What's wrong with tattoos or piecings?..

To date, I have a total of 12 piercings, the first being my ears when I was 6 years old. My most recent being my naval which I had done this year. And I have my nipples pierced... I had them done long before I discovered naturism but even if that was not the case, SO WHAT? It is often assumed that nipple/genital piercings are done for sexual pleasure but this was not my, or many people’s reasoning. I just like pretty things and I like to sparkle. Simple.

I attended the Party in the Stark (PitS) music fesival this year at the Naturist Foundation, and during a 90’s rave night, someone handed me a tub of glow sticks. I got creative and put them everywhere, my wrists, my ponytail and on my nipple piercings. It was funny and in the spirit of the occasion. And in that moment, I posted an image to Twitter/X. At time of writing, the post had over 11,000 impressions and loads of likes and comments, but the one that shocked me the most was this: “This looks a bit more kink than naturism to me, this is the kind of thing that puts us off going Pits.”

I was disappointed that my image could be so misconstrued by someone in the naturist community. In my opinion, the image was so far removed from kink, but it did restart a worldwide conversation on tattoos and piercings in naturism. I reached out to a few people and learnt a lot about how people choose to represent themselves and why.

Richard Stacey, Regional Co-ordinator and LGBTQ Officer for British Naturism, has 5 tattoos and a Prince Albert (a penile piercing, for those that don’t know.) Richard got his first tattoo aged 24, and he has a very personal reason behind his piercing. A few days into his life, the decision was made for him to be circumcised, not for any medical reason - it just seemed to be the norm at the time. Although Richard bears no resentment to his parents, the decision affected him for years to come. He always felt that a part of him was missing and that something was taken away from him without his consent. It was during a counselling session that he realised the circumcision had impacted his mental wellbeing greatly. After some difficult questions, his councillor suggests it may benefit Richard to get a Prince Albert piercing as a way of taking control back. He dismissed the notion in an instant but the seed was sown. After careful consideration he took the plunge and got it done. Richard says “Looking back I’m glad I did it. It has made a world of difference. The councillor was right; I felt a part of me had been returned. I got the piercing for my mental health, not for any sexual adornment or gratification, although people often assume otherwise. Many people have personal reasons for piercings and a Prince Albert should not be treated any differently to an ear, nipple or belly button piercing.”

Getting the Prince Albert has given Richard a sense of wellbeing and body acceptance. He has embraced naturism and his confidence has soared since becoming an active member through British Naturism, “I have the confidence to be who I am, celebrate my body and accept it for what it is” he says. “Naturism has made me come out of my shell and appreciate what is good in life. Who’d have thought after a few years of joining British Naturism, I’d be a regional coordinator and their first ever national LGBTQ Officer, promoting the fact that naturism is for all, something I hadn’t realised as a gay man. I didn’t know I could join BN until a chance conversation with a BN member at Clover Spa in Birmingham. Gay, straight, trans, piercings, tattoos, it doesn’t matter. Naturism doesn’t discriminate, and nor should we.”

“I hope people will read this and it will give them confidence to be who they are, will help men know it’s ok to be circumcised and for others to realise tattoos and piercings can be about body confidence and not sexual adornment.”

Di, 62 from St Helens, got her first tattoo at the grand age of 57. Recently widowed, Di discovered her own body freedom through naturism. Inspired by her niece getting a tattoo for her 18th birthday, Di thought “if she can do it, so can I”. Five years on, 36 tattoos later and still counting, Di wears her tattoos with pride. “Once I’d learned they don’t actually hurt, I was hooked,” Di said. “My husband didn’t approve of tattoos or naturism so it was only on his passing I was able to explore this new liberation.”

Di has had no adverse comments to her tattoos in a naturist environment, at least not to her face. Indeed she feels that it’s a great conversation starter. Di explains, “People are intrigued and often ask me about them. Not once have I been accused of exhibitionism. “I was so painfully shy until I got to 40, that now to be confident naked makes me wish I'd done both things many years before. I understand that tattoos are not for everyone, but I have the right to do what I want with my body.”

For those that wish to judge, Di has this response: "Did I ask you to pay for them?.. NO. Is it your body?.. NO. I don’t have any body piercings … yet. But lots of my friends do. I accept it’s their choice. It would be a very boring world if we all looked alike. Some of us just want to add a bit of colour and sparkle to an otherwise very dull world. And at the end of the day, the whole ethos of naturism is accepting everyone regardless of how they look.”

Including myself, that’s three people, fairly new to naturism, who view tattoos and piercings as incidental, and merely a form of self expression or even fashion. Whether naturism or body expression came first is irrelevant and the community is generally accepting of people’s right to express themselves however they see fit. In the textile world, clothing is a form of expression, so maybe tattoos and piercings are just that for some naturists?

In order to balance this, I spoke to Nick Mayhew-Smith, a journalist and long standing naturist (dare I say ‘old school?) Nick has been a naturist since the early 90’s and has seen first hand how attitudes have changed. “My first years were in what must seem an old-fashioned form of naturism now, when I don't remember seeing body piercings, and tattoos were few and far between. For example, the more traditional naturist clubs nowadays I think would be happy with all forms of piercing other than genital, which is a long way from the 1990s when I joined. Even if the rules weren't overtly written down there was a whole culture that would have done a lot of frowning! Even though we claim to stand outside society's rules and conventions, I think naturism is a mirror of society too, and self-expression such as jewellery and tattoos, as well as identity and other personal choices, are much less restrictive now.” Nick muses. Tattoos have become much more fashionable since the 1990’s with around 42% of people born in the 1980’s or 1990’s having at least one compared to just 7% of those born in the 1950’s, and piercings are becoming much more commonplace, particularly amongst women.

Nick’s view is that naturism needs to look like a representative sample of ordinary society. “If it isn't then that means we may well be excluding certain people. So if younger people have tattoos, I would hope our younger naturists will be broadly representative of that, and also tend to have tattoos in the same proportion. I certainly don't mind one way or the other personally, people can do what they want with their bodies – and indeed that is a core principle of naturism.”

“But... I do have a bit of a question over genital piercings. I'm not that fussed by it and wouldn't judge anyone either, but I do wonder whether the more traditional naturist venues are going to continue to hold out on that one, and whether it does undermine the emphasis on family naturism. If I ran a big resort I'd take quite a detached view of it myself. So I guess I'm more liberal, but I do have some respect for traditional naturist values and I do think the underlying reasons for earlier naturist attitudes need to be understood in context, rather than written off simply for being old fashioned. I mean, they have obviously become old fashioned, but there were reasons why early naturists in particular were so keen to demonstrate that naturism did not draw undue attention to the genitalia, for example, through piercings etc.” said Nick.

From what I can gather, attitudes on the whole have shifted. It used to be that tattoos, and even more so piercings, could draw attention to the body, perhaps in a sexual manner and for years naturists have been trying to teach society that naturism is not about sex, swinging or exhibitionism. We are still trying to teach the world that very thing but I don’t think tattoos or piercings are part of that conversation any more. Simply put, it's just freedom of expression.

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