Munich designates six areas for nude sunbathing. What does that say about the rest of us?

When statewide laws in Bavaria regulating public nudity expired last fall, the city of Munich decided to take the issue of nude sunbathing into its own hands, by officially declaring six urban naked zones, where people can partake in as much nude sunbathing  as they like.

While public nudity is a rarity in the United States, and many other Western countries, German culture is much more well accustomed to going sans clothing in public saunas and thermal springs. In fact, in most of those places, it’s odder to wear a bathing suit than not.

Munich’s large park Englischer Garten has long been home to people basking in the sun in the nude. But the urban naked zones make six designated areas specifically for nudists who don’t want to be bothered by their clothing (or lack thereof) choices. (Atlantic Cities has a map of all of them in case you are interested.)

This may seem as extremely progressive to some, but this is a culture that has much less prudish attachment to nudity. When you grow up in a culture that often has same-sex, public saunas you get used to it. Nudity isn’t sexualized. It’s just natural. As Andrew Welch wrote in an editorial in The Independent in regards to the British views towards nudity, “Our society is still obsessed with Victorian attitudes towards the body, and the idea that skin equals sex.”

You can sort of envision prospective tourists to Munich snorting about how funny it will be to see naked people sunbathing in a park. But if there’s one thing about German culture to know, it’s that being nude is normal. Certainly, not everyone chooses to go nude sunbathing, but German, and other Northern European cultures, have a much more normalized relationship to nudity that makes these types of citywide decision not as shocking as they seem to us in more reserved cultures. “[S]tripping off in public is the voluntary removal of a heavy mask, a return to unvarnished honesty rather than some titter-worthy peek-a-boo,” wrote Feargus O’Sullivan in Atlantic Cities.

Spread out across the city, the six areas are all in parkland, meaning that you’re not going to come across a nude sunbather just anywhere, and it certainly isn’t acceptable to go and hop on a Munich bus without your clothes on. Instead, areas in natural spaces are open for enjoyment, and if you want to do that without your clothes on, then you are more than welcome to. In a culture that has a lot of respect for the outdoors and nature, when you think about it, it’s not that odd or radical of a decision.

Maybe it’s time to rethink our own Victorian ideal-induced relationship to nudity. Look at things like the World Naked Bike Ride. Nudity doesn’t always have to mean sex, and while there are few that advocate for going naked 100 percent of the time, we’re certainly at a point in our culture where most of us have become entirely removed from our natural state of being. Because even if we don’t want to go nude in public, we could all spend a little more time being okay with our naked bodies.

Related on EcoSalon

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Image: leo gonzales

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ColumnExcess is an unsustainable path, leaving little to the imagination.

Modesty doesn’t necessarily mean donning a chastity belt, but it certainly means keeping your legs firmly crossed if you’re wearing a skirt. Moderation doesn’t mean giving up alcohol to spend every evening reading Gertrude Stein while cuddling your pet cat, but it excludes downing a bottle of Bordeaux at your boss’ dinner party and proposing a ménage à trois with the two unhappily married men in attendance. The middle way, whether applied to one’s career, one’s relationship with food and drink, or one’s sexual and psychological well being, is always the best way. Excess is an unsustainable path, whether it be too purity driven or inordinately party-loving.

Sex by Numbers at its core endorses a simple, healthy life of non-extremes, one as much devoid of tiresome Puritanical rules as vulgar bombast. (Think sheer crocheted sweaters and flutes of champagne, not ripped pantyhose and lines of cocaine.) Nothing becomes a woman more than her capacity to keep it all in check, and our modern expressions of a New Modesty are multitudinous, convention defying, and downright brave. This week’s column offers an international cross section of ways in which feminism and femininity commingle in pursuit of leaving a little something to the imagination.

Modestyniks: A term unique to contemporary Jewish women originally raised in secular homes, modestyniks are girls who decide as young adults to abide by traditional religious laws governing female sexuality. Equal parts individuation from family, backlash against a permissive upbringing, and reclamation of cultural legacy, modestyniks declare themselves shomer negiah–wearing long skirts and high collars in accordance with historical standards of Jewish modesty and abstaining not only from sex before marriage, but any physical contact with men whatsoever.

Burqini Swimwear: For religious Muslim women, suiting up for the beach can be problematic. Surfing and wind sailing, not to mention the basic butterfly stroke, aren’t so easy if a woman’s small frame is weighed down by water soaked, body covering garments. Entrepreneur and designer Aheda Zanetti, who is Lebanese born and Australia based, was frustrated that outdoor athletics weren’t always available to her. While women only gyms and yoga studios were always an option, activities in public spaces, such as hiking or running, were more challenging. In response, Zanetti designed a line of lightweight, sweat-whisking workout gear and swimwear for sports-inclined Muslim women interested in maintaining traditional codes of pious dress.

Rogaya Al Ghasara: A 100-meter and 200-meter sprinter from Bahrain, Rogaya Al Ghasara is one of the first ever female athletes to represent her country on an international scale and, what’s more, she managed to claim this radical social role while faithfully honoring her religious beliefs: She competes in sleek, ninja like sportswear called a Hijood, created by the same company that developed the Burqini. Rogya Al Ghasara first debuted her runners’ form at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing. Her performance has earned her gold medals at the Arabian Championships and Asian Games.

French Pudique: While previous generations of French derided American women for their Yankee Puritanism regarding topless sunbathing, news organizations have in recent years reported that younger French women are eschewing nudity for modesty-case in point, they’re wearing both halves of their bikinis. It’s only their mothers and grandmothers who continue baring their chests to the sun god, and a popular survey indicates that up to 80 percent of French women consider themselves pudique, a term that can mean everything from modest to prim to pretty uptight. It’s sexy, it seems, to keep covered up and leave more, rather than less, to the imagination.

Here’s to summer sports, sun worship, and saving it for the bedroom…

Images: Ed Yourdon, leo.jeje, Telegraph.co.uk, NowPublic, Joe Shlabotnik

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