Part 2: Nudism as a Cultural-Political Movement

Wisconsin 2011 Tax Day Tea Party Rally
Credit: WisPolitics.com | Wikimedia Commons

Defining a Cultural-Political Movement

Based on notes from a sociology class lecture, cultural or social movements can be defined as a type of group action focused on bringing about social change. Cultural movements are generally of long duration and attract many participants who share common goals for changing a specific societal construct.

The participants attracted to social movements often disagree on the specific tactics and strategies that should be used to affect the desired changes in a specific structure of society. As an example some may favor achieving change through peaceful demonstration while others advocate violent confrontation.

The means by which participants in a social movement choose for affecting the desired social change whether it be peaceful demonstration or violent confrontation is in part where the political enters into the equation. A purely cultural or social movement takes on the character of a political movement when there is a focus on the political process as an opportunity for social change. The present-day "Tea Party" I think serves as a useful example of a social, political movement.

Types of Cultural or Social Movements

Cultural and social-political movements can be categorized as reform movements or radical movements. Examples of reform movements include:

• American labor union movement
• Environmental movement
• Tea Party movement
  

Examples of radical movements include:

• American Civil Rights movement
• South African Anti-Apartheid movement
• Current Libyan revolt
  

One of the key parts of any social, political movement is what social theorists term the "mobilization process." Identification of an ongoing mobilization process is one good way of identifying a cultural-political movement. During this process movement leadership:

• Attempts to build a power base among sympathetic political and economic elites
• Recruits new participants for the movement from among the members of general society who share similar beliefs
• Actively motivates group participants to action
• Removes barriers to participation to aid the recruitment effort
• Creates a collective identity among participants
  

Once we have defined what a cultural-political is, observed what it looks with the aid of examples, and identified the chief attributes we can easily use simple comparison to determine whether nudism & naturism meet the criteria as a cultural-political movement. Look for Part 3: Nudism as a Cultural-Political Movement on Friday to learn whether nudism fits the category.

Part I: The Demise of Organized Nudism?

Recorded American nudism history acknowledges Kurt Barthel as the founder of the American Nudist Movement. Barthel organized the first dues-paying nudist club, the American League for Physical Culture, forerunner of the present-day American Association for Nude Recreation, and in 1930 the first official nudist club in America was opened near Spring Valley in Rockland County, New York.

Is Organized Nudism on the Decline?

Since its humble beginnings, AANR has expanded to nearly 270 affiliated clubs, campgrounds, bed & breakfasts and resorts. It is difficult to find current organized nudism membership figures, but an AANR press release issued in 2004 claimed that there were “almost” 50,000 AANR members in December 2004.

Recently I read an article published on the web claiming that current AANR membership was on the order of 40,000. Unfortunately, I have not since been able to find the article again and I haven’t been able to verify the figure from any other credible source. If the figure was accurate then it suggests a rather significant decline.

Anecdotal Evidence

Near my home in Texas, there are presently four landed nudist clubs, all located within about a one hour drive for me. Since becoming a nudist I have visited two of the four. Some of my visits were during weekdays and some during weekends. During the weekday visits the clubs had few others in attendance beyond the members who resided there on a permanent basis. Even during the weekends there were not a great number of other nudists present. Only during one weekend visit was there a nudist family with children present and during all visits, men always outnumbered women by a wide margin. The majority of those present during my visits were my age (mid-fifties) or older. While only anecdotal evidence, my personal experiences suggest that at least with respect to the clubs I have visited, there isn’t a great deal of interest in organized social nudity.

The Cost Issue

Part of the problems with landed clubs is things that are just the reality of nudism in general. There is typically always a significant disparity between the number of men and women who participate in social nudity and there tends to be more singles interested in social nudity than couples. Based on the information I have been able to find, the number of nudist families has been steadily declining for a number of years. Yet there are some areas in my opinion that clubs might look at to attract a better following.

The average cost of an annual membership for a single at the two local clubs I am most familiar with is $330 plus tax. While not as expensive as a country club membership, in today’s economy that is a fairly significant sum. Daily grounds fee for AANR members at both facilities average about $25. So to make sense from a purely financial point of view, I would have to make 13 visits to a club to justify the cost of a membership. In addition if I want to overnight, even as a member I would have to pay lodging or camping fees.

On the surface 13 visits doesn’t sound like a lot and if I visited on 6 weekends during the height of the summer season, I would just about break even. But given the number of other things going on in my busy life, realistically I doubt that I would be able to find even 6 weekends during the summer to go to a club and so it is actually more cost effective for me to just pay the daily grounds fees when I can go. $330 only amounts to $27.50 per month, but the weather in the part of Texas I live in does not lend itself to four-season nudism. The best weather for outdoor nudity is late spring to early fall. I just don’t see myself visiting a club for the indoor potlucks and dances during the winter months.

All of the local clubs are individually owned and operated and naturally the owners have to look at profitability. No one can stay in business without turning a profit so for all I know the current membership rates don’t have a lot of flexibility. Yet it seems that clubs might be well served to consider restructuring membership rate policies. For example, establishing a “seasonal” membership plan at a reduced cost for those who would only be visiting during the summer months. Or a plan where people could purchase a fixed number of visits at one time at significant discount over paying the daily grounds fees rates for the same number of visits.

Looking Ahead

There are some additional areas that I think clubs might look to develop a stronger membership base and I will discuss those areas next time, in a Part II.