It’s a Tuesday morning, the infinite blue sky of Byron Bay has opened up and the six naturists – four men, two women – have stripped down to their birthday suits for a quick dip in the buff.
This section of beach – an 800-metre stretch along the vast coastline – forms the only legal clothing-optional beach in the shire. Among those taking advantage of the opportunity to be out in the open is Duncan James, vice-president of Northern Rivers Naturists, who is something of an evangelist for “embracing the beach as Mother Nature intended.”
“Many of the beach users have described the clothing-optional beach as their happy place, a place where they can disconnect from modern day stresses, a place they can feel at one with nature,” he says.
There is, however, a metaphorical cloud on the horizon. On Sunday, Tyagarah is set to be stripped of its status as an official clothing-optional beach.
“I guess these values aren’t shared by New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS], who are hell-bent on closing one of Byron’s last alternative community hubs and experiences,” James says.
First off, I’m not sexualizing them.
Secondly, I’m not worried about people in this thread sexualizing them. I’m worried about people on the beaches in person sexualizing them for years. Eventually they act on it. Four of my neighbors raped kids before they got arrested. And a guy roughly 15 streets from me kidnapped and raped 3 teenage girls for 15 years, before one eventually broke out of his basement. My sister was raped in the 80s when she was a teen. There are rapists all around.
Most people’s response to a naked child on a beach is indifference. I know this because young kids play naked on nearly every European beach, nude or not. And no-one cares.
Your reaction is not indifference, so it stands out.