Women and Nudity in the Brazilian Naturist Movement in the 1950's

Abstract

It is studied representations about women in the history of the nudo-naturist movement in Brazil, using as sources naturist magazines produced in the 1950's. It demonstrates the great attention given by proponents of the nudist movement to women, in three aspects: a) the propagation of the benefits of nudism to women; b) assessment of what they thought was the nature of women; c) the consideration of body female beauty in nudism. It is concluded that nudist representations were important for the process of maintenance and change in relation to the gazes at women during the first decades of the 20th century in the Brazilian context, promoting other ways of exposing and seeing the female body.