If you read this title, some of you will think:
“Naked on the beach?! That’s outrageous. Forbidden! Report this post now! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
Wait a minute, my little embarrassed keyboard warrior. Cause you’re right. In almost all areas of Germany walking around naked is forbidden and can be punished with high fines. Yet, some Germans are not as repressed as it always seems, as there is a cultural peculiarity that is considered an export hit in Germany. A special kind of place where you will face and reflect on your own perception of beauty and body. Nowadays even tourist tours are organized into these area and are considered a highlight for many visitors.
It is called FKK – Freikörperkultur or, if you want translate it properly into English, Nudism – Free body culture.
This long tradition of nudism culture is simple and has it’s roots way back into the 18th century. There are certain areas in Germany, for example beaches or bathing lakes, where you walk around completely naked. Yeah, you read that right. Naked. It’s even socially taboo to wear clothes there. What sounds really strange for many people becomes a very funny experience once you try it out. It is also associated as a great way out of the bourgeois life style for a moment, in which everyone tries to improve one’s own self-esteem through likes and shares by others nowdays. In these areas every kind of ideal of beauty is discarded. Every self-doubt that is permeated and capitalized by advertising companies has no power here. It is quite hard to describe the feeling you get when you try out this nudismus culture which is why I want to provide you with a short diary entry of mine when I first tried out FKK when I was 16 years old:
I came to this part of the beach and found a nice place to put my towels on. I was still covered in clothes and gazed at the naked ladies and gentlemen in front of me. My behaviour was considered rude as fuck, as it turned out after a moment. After fifteen minutes an older, plump gentleman with pink shiny cheeks who was sitting next to me came over and said: “Well, if you keep walking around like that, you’d have to go somewhere else!”. No sooner said than done. I undressed and looked around nervously to see if someone was staring at me. Yet, the complete contrary happened. People kept playing and swimming, sleeping and drinking, relaxing and laughing. No one cared that my ass and penis was exposed, because with the others it was no different. What began as shame suddenly became the most normal thing in the world. Later on I even talked to an older lady in her mid 50s about politics… on the beach… while our genitalia were exposed to each other. At some point I had to leave the area again because the sun was burning too much. But it was an experience worth having. I would not do it again, this creepy feeling of being watched was still there all of the time, but it is great to have faced something that different from everyday life.
There were not many people, maybe about 40 men and women of middle and older age range. Nevertheless, in this short time I realized that I was suddenly much more self-confident with my own body. It is a great opportunity to get to know yourself a little bit better as you are exposed completely to others. If you get the chance, try it out. In Rostock, the following areas allow FKK.
Personal Note:
The author of this text has only tried nudism once at the age of 16 and has too much shame to do it again because you have to be aware about smartphones around every corner now. At the same time, however, he admires how self-confident and cheerful many ladies and gentlemen walked around in these areas despite their body areas that obviously deviated from the ideal of beauty.
