| Summary: | 碩士 === 世新大學 === 性別研究所 === 102 === Taiwan’s naturists have developed their own form of naturism that differs from the western model. In naturism the nude body is revealed in the flesh and a naturist identity is realised out of communal nudity and social interaction. This generic identity plays on a naturist/textile identity. When naturists “put on clothes” they simultaneously “conceal” their naturist identity, whilst “taking clothes off” equates to making their naturist identity “present”. As a “class” Taiwanese naturist women are a “double minority”, a minority among naturists and a minority among women as a whole. This study seeks to understand the double minority status of Taiwan’s naturist women and their naturist/textile identity and so reflect on the challenges and prospects for the realisaiton of naturism in Taiwan. It asks three questions: 1. What are their experiences? 2. How do they practice their naturist identity? 3. What constitutes Taiwanese naturist women’s identity?
16 in-depth interviews were conducted by the author in settings of both nudity and non-nudity, including nude participation in Taiwanese naturist camps and informal social activities. The study shows that naturist women in Taiwan have a collective experience but lack a collective identity as naturist women. Hence, for Taiwanese naturist women to be visible and vocal is to reflect modern society and gender theory with clothed, patriarchal, capital institution from a “new” perspective, a naturist standpoint that turns to nature for better future.
The connotations of naturist identity are diverse in the community, ranging from nude recreation to “true” naturism. While local naturist discourse strives to claim that naturism is everything but sex, the outside world considers it as nothing but sex. Naturist women are ambivalent toward naturist practice owing to the naturist closet and stigma which is especially marked in an Asian cultural context. Yet, naturist experience brings empowerment and agency that goes beyond nudity and extends to clothed daily life. The naturist utopia and clothed reality are interconnected and interdependent. Neither ideals nor values are simply removed when clothes are taken off. Rather they remain interrelated with or without nudity or textiles.
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