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.

No, no, no, Ryan Gosling

In 2007 I chose Eva Mendes to be my first Celebrity Naturist of the Year because she was already known for liking to work in her garden naked and for appearing on posters and in movies with few clothes on. Last week, we got another confirmation that she likes the naturist lifestyle.
Boyfriend Ryan Gosling says she walks around naked at home all the time. Unfortunately, the news is that he wants to stop her doing so. Why? Because when he brings friends around to the house, she doesn't cover up.
What would I do if I had a partner/wife/husband/relative at home who never covered up? Well, the simplest and most reasonable thing to do would be to call ahead and say you're bringing somebody home to visit. If she says she's not planning to cover up, then I would tell my friend that people at home are naturists, so would they be shocked or offended if they found somebody at your home not wearing clothes?
It's all so simple really. If people really are shocked, you could time visits to coincide with your naturist family member's absence, or you could just meet elsewhere, at somebody else's home, or at a restaurant.
Is Eva Mendes being rude?
I don't think so, it's her home so she can do pretty much anything that's legal. Yes, she can show respect to Ryan Gosling's friends by covering up when they're there, but a/he should let her know beforehand and b/he shouldn't be ordering her what to do.
Having a mixed household - mixed anything, whether tastes, lifestyles, or cultures - is always an affair of give and take, and the same counts when one half is naturist and the other one isn't.
I hope the actor couple can work out what is after all a small problem and not let it divide them. As to the way things are developing according to the media, my words are:
No, no, no, Ryan Gosling - Yes, yes, yes, Eva Mendes.

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.

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2011: Heidi Klum

German supermodel and Project Runway presenter Heidi Klum is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2011, but if you follow me on Twitter, you already knew that.
No, Heidi is not naked like a naturist would be in these paparazzi pictures shot last summer on a Mediterranean beach.
But like our previous Celebrity Naturists of the Year Eva Mendes, Hilary Swank and Rosario Dawson, her liking of the naturist lifestyle and her relaxed attitude to non-sexual nudity while sunbathing or in the home are well known. Having grown up in Germany might have played a crucial role in Heidi's love of nudity, because that country has one of the highest proportions of naturists in the world. All over Europe, Germans are frequent visitors of naturist beaches and resorts.
Due to her celebrity status and the prevalence of paparazzi, Heidi might find it difficult to do the same and visit those resorts, but her attitude is enough for us to select us as the 2011 Celebrity Naturist of the Year, i.e. a famous person who through her words and deeds promoted the cause of non-sexual social nudity over the past year.
Congratulations, Heidi.
You all know this blog has been through some problems, but The Nude Guru is still fully operational at http://twitter.com/thenudeguru. You also know I also selected the Real Naturists of the Year 2011. They will appear soon on this blog too.

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2010: Ali Larter

"Heroes" star Ali Larter is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2010 for daring to say she enjoys skinny-dipping and the naturist lifestyle. Actors are known for sometimes doing nude scenes in movies and for wearing little outside acting, but it doesn't happen too often you can find celebrities saying they are naturists.

Ali Larter's statement in 2010 shows that yes, famous people, famous women, with a positive image do like the naturist lifestyle of non-sexual social nudity.

Larter, who since "Heroes" starred in the thriller "Obsessed" with Beyonce and Idriss Elba and gave birth to a child, shows that naturism is mainstream, and that wanting to swim, sunbathe and do sports in the nude is a healthy proposition.

Right now, even "wholesome" star Jennifer Aniston is getting acquainted with life at naturist resorts for a role in an upcoming movie.

Our previous Celebrity Naturists of the Year include Eva Mendes, who admitted to gardening in the nude, Hilary Swank, who likes being naked at home, and Rosario Dawson, whose mother took her to a naturist beach in the New York area.

The Nude Guru will continue to promote naturism by announcing awards for the Real Naturist of the Year, honoring individuals or organizations who promoted the cause, and the Celebrity Naturist of the Year, showing that famous people enjoy naturism as well, at the end of each year.

Naturists of the Year

Ali Larter is a naturist. Ali Larter, the actress from the hit TV series Heroes. Stars have been known for appearing nude in movies, pictures and ads, but that doesn't make them naturists. In this case however, Larter said herself she was a naturist, so we can trust her, so says the web site Clothesfree International in its latest TV news about naturism.
With her declaration, Ali Larter puts herself immediately in line as a prime candidate for the title of Celebrity Naturist of the Year which will be announced about a month from now. This blog - then still under its name of Asianaturist - has announced the awards for three years in a row. Eva Mendes won in 2007 due to her avowal that she liked gardening naked, Hilary Swank in 2008 because she says walking around naked at home was no big deal, and Rosario Dawson in 2009 as she said her mother took her to naturist beaches near New York. Ali Larter should be a frontrunner for 2010, though let's not forget other celebrities who are also widely known as having taken a liking to non-sexual social nudity, including German model and Project Runway host Heidi Klum.
Each year, this blog picks the end of December to announce its awards, which also include a Real Naturist of the Year Award for someone who might not be famous but has also made contributions to the cause of naturism "on the ground" or at the grassroots level. Last year's winner of that award, by the way, was the web site ClothesFree International, where I found the Ali Larter news item.
To find the winners of the awards for 2010, visit this site again before January 1, 2011.

Nakedness is Empowering

The statement is not from a naturist, but from a celebrity, model-actress-producer Halle Berry, who by the way celebrates her 44th birthday today.
She has never been known as performing nude scenes in movies, or as being a naturist, so she's unlikely to join the ranks of the Celebrity Naturists of the Year we 'appoint' each December-January. Eva Mendes, Rosario Dawson and Hilary Swank all publicly acknowledged they like doing natural every-day things in the nude.
Halle Berry says she feels empowered when she's naked. In an article I found at the web site Showbizspy.com, she says she loves the naked female form. She's become closer to acceptance of nudity as she's getting older, she says. If the world wouldn't persecute her, she would be taking nude pictures every day of the week.
We are certainly not going to persecute her, because we welcome non-sexual nudity as one of the most powerful expressions of beauty on earth. Naturists believe you don't have to be as smashingly attractive as Halle Berry to be nude, to enjoy life in the nude and be respected as a human being.
As naturists, we welcome all celebrities and ordinary people who want to be naked because it is the most natural thing to be. Nudity in a sexual context, nudity to shock and outrage, is not naturism and will never get respect. Unfortunately, outsiders do not understand enough that there is a difference between provoking shock and natural nudity. Naturism is education about the beauty of the body.
For the full text of the article, visit http://www.showbizspy.com/article/210155/halle-berry-nakedness-is-empowering.html.

The World Heatwave

37 degrees Celsius in Taipei. 41 in Seville. 38 in Moscow. It's the world heatwave, so what do you do to fight the heat? Stay out of the sun is one solution, though in places like Taiwan, that doesn't help you much. The heat in the shade is as intense as in the sunlight.
The only other obvious method is: take your clothes off.
Even one of the most authoritative newspapers in the world, the New York Times, noticed the possibility of that solution. Writer Sloane Crosley noted the rising popularity of more public nudity in a heatwave, but concluded it would only last one summer. He also contrasted conservative dress codes in the United States to a more liberal approach in Europe. I imagine that Europe is so used to cold temperatures, that any sunshine feels like summer and therefore should be enjoyed to its fullest.
Read the New York Times article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01crosley.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=eight%20million%20bodies%20in%20the%20naked%20city&st=cse
While we're browsing the U.S. media, Fox has the reputation of being an arch-conservative media company, in other words, they are the last place you would expect to mention naturism and put it in a positive light. The article linked below gives tips to someone visiting a nude beach for the first time, and they're very useful, in particular for readers from parts of the world, like Asia, where naturist beaches are virtually non-existent.
Read, enjoy and learn:
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/07/19/hit-nude-beach/
Our former Celebrity Naturist of the Year, U.S. actress Eva Mendes, gives an interview to W Magazine, in which she also briefly touches on issues relating to nudity, if not naturism.
Read the full interview here:
http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2010/07/eva_mendes?mbid=synd_foxnews
In close, we promise you not to be too long in bringing our next post here. Why? The International Naturist Federation is holding its once-every-two-years world congress next month in Italy, and we already have some information about the topics. Come back here soon for an introduction.

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2009: Hilary Swank

Academy Award-winning U.S. actress Hilary Swank is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2009 for her healthy attitudes about non-sexual nudity, nudity in the home and sleeping in the nude.

The Oscar-winner for "Boys Don't Cry" and Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" caused a wave of admiration in the international naturist community the past year by giving just one interview to the American version of Marie Claire.

You can read the full text at the link below, but Swank basically said it was normal for anybody to be sleeping in the nude - a practice that has won supporters worldwide without much acclaim or uproar - and that there was no problem with her partner's young child seeing her naked by accident since he was at an age children thought nothing of that.

Even though we have no evidence that Swank lives a full naturist lifestyle - enjoying sports, swimming and sunbathing in the nude and seeing non-sexual nudity as healthy - her statements to the magazine show she has the right attitude.

Hilary Swank's words earned her the right to follow in the footsteps of Eva Mendes in 2007 - for admitting she liked gardening in the nude - and Rosario Dawson in 2008 - for saying her mother took her to naturist beaches. Hilary Swank may or may not be a naturist, and because of her celebrity status might not be willing to admit it, but her comments have benefited the naturist cause, and that's enough for her to win the Asianaturist blog's Celebrity Naturist of the Year Award for 2009.

The winner for the Real Naturist of the Year Award for 2009 was the ClothesFree International team for its web site, TV news shows and forums about naturism.

You can find Hilary Swank's interview with Marie Claire at http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/celebrities/hilary-swank-interview?click=pp.

Coming Up: Naturists of the Year 2009

Remember Eva Mendes and Rosario Dawson?
They were my previous naturists of the year for my celebrity category anyway. At the end of each year I announce the winners of the Naturist of the Year Awards on this blog. This year I'll be a little bit later than usual, but do not despair.
I have divided the awards into two categories, the Celebrity Naturist of the Year and the Real Naturist of the Year. 'Real' because it's difficult to find a celebrity willing to admit he or she is really naturist. Their nude activities are often limited.
In 2007 I picked Eva Mendes for her love of nude gardening, in 2008 Rosario Dawson because she said her mother took her to a nude beach in New York when she was younger. I have no idea whether they still are real naturists, but they wouldn't appear on your average naturist beach now because all the paparazzi would follow them there as well.
My real naturists in 2007 were a British couple who left their comfortable lives behind to open a naturist hotel on a Greek island, that's my kind of dream, really. In 2008 I chose Taiwanese writer Pan Ying-hua for her book about her own naturist experiences, illustrated with numerous pictures of her and her friends putting naturism into practice on Taiwanese beaches. A courageous thing to do, both the beach naturism and the publishing of the book.
For this year - well, it wouldn't be a surprise if I revealed the winners today, but I have my mind already made up. Within the next few day, I will announce the winner/winners of the Real Naturist of the Year Award for 2009 first. It can be an individual, a couple or a group, but they must be involved in 'real' naturism. The winner of the Celebrity Naturist of the Year Award for 2009 will follow over the coming weekend, also on this blog. So keep looking. The answers will be there soon. The envelopes are ready.

Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2008: Rosario Dawson

Hispanic-American actress Rosario Dawson is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2008 for her recent admission that she grew up being taken by her mother to a naturist beach in the New York area.
In a magazine interview, the 29-year-old “Seven Pounds” actress said her mother's extrovert nature made her proud of her body. She rejects the thought that people should feel ashamed or weird about something as beautiful and natural as the human body. That is the basic philosophy of all naturists worldwide, and therefore Rosario Dawson is named as the Celebrity Naturist of the Year, an award which does not include a prize or money, but names a famous person who has contributed positively to the image of naturism.
Rosario Dawson worked with numerous directors throughout her career, including Spike Lee on “He Got Game” and Oliver Stone on “Alexander.” She also appeared in a wide variety of genres, from quirky independent productions to action blockbusters like “Eagle Eye” and “The Rundown” to the musical “Rent” to the graphic novel-based “Sin City.” She also appeared in the experimental web-TV series “The Gemini Division.”
In addition to being an experienced actress, Rosario Dawson also devotes time and energy to numerous humanitarian causes, like the fights against domestic violence, poverty and AIDS, showing she is not only a star of the entertainment world, but also a star of the real world.
You can find more information about Rosario Dawson at http://www.rosario-dawson.net/ and at the official sites of her movies, including http://www.geminidivision.com/. You can read the report that brought her naturist experiences to this blog's attention on the link list on the right, by clicking on Rosario Dawson on Naturism.
The first Celebrity Naturist of the Year Award, announced in December 2007, went to Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes, the star of the current movie “The Spirit.”

Naturists of the Year 2008?

Time Magazine just published its new issue, with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on the cover as its Person of the Year.

That reminds me that it's soon time to announce my own choices for Naturist of the Year for the past year, 2008.

Last year, I picked Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes as the Celebrity Naturist of the Year, mainly because of her work on the poster for animal action group PETA and for her known liking for gardening in the nude.

Mark and Samantha Taylor from the United Kingdom were my Real Naturists of the Year 2007, because they realized their dream by leaving behind a comfortable existence in their own country to go and start up a naturist resort on a small Greek island. Sounds like paradise to any naturist, but it must have been hard work.

Over the next few weeks I will be evaluating the likely candidates for this year's "awards," which as you know are merely the honor of being mentioned on this web site. There is no money attached, no work of art, no medal. But if it can start a movement, help spread the word of naturism around the Internet and around the world, why not.