Nudism and The Single Man.

By Liz Egger     In which I reflect on the dilemma of the Single Man in the nudist movement. ( March 2004)

Can you guess what the single most popular subject is of all the correspondence we receive here at The Nude Café? 
Nudist holidays? Nope.
Nudist contacts? Not even close.
Accidental erections? Warmer, but still way off mark.
No my friends, it seems the subject causing the most concern to our readers is The Dilemma Of The Single Male.
Every week we get letters and e-mails galore from single gentlemen who feel that they are being discriminated against, or excluded from many nudist activities, especially within the UK. It is a situation that understandably infuriates those who find it difficult to gain admission to clubs or other nudist groups, but on the other hand the concerns of those who support such a seemingly unfair policy can be understood.
It's such an emotive subject for many of our readers that we've decided to explore the issue ourselves. By examining the problem from both sides of the divide we may find some common-ground in between. We don't pretend to have the solution, but understanding the problem must be a step in the right direction.
The source of the difficulty is this.
At any naturist gathering or event there will invariably be more - sometimes substantially more - men than women, unless a balance policy has been adopted. At clothing optional beaches there are usually several times as many men as women, and the imbalance is even greater in online discussion or web-cam groups for nudism and naturism. This is borne out by our own experience here at Skinny Dipping, where nearly two-thirds of our subscribers are single men. 
Only at those clubs or groups that operate some sort of "quota" system will there be anything approaching a balance between the sexes.
Nudist organisations will, for legal and PR reasons, rarely refuse to accept membership applications from single males. In practice, however they may enforce a quota system limiting the numbers of single-male members at any one time. New applicants are placed on a waiting list until one of the existing single-male members drops out (or dies!), at which point the next on the list is invited to join.
It is this "quota" or "waiting list" system that causes so much resentment amongst single- males. They point out that they are the only group of people who are treated like this. Male / female couples and families and single-females are rarely refused immediate membership, unless they fail to meet the joining criteria in some other way, and they contend with some justification that they are unfairly - and possibly illegally - discriminated against.
They have a valid point. However, the unpleasant truth is that without some sort of artificial restriction the resulting gender imbalance would threaten the very existence of many clubs and groups.
This is not being alarmist. We have seen it happen more than once.
Which is why nudist organisations impose those quota systems that so enrage single men. 

The Root Of The Problem

The root of the problem would seem to be that far more men than women are drawn towards nudism. Why is this? Is it even true? If we can understand this, we may be getting somewhere.
The most widely quoted theory is that males are more comfortable with communal nudity because of the traditional male route through school, college, sports-club and the military, where shared shower and locker rooms are the norm. It's a plausible enough explanation but we just don't buy it. Many ladies now tread a similar path.
The next most popular hypothesis is that single men are drawn to naturism because of the unique voyeuristic and exhibitionistic opportunities on offer. The reasoning is that males are genetically more disposed to admire the female body than vice versa. The single-male may have less of an opportunity to do this than someone with a partner. Nudism, with its unrivalled opportunities to get a free look at real-life naked ladies, is therefore singularly attractive to the single-male. 
Whilst there maybe an element of truth in this ... (Oh Oh! We can hear you reaching for your pens and keyboards even as we write!) ... the small numbers of men who may join for this reason can't account for the massive gender imbalance.

Our View .

We don't think that the gender imbalance is caused by a male pre-disposition to nudism. In fact, we don't accept that most gentlemen are, by nature, any more disposed than women to naturism. Such research as exists indicates that when unencumbered by other pressures, women are as ready to embrace naturism as their male counterparts. 
The real problem is that in the "civilised" world the whole weight of social convention actively discourages ladies from dabbling with nudism.
Traditional wisdom has it that public nudity is improper, lewd and indecent - especially for women. Therefore any lady who willingly flaunts herself in this way must be immoral. Although intelligent people can see that this is absolute twaddle, these are deeply rooted beliefs, and are not easily overturned by rational thought. Furthermore, a lady attracted by the idea of naturism may have to confront her own conditioning that nudity - especially female nudity - is immoral, and for many this is the greatest challenge.
Ladies may also have a greater problem with their body image, and have concerns about sexual harassment, exhibitionism and personal safety. And if this wasn't enough, they may worry about coping with the physical effects of their monthly cycle or pregnancy in a nudist environment.
All of these fears offer a huge disincentive to ladies tempted to try the nudist life, and although they are to a large extent unfounded they are, in our opinion, the underlying reason for the gender split. 
To sum up then, it's our view that :
The gender imbalance is a serious problem, and both sides have very real and valid concerns.
The imbalance is more a result of social pressures which lead females away from the practice of public nudity, rather than a male tendency towards it.
The "quota" system used by many organisations discriminates against the single man and is possibly illegal in some countries. However, without it, many naturist groups and gatherings would simply die.
A minority of males ( and possibly females too), seek to join the nudist movement for its voyeuristic and exhibitionistic opportunities. Whilst they are too few to affect the male / female balance in purely numerical terms, their activities may reinforce the deep suspicion in which nudism is held by many females as a result of cultural conditioning.
The single-male is still left feeling excluded from many aspects of naturism
So, what is to be done?

Some suggestions.

As we said earlier, we don't have the answers. But now that we have a clearer idea of the problem as we see it, we can begin to put together some suggestions. We'll be setting these out in a later article, but in the meantime we'd like your feedback on this subject. Use the comments link at the top of this article to post your thoughts and ideas and read what others have written. 
Who knows; together we might find a solution!
'Til next time
Liz   

Related links
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