Stephen Bolton on RTE Radio1 – 13th September 2021

The Ray D’Arcy Show, on RTE Radio 1.

Ray: Yeah. 51551. We spotted an article in yesterday’s Sunday Times by Julianne Corr, and it told us that, membership of Ireland’s Naturist Association has increased by almost 70% in the last 2 summers. There are around 500 people who are official members of the INA, the Irish Naturist Association, but many more people are thought to be part of the Naturist community in Ireland.
Stephen Bolton is spokesperson for the Irish Naturist Association, and he’s on the line now.
Hello, Stephen.
Stephen:: How are you, Ray?
Ray: Not too bad. Do you ever get confused with a naturalist?
Stephen:: Occasionally. I think I’ve seen Richard Attenborough was outed as a naturist a while ago by accidently.
Ray: I always have to think twice when I’m introduced to naturalist that they’re not naturists or even naturists that they’re not naturalist. Yeah. Can lead to very embarrassing situations.
Stephen:: No. No. Attenborough has seen everything coming by here.
Ray: How are you? So you’re a naturist. Why and when and how?
Stephen:: It all started for me about a few years ago. I’ve done the Spencer Tunick photo shoot in Dublin and met, you know, 3 and a half thousand other people that all seem to like it and get on with it and had a great day. A fantastic experience, you know, the nerves of it, the adrenaline, and euphoria you get then for a few days afterwards. It was all fantastic.
Ray: I did Spencer tuning down in Cork.
Stephen:: Exactly.
Ray: Yeah.
Stephen:: There you go.
Ray: So so just so people know, this is a guy, a photographer from New York who toured the world and got thousands of people to gather together, take off their clothes, and he took pictures.
Ray: I always felt a bit odd, but, anyway, there you go. I did it because…
Stephen:: there you go. But you didn’t you feel good afterwards?
Ray: Yeah. I think the word that that I use over and over again was liberating. And the surprising thing was that, you know, it became very normal very quickly. After initial
Stephen:: Oh, within minutes.
Ray: Within minutes. Okay. So that’s when you, that was your sort of…
Stephen:: was my first, dipping my toe into it.
Ray: Entry level. Entry level.
Stephen:: Exactly. Entry level. Yeah. And then over the past few years, I, you know, still had that urge to do it, but I wanted to do it. And, about 4 or 5 years ago joined the association
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: And went for a swim.
Ray: And joining, what does that mean? You’re a member now. You’re a signed up member.
Stephen:: Yeah. You’re signed up for official member, like the other 500 odd members, but there’s, and you sign up, you pay your membership fee for, you know, €50 or whatever it might be for the year. And then, yeah, you get to go to organized meetups in swimming pools and at beaches and gallery exhibitions or go out for dinner together.
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: Yeah. Yeah.
Ray: In the nude?
Stephen:: Oh, yeah.
Ray: And would you have to book a restaurant then and and tell them?
Stephen:: Yeah. You’d you’d let them know. Yeah. Both :[Laughter]
Ray: And are they all very welcoming or have you been told no?
Stephen:: All very welcoming. Especially if you can guarantee you’re gonna have, you know, 25 bums on seats.
Ray: Bare bums on seats. Yeah.
Stephen:: Yeah. Exactly. Well, we bring a towel. You bring a towel. Yeah.
Ray: And so your membership, so what do you get as part for €50? You get those those meetups. What else do you get?
Stephen:: Exactly. Well, there’s free membership. There’s all free events on at the moment. So we have a few big swimming pools scattered around the country. There’s one in Wicklow, in Ballinsloe in I think that’s in Meath oh no, Mayo. Yeah. And there’s another big one in, Monaghan as well.
Ray: So you have your own time and and and everybody yeah. Fine. Yeah. Yeah.
Stephen:: You’re going on a Sunday evening or whatever. Yeah.
Ray: Yeah. Yeah. I see you get an international Naturist Federation card as well.
Stephen:: Yes. You do. Yeah. It’s the
Ray: It begs the question, where do you where do you keep it? You know? Where where do you keep it? Both :[Laughter]
Stephen:: You keep it in your wallet. Right? Like, everything else is useful. Yeah. When you’ll use it then if you’re going over, abroad on holidays and then checking in with it, like, a sauna or or, you know
Ray: something like that. Does that prove that I’ve thought about this and not just, you know, in the nudies?
Stephen:: Just Exactly. That you’re legit.
Ray: Yes. Alright. Legit. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And so there’s been an increase from a low enough base. But how would you explain that increase during lockdown?
Stephen:: Well, see, that’s the thing. I’ve been away a few times, you know, to Spain, or Lanzarote, or wherever, a good few places, and you always meet the Irish people. You can spot an Irish head a mile away, I’m sure you know that yourself. You can just see Irish people on the beach, and so they’ll be on the the naked beach as well, so you’ll go up and you’ll start chatting, and they won’t know about the association. But they’ve been lifelong members or they’ve been lifelong enthusiasts.
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: So I think with the lockdown and the staycation for the last, you know, 18 months, people have just said, right, well, we’ll investigate, see if there’s anywhere I can go in Ireland and do it.
Ray: Okay. I was just you know, this thing, you know, if a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s there to hear it fall, does it make a sound? There’s a similar philosophical question about naturists. If you and because it says in the intro there that there’s a broader naturist community. You sort of do it on their own, so to speak. If you’re at home and you decide to, you know, iron in the nude or whatever, walk around and there’s nobody there to spot you, are you a naturist or what are you?
Stephen:: You should be, it’d be entry level.
Ray: Entry. That’s entry level. [Laughter]
Stephen:: But, again, there’s a lot of people that do do it. And, obviously, through lockdown as well, over the last 18 months, people don’t have to wear their suit and tie to work. So they’ve been, everyone’s been wearing their tracks suit bottoms or their leggings or whatever. And it’s just on a nice day. Why bother?
Ray: Here’s the thing now about, it’s only dawned to me there in naturism, is it worse to be partially clothed than fully nude?
Stephen:: Well, no. It’s up to you.
Ray: No. But I’m just I’m just thinking because you mentioned Zoom. Like, if somebody was sitting there I don’t know. They’re clothed down to their waist, and then they’re naked from the waist down.
Stephen:: No. That’s cheeky little, one one upmanship that you’ve got over everyone else.
Ray: Is it? Right.
Stephen:: Yeah. Why not? A bit of crack.
Ray: Well, who? And what do your friends and family think of you being a naturist?
Stephen:: As soon as I kinda said something, they all went, oh, yeah. That’s fair enough. Yeah.
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: They’ll ask a few questions.
Ray: Where do you look? Where do you look when you’re having a conversation?
Stephen:: You look in somebody’s eyes. Yes. Same as everybody else.
Ray: I know. I know. But you’re Yeah. It’ll drift, wouldn’t it? Would it would it drift at all? No?
Stephen:: Of course. Yeah. You’ll have a look, but you won’t stare. It’s be the same as when you go to the gym, if you’re in the the changing rooms in the gym.
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: You know, everyone y’all might have a quick look, but you’re you’re not gonna you’re not gonna go up to somebody, compliment them.
Ray: We would I wouldn’t imagine we’re a huge nation for naturist. I’d say our figures per capita are low by comparison.
Stephen:: Yeah. I’d agree. I’d agree with that.
Ray: Why do you think that is?
Stephen:: Well, I think it’s probably we’re trying to shake off the old Victorian attitude
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: Towards, you know, duty and anything sexual is a sin, you know, or the old Christianity way of doing it, where we’re trying to more realign ourselves with our European brothers and sisters.
Ray: There’s the climate there’s the climate as well. There’s the climate as well, isn’t there,
Stephen:?
Stephen:: Well, I don’t know if that’s true because nobody would have visited a beach in Ireland ever if it was that cold. We know that’s not the case.
Ray: Yeah. Fair enough. What are the legals on it? There’s, it’s not, it’s completely allowed. It’s legal. Yeah.
Stephen:: It’s, it is legal. Yeah. The law changed there, I think, in 2017 or 2018 where it’s not illegal to be naked in public as long as you don’t mean to be causing offense or harm or distress.
Ray: Right.
Stephen:: Again, we use that. That’s a very beneficial law for us to have as well in case there’s anyone that’s being a little bit creepy. You know, we can
Ray: And then that brings, that begs the question as well, because you brought up creepy there. Is there any sort of vetting before you let people join your association?
Stephen:: Over the past 2 summers, you know, we’ve been in public, at meetings, you know, on the beach or going for hikes in the mountains or in the woods. So you’ll meet them that way. And you’ll get to know a person very quickly.
Ray: And what happens if you reckon that they are a bit creepy?
Stephen:: Well, you’ll, take them off a mailing list. You’ll blackball them.
Ray: Blacklisters. Yeah. Blacklisters.
Stephen:: Yeah. Blacklisters. Sorry. That’s the word. Yeah.
Ray: You you go hiking?
Stephen:: Yeah, It’s lovely. This will be reconnecting with nature.
Ray: I know. I know. But how about reconnecting with the forest bush and a bunch of nettles? [Laughter]
Stephen:: Well well, we usually choose a kind of a, not bushy kind of a trail anyway, and we’ll do a scout beforehand as well to see what kind of condition it’s in.
Ray: So by the sounds of it, you’re very enthusiastic about it as a way of life. You would obviously, recommend it to people?
Stephen:: Hugely. It’s very beneficial, very good for the mind, very good for the body when you especially when you people have hang ups or anything like that, the the wobbly bits. And, you know, everybody has them.
Ray: Yeah. Yeah. So you become more comfortable with your body.
Stephen:: More body positive. Yeah.
Ray: Yeah. Okay.
Stephen:: Yeah.
Ray: Right. So there you go. It’s the INA, the Irish Naturist Association as opposed to the Irish Naturalists Association. And, naturalists are interested in all things natural, but naturists, they have more skin in the game. Hey Hey. Steven, great talking to you. Mind yourself.
Stephen:: Thanks Ray.
Ray: Alright. Thanks again. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

The Ray D’Arcy Show, on RTE radio 1