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I was recently scanning entries in a Facebook group for a popular nude beach when I came across a thread that started with a newspaper article about a couple being arrested for openly engaging in sex on a public beach. The actual beach where this occurred was not a recognized nude beach, but that is beside the point.
Several of the responses in the Facebook thread were along the lines of "We've all done that." or "That's why you bring a windscreen to the beach." I started composing an indignant response to the effect of "No, we don't all do that." Then my mind drifted back many years ago to when I was young and foolish. We were on a nude beach in northern California on a quiet weekday. We walked to the southern end of the beach and climbed over some boulders to find a small patch of sand that was exposed only at low tide. I won't defend what happened next except to say that it was her idea.
I am aware that the typical excuse that officialdom uses to ban nudity on beaches is that people were having sex. I have witnessed couples on nude beaches lying in each other's arms. It is my practice to look away. I worked with a gentleman who once bragged about having sex with his girlfriend within sight of other beach-goers on Fire Island in New York. Nudity is now banned at that beach for exactly that reason.
My own idea is to charge for parking at nude beaches and use the money to provide restrooms, lifeguards, and security patrols. If you look at aerial photographs of Haulover Beach in Miami, you will see that the nude section typically draws at least ten times as many people as other sections of the beach. Charging for parking at nude beaches should actually be a net money maker for localities even if extra cost is incurred for security patrols.
I have been told that Cap d'Agde has instituted a policy of tolerating people having sex in one small section of the beach, which keeps the rest of the beach family friendly. That might be a viable approach in France, but it would be way too controversial in the United States.
Several of the responses in the Facebook thread were along the lines of "We've all done that." or "That's why you bring a windscreen to the beach." I started composing an indignant response to the effect of "No, we don't all do that." Then my mind drifted back many years ago to when I was young and foolish. We were on a nude beach in northern California on a quiet weekday. We walked to the southern end of the beach and climbed over some boulders to find a small patch of sand that was exposed only at low tide. I won't defend what happened next except to say that it was her idea.
I am aware that the typical excuse that officialdom uses to ban nudity on beaches is that people were having sex. I have witnessed couples on nude beaches lying in each other's arms. It is my practice to look away. I worked with a gentleman who once bragged about having sex with his girlfriend within sight of other beach-goers on Fire Island in New York. Nudity is now banned at that beach for exactly that reason.
My own idea is to charge for parking at nude beaches and use the money to provide restrooms, lifeguards, and security patrols. If you look at aerial photographs of Haulover Beach in Miami, you will see that the nude section typically draws at least ten times as many people as other sections of the beach. Charging for parking at nude beaches should actually be a net money maker for localities even if extra cost is incurred for security patrols.
I have been told that Cap d'Agde has instituted a policy of tolerating people having sex in one small section of the beach, which keeps the rest of the beach family friendly. That might be a viable approach in France, but it would be way too controversial in the United States.
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