naked people to stroll freely and to
sunbathe in public spaces.
This doesn’t mean that just anybody who feels like taking his or her clothes off can
strip down everywhere.
The city, according to the Atlantic Cities, has designated six
official “Urban Naked Zones” in parks offering privacy, but also only minutes away from the busy city center.
“While these areas’ locations in parkland
gives them a degree of seclusion, none of
them are fenced off or hidden away,” the
site reports. “One spot is barely 10 minutes
from Munich’s main square, located along a
stream to which tourists flock.”
The situation arose due to the recent
expiration of legislation controlling nude
sunbathing in Bavaria, of which Munich is
the capital. City leaders had to decide
whether to allow sun-seekers to strip in
public.
Around the continent, Germans have the
reputation of being “nudist obsessive” as
well as “tanning obsessive.”
It’s no surprise that many nudist beaches around Europe are frequented mostly by Germans — as are saunas and Turkish baths, where it’s a safe assumption that the most comfortable naked
body walking nearby belongs to a German.
“Germans are often considered to be more at
one with nature than us prudish Brits,” the
Mail Online commented.
Atlantic Cities reaches an interesting conclusion: “Allowing nude sunbathing in these six places, Munich is in many ways
only acknowledging a practice that has gone on for years.”
In fact, Germany has allowed nude beaches
since 1920, and in Munich the Englischer
Garten has been a place for people hanging
out in the buff since the 1960s. Its
“Beautiful Meadow” area, Schonfeldweise, is
considered a must-visit for nudist tourists.
Also a number of spots along some of the
islands over the Isar River that runs
through the city are public nudist refuges.
For Feargus O’Sullivan of Atlantic Cities, “what Germany does have is a strong exculture tradition that seeks to escape artifice and the pressures of city life to
return to something supposedly more
natural. Seen in this light, stripping off in
public is the voluntary removal of a heavy
mask, a return to unvarnished honesty
rather than some titter-worthy peek-a-boo.
Places where this is allowed to happen are spaces of truce, where there is a generally observed agreement that people will spare
each other physical scrutiny and appraisal.”
In that context, by allowing naked
sunbathing Munich is performing its public
duty, simply acknowledging that even in the
midst of a big city, nature and peace are to
be enjoyed in a natural state.
“Whenever the sun is out, you’ll find Münchner of all ages, shapes and sizes
catching some rays as nature intended,” writes the Mail Online. “It’s considered as
much the perfect lunchtime escape from the stresses of a busy day for office workers as
it a place for friends and families to gather at weekends, and the atmosphere is always
convivial and laid-back,”
The site speculates that the park is named
the English Garden because of its original
horticultural style and “not as an ironic
way of poking fun at traditional British
prudery.”
original article appeared on Forbes
0 comments:
Post a Comment