39% of Britons are open to being publicly naked in some form
Nudists have long piqued the curiosity of many – on one occasion, to the extent of leading to a passenger boat capsizing after passing a nudist beach. For some, the state of being naked is perfectly natural, and so should be allowed in public; for others, it’s more a case of keep it in your own home.
But what do Britons, who have sometimes acquired a stereotype of being a bit prudish, really think of public nudity – when do they see it as acceptable and would they be willing to give it a go?
When do Britons think it’s acceptable to be naked in public?
For the British public, whether or not it’s acceptable to be naked in public is really a question of ‘where’. Nearly all Britons (95%) say it’s acceptable to be completely naked at a private nudist camp, with nearly as many (93%) thinking it’s fine to be starkers on an open nudist beach. Three quarters of Britons (73%) also see it as acceptable to be naked in your own garden.
At the other end of the scale, nearly all Britons (94-97%) believe it’s unacceptable to be completely naked in a town or city centre, in a public park, or while swimming in a public swimming pool.
Where the public are most divided is on saunas, being near-evenly split 48% to 47% on whether it’s acceptable to be fully nude in a steam room. Swimming naked in a natural body of water like a river is also divisive, with 45% of Britons seeing it as acceptable, though with half (51%) saying it’s not on.
Nearly a quarter of Britons (23%) think it’s reasonable to be naked in the countryside, while 12% see it as acceptable on a public non-nudist beach.
Outside of dedicated nudist settings, women tend to be less likely to see public nudity as acceptable than men.
For instance, while men think it’s okay to go skinny dipping in a natural body of water by a margin of 52% to 41%, women think it’s unacceptable by 57% to 41%. And while 17% of men think it’s acceptable to be naked on a public beach, just 7% of women do.
Half-changing the subject – to toplessness – shows men and women differ when it comes to women going bare-breasted at the beach. While 71% of men see this as acceptable, this falls to only 52% among women. This finding mirrors other recent YouGov research which found that men and women differ significantly on attitudes towards women displaying their nipples in public and celebrity settings.
By contrast, about the same number of men (97%) and women (93%) say men going shirtless at the beach is acceptable.
What do Britons think of naturism?
For most Britons, nudists - or naturists, as they prefer to be called - aren’t much of a bother, with 59% of the public saying they have neither a positive nor negative opinion of them. Nonetheless, the near quarter of Britons (23%) with a negative opinion of them does outnumber the 15% who see them outright positively.
Women see the practice a little less favourably, with 26% having a negative opinion of the naturism, compared to 20% of men. Younger Britons are also more likely to see the lifestyle in a dim light, with 30% of 18-34 year olds holding a negative view of naturists, compared to 15% of over 65s.
Have Britons ever been naked in public?
Regardless of how they’re seen, who actually are Britain’s nudists? One in six Britons (16-18%) say they have – on at least one occasion as an adult – been completely naked in their own garden or while swimming in a natural body of water. One in seven (14%) say they have revealed all in a sauna, while 9% of Britons claim to have stripped off in the countryside at some point in their adult lives.
Across the situations asked about, a third of Britons (33%) say they been publicly naked on at least one occasion, with men more willing to have given it a go: more than four in ten (42%) men claim to have been publicly nude at least once as an adult, compared to 26% of women.
Attempting it once, though, is not the same as adopting the lifestyle. Across all the situations asked about, it’s just 4% of Britons who say they do any of them regularly. Again, the figure is higher among men (7%) than women (2%).
The halfway-house of toplessness is much more common, with 80% of men and 28% of women having been shirtless at a public beach as an adult at some point.
Would Britons be willing to go naked in public?
Regardless of whether Britons have tried going naked in public, would they be open to doing so in future? Four in ten Britons (39%) say they would be willing to go naked in at least one of nine nudist situations we asked about, with this including 80% of those who have previously gone publicly nude in the past.
Once again, it is men who are most open to nudism, with half (49%) saying they would be willing to undertake one of our nudist experiences, compared to 29% of women.
How you see your body does have an impact here. Most of those who would describe themselves as not very self-conscious (53%) or not conscious at all (52%) about their physical appearance would be willing to go naked in public in some form, compared to 40% of those who are fairly self-conscious and just 23% of those are very self-conscious.
Of the situations polled, four are noticeably more attractive than the others – visiting a dedicated nudist site, going naked in your own garden, going swimming naked in a natural body of water, and going naked in a sauna – which are each willing to be tried by just under a quarter of Britons (22-23%).
One in nine Britons (11%) would be willing to go naked in the countryside, while only 0-4% would be open to going naked in a town centre, in a public park, in a public swimming pool, or at a non-nudist beach.
Visiting a dedicated nudist site is most appealing to older men, with 41% of over-65 men being willing to strip off at a nudist beach or campsite, compared to 23% of 18-34 year old men and no more than 20% of women in any age group.
Going skinny dipping in a natural body of water is more appealing to younger than older women, with 25% of 18-34 year old women willing to give it a go, compared to just 7% of over 65 women. Nonetheless, this is still less than the 29-33% of men in any age group open to a swimsuit-free dip.
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Photo: Getty
