Content warning: nude pictures at the end of this article.

“There is nothing sexual about nudism. It’s the most non-sexual thing you could actually do.”

This might sound like a controversial opinion, but only to those who have never even considered trying it. Nudism is something that is routinely misjudged, especially if you think about the genuine benefits it reaps for those who partake. Estelle Keeber wanted this to change.

Estelle Keeber is a social media strategist based in Leicestershire, body positivity activist and committed nudist. In 2025 she started a campaign encouraging naked community and encouragement through events like naked podcasts, art installations and naked calendars. Anything you could think of, but minus any clothes. Keeber set out to celebrate the natural, uncensored human form and to normalise real bodies.

And it’s working! Nudism is growing because of people like Estelle, over half of youngsters prefer to be naked.

This is what nudism is really about, making people feel genuinely comfortable in their own bodies. Although, Estelle had an intense journey to get where she is now.

“The year before I turned 40, I’d had a really crazy 18 months. Covid happened, my business collapsed, my relationship broke down, I had to cancel my wedding, my nan passed away…”

It was an impossibly dark time, and it’s hard to know where to go after a year like that. Estelle didn’t let it define her. She started fresh, creating her own path, which led her to a certain beach.

“I had a fuck it I’m forty list, a list of things I wanted to do and going to a nudist beach was on the list.”

You might be thinking: “If I’m at a low, why on earth would I turn to nudism?” When actually, nudism has significant health benefits including vitamin D absorption, improved skin health, circulation and thermoregulation.

Although, Estelle found that her biggest takeaway was none of those things, but instead the relief and new-found confidence she felt in herself and her body.

“Within half an hour of being there and being around other naked people, being naked just felt so normal. The biggest thing I took away that day was my appreciation for bodies because everyone is so different.”

Social media has created a false narrative on what the ‘perfect’ body should look like, and more often than not, it’s a completely unrealistic ideal. Nudism allows you to see the different people out there, and you are actually exposed to real bodies. Not edited and photoshopped fakes.

“For the first time ever I was seeing all these naked bodies everywhere and actually thinking, they’re all amazing and beautiful shapes, sizes, colours and I think it really shifted something in me to be a lot kinder to myself.”

The internet has caused a real problem, and is at fault for much of the hate and insecurity surrounding our natural bodies.

“I’ve seen a huge shift from the sort of things that I used to see as a teenager in magazines that we knew were edited. So they weren’t these unobtainable images because we knew they were edited anyways. But I think we have crept into a world where you can’t tell the difference anymore.”

Developments of editing software, AI and deepfakes has caused body image to take a real hit. We just don’t know anymore what media we consume is real or fake, and the insecurity is pushed straight onto ourselves.

Estelle believes nudism can fight against that, and teach ourselves to be kinder to the bodies who help us to do everything we do.

“Bodies are just bodies, and they’re kind of vessels that get us through life and we should not really focus on the physical all the time and the aesthetic of our bodies because actually, they get us through some crazy, insane things in our lives.”

This prompted Estelle to start promoting nudism and its health benefits, wanting to share the positive changes it caused for her own life. “Why would I not want to talk about this to help other people who feel the same way?”

However she found that social media was usually pretty quick at shutting any content on nudism down. She started the Naked podcast to establish her own platform and to raise awareness and open conversation.

She noted that not only talking about nudism is essential, but also sharing her images.

“It causes a lot of controversy because we all see when it comes to women, all we’re shoved down our throats by the media is sexualising women’s bodies.”

Estelle has found the biggest misconception all nudists face, is the sexualisation of human bodies. It creates stereotypes about nudists.

“There’s just absolutely zero sexual connotation to anything. There are strict rules when you go to any sort of nudist environment and one of the biggest ones is around sexual contact and how that is not acceptable.”

This makes nudism appear taboo, and creates stereotypes about nudists and stops Estelle from publishing her photos.

But we will publish them!