It may have been having children (and everything connected with giving birth) that began to change how I felt about my body and my attitude to wearing clothes. Whether it was the realisation that my body had achieved so much more than just being my physical self, the time constraints caused by new-born twins, or a combination of both, I became more accepting of how I looked, and less concerned about how other people thought I looked. Whatever the cause, it led to my spending more time at home without clothes, and for the next four years that’s as close to being a Naturist as I came.
Then my husband Stephen heard a plea on Radio 2 for volunteers to take part in the Sea of Hull photographic installation to commemorate Hull being the City of Culture in 2017. He mentioned it quite flippantly, but I love art, and he knows I am often up for things that are unusual! I signed up online to be one of 3000 people who would be photographed by Spencer Tunick, wearing only blue body paint and, representing the water that is so important to Hull’s history.
My mum also agreed to put her name down, which wasn’t a particularly big deal because we never expected to be invited to take part, but to my surprise a few weeks later, the two of us were stood in a park in Hull at 5:00 am, holding a tub of blue paint and expected to get undressed in the presence of a crowd of strangers. We nearly bottled out, but mustered the courage to join in, and it didn’t take long for it to feel like the most natural thing in the world. Once everyone was naked it was fantastic and like being part of a special club. One of the photographs of the event now has pride of place in our living room.
By this time our twin daughters were four years old and had absolutely no inhibitions about their appearance—whether wearing clothes or not—and I felt that showing them what I had taken part in would hopefully give them an appreciation of what is possible and the realities of human bodies as they age.
Save for one visit to Eastney beach in Portsmouth—Stephen was hesitant, but joined in when he saw how confident and comfortable I was—I didn’t have any more Naturist opportunities until I saw the Great British Skinny Dip advertised in 2019. I decided to go along to Little Barbrook Reservoir, taking my husband, daughters and one-year old son along. It took me a few minutes to muster up the courage again, but once in the water I had a great time, and that, seemingly combined with feeling awkward about being the only person still wearing clothes, convinced Stephen to join me in the water.
Each time Stephen was growing a little more in confidence. With the occasional exception, had spent our daughters’ childhood being very conservative about what he wore in their presence, but the combination of my attitude to being undressed, and the realisation that our girls’ first sighting of a naked male body might be on a phone screen in circumstances that no parent would choose, led him to re- evaluate his views and with that, he began to come around to my way of thinking.
Between lockdowns in the summer of 2020, we made it to the south coast and visited the Naturist beach at Budleigh Salterton. Another Naturist spoke to me while we were there and I couldn’t help thinking there was something quite surreal about being stood outside, talking to a stranger, while both of us were completely naked – something that quite a few people would shriek at just the notion of, but I found being on the beach completely exhilarating and like nothing else. When it was time to leave, I was loathe to have to have to get dressed to walk back to the car park!
I’d heard of a Naturist swim that takes place locally, at Edwinstowe. I was keen to go, but not on my own. Mum— and Dad— were up for it. Stephen’s fear of missing out convinced him too! I also discovered that children were welcome and able to wear their swimsuits. They loved their first visit and I was content that they were seeing that happiness doesn’t rely on the naked human body resembling something out of a magazine. One-by-one, however, they have decided that swimwear isn’t necessary —if there’s even a small chance that they will grow up without being hung-up about their appearance, we would consider it to be an achievement. Mum and Dad also plan on coming again. They were a little hesitant at first, more so my Mum as she is very self conscious of the psoriasis that covers her whole body, but soon they were comfortable and enjoying the swim. My mum realised no one was judging her on how she looked. It was whilst at the swim we learned about British Naturism and decided to join. We’ve never looked back!
When telling friends about my Naturist experiences, the responses I’ve received have been invariably in the form of, ‘There’s absolutely no way that I could do that’, to which I feel a mixture of pride that I can do that, but also sadness that they feel that way. I hope to be able to convince more people to give it a go. I’m confident once they’ve tried it they won’t look back either.
Emma Farrell