First
the good! The old stereotyped image of a club is becoming a
thing of the past, most clubs are a lot more than a hut in a
field and in fact offer a decent range of leisure, sports
and social amenities both indoor and out. They also offer
spectacularly good value for money if you make full use of
what's on offer. If you are patient and also prepared to
contribute to the upkeep of a club you'll probably qualify
to be put on a waiting list for a static caravan or chalet
site which will make it easier to be fully involved with the
life of the place. In the mean time most clubs have
reasonable facilities for tents and touring caravans.
The
membership of a typical club is drawn from all sections of
society and the vast majority will genuinely want to be
friendly towards visitors and new members and you should
have no problems meeting people with similar interests to
yourself (beyond naturism of course!). Whilst most clubs
operate a 'clothes optional' policy, all adult members will
be expected to be naked (allowance being made for ladies as
necessary) when conditions, usually weather, permit so if
you feel uncomfortable with the mix of nudes and textiles that you find on many beaches definitely try a club.
Also clubs are 'safe' for both adults and kids and are free
of the voyeurs, sex cruisers and swingers who spoil some beaches. Now
the bad. In the UK the fact is that a substantial majority
of naturists, club or otherwise, are middle aged or older
and unfortunately many clubs do little to encourage younger
people in their ranks. Despite describing themselves as
'family friendly' the plain fact is that if you arrive with
active young children plenty of club members are quite
likely to be regard you as a nuisance.
Worse than this is the attitude often taken towards
teenagers who are 'borderline' in their approach to nudity.
Instead of patient understanding, all to often they are
subjected to disapproving looks and even comments. This is
written not to discourage younger people from joining or
visiting clubs but as a plea to club committees and members
to try harder to attract and retain youth. Grey hair should
not be a prerequisite to joining a naturist club! What
else is bad. Just the usual failings of human nature perhaps
amplified a bit by being in a 'closed' environment. Put a
group of people together for a day with little to do and the
result is bound to be gossip, idle speculation in the
morning has become God's truth by teatime. Put some people
in a position of petty authority and they're soon wearing
jackboots and practising their goose-stepping! Now
the ugly. If you're male and don't have a female partner to
accompany you it's most unlikely that you'll get inside the
gates of a club. If you're offered a place on a waiting list
don't get too excited unless you have the life expectancy of
Methuselah. This
is a complicated problem. It's certainly the case that many
many more men apply for single membership than do women and
clubs genuinely fear that they would be damaged if their
gender balance became heavily biased towards men. It's also
true that a small minority of club members regard
unaccompanied men (or indeed gay male couples) who have an
interest in naturism as perverts or even potential
paedophiles. This attitude is totally unjustified and
grossly unfair and offensive towards a group of people no
less respectable than their critics! As
an ex club Chairman who has had to wrestle with this problem
the writer has great sympathy with those who are denied
access to clubs through no fault of their own but does not
predict any change in the foreseeable future. No doubt there
is an element of false demand built up and if all clubs
opened up their gates to every genuine naturist there would
be a short term surge in male membership which would soon
settle down. However any club which acted independently
would most probably be swamped and could lose a substantial
portion of it's existing membership; this is most unlikely
to happen! If
you've read this far hopefully you'll have found the
comments interesting and maybe useful. As a beach and
holiday naturist for 16 years and a club member for 10 the
writer has no hesitation in recommending that you
investigate one or more clubs. They all have their own
unique characteristics and it's very likely you'll find one
where you feel comfortable. How far you get involved is up
to to you but there's a lot of truth in the the old adage
that the more you put in the more you get out.
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