Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2014: Scout Willis

There are moments in a person's life when you stop being seen as the son or daughter of your parents. Young people today no doubt think of Stella McCartney as a designer, and not necessarily as the daughter of Paul McCartney.
That moment happened this year for Scout Willis, yes, a daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
She put a picture on Instagram showing a piece of clothing with an image of two topless women. It got the photo removed. So instead of doing what most of us would do, swear at Instagram and do nothing, Scout Willis took action.
She walked down a New York street topless. While that might have gotten her arrested in any other town or country, in New York toplessness for women is legal. Bear witness to that a club of young women who go reading topless in parks. The difference here is that somebody famous actually benefited from that right and showed how silly Instagram's ban on topless women was.
Topless used to be something for women on holiday on Mediterranean beaches, but it has since vastly expanded to nearly all beaches in Europe, if not much beyond yet.
While running around topless in a city center is not naturism, it could be said to be the frontline of non-sexual social nudity. If the weather is hot, people should dress appropriately. No woman is going to walk around topless when there is snow on the ground, but if temperatures are high and humid, why not?
Topless activists also see a feminist and human rights dimension. If men can take off their tops to enjoy the sunshine, why are women not allowed to?
Last year, Lina Esco was named Celebrity Naturist of the Year because of her efforts to make a movie about toplessness, the product of which, Free the Nipple, recently appeared on US cinema screens.
Chelsea Handler made the news not once, but twice this year, first with her Putin 'imitation' and just ahead of my selection for Celebrity Naturist of the Year with a topless winter picture.
Topless activists are going to be around for some time, and I hope they are going to be the likes of Scout Willis, Lina Esco and Chelsea Handler rather than Femen. A member of that group recently attacked a Christmas stall and appeared inside Vatican City, but such actions are merely political provocation and do not benefit topfreedom or naturism, quite the contrary.
What we need is not violence, but the beautiful side of toplessness, such as breastfeeding, sunbathing and shopping.
Scout Willis pointed out the way to go, and her debate with Instagram can also be extended to other social media including Facebook.
For her efforts on behalf of the right of women to be topless when they choose, I named Scout Willis as the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2014.
For her own comments and for the picture that got banned by Instagram, read this: http://www.xojane.com/issues/scout-willis-topless-instagram-protest

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2013: Lina Esco

Lina Esco of Free the Nipple is The Nude Guru's Celebrity of the Year 2013.
Her campaign and her movie have the potential to move the acceptance of non-sexual nudity forward by one huge step. As she explains at www.freethenipple.com, women in New York have been legally allowed to walk around topfree since 1992, but in 37 US states, even topless bathing on beaches is still banned, decades after the practice became commonplace in most European countries.
Lina Esco is a producer, director and actress. Her first TV appearance was in an episode of CSI: New York, her best known work is The Cove, a movie about the killing of dolphins in Japan. Free the Nipple is also a movie, but in order to make it work and have the end product shown on screens across the US, she turned to crowdfunding at Fund Anything.
As on previous occasions, some readers might point out that Lina Esco might not be a naturist, and that walking around New York topless is not naturism. That's right, but achieving the aims that Lina Esco has set, will be taking society one huge step closer to the acceptance of naturism, i.e. non-sexual social nudity.
Previous Celebrity Naturists of the Year have included Eva Mendes, a prominent 'home nudist,' Rosario Dawson, who visited naturist beaches, and last year Chelsea Handler and Sandra Bullock for their nude shower scene, which afterward proved to have been less nude than might have been.
As you can judge from my previous posts, topless equality or topfreedom has been a major topic in 2013. The Rael religious group held its annual international Go Topless Day in late August. Although I do not oppose religion, I have the average European's traditional suspicion of cults and sects and that held me back from picking the organizers of the day as my choice. Another interesting group, Topless Equality, with activists as far away as Hawaii, vanished off the radar before the end of the year. Yet another active movement, centered on New York, is the group of coeds which holds topless book readings in the city's parks.
My biggest initial doubt about Free the Nipple was provoked by one of its supporters. Over the past year, Miley Cyrus has been anything but a symbol for wholesome nudity or for naturism, which is why I first hesitated. Her name recognition will lend the cause some popularity, but I did conclude that Free the Nipple and Lina Esco are honest about their intentions. The campaign is not about Miley, it's about allowing women everywhere to enjoy the sunshine, swimming, and the basic freedom of wearing what you want.
That is the main reason why I think Lina Esco should be this year's celebrity naturist.
You can read more about her campaign at www.freethenipple.com.

Celebrity Naturists of the Year 2012: Sandra Bullock and Chelsea Handler

http://bit.ly/YdpgPy
That is the short and irreverent piece of film which allowed Hollywood star Sandra Bullock and TV host Chelsea Handler to win the accolade of Celebrity Naturists of the Year 2012.
Are they naturists? Probably not. Is taking a shower naked a naturist thing? No, it's everybody's thing. The difference is: they talked together naked in the shower, even if just for a skit, and it got broadcast without being labeled a wardrobe malfunction. It still got covered by blurry 'mosaics' to prevent an outcry, even though we naturists would not do so.
Nevertheless, we believe Sandra Bullock and Chelsea Handler, through the shooting of this minimovie and its broadcasting during the talk show Chelsea Lately, sent out a message that nudity on television should not be as offensive as some people think.
Nudity is beautiful if it comes with respect for the human body. Nudity is part of us, and even religious people who do not like nudity have to admit that humans received their body from God, so where is the problem?
Sandra Bullock and Chelsea Handler join the series of famous people including Eva Mendes, Rosario Dawson, Hilary Swank and Heidi Klum to be named Celebrity Naturist of the Year. Some of them are true naturists, some of them aren't, but they all, one way or another, knowingly or unknowingly, promoted the cause of naturism, of being naked in public without meaning to offend or insult.
Have you noticed how all our Celebrity Naturists of the Year have been women so far? Spencer Tunick of course is a strong frontrunner every year and will eventually win the prize, but we feel that because barriers to naturism in our society are higher for women, it is important to find female role models who point the way.
Congratulations to Sandra Bullock and Chelsea Handler for their Celebrity Naturists of the Year Award for 2012.