NIFTY’s first official meeting was held in 1993, and we began renting Vancouver’s Templeton Park Pool for monthly clothing-optional swims in 1998. Since then, our membership has grown significantly, and several thousand people have been NIFTY members at some point over the years, with about 500 up-to-date members at any given time.
Permanent link to this article: http://niftynude.org/nifty-history-p-2/
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. In 1043 Leofric founded and endowed a Benedictine monastery at Coventry. People of Coventry were suffering under her husband’s oppressive taxation. Lady Godiva asked her husband to remit the tolls. Leofric said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town. Lady Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair. Just one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom, disobeyed her proclamation in one of the most famous instances of voyeurism. In the story, Tom bores a hole in his shutters so that he might see Godiva pass, and is struck blind. In the end, Godiva’s husband keeps his word and abolishes the onerous taxes.
NIFTY shall be, as much as possible, a grassroots democratic organization. No president or permanent chair shall exist. A chair shall be elected at each NIFTY meeting for the purpose of that meeting only, their term ending with that meeting. The only table officers are the secretary and the treasurer.
NIFTY membership shall be by donation, with no minimum. Lack of financial means shall never he a barrier to NIFTY membership.
All NIFTY events shall be clothing-optional if possible. No NIFTY event or function shall he nude-only or clothed-only unless it is absolutely unavoidable
No individual members may use cameras at NIFTY events. NIFTY may authorise camera(s) to photograph special events; in that case “no photo” wristbands and/or designated photography areas will be established, depending on the event. All participants shall be privately made aware of photography and release options at the entrance to the event.
All decisions at NIFTY meetings shall be made by consensus if possible. In the event that consensus cannot he achieved after reasonable attempts, a vote shall take place, with majority rule carrying.
NIFTY is proud of its twenty-plus year history of advocacy, and we intend to continue our fight until all citizens have the freedom to wear clothes if they choose, and not wear them if they choose, in public spaces around the world.
NIFTY has held many events over the years: topfree and clothing-optional parades and marches, topfree picnics and book readings, clothing-optional dances and movie nights, and more. We also usually host a clothing-optional picnic following the Vancouver portion of the annual World Naked Bike Ride. While these events are celebratory in nature, they also serve to educate the public about the harmful effects of suppressing the natural body, and to advocate for clothing-optional rights.
NIFTY shall not discriminate against any person on the basis of sex, race, colour, creed, age, national origin, sexual orientation, or any other basis unrelated to behaviour.
Attention Newcomers:
Your first NIFTY swim is only $1. Please click on the image below, print, photograph or save the discount coupon on your smartphone or camera and present it at the next NIFTY swim. We accept the coupons on paper, digital cameras and smartphones.
NIFTY is an organization of people who oppose the legal ban on public nudity in Canada, and who are interested in organizing politically towards the abolishment of that ban.
(NIFTY Constutution, Paragraph 1)
While many NIFTY members are nudists and naturists, we are neither a nudist nor a naturist group. Membership is open to any person who supports our vision of Canada and a world free of legislated clothing requirements.
(NIFTY Constutution, Paragraph 3)
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1. Nudism is good for children.