Show Notes
For the first time on the podcast, it’s a publication that’s still banned in Ireland! According to Register of Prohibited Publications, Health and Efficiency is ‘unwholesome literature’. Naturally, we want to know precisely how this magazine is corrupting and degrading its readers. With Prof Annebella Pollen. Here’s today's 'blacklist' Annebella Pollen, Nudism in a Cold Climate: the Visual Culture of Naturists in Mid-20th Century Britain (2021) Annebella’s article in Health and Efficiency
Throughout the thirties in Britain, when Nudism was becoming more acceptable and even fashionable, there was a boom in nudist magazines and Health and Efficiency was one of the most popular. Annebella Pollen
This magazine was being sold to people who were enjoying looking at other people's bodies rather than rejoicing in the perfection of their own. Aoife Bhreatnach
You've given me an ambition to go to the British Library and sit in the naughty section. Aoife Bhreatnach
In Health and Efficiency magazine and other kind of naturist publications from the 1920s through to about 1970, they had really restrictive laws in Britain about what body parts could be shown and how. Annebella Pollen
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