Interesting contrast within the article:<p>> Today, nudists complain, it is more difficult to separate nakedness from sex. French nudists say their movement’s younger members are overwhelmingly men; women are leery of being leered at. “Parts of Cap d’Agde have been completely sexualised,” says Wim Fisscher<p>> If any space is more embarrassing for non-European tourists than a French nude beach, it is a German or Dutch sauna. They are unisex and naked by default. All bodies, thin, fat, young or old, are treated non-judgmentally. The one thing that will earn a disapproving stare is wearing clothing, because such modesty implies an inappropriate level of sexual consciousness.<p>But then:<p>> But the vision of nakedness as a demonstration of freedom and equality seems to be faring less well. Nudity has been central to European culture since the Greeks first sculpted Hermes.<p>Hermes was a great choice for this sentence, but it makes me wonder whether the writer knew that. Representations of Hermes were often naked, or at least displaying genitals, but they certainly weren't conceptually separated from sex. A Herm had a large erect penis. There was a statue of ithyphallic Hermes in a famous temple of Demeter, and an accompanying legend saying that he'd gotten into that state by seeing Persephone.