The president of the UK's largest naturist group is calling for the abuse of nudists to be classed as a hate crime.

British Naturism chief Dr Mark Bass said some of his members have received abuse from the public while "going about their own business" and wants them to be protected further under UK law.

Dr Bass told Sky News that nudists are currently protected from being fired from companies under the Equality Act 2010. This is due to nudism being classed as a "philosophical belief", he said.

But, he added, they are not protected from being shouted at in the street.

Image: Dr Mark Bass, of British Naturism, says at least one of the organisation's members is abused each month

Dr Bass says he is aware of around one case a month of a member being abused for their beliefs. The organisation has nearly 9,000 members.


One man had to move house because his neighbour was harassing him, while another was set on by a dog.

A hate crime currently describes a range of criminal behaviour where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility or demonstrates hostility towards the victim's disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

Dr Bass' lobbying comes as the Law Commission is due to carry out a review of the hate crime definition later this year.

He said: "This has been building for a while. Naturism is based around respect. It's respect for others, ourselves, respect for the environment.

"What we find is, quite often, we're not actually receiving that level of tolerance and respect we like to show others.

"If people encounter them when they happen to be naked or just know that they're naturists, they receive threats, abuse."

Image: There are several nudist beaches across the UK currently (Stock image)

He added: "What we're trying to do is get the laws to line up and match so that people, like ourselves, and others that have other held beliefs that affect their lives enjoy similar protections.

"There's not a huge amount the police can do at the moment. If someone is assaulted, it's a separate issue and is taken seriously. But currently if we shouted racist abuse at someone in a street there would be action taken.

"If you shout abuse at a naturist, there is not."

He went on: "We've had one member who's had to move house because his neighbour was harassing him, and this is a member with learning difficulties.

"We've also heard of one member who goes out walking quite a lot and most of the time people are fine, but sometimes they can be quite unpleasant.

"In one incident someone set a dog on him. Then you're crossing that line into criminal behaviour anyway, but we really want to stop short of [people] needing to be attacked for something to be done."

Current guidance towards nudism from the Crown Prosecution Service states that a "balance needs to be struck between the naturist's right to freedom of expression and the right of the wider public to be protected from harassment, alarm and distress".

It adds: "Although every case should be considered according to its own facts and merits… In the absence of any sexual context and in relation to nudity where the person has no intention to cause alarm or distress it will normally be appropriate to take no action unless members of the public were actually caused harassment, alarm or distress (as opposed to considering the likelihood of this)."

A spokesman for the Law Commission confirmed it had received comments from British Naturism ahead of the official consultation being launched in the spring.

He added: "While preparing our consultation paper, we have spoken to a range of different stakeholders. This includes groups that are currently protected by hate crime laws, and those who have argued for inclusion, such as British Naturism.

"We will be publishing our consultation and inviting all interested parties to respond to it in the coming months."