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I speak from Western Australian experience, but I suggest the following concept would be effective all over Australia, also New Zealand, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, any European country, etc.
In 1989, I read a newspaper article written by a doctor, which gave wearing wet bathers as a cause of the disease candida.
The most common visible symptom of candida is genital thrush.
I bought the book, "The Yeast Syndrome" by John Parks Trowbridge MD and Morton Walker DPM [ISBN 0-553-19495-X], to give me a good background knowledge of the subject.
I read more books and medical articles and also spoke to several doctors and medical specialists,
also to the Director of Disease Control of the WA Health Dept and not one of them disagreed that staying in wet bathers could lead to genital candida in susceptible persons. A substantial proportion of people are susceptible and this particularly applies to pregnant women, diabetics, HIV sufferers and those using various medicines and medical treatments.
I got a copy of the standard WA Health Dept leaflet, which says, "to avoid thrush keep the genital area dry and well aired".
Not even Houdini could do this whilst wearing bathers!
The WA govt regularly runs TV and newspaper ads advising us all to do or not do various things for the good of our health, presumably in the expectation that sensible, health-conscious people will endeavour to take notice.
At the time, my wife and I were swimming nude at a quiet section of beach, long used for nude bathing, nominally under the control of the WA Dept of Sport and Recreation. This dept runs the "Wellness Campaign", which encourages people to take responsibility for their own health.
I suggested that declaring this beach clothes-optional and warning people about candida would fit in nicely with the "Wellness" concept.
They responded with a written threat of prosecution and sent the rangers to harass us.
I thought surely we can't be arrested for trying to comply with a govt health warning, so I openly defied them and got media publicity.
They went to the [govt] Crown Law Dept for a legal opinion on what they could do about us.
When they got this opinion, they refused to tell me what it was and they told me they would fight me through the court system if I applied to get it under Freedom of Information legislation, but they backed off. What does that tell us?
I went public on all this and pointed out that if I was arrested and acquitted, because I was following medical and govt Health Dept advice to protect my own health, then all the beaches would become clothes-optional and so also the public swimming pools.
On the other hand, if I were silly enough to follow the instructions to wear bathers and, as a result got candida, then I could sue the relevant authority, with a high likelihood of winning. This would have the same effect of freeing up all the swimming locations.
Armed with this information, I openly defied another WA govt dept, 2 local councils and a govt minister.
Despite my invitations, the police declined to become involved.
I researched a number of other relevant issues, information available to any serious enquirers on request.
I lost my beautiful, spirited and supportive wife 19 months ago after a long illness, so have been off the protest scene for a while, but my blood boils when I hear of nudists being shamefully disadvantaged, when all most of us want is a fair go.
USA residents access the FDA website with drying off advice almost impossible to comply with on most beaches, without the risk of upsetting someone and possibly being on the wrong side of the law.
I do not want to be nude in the street, or most other places. I do not want to unreasonably upset anyone. I just believe that everyone should have the option of a nude swim if at all possible.
Nudists are continually under attack. Now we have the means to attack back.
Who is going to do it? The litigation-conscious Americans, the eccentric English, the free-and easy Europeans, the Australians with their larrikin disdain for authority, who knows?
Think laterally.
In 1989, I read a newspaper article written by a doctor, which gave wearing wet bathers as a cause of the disease candida.
The most common visible symptom of candida is genital thrush.
I bought the book, "The Yeast Syndrome" by John Parks Trowbridge MD and Morton Walker DPM [ISBN 0-553-19495-X], to give me a good background knowledge of the subject.
I read more books and medical articles and also spoke to several doctors and medical specialists,
also to the Director of Disease Control of the WA Health Dept and not one of them disagreed that staying in wet bathers could lead to genital candida in susceptible persons. A substantial proportion of people are susceptible and this particularly applies to pregnant women, diabetics, HIV sufferers and those using various medicines and medical treatments.
I got a copy of the standard WA Health Dept leaflet, which says, "to avoid thrush keep the genital area dry and well aired".
Not even Houdini could do this whilst wearing bathers!
The WA govt regularly runs TV and newspaper ads advising us all to do or not do various things for the good of our health, presumably in the expectation that sensible, health-conscious people will endeavour to take notice.
At the time, my wife and I were swimming nude at a quiet section of beach, long used for nude bathing, nominally under the control of the WA Dept of Sport and Recreation. This dept runs the "Wellness Campaign", which encourages people to take responsibility for their own health.
I suggested that declaring this beach clothes-optional and warning people about candida would fit in nicely with the "Wellness" concept.
They responded with a written threat of prosecution and sent the rangers to harass us.
I thought surely we can't be arrested for trying to comply with a govt health warning, so I openly defied them and got media publicity.
They went to the [govt] Crown Law Dept for a legal opinion on what they could do about us.
When they got this opinion, they refused to tell me what it was and they told me they would fight me through the court system if I applied to get it under Freedom of Information legislation, but they backed off. What does that tell us?
I went public on all this and pointed out that if I was arrested and acquitted, because I was following medical and govt Health Dept advice to protect my own health, then all the beaches would become clothes-optional and so also the public swimming pools.
On the other hand, if I were silly enough to follow the instructions to wear bathers and, as a result got candida, then I could sue the relevant authority, with a high likelihood of winning. This would have the same effect of freeing up all the swimming locations.
Armed with this information, I openly defied another WA govt dept, 2 local councils and a govt minister.
Despite my invitations, the police declined to become involved.
I researched a number of other relevant issues, information available to any serious enquirers on request.
I lost my beautiful, spirited and supportive wife 19 months ago after a long illness, so have been off the protest scene for a while, but my blood boils when I hear of nudists being shamefully disadvantaged, when all most of us want is a fair go.
USA residents access the FDA website with drying off advice almost impossible to comply with on most beaches, without the risk of upsetting someone and possibly being on the wrong side of the law.
I do not want to be nude in the street, or most other places. I do not want to unreasonably upset anyone. I just believe that everyone should have the option of a nude swim if at all possible.
Nudists are continually under attack. Now we have the means to attack back.
Who is going to do it? The litigation-conscious Americans, the eccentric English, the free-and easy Europeans, the Australians with their larrikin disdain for authority, who knows?
Think laterally.
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