“Bathing naked is an intimate contact with nature,” says Martin Bouffard, 53. “I’m always outside. I practice sports related to the seasons. Bathing naked in the sea or in a lake is normal, it’s natural. It has nothing to do with exhibitionism.”
A sailing and outdoor enthusiast, the director, photographer and cameraman admits that he doesn’t like dealing with the “wet swimsuit” aspect when getting out of the water. “Who likes that? It’s not interesting for the skin, it’s cold and it sticks!” he says.
Marilyn Monroe might agree with him! In an improvised scene from the unfinished film Something’s Got to Give (1962), the actress removes her flesh-colored swimsuit in a swimming pool. The star wanted to make a splash and be the first star to do a skinny dip on the big screen.
Little disobedience
In the same decade, midnight baths were practiced by young people of the Woodstock generation. Did they see it as a kind of rebellion against the established order, a snub to social norms? In any case, this is in line with the thinking of Élise Tardif Turcotte, a 39-year-old Montrealer.
It’s associated with pure freedom, pure happiness. Swimming naked is a fun feeling and there’s a little thrill, a feeling of breaking a social rule.
Elise Tardif Turcotte, who practices midnight bathing
Whether she does it with her partner or with friends, she says there is “nothing sexual, nothing related to voyeurism or exhibitionism” in this practice. “We give ourselves this freedom, without judgment, like children,” emphasizes the woman who lives part of the year near a lake.
For Geneviève*, a resident of the Quebec City region, going nude means vacation and a slower pace of life. When camping with her boyfriend in the early morning, she doesn’t bother with a swimsuit to dive into the lake, she says, adding that it’s a secluded place, hidden from view. “I feel the water all over my body, I feel like I’m anchored in the landscape, in nature,” she says. “I feel zen!”
Rest of the mind
Is this feeling of serenity, of communion with nature, really real? According to Alexandre Marois, assistant professor at the School of Psychology at Université Laval, studies show that contact with nature brings several benefits. “It reduces stress, increases well-being, improves self-image and brings a feeling of restoration,” he says, while emphasizing that these studies do not specifically refer to midnight baths!
The feeling of restoration is a feeling of appeasement, of forgetting the worries of everyday life, which rests and renews our attention. “In everyday life, with the multiplication of screens and tasks, often done simultaneously, our attention is bombarded, explains Mr. Marois. This causes fatigue.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALEXANDRE MAROIS
Alexandre Marois, assistant professor at the School of Psychology at Laval University
In nature, our attention naturally turns to our surroundings: we see a beautiful lake, a beautiful path, a beautiful tree… There is no attentional cost. It’s relaxing!
Alexandre Marois, assistant professor at the School of Psychology at Laval University
According to a 2011 American survey of 1,000 people (sponsored by a bottled water brand), 56% of respondents said they had experienced midnight bathing.
The most modest, or the most introverted, can also be convinced. This is what Isabelle Brouillette believes, who describes herself as a “curvy, overweight” woman. Even if nudity is taboo in society, she says, and it is even more so among people “with non-standard bodies.”
“I swim naked once or twice a summer with my boyfriend, in the pool at his place,” she says. “It’s simple, quick and there’s a self-acceptance aspect to it… I’m trying to accept myself more and more. When I go on vacation, I now wear a bikini. I have a fluorescent one too!”
As a mother and stepmother of teenagers, she rarely has the opportunity to take midnight swims. “If it were somewhere else and I was sure I wouldn’t be caught by the kids, I would do it more,” she admits. “The water has to be above 80, though!”
*Geneviève testified on condition of anonymity to protect her privacy.