There are a lot more single men than single women naturists. This is a major issue that has been much debated for decades and yet nothing seems to be changing. If anything the situation is getting worse.

I think a major concern for single female naturists is feelings of vulnerability. In a clothed social environment women are far more likely to have unwanted attention from men than the other way around. To be honest, men seem far more likely to get unwanted attention from other men than from women. This is why women usually go clubbing in groups. For security, as much as for company.

In a naturist context the single man, not anticipating unwanted attention, has far fewer qualms about going to nude social events than a single woman.

Whilst the gender balance is intended to prevent women from feeling overwhelmed by too many men and getting lots of unwanted attention it fails to do so.

The insistence on a ‘gender balance’ further exacerbates the issue, as it gives any single male nudist a further reason to try to get close to any single female nudist. The desire to get friendly with women, who have an interest in nudism, in order to have someone with which to go to nudist events etc, is likely to be seen by the lone female as having a sexual motive. (It may, but it may not. It is impossible to tell at first) Hence even more unwanted attention for any single females and more reason for women to avoid naturism.

I’m yet another single male naturist who has been denied membership of my local naturist group on the grounds of gender and I know a few others in the same circumstances.

I think it is also a concern that the online community does not accurately reflect the people who attend naturist clubs and beaches etc. Most of the people who browse naturist sites are probably more interested in seeing nudity than nudism. Most of them wouldn’t be seen dead at an actual nudist event. Of the people who go to nudist events and activities, the vast majority are there for a genuine interest in nudism. Some of the single men may also be interested in hooking up with women, but that is not their main reason for being there. Men do not go to nudist venues to ogle women. there is a good reason for this.

The most common question that men seem to ask about nudism is “what happens if you get an erection?” Women often ask the same thing about nudism. The sort of men who want to leer at pictures of naked women, or even leer at them in the flesh will not want to be naked, because they will expect to get aroused. They may well go to the WNBR to get some snaps of boobs, or wander clothed along a beach used by nudists, looking for a sneaky snap. If they do strip off at the beach, they will be the ones in the dunes, looking like mere cats as they peer around from the distance. They will generally not want to be in an environment where they are naked among people who would object to unwanted attention and hence will not be seeking to join clubs. From speaking to other nudists, and club owners, it seems that there are very few people who go to clubs with any lecherous agenda. Those who do are easy to identify and ban. They will be known. Their name can be passed on to other clubs. They do not want that. Hence very few of them would bother. I recently was watching a documentary about nudism in which the club owner mentioned one guy a few years before who had come along and had been showing an unhealthy interest in other members. He was easily identified and banned. He was also said to have known to a few other clubs that they contacted. If male perverts are so rare that club owners only recall a single instance, why then are thousands of men being punished for fear that they might be such people?

The consequences for male nudists is that they can generally only go to nudist beaches (official or not) if they want to be naked in a socially acceptable way. This has been the case for so long that many nudist beaches are now the hunting ground for homosexual men, looking to hook up, or just to look at the other naked men on the beach. In the last decade the central part of the nudist section of Studland beach had a reputation for homosexual activity in the dunes. Recently the National Trust wardens have been criticised for being overly homophobic in their patrolling of the area. Does this alleged homophobia mean that the wardens are mainly concerned with the presence of homosexual activity in the area and the impact it is having on other beach users? In my own area a few men I know have decided to leave the unofficial nudist beaches that they have visited when observing gay couples engaged in sexual activity. (They would have responded the same way to heterosexual sexual activity)

I myself have not witnessed such things. Most of the men who frequent nudist beaches are perfectly sociable and considerate. I have known men to flirt with me, but they were not pushy when I made my lack of interest clear. However I know others for whom it is becoming a significant concern. Single men have been driven away from nudist clubs because of the concern that they might drive away women with unwanted attention. Now they are being driven out of the beaches because they themselves are fearing being the recipients of unwanted sexual attention.

There is also the concern about how others perceive them. Whilst walking along a beach that is sometimes used by naturists a friend and I passed two naked men. My friend suggested to give them room, as they probably wanted a bit of privacy. The implication was that the men were gay. Although there are a lot more men than women on some beaches, and many of the men might be regular visitors, and hence know each other, if they are together, they are viewed as being gay. Thus I know a few people who are unwilling to go to beaches as a group, unless there are women with them, for fear of being labeled as gay. This may be a bit homophobic, but it also indicates how vulnerable some male nudists feel about how others view them. If they are on their own they are viewed as opportunistic sexual predators and perverts. If they are with other men they are viewed as homosexuals. It is only when with women that they do not face any significant stigma. Is it any wonder then that single naturist men are so desperate to hook up with women who have an interest in naturism, or simply to find a partner and try to introduce them to naturism?

Surely if there are no many single male naturists, there must be a market for people to cater to them. Instead they are being neglected by just about everybody. Shunned, marginalised and driven away from naturalism. There is currently no place for the single male naturist.