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Oh! Naturel: Taking it all off |
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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Thursday, 31 May 2007 |
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 • Listen to Erin Frustaci on the Alice morning show.
If you are reading this, you’ve probably already noticed the naked guy on the cover. Heck, that’s probably why you picked this up in the first place. The thing is, there’s just something intriguing about nudity. It’s controversial. It’s provocative. It’s beautiful. It’s natural.
It’s seen everywhere but not talked about nearly as much. The truth, though, is there are plenty of people in Colorado stripping down — some for a cause, some for art or advertising and some just because.
“There’s a social agreement that we shall remain clothed,” said Laura Pritchett, Fort Collins author and activist. “In general, I think that’s sad. It’s too bad we’re not comfortable talking to the Jones’ about being a member of a nudist camp or being naked in a river. It’s so great when people punch out of the box and say, ‘This box is not for me.’ ”
 Or rather, these clothes are not for me.
FOR THE SOCIAL ASPECT
Mountain Air Ranch has all the amenities of your typical camping destination, for the most part. There’s hiking, swimming, tennis courts, horseshoes and volleyball. At night, people gather at the clubhouse, or relax in their RVs or tents.
What’s atypical at Mountain Air Ranch is the nudity, outdoors as well as indoors.
“As little kids, we run around naked,” said Michelle K., 41, of Lone Tree. “We are the kids who never grew up.”
Michelle and her husband have been members for 10 years. For privacy issues, she and other campers requested their last names be withheld.
“There’s unfortunately a stigma, especially in this country,” she said. “There’s a stereotype that nudity has to do with sex and showers.”
Michelle, who works as a travel agent, said she became a nudist after visiting nude beaches in places like Mexico. Last weekend, she relaxed on her lounge chair chatting with other female nudists, one of them Diana D.
Diana, 50, of Boulder said she actually lost a quarter of her friends when she told them she was a naturist.
“I was so excited when I first came here, I went back and told everyone at work,” she said. “They thought it was a swinger place.”
That was six years ago. Since then, she has remained a little more quiet about her trips. But Diana has never been overly shy. In college, she posed nude for art classes.
Her favorite part about Mountain Air Ranch is the hiking.
“For me, it’s more of a spiritual place,” she said. “I love the freedom. It’s a safe place — no gawking is allowed. There are so many rules to make you feel safe.”
The family nudist resort is situated on 150 acres in the foothills about 20 miles southwest of Denver. Currently, the resort has about 440 members with about 15 percent of them living from Brighton north. The average age is mid-40s, though every age is welcome.
Some nude resorts attract older members, but Bob Watzel, general manager at Mountain Air Ranch, said those resorts tend to be in the Sun Belt, where there is a large retired population.
“We have many retired members, but also have members looking for weekend getaways,” Watzel said. “Most people consider membership in their late ’20s to mid ’30s.”
Russell K., 25, of Amarillo, Texas, visited Mountain Ranch for the first time last week. Russell went to his first nude resort in Texas about a year ago.
“I was going through some self-esteem issues,” he said.
A friend suggested he visit a nudist resort to help him be more comfortable with himself. Russell said it has worked and that he is more accepting of himself now. He also enjoys the recreational aspect.
“I like the hiking,” Russell said. “I like nature and enjoy it more being who I am naturally.”
Dave Walker, 57, and his wife, Nancy, 55, of Fort Collins don’t worry about keeping their lifestyle a secret. The Fort Collins couple visited Mountain Air Ranch with friends eight years ago.
“We came home and told our daughter,” Dave said. “I thought she was going to die of laughter.”
Now that Dave is retired, the couple travel around in their motorhome.
Tom S., 60, of Fort Collins, said the nudist resorts are relaxing getaways.
“The nice thing is you don’t have to pack a lot of clothes,” he said.
“You can work on your tan and tan lines are a thing you don’t have to worry about.”
Sunscreen though, is a must.
 ALL ABOUT ACTIVISM
Believe it or not, sometimes there’s a greater good behind dropping the towel. At least that was the case for the people with the Save the Poudre campaign.
Last September, a group of volunteers tossed all apprehension and clothing aside to hold up signs in the frigid river. The photo shoot was a partnership among local activist groups and New Belgium Brewing Company.
“Visually, it was the perfect way to say how we felt about what we are doing,” said Todd Simmons, director of Wolverine Farm Publishing and Matter Bookstore in Fort Collins, and one of the driving forces behind the Save the Poudre campaign.
“I wanted a way to grab people’s attention about the danger the Cache la Poudre is in. Nudity is often about exploitation, but our reason and my reason was the celebration of the river. It was our attempt to show we have nothing to hide. We want the river restored to a healthy, vibrant ecosystem for generations to come.”
The poster came out in May and can be seen all over town. Bryan Simpson, New Belgium’s media relations director, said the company is taking a sustainable and issue-driven approach to advertising. The issue of the river really resonated with New Belgium and was a perfect tie to their summer seasonal brew, Skinny Dip.
“It’s definitely done what it was intended to do as far as create dialog and engage people in a fun, playful way with nudity,” Simpson said.
Laura Pritchett, a Fort Collins author who was one of the brave models, said she thought getting people naked in a river would be a good attention-getter.
“I think people are fascinated by other people’s bodies and the way they inhabit those bodies,” she said. “When someone is shy, it is funny and endearing. When someone is comfortable, it’s alluring and sexy. For that reason, pairing good causes with nudity can grab people’s attention.”
Pritchett brought along her 5-year-old daughter to the photo shoot and explained to her why she was there and what it meant.
“She thought it was hilarious, but also interesting,” Pritchett said. “I showed her I stand up for what I believe in... I think she has grown up in a household that honors the human body. My greatest hope is she feels comfortable in her body as she grows up.”
Pritchett said she is comfortable in her own body. While she may walk around her home naked from time to time, she doesn’t usually go buff in public.
Several other organizations have bared all, such as PETA’s “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. Often a cause will legitimize nudity, Simpson said.
“It has reason to exist and is not frivolous or self-indulgent,” Simpson said. “The fact that it speaks to a higher cause, speaks to a broader audience. Good pieces of art have that inherent tension.”
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TAKE A PICTURE
Wanna be a model? Sign up for Alice 105.9’s naked photo shoot at www.alice1059.com. Listen to Erin Frustaci's stint on the Alice morning show here! |
ART AND MARKETING
In a couple of weeks, more than one-hundred people will strip down in Denver for their favorite radio station.
Bare bodies will spell out, “BJ, Howie, Jennifer on Alice 105.9” for a promotional photo shoot.
“People like to be a part of something unique,” said Howie, from the morning show.
So far, about 100 listeners — roughly 20 from northern Colorado — have volunteered to be in the photo. The station would like to get between 200-300 by Thursday, June 7 for the shoot on Saturday, June 9.
“Often times, things like this start with an idea and then snowball,” said Mikey, the producer of the Alice Morning Show.
This time, the original idea spun out of photographs taken by Spencer Tunick, a New York photographer famous for his grandiose nude photo shoots in public places.
His photo shoots draw thousands of people from all over the world. From Barcelona to Buenos Aires and London to New York, he’s covered a lot of ground. His next installment will be shot Sunday in Amsterdam.
The Alice morning show radio personalities originally thought about sending Mikey to Amsterdam. Then, they took it a step further, suggesting they stage their own shoot.
“Every time Spencer Tunick does a shoot, it’s all over the national news,” Howie said. “We want to capture the same thing here in Denver. Taking your clothes off is one of the most innate things you can do.”
To avoid legal ramifications, the photo will be shot on private land and participants will be required to sign a consent form. Somebody or somebodies from the morning show will also be in the photo.
“People will want to see this picture for the artistic nature, sexy nature and bizarre nature — this covers all of it,” Howie said.
The photo will be used in various places for promotional purposes.
“Billboards, Web sites, T-shirts, city buses... You will see this thing everywhere,” Howie said. “You can show bum cracks everywhere.”
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For more information on Mountain Air Ranch, visit www.trynude.com. But for all you pervs out there, you’ll be sorely disappointed, so don’t even bother. • • • • • For more on Save the Poudre, go to savethepoudre.org. To read more about the proposed water project, go to ncwcd.org
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OTHER THINGS NAKED OR NUDE
• Naked Juice
• Naked burritos (at Qdoba)
• Naked Jazz Project
• Fourth Annual World Naked Gardening Day, May 3, 2008
• The Barenaked Ladies
• The naked truth
• The Naked News
• “Naked,” the 1993 movie
• “Naked Lunch” the 1991 movie
• The Naked Trucker and T-Bones
• The World Naked Bike Ride
• Naked aggression
• Naked Chocolate Cafe
• Bear Naked (all-natural granola)
• Naked Eyes, the pop music group
• Nude panty hose
• National Nude Recreation week is July 9 through July 19.
• Nude Magazine
• Nude, the band
• N.U.D.E., New Users Documentation Effort
• “The Nude Bomb,” the 1980 movie
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