Wreck Beach Clothing-Optional Status in Danger?

So claims a Vancouver reporter, who finds that real estate development, threats of skin cancer, and overt sexual behavior could eventually doom the hippie haven. But there is still plenty of hope for the future.

20-year-old regular Sasha Smith is discovering the meaning of naturism for herself. When she first tried the beach at 18, naturism as a philosophy was foreign to her. Now, she said, she gets it, and it’s still relevant.

“The first time you see someone with their junk out you’re like, ‘Woah!’ ” she told the Straight in a phone interview. She’s a former bikini-and-headphones Kitsilano Beach girl, she said. She stopped going because “it’s a meat market” and she was looking for something more genuine. She found it at Wreck.

“You just get over yourself.…I feel like it’s definitely anti the majority of society.…Wreck symbolizes somewhere you can go and just be your essence, because there’s nothing attached to you. That’s the nudist concept. There’s no bullshit surrounding you. You’re just being enveloped in the experience.”

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked