Should there be a nudist beach in Ireland?

5 Comments

  • Dave - 8 years ago

    Recently I cycled naked through Cork city centre with 70 or 80 others as part of Ireland's contribution to the World Naked Bike Ride. The reaction from motorists and pedestrians alike was almost 100 positive. It has been like that every year. People get it. They realise that nudity in a non-sexual context need not impose on anybody. I feel sorry for the people who see it as dirty. What happened to them that they are so repressed? The people I have met through clothes-free events are fantastic to be around. They are happy and seem full of positive life energy.

  • Eamonn - 8 years ago

    I am an Irish naturist. But like all the other Irish naturists I know, I'm a lot more boring than non-naturists might imagine!

    I'm a happily married man with a wife I adore, a couple of kids, an elderly parent to keep an eye on, a house in the suburbs, a couple of cars to run etc. I'm not a cool libertarian or swinger or exhibitionist. I have a responsible job, do some voluntary charity work, enjoy watching the odd football match and am a bit of a foodie ( which shows in the few extra pounds I carry! ). While my family home is a nudity-friendly environment we don't run around nude all the time - there's no fixation with nudity - we just don't do the body-shame thing. Why should we? While family and close friends all know about our relaxed attitudes to nudity, we never impose our opinions so - sorry to disappoint - we don't answer the door naked or swan around naked in front of visitors to our home. Because of my profession and charity work I have to be discreet about my love of naturism - so, out of pragmatism and respect for people whose opinions differ from mine, I don't broadcast the fact that I'm a naturist outside a close circle of family, friends and fellow naturists. There's no reason on earth not to be open and proud of our naturism but I'm not courting controversy. So you can see, naturism and exhibitionism are, in a sense, opposites.

    So why be a naturist? There are as many answers to this question as there are naturists, but there are a couple of reasons that seem common to most naturists. Firstly there's the simple universal fact that it feels great! ( You gotta try it to know just HOW great!) There's a sense of freedom and openness that is impossible to put into words. There's a wonderful feeling of being 'natural'. There's also an immense element of self-acceptance and of respectfulness and acceptance of everybody else around you. When people are naked all status symbols and pretences are dropped. None of us has the perfect body and none of us minds! ( in fact nobody's really looking! ). I'm always struck by the paradox at the heart of naturism in Ireland ; people who want to 'bare all' often have to 'cover up' the fact by exercising extreme discretion and make pragmatic compromises so as not to 'offend' Victorian attitudes that are at best completely obsolete and would be 'Father Ted laughable' if they didn't have serious potential implications for people's lives. Were somebody convicted of 'indecent exposure' they could be added to the sex offenders register and face personal and professional ruin. Outdated attitudes ( and legislative interpretations based on them ) belong to the same body of historic collective opinion that denied women's basic rights such as property rights and a vote, and criminalised homosexuality. They also echo current practices in fundamentalist states where a woman can be stoned for not covering her face in public. Surely it goes without saying that the human body is not shameful, sinful or offensive.

    So many of us Irish naturists who have discovered the simple joy of being naked and free in a non-sexual way find ourselves in fear of being criminalised. Imagine - in a 21st Century European Democracy women can get arrested for taking their top off! But it has happened recently here in Ireland. Were the Gardai at the Knockstockan Music Festival enforcing the law or imposing laughably outdated Victorian prudishness? If the Gardai were right, the logical conclusion must be that every mother who breastfeeds in a public place should be arrested.

    Attempting to criminalise the human body is an illogical, offensive notion that must be clearly rejected for once and for all. It would shock our Victorian predecessors who formulated the ridiculous attitudes to nudity that we've inherited that women can now own property independently of their husbands (!), our LGBT brothers and sisters can marry(!!) and the naked body can be seen constantly on tv, in the pri

  • Matt - 8 years ago

    The question has to be asked - why not. Ireland has made huge strides with regard to social equality for various groups, it seems unbalanced that this social group whose activities are quite innocuous cannot do what they to do in public - in dedicated areas. Its time to smell the coffee and feel the breeze on your skin Ireland. Give these people the same rights of others and let them have a beach for use in each coastal county .

  • Sean - 8 years ago

    Yes, on our family holiday we go au natural, we have two boys 10 & 13, who don't get the fuss, but love the freedom. There is hundreds of closet Naturists in Ireland. We've met Irish people on holidays that wouldn't dare in go naturist in Ireland. Have fun, we love the show.

  • Pat - 8 years ago

    It is up to local authorities in Ireland to come up to date andallow for nude bathing as most other countries in the western world do.Naturists are not second class citizens. I have been on nude beaches in many countries across the EU and it was all very natural with everyone just going about their business albeit it naked.

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