Vitaya: Readers Show their Breasts (2)

Readers of Belgium's women's magazine Vitaya showing their breasts to other readers. A strange promotional idea for a magazine with a new name? No, because if it were, they would have made a lot more noise about it. The cover on the magazine has none of the pictures, only the title of the article among many other titles.
So why did the magazine come up with this photo report? The reason is, of course, the international action against breast cancer symbolized by the pink ribbon. In an earlier posting, I showed you the Taiwanese models who went naked for the cause.
If you look at the top left woman in this picture from the pages of Vitaya, you'll see a former victim of breast cancer. It is important to know that women should not be judged for the size or look of their breasts, but that all can be proud of their breasts, as the women in the magazine report say they are, from the smallest to the largest.
If you know where to find one in your neighborhood, wear a pink ribbon and support those women who fell victim to the terrible disease.

Topless but Painted

And I interrupt the postings about Vitaya magazine for something completely different, as Monty Python would have said. Public nudity in Taiwan has suddenly become an issue because of a fashion show.
Taiwan stages a national sports "olympics" in a different city each year, and this time they selected the country's third city, Taichung, as host and a fashion show to promote the event. However, instead of having athletes parade the new clothes at the promotional news conference, they had a young woman with the top of her body painted like an athlete's blue outfit. What many people at first did not notice, was that the woman was actually topless, though she might have worn small 'covers' on her nipples.
As soon as this hit the news, there were shocked statements saying it was totally unsuitable to have such a 'show' at a national sports event. The young woman however, apparently a student at a sports college, looked very happy and natural about it. During the event, she also posed as a golf and tennis player, making the right moves with the golf club and the tennis racket.
Taichung's deputy mayor, who spent most of the event standing next to her, later told reporters that he did not even realize she was topless - which is perhaps the main evidence that she shouldn't have shocked anyone.
The organizers argued that if she had worn the clothing, she would not have been able to show off the positive impact of sports on the body, which was the main aim of the event.
I saw the footage on Taiwanese TV, with the 'mosaic' or pixillation in place, and I must say there is nothing shocking about that young woman. She looked beautiful and natural. Just like nudity should.

Vitaya: Readers Show their Breasts (1)

Female readers sending in their topless pictures to a magazine. Can you imagine that in your country? No, it's not a racy magazine for men. And it's for a worthy cause. But more about that later.

Vitaya is a television station in the Flemish or Dutch-language part of Belgium. Its target viewers are women, so a large part of its programming consists of shows about gardening, cooking, style, animal protection, and imported drama shows.

Through business deals I don't understand anything about, it managed to have an existing magazine known as Evita change its title to Vitaya. And it's the first monthly edition under the new name, available from Belgian newsstands last month, that contains the topless pictures from readers.

Breasts from A to Z is the theme of the report, and it lists the pictures from the smallest to the largest sizes of breast, with comments from the ladies pictured about what they like or dislike about their breasts, mostly the former.

Again, naturism is not about showing off one's naked body to others, that could be mere exhibitionism, but it is about feeling good in one's body, no matter how it looks to others. Too often, you read comments in the mainstream media about how so many naturists are "ugly." Those are mostly written by immature spirits heading for the nude beach to spot irrealistically beautiful people, model men and women from a model world. Reports as the one in Vitaya show that there are all kinds of people, and all of them are beautiful in their own way.

As to the reason for the magazine pictures: more about that in my next posting.

Nude Against Breast Cancer

So Taiwanese model Patina Lin didn't appear nude at the opening of the Taipei Deaflympics last Saturday after all. It was all a stunt to attract more attention. She had been nude and body-painted on the poster, but not at the actual event, where she hung from wires for 10 minutes wearing lots of feathers.

However, a bunch of other models from the Elite modeling house did the real thing. They went naked in a campaign against breast cancer. I still don't understand how the nude pictures fit in with the charity campaign, and how it will profit financially from their action. Also, the main event is the six ladies appearing in nude pictures for the Taiwanese edition of FHM, a "men's magazine" that I can only label as one-sided, i.e. giving male viewers who are not used too much a taste of titillation at pictures of scantily dressed beautiful women.

In other words, not a naturist magazine, since to us naturists, all nudity is equal. Male or female, young or old, beautiful or less beautiful. Naturism is not about showing off beautiful body parts, it's about feeling right inside the body you have. Anyway, if the photo shoot really does benefit the campaign against breast cancer, I have no problems with it. If the models going nude raises understanding that nudity is not inherently wrong, then good for them. If it's just a stunt to sell more magazines, it'll probably work, but it might leave a bad aftertaste.

The six models explain everything in Chinese at the www.fhm.com.tw web site. While they may not be as famous, even in Asia, as Patina Lin, they include two sisters - on the right - as well as talent contest winners Lin You-li (third from left) and Wu Li-ya (second from left). Models in Taiwan are like singers and actors, stars who regularly appear in the entertainment pages of the newspapers and in massive advertisements on the sides of buses and apartment buildings.

Naturism in Italy since 1964

The first Italian naturist organizations were founded 45 years ago, in 1964, the latest edition of the magazine Info Naturista tells me. Just like in Asia, the inspiration came from abroad. Italians went traveling to the Levant island off the French coast, to the island of Corsica to the west and to the then-Yugoslav region of Istria and saw how many naturist resorts and campings there were, so they wanted to have the same at home. Unfortunately, the magazine notes, naturism never became as large and influential a movement as in the other Mediterranean countries, and even today, Italy is still struggling to become a naturist destination, as we have noted in previous posts.

The magazine also notes how naturism stands close to nature, and has a narrow connection with health, environment and respect for others. Originally, the founders of the movement acted or reacted against the negative effects of industrialization, by promoting a return to nature and to basic humanity.

Turning to another aspect, Italy was the host earlier this year to an international meeting of the Young European Naturists - disproving the image that naturism has, especially with some people in the United States, of only attracting an elderly crowd. What may be even more surprising to non-naturists, is that the opening meeting at the naturist resort of Le Betulle in Northwest Italy was attended by the mayor of the nearby town of La Cassa and by the chief of police in Turin, one of Italy's major industrial centers, the home of car giant Fiat. Can you imagine a naturist congress in a major Asian city being attended by the mayor and the chief of police? I can't, but I hope it will become reality one day. The young naturists also dressed up for a city tour of Turin, but their buses were accompanied during the trip by police on motorcycles. Just like VIPs.

As usual, the magazine reports on the activities of the regional naturist associations. While mostly of local interest, it is nevertheless an eye opener for Asian naturists that for example a swimming pool in Milan, the capital of Italian finance and fashion, has hosted four naturist events so far this year, each time attracting about 80 naturists. The association covering Northeast Italy - the area north of Venice - even succeeded in acquiring a new naturist home, Castelsalus, with its own ground for sunbathing and sports.

Finally, let me give you a couple of websites for Italian naturist organizations:

www.naturismoanita.it

www.italianaturista.it

www.liburniats.org

www.naturismoanaa-fkk.org

Naturism in China: So Predictable

China is going to open up a naturist resort, I read about a week ago. Excellent news and a major breakthrough for naturism in such a huge country. But it's also a Communist and a conservative country, so what happened afterward was no surprise.
The naturist resort never opened, because it received a letter from the authorities telling it not to be 'indecent.' When you receive a letter from the authorities in China, you do what you're told and nothing else.
Is this an enormous setback? No, because if there are already people ready to promote naturism now, there will be more so later, as more Chinese get acquainted with naturism, either through the Internet or by travel overseas.
Having said that, I must add that the resort planned for Lin'an County in the economically prosperous coastal province of Zhejiang was not a naturist holiday center the way we understand it overseas. Rather, it was naturism 'with Chinese characteristics.' Which means men and women were completely separated. There were two natural ponds, one for women, one for men, separated by 100 meters and a thick bamboo grove which would have made contact between the two sides impossible. In other words, more a hot springs resort Japanese style than a naturist resort European style.
You can read more about the Chinese naturist resort and its demise at http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_407189.html and at http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200907/20090727/article_408735.htm.
As to nudity in Taiwan, a positive development: after the police at the Kaohsiung World Games telling the Brazilian topless athletes on the beach to cover up, I'm glad to hear that the Taipei Deaflympics - the next big sporting event in this country, next September - is likely to take a more liberal attitude toward nudity. One of Taiwan's top models, Patina Lin Chia-chi, will be asked to perform completely nude but covered in body painting at the opening ceremony. I hope to report more on that when it happens.
The Taiwanese media this week also suddenly reported about Les Bleues, France's national women's football team, undressing completely for a series of pictures destined to attract more attention to the female side of the sport. Why the Taiwanese media reported about this now, I don't know, because an Internet search showed me this was news in France back in April. Anyway, I'm not complaining, because even at this late date, it tells the public that nudity is not wrong if it's tastefully done for a good cause.

Naturism, Italy, and the Law

Thanks to the Italian naturist magazine Info Naturista I receive, I know that Italy is about to take a giant step forward toward naturism.
A group of seven senators have brought a bill to the Italian parliament for the 'decriminalization and legalization of the practice of naturism.'
Their arguments are mainly economic: if Italy remains the odd one out on naturism, it will miss the income from thousands of naturists who will spend their holidays elsewhere.
The argument is absolutely right: France and Croatia are famous for not just their nude beaches, but also their completely naturist resorts, where men, women and children can spend their family holidays together without the fear of being gawked at by non-naturist outsiders. Spain and Greece also have countless naturist beaches, and a growing number of naturist villas, apartments and small resorts.
Italy really is the odd one out. There are only a handful of naturist clubs catering mostly to local members and to limited groups of foreign naturists, but large-scale seaside naturism is virtually not in the picture.
The senators made their call for the legalization of naturism in Italy on World Naturist Day, last June 7, and we'll make sure we watch how it will proceed. The key supporters come from the Radical Party, a small group within the leftwing opposition, though it has to be said that unlike what many outsiders think, naturism is not a left-right issue, so there is no direct fear that because the right has a majority, the law will not pass.
Senator Donatella Poretti's piece in Info Naturista notes that there are 500,000 Italians who practice naturism inside the country or abroad. Europe has about 20 million people who practice naturism, sometimes only during the holidays, while the United States has 40 million. In other words, the senator says Italy is missing out on 60 million potential visitors.
The proposal also mentions that the naturist beach areas should be clearly marked to warn non-naturists.
As far as I can see, this piece of legislation should find no opponents - Europeans are already completely used to topless sunbathing, while naturism has been winning ground, as images of the naked human body without any sexual connotation have become more acceptable.
If millions of naturists can enjoy holidays in Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and more northerly countries, there is no reason for Italy to stay outside. An orderly introduction of naturism to the country would benefit everybody.
The Italian legislation could also form an example for Asian countries, where unfortunately true naturists are still a small, fragmented and misunderstood minority. Instead of having police going all nervous about three topless Brazilian athletes on a Taiwanese beach during the World Games, maybe we should have the Italian type of legislative proposals instead.
You can find the full Italian legislative proposal in the original version on Senator Poretti's blog at http://blog.donatellaporetti.it/?p=385.