[Fairfax]

Your description Torchwatch of the decline of naturist beaches in Britian mirrors the situation here in Australia. Rightly or wrongly every clothing optional beach here is now considered a "gay" beach.

However I don't think its widely recognised that the decline of the naturist lifestyle is mainly due to the invention of modern swimwear. When the naturist movement took off in popularity during the 1920's "swimwear" as it existed then wasn't really worthy of the name. Its no wonder a lot of people thought going naked the best option.

The invention of nylon in the 1950's and especially nylon elastaine in the 1970's changed everything. When people had access to minimal, form fitting garments, that didn't slow you down in the water and dried quickly afterwards the popularity of nude bathing declined.

I tried the nude bathing thing a few times in my twenties but quickly went back to briefs because I found you got much the same feeling of freedom without the social awkwardness of putting your genitals on display. The tanlines and swimwear fashions available were also more appealing to me and many other people.
The people still attending naturist beaches were as you said older couples and people for whom going naked had a stronger sexual element. Basically nudity had become sexualised again.

What frustrates me with todays situation is while women have retained the enjoyment of wearing minimal clothing in an outdoor recreational setting (a sort of "nudist lite") our modern society considers men wearing similar garments to be sexualised like nudity.

I'm not sure how this can be changed. I think part of the problem is while about 80% of women enjoy doing the "nudist lite" thing only about 20% of men would be interested. As a minority they are simply intimidated into conformity.

The only hope I have for positive change is this movement towards "gender fluidity" that's taken off in recent years. Maybe it will be recognised that men have the same legitimate desire to display their bodies as women do.
Until that happens the "good old days" won't return.