Naturism is a lifestyle of non-sexual social nudity, and the cultural movement which advocates for and defends that lifestyle. Both may also be referred to as nudism. Though the two terms are largely interchangeable, nudism emphasizes the practice of nudity, whereas naturism highlights an attitude favoring harmony with nature and respect for the environment, into which that practice is integrated. That said, naturists come from a range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds; there is no single naturist ideology.
Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult, sex or top-shelf magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is the case in softcore pornography, and, in the usual case of hardcore pornography, depictions of masturbation, oral, vaginal or anal sex.
Naked yoga is the practice of yoga without clothes. It has existed since ancient times as a spiritual practice, and is mentioned in the 7th-10th century Bhagavata Purana and by the Ancient Greek geographer Strabo.
The American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) is a naturist organization based in the United States.
Ed Lange was a nudist photographer, and a publisher of many nudist pamphlets and magazines showing the nudist lifestyle.
Kurt Barthel (1884–1969) is the father of the modern United States nudist movement.
The Reverend IlsleySilias Boone, known to relatives and friends as "Uncle Danny", was born in 1879 in Brooklyn, New York and died in 1968 in Whitehouse, Ohio. He was a charismatic speaker, a powerful organizer, and was the founding father of the American Sunbathing Association (ASA), later reorganized as the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR).
The Freikörperkultur (FKK) is a social and health culture that originated in the German Empire, its beginnings were historically part of the Lebensreform social movement in the late 19th century. The Freikörperkultur, which translates to free body culture, consists in the connection of health aspects of being naked in light, air and sun with intentions to reform life and society. It is partially identical with the culture of nudity, naturism and nudism in the sense of communal nudity of people in leisure time, sport and everyday life.
Social nudity is the practice of nudity in relatively public settings not restricted by gender. This occurs both in public spaces and on commercial property, such as at a naturist resort.
Physique magazines or beefcake magazines were magazines devoted to physique photography — that is, photographs of muscular "beefcake" men – typically young and attractive – in athletic poses, usually in revealing, minimal clothing. During their heyday in North America in the 1950s to 1960s, they were presented as magazines dedicated to fitness, health, and bodybuilding, with the models often shown demonstrating exercises or the results of their regimens, or as artistic reference material. However, their unstated primary purpose was erotic imagery, primarily created by and for gay men at a time when homosexuality was the subject of cultural taboos and government censorship.
MANual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day, 370 U.S. 478 (1962), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that magazines consisting largely of photographs of nude or near-nude male models are not obscene within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1461. It was the first case in which the Court engaged in plenary review of a Post Office Department order holding obscene matter "nonmailable."
One, Inc. v. Olesen, 355 U.S. 371 (1958), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court for LGBT rights in the United States. It was the first U.S. Supreme Court ruling to deal with homosexuality and the first to address free speech rights with respect to homosexuality. The Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that the gay magazine ONE magazine violated obscenity laws, thus upholding constitutional protection for pro-homosexual writing.
The American Gymnosophical Association (AGA) was organized circa 1930 by Herman and Katherine Soshinski. It was one of 3 spin-off groups from the League for Physical Culture that had been organized by Kurt Barthel in 1929. Dr. Maurice Parmelee, Professor of Sociology, City College of New York was its honorary President.
This Timeline of social nudity shows the varying degrees of acceptance given to the naked human body by diverse cultures throughout history. The events listed here demonstrate how various societies have shifted between strict and lax clothing standards, how nudity has played a part in social movements and protest, and how the nude human body is accepted in the public sphere.
Marcus v. Search Warrant, 367 U.S. 717 (1961), full title Marcus v. Search Warrant of Property at 104 East Tenth Street, Kansas City, Missouri, is an in rem case decided by the United States Supreme Court on the seizure of obscene materials. The Court unanimously overturned a Missouri Supreme Court decision upholding the forfeiture of hundreds of magazines confiscated from a Kansas City wholesaler. It held that both Missouri's procedures for the seizure of allegedly obscene material and the execution of the warrant itself violated the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments' prohibitions on search and seizure without due process. Those violations, in turn, threatened the rights protected by the First Amendment.
Richard Ungewitter was a German pioneer of the nudist movement and one of its first organizers. There was a völkisch element in Ungewitter's ideas.
Henry Strong Huntington Jr. (1882-1981), was a Presbyterian minister who advocated the healthful advantages nudism. He established the Burgoyne Trail Nudist Camp near Otis, Massachusetts. He was editor of the magazine, The Nudist. He was also an advocate of eugenics.
Marguerite Agniel was a Broadway actress and dancer, and then a health and beauty guru in New York in the early 20th century. She is known for her 1931 book The Art of the Body: Rhythmic Exercise for Health and Beauty, one of the first to combine yoga and nudism.
Naturism refers to a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public, and to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both are also known as "nudism". Naturist organisations have existed in New Zealand since the 1930s. Although not a daily feature of public life, social nudity is practised in a variety of other contexts in New Zealand culture.
A naturist resort or nudist resort is an establishment that provides accommodation and other amenities for guests in a context where they are invited to practise naturism – that is, a lifestyle of non-sexual social nudity. A smaller, more rustic, or more basic naturist resort may be called a naturist camp.
