Women in Focus - A podcast from British Naturism

Women in Focus - Helen talks to Dr Victoria Bateman

Helen talks to Dr Victoria Bateman, the Cambridge economist and author known for using her own naked body in art and protest, about breaking free of the "cult of female modesty," the Brexit protest that made headlines in 2016, and why women's economic freedom can't be separated from freedom over their own bodies.

Helen talks to Dr Victoria Bateman, a Fellow in Economics at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and the economist and author who has spent over a decade using her own naked body for art and in political protest. Victoria explains how she broke free of what she calls the "cult of female modesty" in her thirties, the story behind the Anthony Connolly nude portrait that caused a media storm in 2014, and the "Brexit leaves Britain naked" protest she staged in Cambridge the day after the 2016 referendum result. Ten years on, she marked the anniversary with a month-long protest in which she rolled a die each morning to decide whether she'd wear an EU flag dress, just a skirt, or nothing but shoes. Victoria argues that women's economic freedom can never be separated from freedom over their own bodies - pointing to Afghanistan and America's purity-pledge movement as examples of how policing women's modesty locks them out of education, work and healthcare. Helen and Victoria compare notes on body freedom, street harassment, deepfakes and online trolling, and why being comfortable naked helped them both notice changes in their own bodies early. Victoria's new book, Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth, and Power, is out now.

Links for Dr Victoria Bateman:

Website: vnbateman.com
Instagram: instagram.com/vnbateman
Instagram (Economica): instagram.com/women.wealth.power
Economica book website: women-wealth-power.com
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/vnbateman.bsky.social
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Michelle Perry

Helen talks to Michelle Perry about a menopausal "enough is enough" moment in her mid-fifties that led her to naturism, and how a shared sense of vulnerability among naturist women, and the Everybody festival, changed everything for her.

Helen talks to Michelle Perry, a British Naturism member from the Brighton area who spent most of her life covering up a body she felt sure would be judged, even wearing long shorts on the beach. Michelle shares how an ex-boyfriend's casual invitation to a naturist beach, and a menopausal "enough is enough" moment in her mid-fifties, first got her there - and how the Everybody festival, a couple of years later, sealed the transformation completely. She and Helen talk candidly about lipedema and body image, the particular safety and shared vulnerability that naturist women find with each other, and why a naked body in front of you somehow makes people less judgmental, not more. Michelle also explains why she'd steer nervous newcomers away from beaches and towards well-run events like Nudefest.

You can read Michelle's written Women in Focus interview here.

Links for Michelle Perry:

Facebook: facebook.com/michelle.perry.ocm
Instagram: instagram.com/michelleocm17
BN Profile: bn.org.uk/profile/30564-Michelleocm
Email: michelle_perry_ocm@hotmail.com
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
British Naturism Women: bn.org.uk/women
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to 'Captain' Amy Guerrier

Helen talks to Amy Guerrier - aka Bare Bum Boaty - hula hoop artist, mindset coach, and canal boater, about discovering naturism through playfulness, body kindness, and her very serious yet silly plans for a naked cruise aboard her boat.

Amy Guerrier, known online as Bare Bum Boaty and Abso-Boatly-Fabulous, is a hula hoop artist, clown, improv performer, and mindset coach who lives aboard a 60-foot wide beam canal boat. Just 35 days before this recording she started an implied nude Instagram account on a whim, stumbled into the naturist community, and hasn't looked back since. In this episode, Helen and Amy explore what it means to follow joy without a plan, why social nudity so quickly strips away pretence and deepens connection, and how the simple act of questioning your language can transform your relationship with yourself and your body. She also shares her exuberant first visit to Sunfolk, and her very serious yet silly plans for a naked cruise and silent disco aboard her boat.

Links for Captain Amy:

Instagram (naturism): instagram.com/barebumboaty
Instagram (general): instagram.com/absoboatlyfabulous
Links: linktr.ee/absoboatlyfabulous
Website: amyguerrier.com
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Steph Durbin

Steph Durbin is BN's new Director without Portfolio. In this episode she discusses grief and purpose, liberation, and what it means to go from a naturism newbie to local and national leadership roles in just three years. Short answer: joy.

Helen talks to Steph Durbin, newly appointed Director without Portfolio at British Naturism and board chair of Ashdene Naturist Club. She shares her journey that began with grief and arrived — three years later — at joy. Steph discovered naturism in 2022, drawn in by her late mother's lifelong passion and a determined search for purpose after loss. Helen and Steph explore what it means to navigate naturism as a single woman — the trust, the safeguarding, the assumptions people make — and the particular depth of connection that forms when women gather without clothes or pretence. They also speak about Steph's rapid rise to leadership roles, both at Ashdene Naturist Club and British Naturism.

And if you are interested in joining Helen and Steph on the BN Ladies Only holiday in Vritomartis in Crete for a week from the 1st June, email Helen at Women in Focus for details.

Links for Steph Durbin:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/steph-durbin
Facebook: facebook.com/stephdurbinwood
Instagram: instagram.com/stephdurbin66
British Naturism: bn.org.uk/profile/27577-Stephdurbin/
NEW: British Naturism Shop: shop.bn.org.uk/collections/british-naturism
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo
Women In Naturism: womeninnaturism.uk

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Sarah Mexico Christenson

Helen talks to Sarah Mexico Christenson, Florida nudist and social media creator, about leaving corporate life to normalise nudity online, overcoming the body shame inflicted by purity culture, and why a naked cruise beats any other kind.

Sarah 'Mexico' Christenson is a Florida-based social media content creator who has built a following by normalising nudism online without apology. She and Helen met aboard the Bare Necessities Big Nude Boat 2026 cruise earlier this year and discovered they shared many ideas in common. Sarah talks about how a group holiday to a Tampa nudist resort in 2019 sparked her unexpected epiphany, how leaving corporate life gave her the freedom to take her advocacy public, and how naturism helped her unpack a childhood steeped in purity culture and body shame. Together, Helen and Sarah explore the de-sexualising effect of nudity, the surprising ease of connection in clothes-free spaces, the differences in terminology across the Atlantic, and what it actually feels like to spend eleven days on a boat with two thousand naked strangers ... and love every minute of it.

And if you are interested in joining Helen and Sarah on the BN Ladies Only holiday in Vritomartis in Crete for a week from the 1st June, email Helen at Women in Focus for details.

Links for Sarah Mexico Christenson:

TikTok: tiktok.com/@sarahmexicochrist
Snapchat: snapchat.com/@sarahmexicooh
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/sarahmexicochrist.bsky.social
Facebook: facebook.com/sarah.christenson.7
Instagram: instagram.com/sarahmexicochristenson
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Maja Penko

Helen talks to Maja Penko, Slovenian naturist and former federation president, about growing up free from body shame, fighting for nipple equality, and the simple power of accepting what you see in the mirror.

Maja Penko is a tour guide from Ljubljana, Slovenia, and is a former long-serving president of the Slovenian Naturist Federation. Maja was raised in a naturist family and shares the charming moment she first realised, at age ten, that not everyone lived quite so freely — a discovery that shaped a lifelong commitment to body acceptance and naturist advocacy. Together, Helen and Maja explore what it means to grow up without body shame, the fight for nipple equality, and why women's own attitudes are often the first barrier to overcome. Maja's message is refreshingly direct: start by looking in the mirror, accept what you see, and take it from there.

And if you are interested in our BN Ladies Only holiday, we will be heading to Vritomartis in Crete for a week from the 1st June. Email Helen at Women in Focus for details.

Links for Maja Penko:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maja-penko-01139544/
Email: majapenko33@gmail.com
Association of Naturists of Slovenia (ZDNS): naturist.si
ZDNS Email: info@naturist.si
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Prof. Annebella Pollen - part 2

Part two: Professor Annebella Pollen reveals how women shaped naturism from the 1920s — as pioneers, photographers, and feminist thinkers. She traces the same debates about women's participation and body diversity across a century of naturist history.

In part two, Helen continues her conversation with Professor Annebella Pollen from the University of Brighton, author of Nudism in a Cold Climate. Pollen explores why women have always been central to naturism despite being present in smaller numbers. She speaks about Maurice Parmelee's radical 1929 claim that "nudism is a powerful aid to feminism" and "the logical continuation of the women's movement," showing how early advocates saw naturism as breaking down artificial social barriers. Pollen traces women's roles as not just models but photographers, editors, club co-owners, and pioneering thinkers who created platforms for future generations. The conversation examines how the same issues — women's participation, diversity, body representation — have persisted across a century from the 1920s to today.

And if you are interested in our BN Ladies Only holiday, we will be heading to Vritomartis in Crete for a week from the 1st June. Email Helen at Women in Focus for details.

Links for Prof. Annebella Pollen:

University of Brighton: research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/annebella-pollen
Instagram: instagram.com/annebella_pollen
Book - "Nudism in a Cold Climate": atelier-editions.com/products/nudism-in-a-cold-climate
Paper - "Utopian Bodies and Anti-fashion Futures: The Dress Theories and Practices of English Interwar Nudists": muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/686648/pdf
Paper - "Indignities Imposed by Arbitrary Adult Rule?": muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/933826/pdf
Siobhan Hazzan: www.cnfellowship.org
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk

Helen talks to Prof. Annebella Pollen - part 1

Part one: Professor Pollen explores the visual history of naturism in Britain, revealing the paradox between idealised magazine bodies and real practitioners, and discusses why early naturists hid behind pseudonyms.

In the first of a two-part conversation, Helen speaks with Professor Annebella Pollen from the University of Brighton, author of Nudism in a Cold Climate. Pollen discusses her decade-long research into the visual history of naturism in Britain, revealing how photography shaped the movement's public identity from the 1920s onwards. The conversation explores a fascinating paradox; whilst magazines like Health and Efficiency once sold hundred's of thousands of copies per issue, featuring idealised bodies of professional models, actual naturist membership numbers were much lower. Pollen explains how early practitioners hid behind pseudonyms to protect their professional reputations, and how the movement's own promotional imagery created tensions between philosophical ideals and practical recruitment. Drawing on archival research conducted during lockdown, she offers an outsider academic perspective that complements lived experiences, examining how naturism has been publicly mediated rather than privately practised.

And if you are interested in our BN Ladies Only holiday, we will be heading to Vritomartis in Crete for a week from the 1st June. Email Helen at Women in Focus for details.

Links for Prof. Annebella Pollen:

University of Brighton: research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/annebella-pollen
Instagram: instagram.com/annebella_pollen
Book - "Nudism in a Cold Climate": atelier-editions.com/products/nudism-in-a-cold-climate
Paper - "Utopian Bodies and Anti-fashion Futures: The Dress Theories and Practices of English Interwar Nudists": muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/686648/pdf
Paper - "Indignities Imposed by Arbitrary Adult Rule?": muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/933826/pdf
Women In Naturism website: womeninnaturism.uk
British Naturism Events: bn.org.uk/events-home
Join British Naturism: bn.org.uk/membershipinfo

Contact Women in Focus: womeninfocus@bn.org.uk