Why are nudist beaches a thing?

Naturism per de isn’t really a sexual thing. It’s more of a discarding of social norms to be ‘as nature intended’ as it is quite liberating to take off your clothes on somewhere like a beach when you’ve been conditioned to always have something on, especially when in the company of others. There are nudist resorts, like at Cap D’agde in the south of France which has a entire village with shopping centre, bars and clubs as well as a long stretch of beach where nudity is the norm. There is quite a bit of crossover with the swinging community there though, which has created friction with some of the more hardline naturists who aren’t keen on all the sexy goings on and would prefer it was all more wholesome. Myself and my wife went along for the day when we were on holiday in the area a few years ago more out of curiosity really, but it was good fun and we certainly got the whole liberation thing when we bit the bullet and completely disrobed on a beach full of folk all wearing bugger all. When we first walked onto the beach the first thing we were confronted with was the obligatory group of good looking naked folk playing volleyball, which I thought was hilarious and straight out of one of those 70s information films about naturism 😎 The climate helps it to be more of a thing down by the med whereas you have to be a bit more dedicated in the UK, given our unpredictable weather. UK naturists may tend to be older (I’ve no idea of the stats) but at the French resort it was all ages, including plenty of families with kids on the first stretch of beach. There are sections of the beach further along that are dedicated to gay clientele and further still for folk who want to get a bit more sexy out of sight of all the families. However as far as I know, that tends to be more of a thing for this particular resort whereas at regular nudist beaches it really is just about removing your clothes and being in that state.