To Club or Not to Club
I appreciate there are those that find the safety and companionship of a club environment to be the best place for social nudity, however when you are one half of a couple that is unbalanced in the nudity openness realm, how does that sit.
Many clubs will allow casual visits, however they are limited to a small number of visits before membership can be required.
Is a 'non landed' club with affiliations better? or is it the same everywhere (apart from KNP).
I visited a West Auckland Club last summer, and would like to go more often, however it is out of the way and I am not sure about paying for full membership when I may only visit 3-4 times per year due to work and other committments.
I am also aware of other clubs not wanting to admit 'too many men' to maintain the gender balance.
I would appreciate others comments.
I expect that opinions on this matter are wide and varied, depending on background and experience. For me personally I've never been into clubs - mainly because I've never thought of wearing no clothes as some kind of hobby or pastime. It's how I was brought up and is just as much an every-day part of life as wearing clothes when needed. We never labelled ourselves as "nudists" or "naturists" back in the day.
I agree that clubs do offer a degree of safety. All clubs have a fairly strict vetting system before you can become a confirmed member and, together with the cost of membership, I imagine people will be on their best behaviour to avoid being kicked out.
Having said that, though, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've witnessed bad or lewd behaviour from nudists on a beach or other open environments. You get the "meerkats" in the sand dunes on some beaches, but I've found it pretty easy to deal with them! The best way to stay safe in open spaces is to either go with friends as a group, or choose spots where you can be alone.
As I mentioned in the article on gender imbalance, refusing or limiting membership to people just for being a single male really flies in the face of naturist ideology and does nothing to promote the acceptance of naturism to the mainstream as a valid and respectable lifestyle.