I am reminded of the doctor who got hate treatment for being a Paediatric and people thinking it meant he molested children. 

We have to work at defining naturism clearly for a world to understand and promoting it as family friendly has to be part of that. 

Just as surely as people will be confused by events like EveryBody that could easily be seen as an opportunity for swinging unless you really research it - but even then you have to be there to be sure - and does the average person want to take that risk? One evening at NKD last year there was a drunken gay man around the campfire who kept going on about how all the other single gay men at NKD thought they could come to his tent and have sex with him. He bemoaned the idea that just because he is a gay naturist doesn't mean he wants to sleep around with strangers and he stated for most the idea goes hand in hand. OK he was out of his head and at worst hopefully hugely exaggerating but it does make you wonder if there is a grain of truth of his ranting at NKD which is the main family event in the UK calendar what would happen at an 18-30 party after lots of drink and dancing - I really think that it plays into the hands of the protestors when we create events that actually state no children allowed. It defines naturism as an adult orientated life choice and surely it is not hard to then imagine no children should be involved. 

Too often I have heard people say - "I have nothing against naturism but it is not right for children" but to me I would say "If it isn't right for children then why would you have nothing against it?" Why should adult only nudity be considered as more suitable than family friendly nudity?

I would just like to consider one point and that is Isn't it sad that we can even have as a topic in the Forum the question as to whether naturism wants families?

After all what are our national bodies doing wrong that we could consider this question as a possibility.

I would love to hear some members from around the world tell me that their country is actively and honestly promoting family naturism and how they are doing it.    

The hardest part about using FUN, is that in order to get people to take this up, would depend on their understanding of the letters.

We are struggling to find a word that would get across the same point as the I. FIN could be Families "In" Naturism, as well as "Inclusive"

We are finding it difficult to find the right U word. We have considered doing just the logo without the letters, as again, it shows bright colourful and fun looking people, which could be interpretated as a colourful family, hence, a fun family.

Maybe we need a different word.... Thoughts anyone?

All- Inclusive, All-Together, All-Embracing, basically mean “inclusive or included.”

When we ask ourselves, what is it exactly that we are asking for, from all of naturism, which includes our national organisation, business’s, clubs and events, the answer is without doubt, to no longer be pushed out, ignored, dismissed or forgotten.

Simply put, we want to take part, feel welcome, be embraced, and the one word that comes to mind is one of the most common seen in a great deal of naturist literature. “Inclusion” as is equality.

As a society we are told, we must be inclusive of all, be them races, creeds, religions or sex and gender, and yet as naturist families with children, we are not actually included anywhere. This is what formed the basis of why we chose to use the word FIN. Family “Inclusive” Naturism.

It was pointed out that in France this is seen as “END” but is that not our end goal? Family Naturism is being eroded, if nothing is done it will end, hell, it heading that way now as Adult Only is now the majority of naturism.

We want to put the inclusion back into Family Naturism, and that is what we did, we put the I in between the F and the N. If you think about it, it is the fin of a fish that steers it, and when you look back, naturism has been steered by families for as long as it has been going until recent days.

Maybe we should just shorten it to “In.” And make in Families “In” Naturisum, that again fits nicely under the umbrella of naturism, because we are families in naturism, even if we do feel pushed out most of the time and ignored.

Do Families Unite Naturism? Not currently, but they could do, and we feel should do. Sadly, currently it feels like naturism is “United” against families.

All naturists want acceptance, tolerance and inclusion, but the sad fact is, currently we are none of those. We agree with Anna, we should not have to hide, we should be more vocal, but this is a very toxic issue all over the planet at the moment, that does bring out the crazies and masses of negative publicity, it is the reason why Naturism is retreating into adults only. We fear currently, societal narratives will not change any time soon, so naturism has to find an alternative way to promote and openly signal to families they are welcome at their activities and events. Call it an insider’s code.

Our aim was to create something only shared within the naturist community, that gave them the chance to start adding this symbol to sites, knowing those not in the know would not understand its meaning, which allowed for the opening of doors and inclusion of families once more.

Lots of great and valuable opinions expressed here.  If I could add one more...

What is important in our society, is defined by the amount of money whatever things / ideas / people could generate.  Money incentivises and prioritises.  Sad but true.

In the 70's and 80's, naturist clubs and campsites in North America were frequented by families.  One of the reasons why was that naturist venues, with swimming pools and playgrounds in a setting more private than the public campsite, pools and parks, were cheaper compared to other places like country clubs where families need to spend a fortune to access.  Parents wouldn't care less with kids, or themselves, running around naked as that's how most of them were brought up at a time when resources were scarce.  It was great to do less laundry and saved the money otherwise spent on more clothes for the over growing kids.  Over time, the sheer number of families in these campsites became an attraction to more families where parents know their kids would have other kids to play with, leaving them alone to enjoy some grown-up time.  The clubs banked on these families and every club added "family oriented" to their name or mission statement.  The patronage opened doors and left them wide open.

Then, as the economy grew, people got wealthier.  Options for family entertainment explored.  From video games to theme parks to all sorts of classes for children, families had lots of choices to spend their money on.  Going to the same pool every weekend to see the same group of kids and their parents... nice but there were better options and varieties.  Clothing prices dropped dramatically so children often had bigger wardropes than their parents.  They were taught by the media and their peers that they must pay attention to their look.  Running around naked and being seen so was certainly not cool - nothing much to do with sexuality, but just not cool.  In time, for one reasons or the other, the families drifted away from the clubs.  All who remained were the old-timers and the few who believed in the philosophy of naturism, but they were the outliners.

With the families gone elsewhere, the clubs need to find ways to sustain themselves, so who have the money and are willing to spend it?

Retirees, DINK couples, and one-timer Gen Z's who got into a dare with peers.

These are big markets, and more lucative than families in the overall economies.  No one should blame the clubs trying to go after some of them.

When families stop showing up in the clubs, children disappered from them.  In time, the clubs have nothing to profit from being "family oriented".  It's the opposite that brings them the cash.  They are merely reiterating what's already happening when they put down on their web sites "18+" instead.

To counter this trend (and fact), the remaining naturist families need to come together and show our purchaing power.  What is it that we all want to come together and do, that will incentivise others to help (and charge) us gather and do what we want to do, which hopefully, is also something that attracts other families to join in.

To solve this, we need the remaining naturist families to come together and brainstorm.  For that, we need to first find them.  We need to them to identify themselves and be open to meet with others.  That's the very first step.

The problem to me is that we would still be working in closed circles. Yes we can have a secret symbol to say something is suitable for families but it will only be of use to those families in the know who are already naturists. The rest of the world will continue to see it as adult only so family numbers will still diminish. 

We have to ask ourselves why would days at waterparks, days at beaches and days camping or having fun in the woods ever be considered adult only by any of life choice. Charity events that ban families. Why would any event do that for a walk in the sun along a public footpath, or anything else. Naturism is actually taking events that no other group of people would deny to families and deny families. Imagine the idea that a live music event in a field would refuse families. Naturism does this - it goes against all normal behaviour and bans families. AND yet what is the TAG line that so many naturists like to use Normalise Nudity. Yet the very essence of banning families de-normalises it. This is what naturism is failing to consider. It is de-normalising nudity, it is de-normalising naturism, it is saying by its actions that it is not suitable for families- it is adult only. Even age ratings for films in the USA are seen as guidance only. If I wanted to take my 5 year old into a 15 film I could do it. But if I wanted to take my 15 year old to a naturist swim I couldn't, because naturism is moving to 18 plus. 

So the question will be asked by every sane person in the world. Why is it that these naked people do not want children around and the answer they will assume is because it is not suitable. Yes we need to tell naturist families that they have options - but we also need to tell all families that naturism is an option. And that simply isn't being done. 

We fear protests but in the many thousands of hours that I have spent naked on beaches with my family no one has ever said it is wrong. These protestors (and there were very few) had us roll over and give up. What we have said loud and clear is that we are not willing to fight and by doing that we have accepted the accusation. We no longer promote naturism to families because we no longer want families because by ignoring families we are not judged. That is nonsense we are judged - We are judged as perverts that are best kept away from children because why else would we not want children around. 

This is a world wide issue. Sadly it suits some people to not have children around - I would say that if a naturist who is organising an event had children and wanted his/her family there the event would include children. Too many of the decisions being made are being made by people who don't care about naturist families because their naturist family is now grown up or they do not have children at all. Some promoters of naturism have made it clear that they don't like children and never want to be around them. 

Unless we can get the national bodies to fully embrace family naturism then something like FIN will not make a difference. Do we want to become more separated?  We created ANW with the hope of bringing greater unification and helping people make connections - not just as people, but with clubs, venues and national bodies. Having great relationships with countries like New Zealand is what it is about. That way these people and bodies can talk and find answers and communicate about all sorts of worldwide and local issues. 


We can stand alone in ANW or maybe connect with some more enlightened bodies (do let me know what yours is like) but is that what we want. We should all be connected by naturism and fighting for naturism together to best promote it to everyone. We are already a minority group but it seems instead of being unified by natural naturism we are splintering into smaller groups that cannot support each other due to confusion as to who should be naturists. 

We should all be naturists and we should not fear it. There is enough to fear in life and the national bodies (if they care) need to insist that one thing people do not have to fear is naturism - for themselves and for their children. The national bodies need to be at the front of defying paranoia and fighting for families in naturism. Profit should not matter, bad press should not matter, naturism should be the only thing that matters to them because that is why they exist.