Nakedness and the Finnish Sauna

[Rex]

Have a look at http://www.mbay.net/~cgd/naturism/nudity17.htm and endless links.
Hi, Kari, is this info authentic?

By the way, I asked the Finnish trainer at the gym how to pronounce your name, and now I feel like I know you better!

[Rex]

Have a look at http://www.mbay.net/~cgd/naturism/nudity17.htm and endless links.
Hi, Kari, is this info authentic?

By the way, I asked the Finnish trainer at the gym how to pronounce your name, and now I feel like I know you better!

[Kari P]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rex:
Have a look at http://www.mbay.net/~cgd/naturism/nudity17.htm and endless links.
Hi, Kari, is this info authentic?

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I think it is. One thing said there is "of course it is forbidden to have a swimsuit in sauna, even if it is common for males and females (you usually have at least one such sauna in a spa)" that I'm not sure of, not of the prohibition of swimsuits but of the common existence of non-sex-segregated saunas. I know exactly one spa with a true naturist department. Some swimming pools have a "Turkish" steam sauna which is common to both sexes, but the steam is there thick enough to be an obstacle of seeing.

An additional link to those in the article:
www.sauna.fi

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By the way, I asked the Finnish trainer at the gym how to pronounce your name, and now I feel like I know you better!

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Excellent! To others, say "curry" with no aspiration. And with the word "sauna", if you didn't already know it, if you say "cow-na" replacing c by s you come near to the Finnish pronounciation.

Kari P

[Guest]

Rex and KariP..Thanks for the great links on the Finns and Saunas... very interesting..It appears the Finns are way ahead of us in the healthy acceptance of nudity...It does seem a little strange though that both sexes comfortably naked together in the sauna would need to wear swimsuits out in the pool....Hmmm?...Odb [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[Kari P]

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Originally posted by outdoorbare:
It does seem a little strange though that both sexes comfortably naked together in the sauna would need to wear swimsuits out in the pool....Hmmm?

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You are not talking about the same place. In connection with public swimming pools the saunas are sex-segregated (exceptions as described above).

I don't remember if it was mentioned anywhere in the articles that you can find using the links, but there are some public swimming pools where nude swimming is allowed and the norm, but they have separate days for men and women.

[Buzzer]

Actually, I see a great benifit in having nude swimming pools, saunas, etc availabe to separate sexes. Their use may give the idividual just the "boost" he or she needs to be nude in a completely co-ed social setting. Men are as guilty as women, in that we atend to be more concerned about our appearance to our peers than we are to members of the oposite sex. (But, perhaps, not to the same extreme. LOL)

[Jochanaan]

quote:

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Originally posted by Buzzer:
[qb] Actually, I see a great benifit in having nude swimming pools, saunas, etc availabe to separate sexes. Their use may give the idividual just the "boost" he or she needs to be nude in a completely co-ed social setting. [/qb]

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As long as it doesn't stop there! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Sauna]

Actually we have today in Finland one co-ed public commercial sauna, which is operated by male gays, but they do accept female visitors.
"Turkish" co-ed steam saunas we have about 50 in this country mainly in spas.

Otherwise I do not trust that separate naked swimming helps anybody to naturism. Many of visitors are gay oriented.

But the main thing is family saunas where entire families go stark naked once or twice a week. I trust that I am not a liar if I say that there is no Finn who have never seen opposite sex naked. Propably this is related to the fact that we have the lowest pedophilia numbers.

One other thing is that we have about half a million summerhouses on lake or sea shore and of course there is a sauna and using swimming suit when swimming from sauna is very close to a sin.

[Kari P]

Welcome here, Sauna, and thank you for your additions.

Not wanting this to become a discussion of two Finns who know each other (if you guessed it, you guessed right) I ask for some more information and add my little bits.

"the fact that we have the lowest pedophilia numbers"

Please give details, Sauna. Tell the numbers you know and where they are from. Surely this is interesting to others.

"using swimming suit when swimming from sauna is very close to a sin."

It depends on the person and on the place, but, really, skinny-dipping is not abnormal here and I have seen it done quite openly. Some people, especially women, are so shy that they cannot think of being seen naked, so if the place is surrounded by neighbors who can see, they use swimsuits.

Don't think that naturism is popular in Finland - it isn't. It's a quite unknown lifestyle that many people would call strange.

Kari P

[turkishnudes]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kari P:
[qb]
Don't think that naturism is popular in Finland - it isn't. It's a quite unknown lifestyle that many people would call strange.

Kari P [/qb]

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That goes for the people from Norway too. I have many friends who have never even heard of it!

[Guest]

About twenty or twenty-five years ago a Dutch company called Center Parcs opened its first holiday centre in England. I have been to the Sherwood Forrest centre several times and also one in Venlo, Holland, very close to the German border. These centres always have a spa area with one or more Finnish saunas (usually several) and often a steam room too. Initially they tried to encourage British visitors to use the saunas and spa area naked, but most people ignored that and kept their costumes on (including me [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] ). The last time I went they had tried to introduce a "swimwear banned after 6pm" policy. This resulted in numerous complaints - including one from me to the managing director - and the facility being under-used during the "continental" session as they called it. A colleague of mine went last year and guess what - they have done away with the continental sessions entirely. My colleague states that he used the spa twice during his stay, both times in the evening and were very well attended. Whilst thesessions were theoretically "clothing optional" everyone, he tells me, was in swimwear.

I love Finnish saunas as I find them refreshing, cleansing and invigorating - especially after swimming or a workout in the gym. Needless to say that nudity is certainly not part of the experience.

Stu

[hm0504]

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That goes for the people from Norway too. I have many friends who have never even heard of it!

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Are your friends in Oslo? There's plenty of places they can find out about it there:
http://www.naturistnet.org/?page_id=969

[Sauna]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kari P:
[qb] Welcome here, Sauna, and thank you for your additions.


"the fact that we have the lowest pedophilia numbers"

This was a news in the main newspaper in Finland. Sorry I did not scan it for future use.


"using swimming suit when swimming from sauna is very close to a sin."

This depend very much where you are in Finland. My summerhouse neighbours swim all naked

It depends on the person and on the place, but, really, skinny-dipping is not abnormal here and I have seen it done quite openly. Some people, especially women, are so shy that they cannot think of being seen naked, so if the place is surrounded by neighbors who can see, they use swimsuits.

Don't think that naturism is popular in Finland - it isn't. It's a quite unknown lifestyle that many people would call strange.

That is true, but very many of them are naked on their summerhouses at least swim naked when nobody sees it.

Seppo in between Karis text

Kari P [/qb]

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[Kari P]

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Originally posted by Sauna:
This depend very much where you are in Finland. My summerhouse neighbours swim all naked

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There can be differences in typical swimming attire or lack of it at summer cottages according to geographical area. I think the south is more liberal than central and northern areas. I haven't seen my neighbours naked except under school-age children, but they have seen me. I live in central Finland, Sauna lives in the south.

[goodegg]

If I may add to this I think the Finns reaction to nudity, especially relating to the sauna, is one of natural acceptance. Traditionally, Finns always go to the sauna nude. It is only in recent times that younger Finns in public saunas seem to want to keep their swimsuits on. This in my opinion is due to cultural influence from abroad.

When a Finn goes to a private sauna and the shoreline is rather secluded, most would not think of putting on a swimsuit to swim between sauna sessions. If one is in a situation where others may easily see them then some will naturally use a swimsuit. Others will think "no way is someone going to spoil my enjoyment of my sauna" and swim in the nude.

As has been mentioned, Finns know what the other sex looks like naked. It has been introduced to them naturally as they have grown up. This is not the case in the US or UK.

Goodegg