The naturist area of ​​the Bois de Vincennes is wise and friendly

On a proposal from the EELV group, a space for naturists was inaugurated on August 31, 2017 in the Bois de Vincennes, in the 12th arrondissement.

Voted in 2016 by the Council of Paris, on a proposal from the EELV group, the experimentation of a space authorized for naturism is now open in the Bois de Vincennes, until October 15.

From April 15 and until October 15, the naturist space in the forest in Vincennse is the place to meet nature and balance the body with vitamin D, offered by the rays of the sun, but also the totality of the tan. which is offered to the body.

Since 2006, World Naturism Day has taken place every year in early July. Finally, with 38,000 members recorded in 2014, the French Federation of Naturism (FFN) recorded a marked increase in its membership in the early 2010s.

According to these studies, 2.6 million French people regularly practice naturism (and 13.4 occasionally). Another lesson, the practice is attracting more and more young adults and families, in search of escape and well-being in the face of the stress of the professional world.

This does not make it a private beach, however. You can tan naked in Berlin, Vienna, Barcelona, ​​Zagreb etc., today you can also enjoy nudism in Paris.

Where does naturism come from?

According to the International Naturist Federation, naturism is “a way of living in harmony with nature, characterized by the practice of communal nudity which aims to promote respect for oneself, respect for others and that of of the environment”. A rather philosophical posture therefore. However, it is first under the pen of a doctor that it appears for the first time, in the second half of the 18th century. With Théophile de Bordeu, a follower of vitalism, a doctrine according to which the living cannot be reduced to physico-chemical laws.

To come now to the main causes determining the dynamics of the expansion of naturism, it must first be remembered that it was born of a renewed desire for nature, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. It unfolds around a deep sense of disconnection from nature catalyzed by the industrial revolution, urbanization and pandemics.

The current context reactivates the naturist reformist message and highlights the values ​​that underlie it. It carries all the ferments of a desire for nature conducive to naturism: new awareness of the fragility of the planet but also deprivation of nature with the successive confinements linked to Covid-19. The ideology of a saving return to nature, on an individual, social, physical and moral level echoes contemporary concerns.

Naturism also asserts itself as a response to a quest for meaning. In fact, it is structured in the face of the destabilization of landmarks that accompanies the acceleration of history. Economic, industrial, medical revolutions, modern wars are all facts that deeply question populations.

Another striking example, in 2017, the City of Paris accepted the opening of a naturist area in the Bois de Vincennes. Its originality lies in the fact that the space is open – no palisades or other protection – and mixed in terms of nudity, the experiment is repeated every year.

All naked in the Bois de Vincennes?

It has now been 6 seasons that a municipal decree allows naturism in this huge wood of almost 1000 hectares. A good reason to try! To offer your body to the… rays of the sun and smell the slightly less polluted air.

The president of the Association for the development of naturism in France (ADNF), this year, this figure was already exceeded, it is proof that people are more and more interested in this approach to the body different, which makes the meetings the most beautiful because we are ourselves and without judgement. “In Paris, we are 88,000 naturists, explains Cédric Amato. There are 2.6 million naturists in France and there are 17% of women and 29% of young people under the age of 30 who take up this practice. I would say that naturism is not a fad or a trend but a need that is expressed much more than before.

Located near the ornithological reserve in the woods, between the Allée Royale and the Route Dauphine, this 7,300 m2 space is accessible every day, from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., until October 16.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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