Confucius reportedly stated, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” We may be facing a proverbial thousand mile journey but we can and should start taking those steps now. If the “almost” 100,000 members of the AANR and TNS would individually commit themselves to convincing just one other confirmed nudist they know over the next 12 months of the importance of membership and help to encourage them to join, one year from now the memberships of those organizations would be double their present size. Yes, 200,000 is still a far cry from 4 million but it’s a start, a first step on that thousand mile journey; a step towards the expansion of rights and access; a step towards respectability and viability of our lifestyle, beliefs and practices.

Democracy in Action

The Naturist Action Committee is the non-profit political adjunct to The Naturist Society (TNS). NAC's nine volunteer board members are elected democratically from and by the membership of TNS. NAC is a grass roots organization that relies on the involvement and participation of individual naturists and groups at local levels. NAC exists to advance and protect the rights and interests of naturists throughout North America. NAC supports the responsible recreational nude use of public lands.

From time to time NAC issues Action Alerts which provides Naturists with timely information on political and legal issues of consequence to North American Naturists. Sometimes that information simply provides a background and a context for an important issue. Sometimes it is a call for individual Naturists to take action in true grass roots fashion. As an example, on March 27, 2009, NAC issued an Action Alert pertaining to a bill introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives, designated as H. 154. This proposed legislation would if enacted into law, prohibit and criminalize skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing on all public lands within the borders of the State of Vermont. If interested you may read here the entire text of the H 154 Action Alert.

While not a citizen of Vermont, as someone who might consider visiting there at some point and contributing to the tourism industry revenues of Vermont, this bill could affect me if passed. Also, as an American citizen I find the unwarranted repression of personal liberties in our democratic society reprehensible when such repression is based solely on pandering to the opinions and demands of an uniformed minority who simply cannot distinguish the difference between simple nudity and sexual activity. It would seem that most people consider skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing to be rather benign activities since during an independent poll conducted by the Roper Group in 2006, showed that 75 percent of Americans believed people should be allowed to nude sunbathe without interference as long as it was done responsibly and in an appropriate setting (i.e. areas designated for the activity). So in response to the action alert, I wrote the following letter to the elected officials whose addresses were furnished in the document…

To the Honorable Representatives of the State of Vermont

Greetings:

It has come to my attention that a bill has been introduced in the Vermont Hose of Representatives, Prohibiting Public Nudity on Public Lands, designated as H. 154 which proposes to prohibit and criminalize nude sunbathing and skinny-dipping within public lands located in the State of Vermont.

Frankly, I am astounded that the State of Vermont, known for valuing the personal freedom of its residents and visitors would be considering the enactment of such a bill designed to restrict the personal liberties of every individual and prohibit such benign activities as skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing. Given the challenges of the current economic times, it would seem the legislature has more pressing issues to address. Undoubtedly a law of this type would negatively impact on Vermont’s tourism industry, an industry that I expect brings in a good deal of revenue to the state.

May I respectfully bring to your attention that a public opinion poll conducted by the independent Roper polling organization showed that 74 percent of Americans believe that people who enjoy nude sunbathing should be able to do so without interference as long as they do so at a beach that is set aside and has signage properly installed advising those who might be offended by nudity that the beach has been designated for that purpose.

I respectfully call upon the Honorable Representatives of the State of Vermont to vote against H. 154. There should always be compelling reason to restrict the personal liberties of citizens within a democratic society. Passage of legislation aimed at prohibiting benign and harmless activities and conduct at the behest of a misinformed, intolerant minority does not meet that definition. I think the current laws on the books of Vermont are more than sufficient to regulate public nudity and "lewd" conduct to protect the sensibilities of the ultra conservative minority within Vermont who find it impossible to distinguish between simple nudity and sexual activity.

Respectfully yours,


It is difficult to know whether writing the letter will influence anyone in the Vermont House of Representatives but certainly doing nothing wouldn’t accomplish anything. I can only hope that many North American Naturists will do as I did as certainly correspondence from many will have a better chance of being effective than the correspondence of only a few.

A First Social Nudity Outing

All of the clubs and resorts associated with such organizations at the American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR) aim to provide a stress free, relaxed experience for first time visitors. AANR affiliated clubs and resorts are the perfect choice for those who have developed an interest in nudity and feel ready to move beyond simple home nudity to a first social nudity experience.

You can easily locate a club or resort near your home by referencing the helpful AANR Club Listings web page. You will find a map on the page and you simply click on your own or a nearby state and you will then be taken to a list of AANR clubs and resorts for that specific area.

One important thing to know and understand is that there are two types of nudist clubs. The first is a “landed club”. A landed club, often referred to as a resort has its own grounds and facilities. Landed clubs range from the very posh and luxurious to those that are more related to nature and rustic. Landed clubs are my recommendation for a first visit and first social nudity experience. It is not necessary to be a member of a nudist organization like AANR or The Naturist Society (TNS) before visiting a nudist resort but members of these organizations do receive discounts on fees and often on lodging as well.

Most clubs and resorts have web sites and you will find links to those on the club listing pages. Check out the web sites of those that are of interest to do a little preliminary research to find out general information about the club and the atmosphere you can expect if you choose to visit. It is always best to plan a head and to understand the type of club you will be attending and to familiarize yourself with their rules and regulations.

Most if not all require that you call ahead of time and make a reservation so that they will be expecting you. This is a good time to ask any questions that you may have and to put yourself at ease over anything you might feel uncomfortable about. Be sure to let the club representative know that this will be your first visit to a nudist club. The representative will then do his/her best to make sure you understand all you need to know about their club.

Here are a few suggested questions to ask:

• What are the club’s admissions policies?
• What are the fees involved?
• What recreational facilities does the club offer?
• If you are planning on more than just a day visit, you will want to ask them what type of accommodations they have to offer if any. Some offer standard motel rooms and nearly all have camping facilities to accommodate both RVs and tents.
• Ask if there is an adjustment period before first timers are expected to take off their clothing. AANR affiliated clubs are very sensitive to the fact that a first time visitor is going to feel a bit nervous and uneasy at the prospect and generally will allow you to remain clothed while you are given a tour of the grounds and make up your mind about staying. There are “clothing optional” and “clothes free” resorts so make sure you understand the policy of the specific club or resort that you select. Clothing optional clubs allow and encourage nudity but full nudity is not required except when using pools or hot tubs. Clothes free resorts on the other hand have a clothes when necessary (inclement weather) but nude when possible policy. Some clubs have different rules based on gender, appreciating the fact that women are sometimes more ill at ease when visiting a nudist club for the first time than men. So women may be allowed “clothing optional” while men are expected to be nude. Still, it is pretty much a common rule with all that full nudity is required for those who wish to use the pools or hot tub.
• If you intend to take pets for an overnight stay, make sure to inquire about pet policies. Many nudist clubs are very family oriented and pet friendly and do allow pets but expect that you will have them on leash when in the common areas.

There are a few things you will want to make sure that you take along for your first visit;

• Photo identification.
• A couple of towels as nudist rules of etiquette require that a towel be used for sitting on any furnishings for personal hygiene reasons. It is nice to have a second towel to use after swimming or showering.
• Sun block to prevent sunburn on areas where you normally don’t get sun.
• Camping equipment if you will staying overnight and are not renting a room.

Every club or resort has its own rules but here are some rather common ones that you might encounter;

• Sitting on towels is a common courtesy and expected.
• Always ask permission before taking photographs if cameras are allowed.
• Use of vulgar language or any other unseemly behavior is prohibited.
• Parents must supervise their children at all times.
• Body acceptance is the theme at nudist clubs and resorts and everyone is encouraged to be nude most of the time but it is not mandatory at all places.
• No overt sexual activity is permitted. No sexual propositions of any kind allowed. Basically, any behavior that might cause others to feel uncomfortable is forbidden.
• Piercing jewelry below the waist is usually not permitted.
• Overuse of alcohol and any use of illegal drugs is not tolerated.
• Politeness and respect for the property of others is expected.

As far as costs go, most resorts charge a “day rate fee” and there are additional charges for lodging or camping. Many offer special rates and discounts to first time visitors so be sure to ask about them. Day rate fees vary but tend to range from $ 20 - $30 per day.