ABOUT YOU
1. Tell us whatever you want about yourself. Name, age, location, occupation…
My name is Ivan and I am 23 years old. I was born in Badalona in 1998, but the city that has seen me grow is Banyoles. I have a degree in Catalan Language and Literature from the UdG, and I am preparing a Doctoral Thesis that will highlight the role of the Catalan nobility in the production and dissemination of troubadour poetry.
2. What do you like to do? What hobbies do you have?
My main passion is writing. At the age of 16, I started writing Àunia, my first “real” novel, which was published in March 2021 and won the XXII Premi Llibreter (‘Bookseller Prize’) in the youth literature category. I also love to read, play video games, create fantasy languages and worlds, enjoy nature without clothes, listen to epic and ambient music, and travel by train.
3. Something crazy you’d like to do?
Going to live in a secluded place, in the middle of nature, where I can write and breathe.
ABOUT NATURISM
1. For how long have you been a naturist?
I’ve liked undressing from a very young age, and from the age of 15, I started doing it with a nudist conscience. The first time I took off all my clothes outdoors was when I was 18, on the beach. From the age of 19, spurred on by a deeper understanding of the naturist lifestyle and the wise teachings of a very close person, I became a vegetarian (and a year later, a vegan) and accentuated my environmental concerns.
2. Were you raised as a naturist?
No, I began to do so on my own and in spite of the religious and conservative ideals that my family tried to instill in me since my earliest childhood. The will to be free, physically and mentally, is inherent in me.
3. Where was your first experience? In which situation? Did you like it?
I have been practicing “home nudism” since I was 15, but my first nudist experience in nature was on El Riuet beach near Sant Martí d’Empúries, when I was 18 years old. I remember many details because it meant the culmination of a long process of personal acceptance and overcoming fears. I visited the beach with my then-partner and my mother, who drove us there. The experience was very liberating and sensory (the avalanche of sensations that invades you when you first enter the sea naked is simply indescribable), and I was naked all the time, going from the sand to the water, and from the water to the sand, until the last moment.
4. How do you live and feel naturism?
At first, I lived naturism in only one of its aspects, nudism, because I felt comfortable in my skin and because, in general, I never liked to wear clothes. But I have recently embraced more branches of the naturist ideology, such as veganism, and have become more caring for the environment. It could be said that, learning to enjoy nature without hindrance, I realized its immense value and that I also needed to protect and care for it to continue enjoying it.
5. Where do you practice it?
I always practice veganism and environmentalism. On the other hand, I practice nudism wherever I can: at home as long as it is not too cold (I live with my family, but they accept and respect it), and also on the beach, at campsites and naturist centers, at other places inland and in some isolated areas where there is no one. Many of the times I practice it socially, it is with the Young Naturists group.
6. Have you been to a naturist resort/campsite/club?
In the summer of 2018, I stayed at El Fonoll for a week, and I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to visit the village once a year (until Covid came to do its thing). The other naturist centers I have been to are the Oriental Nudist Village (Chiang Mai, Thailand), which is no longer a nudist resort, and the Relax-Nat campsite in Mont-Ras.
7. How do you feel about the coexistence of “textiles” and naturists (in nudist places and clothing optional places)?
An ideal world for me would be one in which clothing was only used when it was necessary to protect oneself from the cold or other dangers, not as a rigid, puritanical social convention against the naturalness of the human body. It doesn’t bother me that people in clothes go to nudist places as long as there is respect and acceptance between both parties (obviously I prefer them to be naked like me), but I wish “textile” people didn’t mind me being naked in non-nudist places simply because I’m more comfortable that way. Unfortunately, this equality of conditions does not yet exist.
8. Why are you a naturist?
I am a naturist as a result of a process of liberation from the complexes of adolescence and a growing pleasure, which I already had as a child and which I rediscovered from the age of 15, for feeling free from clothes and in full contact with what surrounds me. This search for comfort and personal well-being, as I said before, has led me to adopt other practices (veganism, environmentalism) that I consider very necessary for a good coexistence with the environment.
9. Do you talk about it with the people around you? What kind of reactions have you recieved?
I have no problem talking about it with people around me. My family and close friends already know that I practice naturism, and I have a public Instagram account (@animesnud_) designed to promote my lifestyle. The vast majority of the reactions I have received have been positive, and the fact of presenting myself publicly as a naturist has allowed me to meet many people with similar ideals and “discover” that some friends and colleagues also practice naturism in some of its variants or are curious to try it.
10. Do you change your way of living and behaving according to the company you have (for example, when spending a weekend with non-naturist friends)?
I’ve had to do this several times because many people can feel offended when they see you in your most natural state, even when you undress to sleep. But it’s usually a matter of talking about it and figuring out everyone’s limits. I try to be respectful and I understand that much of society is not yet ready to accept nudity as something natural and commonplace.
11. Could you stop being a naturist?
It’s true that people can change their mindset, but I don’t think I will ever stop being a naturist. It’s a lifestyle that is deeply rooted in me.
12. What would you say to non-naturist people?
Just try it, at least once. It’s one of those unique experiences that can hook you forever, and only by trying it for yourself can you know what it feels like, and how natural it is to go naked. I always recommend doing it first at home or in a secluded place, alone, to get used to it.
13. And to naturists?
See you on the beach! 😉
ABOUT THE CCN AND YOUNG NATURISTS
1. How long have you known the CCN and how did you get to know it?
I remember registering on the CCN website when I was about 15-16 years old. At that time I only did nudism at home and I did internet research on the subject, I created the first profiles on social media (Tumblr, True Nudists,…), and I came across the CCN page.
2. How long have you been a paying associate? Why did you become one?
I joined the CCN basically for three reasons: to meet other people like me, to participate in various activities, and to help promote and defend naturism to acquire more rights and normalize its practice. The first CCN activity I attended was a spa session, in November 2018. Since then, I have become more and more involved with the club and the youth group, and I have helped the latter to grow and consolidate as much as possible.
3. Which activities have you participated in?
It is a very long list! As a co-organizer of Young Naturists, I have participated in almost every activity we have convened since 2019. I have also attended assemblies, CCN board meetings, and “executive meetings” of the youth group.
4. Have you made new friends thanks to the group of Young Naturists?
Yes, I have met (and continue to meet) wonderful people with whom I share ideas and hobbies 🙂
