Free Body Culture

Sustainability arts festival > Free Body Culture
This camp aims to organize activities and outreach opportunities focused on non-sexualized, family-friendly social nudity as it relates to fitness, natural living, ecology and play (basically the themes of the umbrella Sustainability arts festival event). Multiple regional groups are invited to get involved with the planning and staging of the event. The name right now is only tentative (suggestions welcome).
==Historical background==
Since around the turn of the 20th Century, people have organized social experiences involving social nudity arguing that nakedness brings people back into harmony with nature (hence the term 'au naturel'). Naturism and nudism in the United States in several respects has grown out of this philosophy. There are also other, loosely- or non-aligned groups that have integrated themselves within the contexts of other movements including environmental issues, public nudity, recreation, natural health, free beach culture and private sauna/hot tub culture.
Early German social nudity groups operated under philosophies claiming that social nudity, in conjunction with such practices as fitness/sport (Nacktsport (German article)) (such as skinny-dipping and gymnastics), vegetarianism and natural health can address issues of social inequality, and other ills resulting from living in increasingly industrialized societies. Names of these philophies and movements included Freikörperkultur (English article) (FKK) (Free Body Culture in English), Lebensreform (German article) (Life Reform in English), Nacktkultur (Naked Culture in English), Naturismus (German article) and Nudismus.
:In 1904 German author Richard Ungewitter wrote a book titled "Die Nacktheit" (nakedness) wherein he advocated nudism, abstention from meat, tobacco and alcohol. He had to publish it himself, but it quickly became a bestseller. The vegetarian aspect focused on the purity of the body and soul, with adherence to a regular program of fitness. The German attitude towards nudity has not changed too much in 100 years because even now on a warm summer day people along lakes and rivers can be found enjoying themselves in the sunshine without clothing. (Hippie Roots & The Perennial Subculture)
==Start time and location==
*Date: August 11, 2007 at Magnuson Park in Seattle. The Free Body Culture Camp will be part of a larger Sustainability arts festival. People will also be needed to build interactive art installations around related themes and also to provide information to people checking out the event. 
*Time: Roughly 10:30 am - evening, most activity probably from 10:30 am - 1:30 pm. Feel free to just hang out afterward. We could use help setting up around 10 am or so. The Hemp Ride/Cyclomundo camp will need the most help this year.
*Location: North of the main Swimming Beach at Magnuson Park, south of the off-leash dog area, just off the Lake Shore Promenade. Please look for us along the shoreline just north of the main Swimming Beach. See a map of the park.
*What to bring: Bring your own lunch and non-alchoholic drinks (preferably not in glass containers), towels, sunscreen, Frisbee, folding chair, sun umbrella/shade, inflatible float/lounge chair for the water, water sandals (the "beach" is made of small cobbles), a donation, a bag to pack/in out your recyclables and garbage.
===Boundaries===
Areas used will be located on the Magnuson Park shoreline north of the Swim Beach and south of the off-leash dog beach. Users who are not wearing clothes are asked to stay within this area and stay closer to the water to minimize possible cultural conflicts with other parks users.
===Collaborations===
There will be a body painting party prior to the start time of Hemp Ride. Some riders will not be wearing clothes to protest the high cost of imported sustainably-produced textiles.
==RSVP==
Contact us at apr2007 @ organicparty d0t 0rg. Tell us how you heard about the event, how you might be able to help. We do not share or sell your e-mail address with others.
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==Wiki site==
Leave your comments and ideas on this article's talk page
==Partners/endorsements==
There is a massive amount of social nudity groups and events in the Pacific Northwest. We are looking to connect with multiple non-sexualized, family-oriented non-profit and event groups in the Pacific Northwest.
===Committed to participate===
*Flora Magica Aromatherapy
*Cyclomundo
*The Organic Living Party/Work Less Party USA
*local/regional clothing-optional bike rides including:
**World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR)
***WNBR Seattle
**Hemp Ride
**Body Pride Ride (BPR)
**Seattle Critical Ass (Part of Seattle Critical Mass)
*Magnuson Beach Bares
*Friends of Disco Beach
*Friends of Secret Beach
*Fraternity Snoqualmie
*The Body Freedom Collaborative (BFC)
*Naked Pumpkin Run
*World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD)
*Nude Beaches YES!
*Seattle Free Beach Campaign
*Jaybird Run
*Green Lake Park streakers
===Groups to invite===
These people have not been contacted yet but they are invited to participate. Please feel free to suggest the idea to them.
*The Naturist Society (TNS)
*Naturist Action Committee (NAC)
*The American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR)
**AANR NW
*The Sun Lovers Under Gray Skies (SLUGS)
*The Oregon Clothing-Optional Beach Alliance (ORCOBA)
*Van Tan Club Vancouver, BC.
*Naked Iconoclasts Fighting the Yoke (NIFTY)
*Skinnydipper Recreation
*The Wreck Beach Preservation Society (WBPS)
*The Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN)
*The Fédération Québécoise de Naturisme (FQN)
*ClothesFree International (CFI)
*Lake Associates Recreation Club (LARC)
*Lake Bronson
*members of the local/regional Burning Man community
*local/regional clothing-optional bike rides including:
**Solstice Cyclists
*Polar Bare Dash and Splash
*Friends to help Scenic Hot Springs
*The Seattle Figure Drawing Meetup Group
*NAC Seattle Swims (Organizing group change pending)
*FKKayakers
*Washington Free Hikers
*Mermaid Crossing
*Discussion Groups:
**NW Fun in the Sun ~6500 members
**NW Naturist ~3000 members
**Body Freedom 3 ~730 members