Sending the Wrong Message

Another seemingly positive article on nudism actually perpetuates the same old myth,s and profiles nudists and naturists as secretive kooks.

I spoke to a long-serving, elderly trustee from the Carlisle area who refused to be named or identified in any way.

Is all this cloak and dagger stuff really necessary in the 21st century?

“It is one of the things about naturism – we don’t like broadcasting who we are because people look down on us,” he said with heavy emphasis.

“We have had to keep our heads below the parapet because people think it is a sex thing.”

The article is peppered with words and phrases like "strange", "sex", "cheap jokes", "double entendres", "secret", "none of their business", "anonymity", "voyeuristic", "bothered by single men", "strictly controlled", "don't really like the publicity", etc.

Once again, a naturist club lets in the press, hoping to attract new members, and fails to control the message. National organizations need to develop public relations guidelines for all their affiliated clubs, complete with talking points, to counterract the biases of reporters who know nothing about the lifestyle.