Baring it all in the name of travel

Baring it all in the name of travel

Backyard cricket is an Australian summer tradition going back generations — but this year, millennials have made one very crucial change: They’re doing it completely naked and documenting their exploits on Instagram.

On Australia Day, Get Naked Australia posted a photo of one such game, showing a guy — nude apart from his Akubra — being bowled LBW by a woman wearing nothing but an impressive tan line, as their naked mates fielded.

The photo went off like a prawn left out in the midday sun, accumulating several thousand likes and numerous comments, including one user, who posed a very valid question: “But why?”

Good question, mate! These young Aussies are a part of a growing millennial movement, who like to let it all hang loose with their friends at Australia’s prettiest beauty spots then post photos of themselves on to social media.

GEN Y’S REBRANDING OF NATURISM

The inadvertent spokesman for the movement is Brendan Jones, a 28-year-old physiotherapist from Sydney. He founded Get Naked Australia in 2015 after he started hiking then stripping off at swimming holes. Jones put a series of photos of his best moments in the buff into a calendar, as a gag Christmas gift for his wife.

“It seemed to get a fair few laughs and then I put it on social media,” he told news.com.au. “Given the popularity of it, I started Get Naked Australia on Instagram.”

The page quickly amassed over 229,000 followers, and a movement was born with individuals, couples, and groups joining in the fun and posting photos of themselves on the page au naturel in nature.

“It was then that I realised that the Instagram unintentionally was preaching a huge body positivity message, saying, ‘This is me in all my glory!’.”

MAKING NAKED NORMAL

However, they’re not exhibitionists, categorically, states Jones. He believes Gen Y are embracing naturism to combat the pressure that they feel after being bombarded by unrealistic perfect #Fitspo body types that come with zero body fat and muscles on muscles on social media.

“As a millennial, there is intense pressure to look a certain way,” he says. “Not just for girls, but for guys, as well. It affects self-esteem. Naturism is the great leveller. Being naked around other people and being seen naked is such a confidence builder.

“You realise that generally, people don’t care what you look like and that any fear you have of being seen naked is just all in your head. You learn to let go of your fears and inhibitions, and after about 30 seconds it just feels normal.”

Now the movement has evolved, and the modern-day naturalists are meeting up in the real world, whether that is tossing snags and playing nude cricket at barbies; stripping off and sailing naked on yachts; or hiking in the buff to remote beauty spots and having meetups at nudists beaches with other like-minded young people, for whom, being nude is indeed, not rude, it’s liberating.

CRUSHING CREEPY STEREOTYPES

Get Naked Australia also campaigns to clean up naturism and change the long-held perception that nudism belongs to baby boomers with junk in their trunks and dirt on their minds.

“In Europe, when people are naked, no-one blinks an eyelid, however in Australia, the culture can be very wrong,” says Jones.

“I’ve noticed through my dealings with people online over the last two years that there is a severe problem. Too many people that call themselves naturists are just involved for their own perversions. There are plenty of sexual predators and swingers that use naturism as a way of meeting other people. It’s just wrong.

“Naturism has no sexual undertones at all. Even online, when people post liberating photos of themselves and we get so many comments sexualising the post when that isn’t the photo’s intent at all. It needs to change, and people need to see that social nudity can exist without any sexualisation.”

Jones has been instrumental in organising fun meet- ups for his Instagram followers.

“The people who’ve been actively involved with our Instagram page now get together,” he said. “It’s a group of guys and girls of all shapes and sizes. We’re entirely comfortable with each other, and there’s nothing sexual about it. We are just mates that like to do fun things together in the nude.”

However, don’t expect an invite to an event, without proving yourself to be a genuine member of the community. “I don’t just let just anybody join us as it too unsafe in the current climate,” said Jones.

His long-term goal is to form safe communities for young people to experience naturism all around the country.

“It’s liberating to have that experience of the elements on your bare skin,” he said. “After all, a body is just a body.”