Kate Turner on Newstalk – 4th October 2024

Adrian: And this is Adrian Kennedy, in for Andrea this Friday afternoon.
And it’s time for our Friday slot, “Ask Me Anything”.
And every week we get a different expert in to tell us about what they do and why they do it.
And this week, we are joined by a naturist.
Her name is Kate Turner from the Irish Naturists Association.
Kate, good afternoon and welcome.
Kate: Good afternoon, Adrian.
Adrian: One of the questions one of our listeners asked is, is that lady in the nude today? No is the answer.
Kate: No. I was asked, but it was a last minute thing. If I’d have been asked when I was first asked to appear, I might have said yes.
Adrian: Okay.
Kate: But apart from anything else, we’re online, nobody would be able to tell anyway apart from you.
Adrian: So how did you get into naturism?
Kate: What started for me was body painting. So I was already comfortable with being naked.
And then I heard about other events going on and I was, like, yeah, I’ll participate in them.
Adrian: Okay. So the Irish Naturist Association, how many members would you have, for example?
Kate: We would have a couple of hundred. Yeah. And there would be more outside of this.
Adrian: And what do you do and where do you go?
Kate: We’ll do anything basically, but naked. We can go hiking. We can go and hire out a whole swimming pool. We’ve done the World Naked Bike Ride down in Cork every year for the past few years. And, basically, anything that you can do, we can do naked.
Adrian: Okay. Right. But we’ve a lot of questions, coming in. So I’m just gonna go through them in order, and hopefully, I’ll, get to yours.
If you have a question that you’d like to put to Kate, send us a WhatsApp to 087-1400-106.
And the first question is, “Is it always organized events that you have to go to, or is there anywhere you can go unplanned and be able to be nude?”
Kate: You can go anywhere unplanned.
Adrian: Is it legal to be nude in a public place?
Kate: It’s not illegal so long as you don’t cause offense. There will always be people who take offense, but not take it up legally.
Adrian: Okay. So it’s not illegal for me to go and walk down Grafton Street nude?
Kate: No. Is it not?
Adrian: Right. Okay. Not that I’m going to. Alright. Chris has a question that he wants to ask.
[Whatsapp Voice Msg]Chris: “I was just wondering what the legal situation was to naturism. Is it illegal to to be naked, or is it just if somebody is offended? Thank you. Okay.”
Adrian: So sorry. That’s the question I just asked you.
Kate: Yeah. Just if someone’s offended enough to take things further.
Adrian: Okay. But, obviously, there are people that would and probably do.
But I I was interested to see earlier on that no member of the Irish Naturist Association has ever been arrested or angry of sorts? No?
Kate: I do remember something at a festival where a woman went topless, and she was approached by the guards and asked to put her top back on. But everyone else rallied around her because it’s not illegal.
Adrian: Right. Okay.
Kate: And they’re just breasts. They’re just mammary tissue.
Adrian: That’s fascinating. Okay. Next question is, “Is there a worry that people do it for the wrong reasons? And if so, how do you suss those people out?” That’s a very good question.
Kate: It has been sussed before and people have announced it. You’ll get that in all walks of life in any way, shape, or form in any organization.
Adrian: So would this be people who are getting involved for sex?
Kate: Yeah. It’s completely nonsexual, but they’re looking to make it so or be inappropriate in some way.
Adrian: And how do you in fact, it’s another, question that’s the following question. “Is it a sexual thing in any way? Surely, it’s impossible to separate the two” says that message.
Kate: It is not impossible. You are an adult capable of making rational decisions. It is not sexual in any way.
Adrian: In any way?
Kate: Take may take some people a while to get a little bit more comfortable with it so that certain appendages do not respond accordingly. But, you know, it happens.
Adrian: Mhmm.
Kate: And if you’re not apologetic, but if you handle the situation the right way, it’s grand.
Adrian: Okay. But obviously, the obviously, this is an issue from time to time then.
Kate: It can be. Yeah. Especially with new members.
Adrian: Okay. I have another question here from, Tommy. Tommy: Are are you ever self conscious when you’re being doing what you’re doing?
Adrian: That’s a great question. I couldn’t be nude in front of somebody because I’d be far too self conscious.
Kate: But why though?
Adrian: Maybe, don’t like the look of my body or something like that?
Kate: Okay. Well, that would be an issue that we would be able to discuss, again with newer members and more experienced members. Everybody is just a body. It doesn’t matter age, race, creed. It doesn’t matter your body shape, your body size. We’re all just bodies at the end of the day.
Adrian: But you must need some, extra self confidence to be nude in front of other people.
Kate: You could do. I remember I was at the, tattoo convention and, basically, I asked because my nipple bases aren’t staying on, I was being body painted, is it okay to go without? And they said, as long as you’re comfortable. I was like, oh, that’s grand.
Adrian: Okay. Bring in more of your, questions. 087-1400-106, and they are flying in here. If you have any questions that you would like to ask, Kate, who is from the Irish Naturist Association, send them in to us. 087-1400-106. Another question, which we sort of answered, but I’d read it anyway. How do you get into it? Is it an environment you’re typically raised in or something you discover yourself?
Kate: It’s a bit of both. I discovered it myself because I was a member of the Bodypainting Association. But, yeah, you can be raised in it. It completely depends on how you’re gonna do it. Myself, I have a 6 week old. I’ll make sure that we’re not prudish about it, but I won’t force it on him. And it’s up to him to make a decision whether he’s comfortable being naked around us, let alone anybody else.
Adrian: Okay. And, so as your child grows, you will bring your child to events with you?
Kate: Yes.
Adrian: When will that child be able to make a decision for himself?
Kate: As soon as they’re able. As soon as they’re able to experience, feelings of uncomfortableness and how to express that, whether they shy away, whether it’s nonverbal, or whether they actually are verbal.
Adrian: And is this something that children can be involved in?
Kate: Yes. Of course.
Adrian: And there’s no illegality around that?
Kate: No. Because nobody takes photos. Nobody takes photos. It’s different when it comes to public events because you’re out in the public eye. Anybody over the phone can take a photo. But that’s something that you yourself have to be okay with.
Adrian: Okay. Let me bring in, another voice note from Nikki.
[Whatsapp Voice Msg]Nikki: “Does the weather affect affect your naturist activities?”
Adrian: I did not actually hear
Kate: Does the weather affect it?
Adrian: Oh, sorry. Yeah. Weather.
Kate: It can do. Like, we have people who go out sea swimming. We have people who go out on hikes. And you would bring your clothes with you in case weather hits, and you’re not used to being in such weather. You could get exposure symptoms. So yeah. Yeah. You would, prepared for all eventualities. You’re in Ireland. Come on.
Adrian: Yeah. Exactly. Okay. “How do you know someone else is a naturist? Is there, like, a secret handshake so, you can discuss it with people, invite them to events and everything else?” That’s another great question.
Kate: No. But you would have your own little tells. You would have your own little groups in a larger group situation. Like at a wedding, there would be people who would congregate with other people, that would include naturists, especially if some of those family members of the bride and groom are not comfortable with, them being
Adrian: In fact, that’s it was one of my other questions. “How are family, around this whole thing of you being a naturist?”
Kate: My family are fine with it. They are not people who would do it themselves. But, again, I have the confidence they don’t, and they respect that.
Adrian: Very good. Okay. More of your, questions. Is there, any worries about body shaming? And this goes back to what we were talking about, her body confidence. Would it tend to be people with better bodies that get into it? And this comes back to my self confidence thing a couple of minutes ago.
Kate: Not at all. Not at all. We have every single body and every single age. All shapes and sizes. All shapes and sizes.
Adrian: Okay. More of your, WhatsApp voice notes. This is Ellen’s question.
[Whatsapp Voice Msg]Ellen: “Has nudity caused any embarrassing situations?”
Adrian: Good question.
Kate: Yeah. Sometimes. But nothing that we can’t have a laugh and a joke over. And nothing
Adrian: Like what? Like, what what would have been embarrassing?
Kate: You would get catcalls. You would get heckles. And that’s fine. It’s other people’s opinions that I don’t care about.
Adrian: So now it doesn’t bother you?
Kate: Me? No.
Adrian: No. Do you understand why some people have a bit of an issue with it, think it’s a bit weird?
Kate: Of course. Yep. And that’s their own issue to deal with, not mine.
Adrian: Okay. Another I don’t quite know what this question really means, but I’d ask it anyway. “Do naturists find it hard to maintain eye contact?”
Kate: No.
Adrian: That obviously means roaming eyes, I assume.
Kate: Yeah. Sometimes. And it’s okay to have a little bit of a roaming eye, but not to linger anywhere. It depends on who you’re talking with at the time, but eye contact is actually more important and more relevant.
Adrian: Okay. And, again, we’ve sort of addressed this one. Gerard’s question is “What if a man gets a little bit excited, is that something that is dealt with and does it happen repetitive repeatedly?”
Kate: No. It doesn’t happen repeatedly. And if it does, well, then it’s more of a choice on their part to not calm themselves down, to not take themselves away for a few minutes, just calm down, and then come back to this situation. And so, again, it’s handled case by case. If someone can be comfortable with themselves, great. If someone can’t, they’ll take themselves off for a minute and come back.
Adrian: Okay. That sounds very controlled. You mentioned earlier on, about the Naturist bike ride in Cork. Well, Kevin has a question on that.
[Whatsapp Voice Msg]Kevin: “For what date is the bike ride?”
Kate: Typically in August. Dates change, but it is typically in August.
Adrian: And then many people would take part?
Kate: Oh, hundreds.
Adrian: hundreds?
Kate: Up to a hundred. Sometimes, there’d be about 60 to 80, but generally speaking, we do get a good crowd.
Adrian: And it’s a route around the city?
Kate: It is a designated route around the city with safety cyclists that would go before you and stop traffic and behind you and stop traffic.
Adrian: Right. Okay. And, obviously, it has all the, appropriate approval and everything else.
Kate: Yeah. We meet the lord mayor on the steps.
Adrian: Alright. Very good.
Kate: at City hall.
Adrian: And in terms of the, for the cycle, is there, obviously, crowds gathered along the street and
Kate: They would stop and they would notice that we come along.
Adrian: I’m sure they would.
Kate: And But it’s not something that we put put up barriers and put up banners about to tell people. Right. It’s not it’s not like a planned protest or anything like that.
Adrian: Okay. The streets aren’t closed then, are they?
Kate: No.
Adrian: No. Right. Okay. We’ve a lot more questions to get through. I’ll get through as many as I possibly can. Another question. What about, if your child asked you to stop? So that’s obviously a question for a couple of years down the road, but
Kate: Yeah. Stop at home. Yeah. I would stop at home. Stop when out and about on my own time without my kid? Probably not. But, again, that’s something that hasn’t come up yet, and it is something that I will think about. But when it comes to being in the public eye, for example, doing the naked bike ride, if he wanted me to stop, I’d stop. If he wanted me to stop doing radio and TV appearances, because I was on The Late Late Show as well to promote the World Naked Bike Ride, then, yeah, I would stop doing public appearances.
Adrian: Okay. But you will obviously negotiate with your child in the years to come?
Kate: I would make him aware of why I do it and why it seems important enough to me. But if you really did have an issue with it, then, yeah, it would be something that I would seriously consider stopping.
Adrian: Okay. What else we got here now? Is your partner a naturist?
Kate: No. But he has come to events with me, and he is slowly getting used to it. And if he doesn’t want to get used to it anymore, he can stop.
Adrian: Okay. So when you say going to an event, can you go to an event so say your partner going to the event with you, not as a naturist, does he have to take his clothes off?
Kate: Yes.
Adrian: Right.
Kate: But if he wanted to remove himself sooner than the event was over, then, yeah, he could.
Adrian: Okay. And how did he find it? Is that as somebody who’d never done it?
Kate: He found it okay. After the first couple of times, he was like, this is actually alright. You know, I’ve made a small group of friends, and I’d rather be with those group of friends than new people, especially if it’s a big group. But for the most part, we keep, our events small and to people that we know.
Adrian: One or two more questions then. Jer oh, sorry. We played Jer already. Sorry. Another Kevin. Oh, we haven’t done Jerr. Sorry. Jerr has a question. Jerr: Good afternoon. I just like to ask the lady a question there. First of all, fair play to you all. Whatever makes you happy. And secondly, are there any naturist beaches in Ireland?
Kate: Yeah. We would have a few. I wouldn’t be ofay with many of them, but there is part of Killiney beach, that’s White Rock. There is Hawk Cliff as well. They would be the places that would be closest to me, but any beach.
Adrian: Any beach. Okay.
Kate: Gormanstown and Corballis as well.
Adrian: Okay. Very good. Another message, “Is it very dangerous to hike naked? Not only does it put the person who’s naked at risk, but also mountain rescue who may have to be called out to them if the weather turns, they get lost or whatever.” But you’re saying on a on a hike, for example, you will bring clothes with you.
Kate: Yeah.
Adrian: They’ll be in your backpack.
Kate: Prepared. You would have your safety gear then as well. You would have your medical kit. You would have your tinfoil wrap as well.
Adrian: Alright. Very good. And finally, Andrea has a message for us.
[Whatsapp Voice Msg]Andrea: What’s the point in doing regular things naked?
Adrian: Oh, that’s it. What’s the point in doing things naked?
Kate: There is no point. But I suppose if you’re going somewhere, you don’t have to worry about what you’re gonna wear. You don’t have to worry about washing said clothes. You don’t have to worry about whether your dress is appropriate for the event. You don’t have to worry about anything like that really. You don’t have to worry about carrying it, packing it. You don’t have to worry about, oh, that person’s gonna look more
Adrian: Sounds like the dream actually.
Kate: Yeah. Yeah. And really, you’re just you’re more comfortable just being yourself.
Adrian: It’s been fascinating talking to you, Kate.
Thanks very much indeed for coming in.
Kate Turner from the Irish Naturist Association, and thanks to all of you for, all of your questions.