Nudists launch calendar cover-up

First it was the ladies of Rylstone WI, then came the firemen from Salford, the farmers from Biggar and the female footballers from Bristol. And now the backlash.

Naturists, the champions of the naked human form regardless of shape or size, are urging the stars of the myriad naked calendars to put their clothes back on.

"We have lost sympathy with it," said Mark Nisbet, editor of Health & Efficiency magazine, the 101-year-old monthly bible of naturism.

"Nearly all of these calendars opt for the coy approach to nudity. Breasts are covered up and bottoms half-hidden."

The phenomenon began two years ago when Rylstone and District Women's Institute in the Yorkshire Dales published a dozen sepia-tinted nudes of its members, nipples and all, raising £500,000 for a leukemia charity.

After decades of listening to sniggering about their pastime, naturists were chuffed. But their delight has turned to dismay, as inferior copycat calendars followed.

Mr Nisbet believes these calendars are closer to Full Monty-style striptease than true nudism. He has banned nude calendars by "textiles" – naturist slang for non-nudists – from his magazine. "They are irritating and slightly dishonest," he said. "They feature stilted and titillating poses, which don't truly celebrate the naked body."

Several naturist clubs and organisations, including the British Naturism Society, have considered retaliating by producing their own calendars featuring nudists with their clothes on.

The Edinburgh Naturist Swimming Club even invented a hoax calendar to underline the point. Robbie Baldock, the club's founder, said that although the nude calendar phenomenon had helped push back the boundaries, such calendars are a con. "They're just Carry on Camping calendars with a flower pot or jam jar judiciously placed," he said.