Letting It All Hang Out

Two days ago, Switzerland's federal appeals court (the court of highest instance here) ruled that Swiss cantons have the right to impose fines on hikers who prefer to practice that outdoor activity in the nude.  A news report about this story in more detail - and in English - can be found here.

The case concerned a hiker in his 40s who was hiking along a trail in Appenzell, a fairly conservative area in Switzerland, who crossed other persons along his way.  One of them, a woman, was so offended that she reported him to the local authorities, who basically found nothing wrong with the hiker's behavior in parading au naturel in a natural setting.  The supreme cantonal court, however, thought differently and found that the hiker should pay a fine of CHF 100.   The hiker, affronted by the contradictory verdicts, took his complaint to the federal level and voilà le résultat.   The Geneva Tribune did note that the verdict was not unanimous.  Although the majority vote carried the day, the fact is that the decision split 3-2.

Intrigued by this tale, I checked to see whether hiking in the nude is a common pastime.  After all, I am one who basically prefers to cover my own body - the more the better - not so much because I have a hang-up with nudity or find nudity indecent (as the offended woman apparently did) but because I would rather not inflict my body on the public.  There are just too many wrinkles, crinkles and, yes, flab.  My body is much better left to the imagination.

Even when I was much younger, thinner, and, at least in retrospect, better toned, I had difficulty with my own nudity in other than intimate settings.  In one instance I remember, HWMBO and I visited a nude beach during a holiday in St. Martin, where I went topless.  While I felt somewhat overdressed in the circumstances, I just could not bear to bare all.  But I do remember, not so much the nudity of that experience or any feelings of prurience, but simply the sheer beauty of most bodies there.  It was a wonderful thing.  For me, however, one visit sufficed to tick off the experience list once and for all.

Wikipedia, which seems to have information about every possible thing under the sun, informs that hiking in the nude is also known as "freehiking" and is a sub-category of a phenomenon known as social nudity.  Interestingly, the British Isles, the predominant source of my own ancestry, seem to be much more uptight about freehiking than the rest of Western Europe. An Englishman, somewhat notorious as "The Naked Rambler," was repeatedly arrested and released and even imprisoned for awhile in Scotland.  Hiking au naturel in the Alps has generally met with less resistance, except - as seen in this recent story - in conservative eastern Switzerland.

I doubt whether I will ever join the free hiking movement, especially in areas where my special banes - poison ivy and poison sumac - exist.  Even the thought practically brings on a rash!  Then there are the bugs, fleas, ticks and gawd knows what else.  I'll remain clothed, thank you!  I like protection between my flesh and the elements.

But, while I would not necessarily be affronted to meet a nude hiker along the trail, I would likely be quite startled, hopefully not enough to miss my footing so that I fall over a cliff!