Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2015: Spencer Tunick

The Celebrity Naturist of the Year is a person who might never have visited a nude beach or a naturist resort.
But that's not the point. The point is that through his or her actions or words, he either actively or unwittingly helped promote the cause of naturism, i.e. non-sexual social nudity.
For the first time since I started announcing these awards, the winner of the Celebrity Naturist of the Year Award is a man: Spencer Tunick, the photographer famous for his mass nude ensembles of people, standing or lying anywhere in a landscape from the Dead Sea to a glacier to the Sydney Opera House.
Standing around naked on a street is not naturism in it self, but Tunick's work has helped to popularize non-sexual nudity. It has helped other people - "textiles," in the naturist language - see nudity as something natural, ordinary, common, acceptable, artistic and beautiful.
We were all born naked, and Spencer Tunick's work has brought the humanity and naturalness of nudity closer to daily life.
While naturists prefer to live together on beaches, in resorts and hotels separate from textiles, Spencer Tunick has brought us closer to a world where it doesn't matter whether you wear clothes or not in your daily life. Thanks to his work, you can imagine a world, a city, an environment, where some people were clothes and some do not, all living together without surprise or shock at each other.
The 48-year-old New Yorker (49-year-old, if you're reading this in 2016) can be compared to the Go Topless or Free the Nipple movement started by Lina Esco, a previous Celebrity Naturist of the Year. Not a naturist either, but a person generalizing the innocence of public nudity and breaking the link, still present in too many minds, that nudity equals sex.
A naturist who lives away from naturist resorts and nude beaches can still get a flavor of the lifestyle by volunteering for a Spencer Tunick shoot. That's on my bucket list.
www.spencertunick.com

The Summer of 2012

Welcome to the Summer of 2012.
So far, a scorcher if you live in the United States, Mediterranean Europe or Taiwan and Southern China. A bleak April-like washout if you live in Great Britain, Western Europe and, I believe, Japan.
I hope the picture from a Club Orient ad at least makes you dream of being at a naturist resort, even though because of circumstances beyond your control, such as the weather, you are unable to be there in person and body.
I'm in a part of Asia now where daily temperatures climb to 38 degrees Celsius. While sounding great to naturists in other parts of the world, this kind of heat actually chases people away from the open into dark rooms where the air conditioning rules. It's just too hot outside, and staying in the sun for just a short while might have undesired effects.
Despite that warning, hundreds of young people have been getting out to beach festivals and enjoy music and sea in various stages of undress, but not complete nudity. That might change, if we have to believe a recent report in the local media.
Taiwan is considering planning its first-ever nude beach. I use the words 'consider' and 'plan,' because we've heard this kind of story many times before. Everyone's aware that there are nude beaches in the West, but hardly anybody in Taiwan has ever seen them. In a country where even women in bikinis make TV news, it will be hard for a nude beach to give naturists the privacy they need from gawkers, Peeping Toms and cell phone cameras. The politician in charge of the Tainan area in Southern Taiwan where a stretch of the Masago Beach might go naturist points out correctly that there might be more gawkers than actual bathers.
That's why, in a country like Taiwan, I would much prefer a closed-off beach, where outsiders can't enter or pass by, and where only real nudists can move in and enjoy their days naked.
Nevertheless, even the fact that such a beach is being suggested, is a major step forward. One of the arguments of the proponents is financial, that the nude beach will bring more people to stay and consume. This argument shows that even the brighter minds around know about the economic effects of naturism. More naturism means more guests, more spending, more tourism funding, more income for the local economy.
I hope that nude beach will come to Tainan, but I know it's going to be a long struggle, with all kinds of arguments against from what is basically still a very conservative society when it comes to nudity. Breasts and other body parts in foreign movies or news reports about events like the World Naked Bike Ride are still blurred by 'mosaics' on Taiwan TV, and commercials for cosmetics or soaps barely show any nudity. As I said, even bikinis - commonplace in Europe for 40 years - are still a news item here, with young women venturing on to the beach and into the water wearing T-shirts and sometimes even long frilly dresses.
Luckily, there is a more international, younger, freer generation coming about. They don't mind showing their bodies, they are not afraid of more nudity, some of them are even open to joining naturist groups which so far only organize events like karaoke nights at hotels or hikes in remote mountain areas.
I can only hope that the summer of 2012 will be remembered for the first steps in the direction of Taiwan's first-ever naturist beach. Which could be an Asian first as well.
The media story about the Tainan nude beach proposal is here: http://bit.ly/OG3OxV

Real Naturists of the Year 2011: Rong-rong and Ah-One

The Real Naturists of the Year Award each year goes to true naturists, i.e. people who not just speak about naturism, but also live it in their daily lives and promote it to the general public. For the past year's winners, we only know their pseudonyms, because they live in a country where public nudity is not welcomed, where there are no nude beaches and no naturist resorts, and where even women in bikini are still something to talk or snigger about.
Taiwan is one of Asia's most modern and wealthiest countries, but general attitudes about nudity still need some work. And that's where Rong-rong and Ah-One come in. They are a couple employed in the island's high-profile high-technology industry.
Over the past few months, they have worked hard at building up a naturist community. First of all on their blog, which you find at http://bit.ly/xkAM5d, has daily updates with Rong-rong answering questions from the public - mostly Taiwanese unaware and suspicious of naturism, but also a growing circle of friends and sympathizers.
Apart from the daily blog updates, Rong-rong and Ah-One have been instrumental in organizing monthly naturist get-togethers - at the immensely popular karaoke clubs or KTVs as they are known in Taiwan, at hot springs, at motels and hotels. Each month, she manages to invite about 20 naturists and newcomers for an introduction to social non-sexual nudity.
In addition to that, Rong-rong and Ah-One also have more limited naturist meetings with one couple at a time. They are invited to their homes, sometimes as far away as Central or Southern Taiwan, and spend a naturist day with them, eating, talking, sharing naturist experiences.
Last year, Next Magazine got wind of their activities, visited them, and reported about one of their meetings on its frontpage. While the magazine has a certain sensationalist reputation, this time its reporting was respectful. The result was that their blog received a sharp increase in visitors.
For working hard on the establishment of a naturist community and naturist culture in Taiwan, The Nude Guru gives its Real Naturists of the Year 2011 Award to Rong-rong and Ah-One.

Taiwan Naturist Group Revealed by Media

Taiwan is one of those countries where naturism happens out of view. Stringent laws on public nudity bar the opening of free nude beaches and the operation of naturist resorts. That's why for several years now, local naturists have taken to the Internet and to private hotels and homes to live out their lifestyle. At certain intervals, the local media get wind of it and publish a report.
Last week, that moment came again when weekly magazine Next revealed the existence of an Internet-based naturist group which held nude events at motels around the country.

The two originators are a couple of 30-something engineers in Taiwan's world-class electronics industry who also find time to run a naturist blog. Next sent a reporting team over to one of the couple's latest nude days, held at a motel inside a technology zone equipped with a swimming pool and a karaoke lounge.

As is the case in most of these Taiwanese media reports, the magazine emphasized the diversity of the public at a naturist event.

Next introduced a former radio DJ who gave up his career to live in the green Ilan countryside, where he was able to work the land and water the flowers completely naked with hardly any interference from neighboring farmers. Another participant was a police officer who first discovered naturism when he infiltrated a nudist group looking for prostitution. Instead of crime, he found a new lifestyle which he liked so much his wife also joined in. Another participant in the latest nude day was a 50-something man whose wife however was too suspicious of his activities to let him join alone. She was present at the nude day, but stayed dressed and separate in order to 'supervise' her husband.

The Next team interviewed the organizers, known as Rong-rong and A-Wan. They used to join other nudist groups before they launched their own. They meet potential new members through their blog - the site URL follows further down - and screen them, i.e. they set up a face-to-face meeting with the person requesting membership. Anyone showing improper behavior is refused further participation. The Next team noted no improprieties, though it showed concern for a woman member - the police officer's wife - who had drunk too much and attracted too much attention from single male participants.

The latest group of naturists first met outside a convenience store in the technology zone, where they paid about 30 US dollars each, and then entered the motel for a day of swimming, chatting, bathing, eating and singing. The whole group counted 24 members, men and women, including six couples, the report said.

Next also mentions that Taiwan's laws against nudity are not valid when people are together naked out of sight from the public, i.e. inside homes or hotels. For the time being, no change is on the cards, and nude beaches will be hard to accept in a country with a strong sensationalist media, a conservative attitude toward the human body, and no tradition of sunbathing and suntans.

The blog where Rong-rong and A-Wan recruit new members and publish their naturist activities is at http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!N3iFwWyeER7J1uNUQhgxcw--/guestbook?page=10

Nudity and the Mercedes

A woman standing on a beach, facing the sea. She takes off her blouse and runs naked into the water. We see the car she drove to the beach, the Mercedes GLK, a 'small' SUV. That is the content of a new car ad now showing on television in some Asian countries. As we have come to expect in Asia, the ad doesn't show any obvious nudity, but more the suggestion of such. Yet, it is the most beautiful and touching ad to have appeared on Asian TV screens for a while.
Frontal nudity in East Asia is generally covered by a 'mosaic' - whether it be a scene in a Hollywood or European movie, or a news report about a nude protest or a new naturist beach.
Unfortunately, the advertising world in Asia often has a warped view of the use of naked bodies. While in Europe, almost everybody grows up with pictures of nude people promoting relevant products such as soap, cosmetics and underwear, in Asia, the female body is there to be exploited - to sell bikes, furniture, real estate, rooms at seedy motels. Too often, the commercials and posters are obviously cheap - cheap in style, cheap in budget, cheap in exploiting women for purposes of titillation.
Fortunately, the Mercedes commercial is none of that. I have no idea where it was shot, when it was made and who was behind the concept, but despite promoting a car - an object unrelated to nudity - it is tender, touching and makes you feel good about your body and about the beach. I hope the commercial will be a first step toward what I would call 'responsible nudity' on TV.
Mercedes Taiwan posted the ad on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MercedesBenzTw
For a positive use of total nudity in advertising, watch this commercial - famous in naturist circles - from skincare company Elave. It shows complete frontal male and female nudity, yet it is sensitive and totally acceptable. We have some way to go before we see commercials like that on television, especially in Asia.
Visit http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1xy9f_elave_nothing_to_hide_ads

The Nude Guru

Asianaturist has tried for six years to report about naturism in Asia in general and Taiwan in particular, while trying to promote the practice of healthy non-sexual social nudity in the region.

Since naturism is still banned in most countries in the area and news about naturism in the region is few and farbetween - despite recent positive developments in Thailand and Malaysia - I have decided that the blog has served its purpose and a new approach is necessary.

The Nude Guru will continue on the same lines as the Asianaturist blog but on a global scale. We already brought you reports about naturism in Italy and other places, and brought you the Real Naturist of the Year and Celebrity Naturist of the Year Awards without any obvious Asian connection.

The new line will follow all that's good and bad about the naturist world and discuss it with you here and on Twitter. Free beaches, nude yoga, World Naked Bike Ride, Spencer Tunick's mass nude art, public breastfeeding and breast cancer, everything will find its place here, as long as it is related to healthy naturism. As on other naturist sites, if you are looking for exhibitionism and pornography, this will not be the place to visit.

The Nude Guru wishes you a warm naturist winter and looks forward to sharing naturism with you here on this blog and at http://twitter.com/thenudeguru.

Nude Arts Model in Taiwan

Who thought it could be possible? A nude arts model in Taiwan, children happy to make drawings of her, and above all: fair media reporting without the sensation, the titillation, and the remarks that it could harm children.
The model in question is no stranger to the cause of non-sexual nudity in Taiwan: Juan Jen-chu is a 50-something woman who sells food at a stall in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city. In her own time, she stages performance art, an activity which got her noted before because she performed in the nude at an arts center. She also turned up in my blog earlier this year because it was she who suggested the launch of a "naturist passport" as the start of a campaign to win the legalization of naturism in the country.
Her modeling took place at a university in Kaohsiung over the weekend, but the target audience was not the campus, but a wide variety of people interested in painting and drawing. Juan stood naked next to a plaster version of her own nude self while the public drew and painted her, and media camera teams swarmed all over the place.
Some of the artists were children, and they gave, by Taiwanese standards, the most mature comments: they said they were used to seeing "granny" in the nude because they had already participated in earlier classes, and they thought nothing wrong of her nudity.
The comments and the treatment of the modeling by the media was refreshing for a country where naturism is still banned, where there is no topless bathing, and where even bikinis get attention on nationwide TV as if they're something revolutionary.
Juan's action and the public's reaction are a positive step for the recognition of non-sexual nudity and the accepting of the human body as it is, with all its flaws and shortcomings. While Juan posed as a model for this artistic event, she is no 'model' in the sense of a supermodel, she has the normal body you would expect for a Taiwanese 50-year-old shopkeeper. I'm sure we will hear from Juan Jen-chu again soon.

Modesty Taiwan

Taiwan model agency Elite was asked to supply a picture for the promotion of a new local Yahoo-related online TV show featuring its models. So what it did was gather around 11 of its models - some of them household names in Taiwan through coverage in the entertainment press - and drape them in textiles. The models were technically nude, even though not a nipple was shown.

Yet, even that was too much for the online broadcaster, who refused the use the original picture. Elite let it know it was annoyed because the whole shoot took up five hours and had been difficult to arrange in the first place. The models themselves also expressed disappointment, the Taiwanese press said. As a result, Elite recalled all the models and had them do a shoot wearing white blouses and black skirts or pants. We'll spare you that picture, but instead we'll show you the original from Elite.

Even though Taiwan does have its naturists, they're still a long way from becoming mainstream.

Breastfeeding Revolution in Taiwan (2)

This blog told you in January that the government had approved a decision to legalize breastfeeding in public and to outfit major "destinations" with breastfeeding rooms. Well, the decision just moved one step in the right direction Monday when Taiwan's notorious Legislative Yuan - more often making international headlines for its large-scale fights - approved the first stage of the law.
According to the proposal, not only will women be allowed to breastfeed anywhere they please, but there will also be fines for anyone trying to prevent them from doing so.
As to the locations required to install breastfeeding rooms, they include government offices and state-run businesses beginning from a surface of 500 square meters, stations, airports and other transportation centers from 1,000 square meters, and department stores, supermarkets and shopping malls from 10,000 square meters. At least some stations on Taipei's modern Mass Rapid Transit (subway) system already have them.
On the same day as the proposal passed, Taiwan's media reported about an attractive 22-year-old mother who posted her breastfeeding pictures on her blog. She told TV interviewers that the first time she breastfed in public, there were worried reactions, but later nobody made any objections. She now realizes that breastfeeding in public is the most natural thing to do. By posting the pictures on her blog, she wants to encourage young mothers to follow the healthy practice.
No doubt to be continued when the Legislative Yuan goes for the third and final reading of the law.

Taiwan's Naturist Passport

A Taiwanese performance artist has launched a "naturist passport" in the hope of rallying enough support for a demonstration calling for nude beaches on the island.
The story was frontpage news Saturday in the China Times, one of Taiwan's four main Chinese-language daily newspapers, and also made it on to the 24-hour television news stations.
In a frontpage picture, female performance artist Juan Jen-chu posed with a huge copy of what looked like your average Taiwanese identity card, with the national flag in one corner, but with a picture that obviously showed she wasn't wearing much clothes during the photo shoot. The passport bore the number 001, while a 70-year-old man who returned from Canada has the 002 passport.
Three articles inside the paper expanded on Juan's ideas and on the subject of naturism in Taiwan, a densely populated island of 23 million people with nevertheless still some beautiful remote sceneries and small islands. Juan gained national fame when she posed nude at a public arts festival in the southern city of Kaohsiung as part of a performance. Naturists in Taiwan are being treated like gays, she says, people respect their rights but prefer not to have one in the family. She would like to recruit "hundreds" of people to apply for the passport and hold a march for the legalization of nude beaches. Under present Taiwanese law, all public nudity is being treated as obscene and can result in legal action. Another naturist activist has declared the last Sunday of each August as "Taiwan Naturist Day," but so far without large publicity.
Most of present naturist activities take place inside small hotels and bed & breakfast places in the mountainous central county of Nantou, in sparsely populated Taitung on the southeast coast, and in the Penghu archipelago half way between Taiwan's main island and China. The country counts about three web sites dedicated to naturism, with four or five independent naturist groups with a total of 200 to 300 people, according to the China Times.
Like on all other fronts, Taiwan also makes contacts with China on the naturism front. One of the top supporters of naturism in the communist country, Fang Gang, reportedly visited Taiwan to learn from its modest experience with naturism. Fang wants an island in southern Guangdong Province, the Zhuhai Temple Bay Island near Macau, to set up a naturist beach.
As to Taiwan, Penghu once considered the possibility of a naturist beach. The islands - mostly famous for being mentioned in the movie "Spy Games" with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford - have taken a more conservative turn, the China Times reports. On the contrary, Taitung County has some supporters. The current county government chief secretary, Chen Chin-hu, says the region is extremely well suited to host relaxing and environmentally friendly activities. As long as the law is respected, he sees no problem with setting up special naturist areas in either the mountains or on the coast. County council member Huang Chiu-tsai once mentioned a special naturist area as a way to promote tourism to the region.
Two private naturist groups reportedly visit Taitung four or five times a year, a hotel owner told the paper. Such activities can be healthy, natural and legal, he concludes in the China Times report.

Taiwan's Glory in Sydney

Only yesterday, I wrote about the latest Spencer Tunick mass nude event in Sydney, hoping the same thing would be possible in Asia.
Just one day later, the omnipresent Taiwanese media found out that among the 5,200-strong crowd, there was one Taiwanese present.
In the front row in Sydney was a male Ph.D. student from the southern city of Kaohsiung, Lo Ching-yao. Not only did TV station TVBS identify him, it also tracked him down for a short interview.
Lo said the event was unique and a once-in-a-lifetime experience he just had to go for. At first, he was nervous, but as he saw the Australians around him take off their clothes without any hesitation, he already felt more comfortable. Lo said his sister approved of his decision to participate.
Even more interesting, Lo uttered the suggestion that the same kind of event could be staged in Taiwan itself. A proposal we fully support.
Lo's appearance in Sydney earned him the nickname of "Taiwan's Glory" or "Taiwan zhi Guang," an appellation used for all Taiwanese who become famous overseas, particularly in sports, but also a pun, since the Chinese word "guang" can also mean "naked."

45 Years of Naturism in Italy

There's little nude news going on in Asia or Taiwan, apart from the fact that Taiwanese model Lin Chia-chi, also known as Patina Lin, recorded a commercial for computer games while wearing nothing but gold liquid, if we believe local television reports. On TV, it looked more like she was wearing a golden bra.

Anyway, I received another issue of the Italian naturist association magazine Info Naturista, and this time it tells of the 45th anniversary of the organized naturist movement in the Mediterranean country.

While Italy is known around the world for its sunshine, its brilliant cuisine and its many beaches on one of the world's most beautiful seas, naturism unfortunately has not had an easy time.

A group of Italians first became aware of naturism in the early 1960s by visiting the famours Ile du Levant off France's Cote d'Azur, an island wellknown even to non-naturists. Later, they traveled to Corsica before deciding to set up a movement of their own in Italy. Only, when it was founded in 1964, the first Italian naturist organization actually put its headquarters in ... Zurich, in neighboring Switzerland. It wasn't until 1969 that the movement transferred its offices to Turin, the main city in Northwest Italy. That year also saw another major development: the opening of the first naturist center on Italian soil, Le Betulle, in the same region as Turin.

While many Italians now count themselves as naturists, the number of beaches and resorts is still limited and under threat. Most Italians go naturists in neighboring countries, in particular Croatia and France, two of the most naturist-friendly countries in the world.

In Italy itself, the mayor of Ravenna, the city famous for its Byzantine churches, wants to close down the beach known as Lido di Dante or Bassona, for more than 20 years a popular place for naturists. Oddly enough, the mayor hails from Italy's main party of the left, the Democratic Party, which you would expect to be more respectful of alternative lifestyles and freedom of expression.

The threat to Ravenna's naturist beach also reflects the problem of current legislation, which says nudity is not wrong on beaches "often frequented" by naturists. The problem is that local governments can decide on their own whether beaches are often frequented or not. Naturists want to move closer to the Spanish or Danish situations, so nudity would be allowed on any beach not specifically "reserved for various use," as the magazine puts it.

One positive sign on the horizon for naturism in Italy: the Pizzo Greco naturist holiday center will host the World Congress of the International Naturist Federation this September 8 to 12. The meeting is bound to attract media attention to the cause.

To return to the Info Naturista magazine and to continue on a positive note, the edition also includes a report on the official foundation of an Italian naturist youth movement, the Giovani Italiani Naturisti. Naturists are sometimes pictured in the mainstream media as a bunch of old people practicing a dying tradition.

The magazine also reports on the documentary Naked Conversations with Nude Women by Thomas Lundy, a naturist resort in the small town of Igarata just one hour away from the Brazilian megalopolis of Sao Paulo, and an essay on the normality of naturism by Pino Fiorella. Naturism's cultural principle of respecting all persons is the epitome of accepting normality, he writes.

Finally, a list of relevant web links:

www.fenait.org

www.mirantedoparaiso.com.br

www.iledulevant.com.fr

www.pizzogreco.com

Breastfeeding Revolution in Taiwan

It finally happened. The government of Taiwan approved a proposal today making breastfeeding in public legal everywhere, and forcing facilities of a certain size to provide breastfeeding rooms for women with children.
Protest actions happened in the past over women who wanted to breastfeed their baby on a bus, a train, a restaurant, but were told off by other members of the public or by officials. That will change now, and mothers will get complete breastfeeding freedom.
Not only that, but areas of a certain size - and I presume those include department stores, large restaurants, shopping malls, etc - will have to provide a separate breastfeeding room. The only such rooms I know of in present-day Taiwan are situated in the capital Taipei's subway system, the MRT.
The breastfeeding law is a major victory for breastfeeding mothers, and also for non-sexual nudity in this country where, in contrast to Europe, breasts are all but absent from magazines, advertising or TV, even in a non-sexual context.

Nudity, Art and War

Kinmen, pronounced Jinmen and also known as Quemoy, is a small island off the coast of the Chinese province of Fujian that only makes the international press for its past as a frontline battle zone in the war between communist China and pro-Western Taiwan.
There are no naturist beaches, just like the rest of Taiwan, since public nudity is strictly forbidden, no matter the reason.
So when local filmmaker Tung Chen-liang went to show his documentary about the past wars on Kinmen to a government organization known as the Control Yuan, noone was expecting nudity.
But that was exactly what they got. In addition to pictures of the battle zone, and old martial propaganda songs from both sides - the songs in praise of Mao Zedong would never have been allowed in Taiwan until recently - just a couple of minutes into the movie, a completely naked young woman appeared, walking through a military graveyard, looking around, touching the graves. Taiwanese media reported there was full frontal nudity, though in good Taiwanese tradition, the TV stations covered the dangerous bits with a "mosaic" of pixillation. The picture that made the press was the one showing the woman lying naked next to the grave of a soldier.
Public reaction in Taiwan was mostly negative to neutral, with the director defending his choice of a naked woman as an attempt to the console the spirits of the war dead.
Regardless of this segment's real artistic value, the documentary, which is hardly likely to make it to Taiwanese TV in its present form, is the latest example of how nudity and art coexist in a difficult way in most Asian countries.

Topless but Painted

And I interrupt the postings about Vitaya magazine for something completely different, as Monty Python would have said. Public nudity in Taiwan has suddenly become an issue because of a fashion show.
Taiwan stages a national sports "olympics" in a different city each year, and this time they selected the country's third city, Taichung, as host and a fashion show to promote the event. However, instead of having athletes parade the new clothes at the promotional news conference, they had a young woman with the top of her body painted like an athlete's blue outfit. What many people at first did not notice, was that the woman was actually topless, though she might have worn small 'covers' on her nipples.
As soon as this hit the news, there were shocked statements saying it was totally unsuitable to have such a 'show' at a national sports event. The young woman however, apparently a student at a sports college, looked very happy and natural about it. During the event, she also posed as a golf and tennis player, making the right moves with the golf club and the tennis racket.
Taichung's deputy mayor, who spent most of the event standing next to her, later told reporters that he did not even realize she was topless - which is perhaps the main evidence that she shouldn't have shocked anyone.
The organizers argued that if she had worn the clothing, she would not have been able to show off the positive impact of sports on the body, which was the main aim of the event.
I saw the footage on Taiwanese TV, with the 'mosaic' or pixillation in place, and I must say there is nothing shocking about that young woman. She looked beautiful and natural. Just like nudity should.

Nude Against Breast Cancer

So Taiwanese model Patina Lin didn't appear nude at the opening of the Taipei Deaflympics last Saturday after all. It was all a stunt to attract more attention. She had been nude and body-painted on the poster, but not at the actual event, where she hung from wires for 10 minutes wearing lots of feathers.

However, a bunch of other models from the Elite modeling house did the real thing. They went naked in a campaign against breast cancer. I still don't understand how the nude pictures fit in with the charity campaign, and how it will profit financially from their action. Also, the main event is the six ladies appearing in nude pictures for the Taiwanese edition of FHM, a "men's magazine" that I can only label as one-sided, i.e. giving male viewers who are not used too much a taste of titillation at pictures of scantily dressed beautiful women.

In other words, not a naturist magazine, since to us naturists, all nudity is equal. Male or female, young or old, beautiful or less beautiful. Naturism is not about showing off beautiful body parts, it's about feeling right inside the body you have. Anyway, if the photo shoot really does benefit the campaign against breast cancer, I have no problems with it. If the models going nude raises understanding that nudity is not inherently wrong, then good for them. If it's just a stunt to sell more magazines, it'll probably work, but it might leave a bad aftertaste.

The six models explain everything in Chinese at the www.fhm.com.tw web site. While they may not be as famous, even in Asia, as Patina Lin, they include two sisters - on the right - as well as talent contest winners Lin You-li (third from left) and Wu Li-ya (second from left). Models in Taiwan are like singers and actors, stars who regularly appear in the entertainment pages of the newspapers and in massive advertisements on the sides of buses and apartment buildings.

Naturism in China: So Predictable

China is going to open up a naturist resort, I read about a week ago. Excellent news and a major breakthrough for naturism in such a huge country. But it's also a Communist and a conservative country, so what happened afterward was no surprise.
The naturist resort never opened, because it received a letter from the authorities telling it not to be 'indecent.' When you receive a letter from the authorities in China, you do what you're told and nothing else.
Is this an enormous setback? No, because if there are already people ready to promote naturism now, there will be more so later, as more Chinese get acquainted with naturism, either through the Internet or by travel overseas.
Having said that, I must add that the resort planned for Lin'an County in the economically prosperous coastal province of Zhejiang was not a naturist holiday center the way we understand it overseas. Rather, it was naturism 'with Chinese characteristics.' Which means men and women were completely separated. There were two natural ponds, one for women, one for men, separated by 100 meters and a thick bamboo grove which would have made contact between the two sides impossible. In other words, more a hot springs resort Japanese style than a naturist resort European style.
You can read more about the Chinese naturist resort and its demise at http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_407189.html and at http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200907/20090727/article_408735.htm.
As to nudity in Taiwan, a positive development: after the police at the Kaohsiung World Games telling the Brazilian topless athletes on the beach to cover up, I'm glad to hear that the Taipei Deaflympics - the next big sporting event in this country, next September - is likely to take a more liberal attitude toward nudity. One of Taiwan's top models, Patina Lin Chia-chi, will be asked to perform completely nude but covered in body painting at the opening ceremony. I hope to report more on that when it happens.
The Taiwanese media this week also suddenly reported about Les Bleues, France's national women's football team, undressing completely for a series of pictures destined to attract more attention to the female side of the sport. Why the Taiwanese media reported about this now, I don't know, because an Internet search showed me this was news in France back in April. Anyway, I'm not complaining, because even at this late date, it tells the public that nudity is not wrong if it's tastefully done for a good cause.

Topless in Taiwan (2): The World Games

Here we go again. The same city - Kaohsiung - the same beach, the same phenomenon. Topless foreign women.
But now there's a new element to the game. The 8th edition of the World Games started in the southern Taiwanese city last Thursday, so whatever happens around it receives immediate attention.
The truth this time: three young Brazilian ladies, apparently members of that country's beach volleyball team at the games, enjoyed the beach and the sun so much, they took their tops off to sunbathe. TV footage only revealed one of them sitting upright, two lying face down.
But that was enough to get the whole media mob and the local police into high gear.
The police convinced the ladies to put on their tops, while the media reports had the required shocked locals exclaiming how topless sunbathing did not fit in with local culture, and how some local children might have seen it. For extra ammunition, they also found a Russian couple saying there were no topless sunbathers in Moscow. Probably right, since Moscow isn't exactly a prime beach destination. A young woman said the foreigners should respect local habits.
A man with the Brazilian team said it was the ladies' first day in Taiwan, and they were so happy at seeing the sun and the beach that they didn't realize things were different here.
Too bad they are, but then anyone wearing a bikini in Taiwan is still labeled a 'hot chick' in the media, and topless is completely unheard of. Even by the many Taiwanese who have traveled overseas apparently, since there is not a vibrant beach-going habit, so overseas the Taiwanese will mainly stick to shopping malls and historic monuments.
Too bad. I would've hoped that for once, the police and the other curious citizens would have looked the other way, and considered the topless bathing what it was - a symbol of internationalization during the event during which, according to local propagandists, 'the whole world will be watching Taiwan.'

Topless in Taiwan 36.7 degrees

Two young European women sunbathed topless on a beach in Taiwan.
How do I know? Because Taiwan has numerous 24-hour TV news stations, and in Taiwan, a topless woman on a beach still counts as news.
The duo was spotted on a beach popular with surfers in the Chichin district of Kaohsiung, the country's second largest city, in the south. Of course, some people had their camera phones out and recorded the 'news,' which then was broadcast with the two young ladies covered up by a 'mosaic.' To be fair, so were their faces, so they will not be hassled during the rest of their stay.
The local surfers did not seem surprised or shocked, taking it all in good stride. One member of the public interviewed on television said the topless sunbathing 'did not fit in with local people's customs.' Fair enough, but in the meantime, television news broadcasts go on and on about all the 'spice girls' at one of Taiwan's biggest rock festivals, Ho Hai Yen this weekend on the island's northern coast. No topless bathing there, just a lot of bikinis, which in Taiwan still counts as 'spicy.' Some 20 years ago, you could go to a major beach resort and still see young women wade into the sea wearing long, flowery dresses, so at least, there is some progress.
The reaction of the authorities to the topless 'incident?' Send in more guards walking along the beach to prevent more such incidents from happening.
And all this while temperatures are reaching record levels for the year, 36.9 degrees centigrade on Friday and 36.7 on Saturday. Can you really blame anyone for wanting to go topless?

Shushu and Yaoyao

Taiwan seems to have different star celebrities every week, and for the past days we've been regaled, if that's the word, with Shushu and Yaoyao.

Who are they? Minor models whose claim to fame is that the racy ads they appeared in were first banned from television, and then from the outside of the Taipei Arena and the outside of buses as well.

The ads were deemed to be treating women as objects. Both were designed to attract players to computer games - a predominantly male domain - and featured unrealistic images. One of the models - and don't ask me to tell Shushu from Yaoyao or the other way round - appeared in a T-shirt with a very deep cleavage, a safety helmet, and a pneumatic drill as she was racing through a street. There are many scantily clad beautiful young women in Taiwan, but none of them are construction or road workers. The other model was dressed up in all kinds of gear, nurse, bunny, student uniform, etc, and looked equally silly.

After complaints from women, the government's National Communications Commission banned the ad from TV. The Taipei City Government then banned it from its domain - the sports arena it runs and the buses it supervises.

Nothing wrong with that, since those ads, just like many others in Taiwan for furniture stores and motor shows, did not show any relevance between nudity and the objects for sale. It became more tricky when some people started complaining about excessive cleavage in ads for ... bras. How else are you supposed to sell a bra? Those are ads aimed at women, trying to sell products only women are supposed to wear. So, the campaign against exploitation threatened to go off the rails and become a campaign against any form of nudity.

Luckily, there was a new countermove on the pendulum and young college students argued there was nothing wrong with women showing off their shapes and curves for their own purposes.

Too bad the whole Shushu and Yaoyao situation is unlikely to bring about a healthier way of thinking about nudity. In Taiwan, many still consider the bikini, 61 years after its birth, to be racy and outlandish, and I'm only talking about the beach here.

A book like the one in the picture - a Belgian book about breasts by women for women - is still completely unthinkable in Taiwan and in most other Asian countries. Any publisher attempting it would face public and government wrath. Even a more modest book about nudity - by my 2008 Real Naturist of the Year Pan Ying-hua - was never widely released and only remained available locally and over the Internet.