No shy people please! Why Naturism should
experience a revival, especially among young
people, and what the sight of “leathery, flabby”
buttocks can do for our own body feeling.
The first time always costs a lot of overcoming.
I still know how, suddenly, I felt completely dif–
ferent when I saw the panel with the inscription
“Naturism” on the way to the “Dechantlacke” in
the “Lobau” (Austria). The idea of taking off my
clothes in front of many strangers turned into an
embarrassing nightmare in my mind’s eye. My
boyfriend at that time, who had a hippie mother
and who was a true naturist fan, persuaded me
to try it at least once. Maybe it was my educa–
tion that initially got in my way. In my family
nudity always was a taboo. And, even if that had
not been the case: of course, visiting a naturist
site is not for everyone. Although Vienna and
naturism have a special relationship.
NATURISM AS A
REALITY-CHECK
That among the usual naturist visitors one finds
mainly elder people, quickly got also clear to
me on my first visit at the Dechantlacke. Me–
anwhile that is four years ago. Today I can say:
nude bathing is getting popular again among
young people. It seems to me that during the
years I regularly do it, more and more people
of my age are nude at those places. But that
varies from bathing place to bathing place, as
well as that it depends on the weekday of the
visit which kind of clientele one may encounter.
I still know that at my first visit there also was
a group of students who had settled directly on
the water. They were all as talkative as they were
naked. One of them was plucking a guitar. Then,
slowly, as I myself also dropped one garment
after the other, I felt more and more comfor–
table. Somehow it reassured me that so many
elder people were around us, because seeing
how “real” bodies look alike had put me back to
reality. With the whole #Insta madness and the
filter-optimized bodies one sees every day in the
network, you actually lose the connection to rea–
lity. Perhaps naturism is the ideal counter-blow
to all these rigorous expectations of our bodies
and an instrument with which one can take ac–
tion against the oversexualization – especially of
the female body.
Those people one can see on the lawn are not
Hollywood actors, fitness bloggers or – if you like
Naturism? For sure!

 But normal people, like you and
me. Some of them had a bit more on their hips,
others were completely hairy or looked ten years
older, because their skin was already so strongly
tanned by the sun. The categories of beauty in
naturism are different from that outside. Beauty
does not mean to have the hottest, fitness-trai–
ned body, or the most fashionable swimsuit. It
is much nicer to see how such bathers enjoy the
water and the sun on their bare skin, or how a
group of students relax by the water, eating and
reading.
THE FIRST RULE:
THOU SHALT NOT GAPE!
Laura is 28 years old and still remembers her
first naturist bathing day. She was 17 at that time
and had accompanied her older sister and a few
friends to the Lobau. Nudity was quite normal in
her parents’ house. She grew up in a house with
a garden, where here mother used to sunbath
topless during summertime. “At the beginning,
being nude at the Dechantlacke was quite normal
to me. But soon I noticed an elderly man who
stared at me. Only then it got very unpleasant to
me”, she says. This unspoken, number-one rule
in the naturist world was broken: Thou shalt not
gape.
Although this rule is so obvious, one can never
be sure that all people will comply. In the extre–
me case, the counter-action always helps: “Why
do you look that stupidly? “ Most gapers feel
caught in this confrontation and, embarrassed,
look away.

LIVE AND LET LIVE
“If you do not make a big deal out if nudity, you
are on the safe side”, Laura knows. There are
some bathing places in Vienna that are so to say
unofficially-officially open for nude bathing. The–
se include, in addition to the Dechantlacke, one
side of the “Ziegelteich”, or some sections of the
“Donauinsel”. During my research, I came across
one question for which the opinions differed a lot.
Do we really have to be totally naked at a naturist
site if this is not a regulated nude zone? In other
words: Is it really mandatory, for example at the
recreation area in the Ziegelteich, to pull down
clothes, if this is not being checked?
Laura has a clear opinion to that: “I feel bad and
being observed, if someone comes to the naturist
bathing place who does not undress. For that,
you can simply go to another place for bathing,
where you have to wear clothes. I know many
people who would not even undress in a sauna
if that would not be mandatory. But for naturism,
this should always be valid.
Markus is 33 years old and from time to time
visits a naturist bathing place in Vienna. There is
a designated naturist zone in the “Gänsehäufel”
where everybody must undress – that simply is
the rule there. But in the Lobau I do not need to
undress. I think that should be up to you whether
you want to be naked or not. Personally I prefer
to keep my swimsuit in the Lobau, because I just
feel better there.” Laura as well as Markus seem
to be right, out of various reasons.
At the end, the incredibly good feeling of the cool
wetness and the hot sun on the skin wins – wit–
hout the annoying synthetic material. That way
nude bathing is also a sustainable affair for the
environment. So, what are you waiting for?
LE BETULLE Vill