Future of organized nudism in the United States.. is there one?

[usuallylurk]

The future of AANR seems to be in flux -- not sure where that's heading, or whether it will sustain itself. It's apparent - that with the loss of membership over the years, the revenues can no longer be sustained through dues increases...

What should be done?

[jasenj]

That seems out of the blue. Any particular thing prompting this? This site and many others have had many, many discussions on what could and should be done to reinvigorate nudism. How about we try some of the things in those very long lists?

[usuallylurk]

AANR's membership has been in constant decline for around 15 years. It's not "out of the blue". Should they re-organize? Should there be a "Phoenix" movement (new org rising from AANR?)

[jasenj]

I am not an AANR member. I have little visibility into their internal politics. When Bev Price was elected president, I had some hope things would change. However, from my outside point of view AANR has been nearly silent for the past year. Their web site continues to be atrocious. Content updates under the covers, but there is no indication of updates on the home page. Their web forum continues to be a ghost-town with no AANR official participation.

Digging through their site, I see Bev has posted a new article. When I finish reading it I may come back and update this.

As far as I can tell, AANR has no idea how to promote nudism, nor do they have a coherent vision of what it is they want to promote. But this has been discussed many times before. I am a big fan of Stéphane Deschênes of Bare Oaks. His Naturist Living Show podcast is the best thing I've seen come out of naturism in a long time. He has an episode dedicated to marketing naturism. AANR could do much worse than to take lots of advice from Stéphane, but they have a history of pride and ignoring wisdom that is not their own.

[Evernude]

The future of this country is in flux, not just AANR. I have serious doubts we will have any freedom left soon. We certainly don't have much left anymore. I am an AANR and TNS member. Also a member of CFI and FFRF (Freedom From Religion Foundation). How long will any organization that offends the "State" be around? A recent survey of college kids showed that over 50 percent of them felt there should be a limit to free speech if it is offensive to others. We are doomed!

AANR should get more aggressive in going after younger people by doing direct advertising on social media. Go directly at them, challenge them, you know you like being naked, so get out there and be naked! Promote skinny dipping, cruises, nude beaches. Resorts are for old people, so leave those out. Just promote being naked around the house with clever advertisements. Do Youtube commercials, show clips on netflix and hulu. Come up with funny, artsy, memorable clips showing the fun and freedom of being naked on a beach, at a spa, at home. Get them to go viral, make being nude cool, not weird.

[jasenj]

Promote skinny dipping, cruises, nude beaches. Resorts are for old people, so leave those out.

AANR is a trade organization for resorts. Their raison d'etre is to promote resorts and get people to spend money at AANR resorts. Until they accept that the more nude people there are in general, the more customers there will be for the resorts, they will remain in trouble.

After reading Bev's article, it sounds like the previous regime left AANR's finances in a shambles and a lot of energy has been spent recovering from the mess the other guys left behind.

[nudeyooper]

I have been thinking about this since the original post and really have more question than answer. For the most part we in North America have had to create private venues to be nudists outside of the confines of our homes and fenced in yards. Few of us have the opportunity to go to public places because of time, distance, or finances, but the situation in Europe appears to be different. From what have read here, there are many beaches and parks where nudity is accepted as normal. There is a different set of guidelines for mainstream television, and it would appear that in most areas someone sunning themselves at home would not need a privacy fence. Am I correct, and if so was there an evolution to this acceptance? Were nudists originally segregated by fences in confined places and gradually took to open areas, or have they always been able to use public places while nude? Should we advocate what was done in Europe and follow their lead?

[NYLancelot]

I think we have been following Europe's lead for as long as naturism has existed, actually.