VOCABLE Du 18 au 31 octobre 2018 (^) • 13
Société I Naturisme I EUROPE I B2-C
NAKED EUROPE
COVERS UP
Nudity no more for
Europeans
N
aked, we are equal,” proclaims Ida
Karkiainen. The Swedish MP is
addressing a packed hall at the 17th Interna-
tional Sauna Congress in Tornio, Finland.
She draws a round of applause from the
crowd, a mix of sauna entrepreneurs and
enthusiasts from Europe and Japan, along
with a few North Americans.- It is hard to imagine such a speech being
made by a politician anywhere outside Eu-
rope. Beginning in the late 19th century,
ideas about freedom, equality, health, sexual-
ity and public space came together to create
a distinctly European enthusiasm for going
unclothed. In Scandinavia the focus was the
sauna. In Mediterranean countries it was the
beach. In Germany it was everywhere: the
countr y ’s Freikörperkultur (“free body cul-
ture”, or FKK) encourages stripping off while
THE ECONOMIST
gardening, playing sports or taking lunch
breaks in the park. - Yet Europe’s taste for bare skin is in retreat.
Nudist beaches and resorts, topless sunbathing
and nude unisex saunas are declining. Football
teams report that players are unwilling to re-
move their underwear to shower after matches.
In recent years, commentators across the conti-
nent have remarked on a new prudishness.
POLITICAL OVERTONES
- The retreat of nudity has unpredictable po-
litical overtones. During Germany’s election
campaign in 2017, Gregor Gysi, the leader of the
Left party, lamented the conservative turn
represented by the decline of FKK, which had
been strongest in the former East Germany. In
the Netherlands, the issue is more often in-
voked on the right. In 2016 Mark Rutte, the
centre-right prime minister, worried about a
future in which nude beaches have vanished
because the country has “surrendered to the
wishes of a cultural minority”—by which he
meant Muslims. - But while immigration plays a role in Eu-
rope’s increasing modesty, other factors are
more important. The rise of social media has - MP = Member of Parliament, political representative
/ packed crowded, full of people / to draw, drew, drawn
here, to provoke / round of applause approval expressed
by people clapping their hands / enthusiast lover. - speech formal talk / health physical and mental
well-being / unclothed nude / focus centre of interest /
to strip of to take all of one’s clothes of /
to garden to work in the garden.- bare nude, naked / resort place with many hotels/
facilities for tourists / sunbathing lying in the sun /
unwilling not prepared / underwear underclothes /
prudishness modesty. - overtone implication / unpredictable diicult to
know in advance / turn movement in a certain direction /
former ex- / issue subject /
to vanish to disappear / to surrender to submit, to give
in, to capitulate.- increasing growing / modesty reserve, demureness /
rise increase /
En anglais il faut
toujours mettre une
majuscule aux noms de
pays, aux gentilés et
aux adjectifs associés
à la nationalité.Voici quelques exemples tirés de cet
article :
a Swedish MP
enthusiasts from Europe and Japan
a few North Americans
a distinctly European enthusiasm
in Mediterranean countries
in the former East Germany
a German or Dutch sauna.SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUEIs life better in the nude? On the European continent there are many who would
answer yes to that. In France, top naturist destination worldwide, nearly 2.6 million
people regularly practise naturism. The city of Munich, in Germany, has six speciied
zones allocated for naturists, including in some of its central parks. However,
recently, this practice has begun to decline in Europe.(Istock)