Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is "skinny dipping".
In both British and American English, to swim means "to move through water by moving the body or parts of the body". In British English, bathing also means swimming; but in American English, bathing refers to washing, or any immersion in liquid for hygienic, therapeutic, or ritual purposes. Many terms reflect British usage, such as sea bathing and bathing suit, although swimsuit is now more often used.
In prehistory and for much of ancient history, both swimming and bathing were done without clothes, although cultures have differed as to whether bathing ought to be segregated by sex. Christian societies have generally opposed mixed nude bathing, although not all early Christians immediately abandoned Roman traditions of mixed communal bathing. In Western societies into the 20th century, nude swimming was common for men and boys, particularly in male-only contexts and to a lesser extent in the presence of clothed women and girls. Some non-Western societies have continued to practice mixed nude bathing into the present, while some Western cultures became more tolerant of the practice over the course of the 20th century.
The contemporary practices of naturism include nude swimming. The widespread acceptance of naturism in many European countries has led to legal recognition of clothing-optional swimming in locations open to the public. After a brief period of popularity in the 1960s–1970s of public "nude beaches" in the United States, acceptance is declining, confining American nude swimming generally to private locations.
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