Editing Naturism (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of nudity|l1=Nudity in History}}
{{see also|Timeline of social nudity}}

Nudity in social contexts has been practised in various forms by many cultures and in all time periods.{{Sfn|ActiveNaturists|2015c}} In modern Western society, social nudity is most frequently encountered in the contexts of bathing, swimming and using saunas, but throughout history and in many contemporary tropical cultures, nudity is a norm at many sports events and competitions.{{Sfn|ActiveNaturists|2015d}}

The first known use of the word {{lang|fr|naturisme}} occurred in 1778. A French-speaking Belgian, Jean Baptiste Luc Planchon (1734–1781), used the term to advocate nudism as a means of improving the {{lang|fr|hygiène de vie}} or healthy living.{{Sfn|Planchon|1778|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}|ps=: "Le naturisme est la doctrine qui consiste à laisser agir la nature plutot que d'intervenir de manière artificielle".}}

The earliest known naturist club in the western sense of the word was established in British India in 1891. The Fellowship of the Naked Trust was founded by Charles Edward Gordon Crawford, a widower who was a [[District Courts of India|District and Sessions Judge]] for the [[Bombay]] [[Indian Civil Service|Civil Service]]. The commune was based in [[Matheran]] and had just three members at the beginning: Crawford and two sons of an [[Anglican]] missionary, Andrew and Kellogg Calderwood.{{Sfn|Kulkarni|2010}} The commune fell apart when Crawford was transferred to [[Ratnagiri]]; he died soon after in 1894.{{sfn|Farrar|2005a}}

[[File:Koch, Max (1859–1930) - 1897 - Freilicht - vmp 01 (cropped).jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|left|[[Max Friedrich Koch|Max Koch]]'s ''Freilicht'' (Open-Air), {{Circa}} 1894/1897]]

In 1902, a series of philosophical papers was published in Germany by Dr. [[Heinrich Pudor]] under the pseudonym Heinrich Scham, who coined the term {{lang|de|[[Naturism_in_Germany|Nacktkultur]]}} (Nude Culture). In 1906, he wrote a three-volume treatise with this term as its title, which discussed the benefits of nudity in co-education and advocated participating in sports while being free of cumbersome clothing.{{sfn|Buchy|2005}} [[Richard Ungewitter]] (''Nacktheit'', 1906, ''Nackt'', 1908, etc.) proposed that combining physical fitness, sunlight, and fresh-air bathing with the nudist philosophy contributed to mental and psychological fitness, good health, and an improved moral-life view.{{sfn|Buchy|2005}} Major promoters of these ideas included [[Adolf Koch]] and {{Interlanguage link|Hans Surén|de|Hans Surén}}, who was an instructor and manager at the German Army School of Military Physical Education in [[Wünsdorf]]. Germany published the first journal of nudism from 1902 to 1932, during which time it evolved and became known as ''[[Freikörperkultur]]'' (FKK), the free body culture movement.{{sfn|Kennedy|2013|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}

The wide publication of those papers, and others, contributed to an explosive worldwide growth of nudism in which nudists participated in various social, recreational, and physical fitness activities in the nude. The first organized club for nudists on a large scale, {{lang|de|Freilichtpark}} (Open-Air Park), was opened near Hamburg in 1903 by Paul Zimmerman.{{sfn|Buchy|2005}}
In 1919, German doctor [[Kurt Huldschinsky]] discovered that exposure to sunlight helped to cure [[rickets]] in many children, causing sunlight to be associated with improved health.{{Sfn|Evans|2014}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0815-302, FKK-Strände des Senftenberger Erholungsgebietes.jpg|thumb|Naturist family on [[Lake Senftenberg]] in 1983]]

In France in the early 20th century, the brothers [[Gaston Durville|Gaston]] and [[André Durville]], both physicians, studied the effects of psychology, nutrition, and environment on health and healing. They became convinced of the importance of natural foods and the natural environment on human well-being and health. They named this concept {{lang|fr|naturisme}}. The profound effect of clean air and sunlight on human bodies became evident to them and so nudity became a part of their naturism.{{Sfn|Baubérot|2004|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}}

Naturism became a more widespread phenomenon in the 1920s in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and other European countries and spread to the United States, where it became established in the 1930s.{{sfn|Barcan|2004}} In Brazil, nudist magazines were already published in the 1930. In mid 50s, there were several of such publications and some editors were persecuted by police and sued by authorities under the charge of "indecent exposure".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herold Junior |first=Carlos |last2=Machado |first2=Alisson Bertão |last3=Campanholi |first3=Carolini Aparecida |last4=Solera |first4=Bruna |last5=Parizotto |first5=Pedro Gabriel Gil |date=2018-03-29 |title=O CORPO A PARTIR DO MOVIMENTO NUDISTA: RIO DE JANEIRO NA DÉCADA DE 1950 |url=https://seer.ufrgs.br//index.php/Movimento/article/view/65075 |journal=Movimento |language=pt |pages=49–64 |doi=10.22456/1982-8918.65075 |issn=1982-8918|doi-access=free }}</ref>

By 1951, the various national federations united to form the International Naturist Federation.{{sfn|Descamps|1987|p={{page needed|date=August 2024}}}} Some naturists preferred not to join clubs, and after 1945, pressure arose to designate beaches for naturist use. From the middle of the 20th century, with changing leisure patterns, commercial organisations began opening holiday resorts to attract naturists who expected the same&nbsp;– or better&nbsp;– standards of comfort and amenity offered to non-naturists. More recently, naturist holiday options have expanded to include cruises.{{sfn|Buchy|2005}}

In the early 21st century, many organised clubs saw a decline in attendance by young people, which worried many naturists about the future of the movement. The clubs' aging memberships may have put younger people off. A rise in [[social conservatism]], re-asserting a nudity taboo, also may have contributed to the decline. However, since tolerance for nudity in general is increasing over time,{{sfn|Anderson|2000}} and is higher among younger generations,{{Sfn|NZHerald|2008}} an alternative hypothesis is that younger naturists no longer feel they need to join a club or visit a resort in order to practise naturism.{{Sfn|Haskell Smith|2015}} Active recruitment of younger members is being pursued by some organisations.{{Sfnm|1a1=Glaister|1y=2007 |2a1=Briggs|2y=2013 |3a1=Connolly|3y=2019}} The phenomenon varies by country, with, for example, naturism in France experiencing steady growth in a younger demographic during the 2010s.{{Sfnm|1a1=Renou|1y=2017|2a1=le dauphiné|2y=2018}} A similar trend is seen in Germany, with young people eager to depart from social norms and beauty standards.{{sfn|France 24|2022}}