FLEMMING'S WET COMING OUT PAGE
PART ONE: FLEMMING'S NEWSPAPER PHOTO SESSION
The following
translation is based on the original Danish newspaper article
I started thinking that it is rather strange that I as a clothed
swimmer gets more questions and stupid remarks than the nudi bathers.
In Denmark it is allowed to be naked on many beaches so I have to
accept that people might show their sagging breasts and flappy
buttocks while I am considered a weirdo when I jump in the water
wearing clothes.
I send a letter to one of the biggest newspapers in Denmark where
I explained that there is a minority that prefers to swim clothed
and I suggested an article on the subject. They never replied but
instead I send the same letter to another newspaper - not as
big as the first but still covering about one fifth of the
country. They replied after a couple of days they asked if I would do
an interview and a photo session. I accepted - after all the idea
was mine so I kind of expected to be drawn into it - and I
met with a reporter and a photographer on the west coast on a
windy afternoon.
It was a quite nice situation. The reporter was very polite and he
asked his questions in a completely open-minded manner and
accepted all the answers I gave without suggesting that I was
weird.
The photosession was great fun. We allmost ended up two guys in the
water! I was supposed to wade into the water, dive into the
waves, get up again, wade in, and sit down in the surf. The
photographer folded up his jeans to a little above his
knees and followed me out untill he was in knee-deep water. But
the weather was quite windy and the waves were higher than he
expected.. Suddenly a huge wave hit the coast and soaked him completely
to his
belt! He then just accepted the fact that he was wet and
stayed in the water untill he had enough pictures. The reporter
stayed on dry land but had a good laugh.
This paper is read by most people in the south-west parts of Denmark so
I have had some attention: The day before I went on holiday I was
the "talk of the town" at the office. Most of my colleges
had allready left for holiday but I expect to get a little more
attention next week when they all return Also my family has
noticed that I was in the paper. My parents haven't
really commented on the article but they liked the picture.
I have made an English translation but I have a few comments:
The article says that I was swimming in jeans - anyone who knows me
will know that it should have been overalls. I just told the
reporter that I was wearing the clothes I would normally use for
swimming and he might have thought of denim overalls as jeans.
.
The last detail is that the article says that I came out of the closet
on Saturday; it should have read Monday
PART
TWO: FLEMMING'S RADIO INTERVIEW.
Three weeks after the article was published I got a telephone call
from "Radio Syd" - a local "Radio
Denmark" subdivision that broadcasts in the southern parts of the
country. They asked if I would do a telephone interview for their
afternoon radioshow.
The story of the day was that a woman living on the west coast had
written a letter to the local paper where she complained about
naked German people who where very ruthless when they went in the
water wearing absolutely nothing. She claimed that they scared the
kids and disgusted the adults.
The researcher of the show had read the article about me and thought it
would be a nice twist to the story if they talked to a person who did
the complete opposite of the naked Germans when bathing.
I accepted and so I ended up being in a radio show talking about
swimming and bathing fully clothed.
Here is a link to
the MP3 file of the radio interview (in Danish) with a rough English translation below.
Interview with Flemming Sørensen about clothed bathing.
Broadcasted from "Radio Syd" (Radio South) August 4th. 2006 at 5:10 PM.
****
The interview was a part of an afternoon radio show where the story of
the day was that a woman had complained that she felt offended by naked
German tourists that bathed naked on the beaches on the coasts of
Denmark. The researcher called me a couple of hours before the
interview was taped. I was in a car dealership at that moment.
That's why I make a remark about buying a car.
The persons are:
G: Gert - the guy who is the host
of the show.
J: Jens - the "assistant"
F: Flemming - me.
****
Start
MUSIC FADES OUT
G: Jens, I read something funny
yesterday. You know how some headlines
seems to catch you
eyes imidiately.
J: Hmmmm?
G: Here is one of those
headlines. It said "Nudi bathing the German way"!
J: Hmmmm!?!
G: I said to myself: "I wonder how
that is done"? Maybe the text would
reveal the mystery?
G: The text was actually a letter
to the editor written by Birgit Filskov
from the town of
Kollund who wrote: "The "family-juvels" are often out in
the open on the beach
of Kohagen and the same is the case at Kollund.
Pleas about
supporting the local textile industry in the name of modesty has
been totally without
result. I have seen several mothers with small
children leave
the scene in anger. Wouldn't it be possible to get a big sign on
the beach
explaining - preferrably in German - that bathing in the nude will
not be accepted? Of
course I must admit that there are also Danish people
amongst those who prefers this way of bathing".
J: Does this take place on all
kinds of beaches?
G: Apparently it does.
J: We know that there are nude
beaches on the southern parts of Rømø
and also in other
parts of the country you can swim naked if that is
what you like.
G: But I can say for sure that I
would get pretty annoyed if I were on
a beach with my
children and other people - maybe "Fritz from Freiburg"
- just stripped naked
nearby. Just like Birgit gets.
J: Well, modesty can be both that
you don't like to be naked amongst
other people. But it
can also be that you don't like to see other people
go naked.
G: Keep your private parts covered!
J: Understood, I totally aggree
with Birgit on that subject.
Well written!
G: And I guess that we can find
others who also aggrees on Birgit's POW.
J: Probably many. I think a lot of
people would prefer to have nude
and clothed
beachgoers separated.
G: But on the other hand I think
there are some people - maybe even
in this radio studio -
who would swim naked if they were all alone.
J: Maybe I would....
G: I bet you would!
J: Yes, maybe if I were at a
deserted forest lake in Sweden.
G: You would swim naked in a lake
in Sweden?
J: Well, if there were no people
and no mooses I would probably do it.
G: I think you should do it if you
like and you were alone.
G: But now we shall meet a guy who
would never swim naked even if he
was alone.
J: Who is it?
G: His name is Flemming and he
lives in Billund. Why not give him a call?
J: You are saying that he would
never swim naked?
G: That's what I have been told. In
fact he prefers to jump in the water
fully clothed.
J: Fully clothed....?
G: Yes, suit and tie and
everything....well maybe that was slightly
exagerated.
SOUND OF TELEPHONE DIALING
J: You mean that if he swims in
the cold season he would swim in a
quiltet jacket?
G: I don't know. Maybe you could
ask him.
G: But anyway this is a guy who
does not like to be in the water
naked. In fact he
doesn't even likes to wear swimwear.
J: And that's the guy you are
calling?
G: Yes, Flemming Sørensen
from Billund.
SOUND OF TELEPHONE RINGING
F: Flemming Sørensen.
G: Hello this is Jens and Gert from
"Radio South".
F: Yes, I thought so.....
G: Are you in the water at the
moment?
F: In the water?
G: Yes.
F: No, I'm in my living room.
G: You are not at the beach right
now?
F: Naaah, I don't have any wheels
at the moment. Some light-fingered
delinquents have
stolen my scooter last sunday.
G: That's a pity.
F: Yes, but that was why I was in
a car dealership when you called me earlier.
G: Oh, yes I understand.
J: Flemming, Gert has told me that
you would never swim naked under any
circumstances?
F: Yes, that is true.
J: And he has also told that you
prefer to swim fully clothed?
F: That's also true.
J: Fully clothed? You mean that
you don't in any way get undressed - like
swimming in you
underwear or so?
F: No, no, it is....how should I
put it...ordinary clothes.
J: You are saying that if you
arrive at the beach in jeans and a sweater
then you will swim in
that?
F: Maybe not the sweater. It will
probably get a bit too heavy.
J: Maybe a shirt?
F: Yes, a shirt or a T-shirt.
J: How about socks? Do you take
off your socks?
F: Sometimes I do - sometimes I
don't. It depends on the shoes. I normally
go for light shoes
and usually I remove my socks.
J: Are you a very modest
man.....or how should I understand this?
F:
Hmmmmm......modest....modest......I don't like to be naked if there
are other people
about.
J: Excuse me for being a bit
psychological here but is it because you
were forced to be
naked at school after gym in the showers?
F: No, in the gym showers I was
naked at my own will and I didn't
think about it then.
After all the other boys were naked too and
today I don't have
any problems about being naked in a locker room
either. But in public
were everybody can see it I don't like to be
naked.
G: But isn't it unpleasant to wear
wet, clingy, and heavy clothes?
F: It depends on the kind of
clothing. Of course I try not to wear the
kinds of clothes that
gets unpleasant when wet.
G: What is pleasant "swimwear"?
F: It depends on who you are
asking. To me it is mostly loose fitting
clothes.
J: You mean like a sweatshirt and
loose fitting cotton jeans?
F: Yes.
J: But if we imagine a beach like
the one at Vejers and there are
twenty naked Germans
and twenty persons in "ordinary" swimwear and
then you jump in the
water wearing ordinary clothes.
F: Yes?
G: Aren't people staring?
F: Let me put it this way: I get
more attention than the twenty naked
Germans!
G: I can imagine that! You are more
of a rarity?
F: That's probably the right way
to put it.
G: Do you go to the beach on a
regular basis?
F: Hmmmm.....I think I have been
at the beach....Hmmmmm...fifteen to twenty
times this year.
G: So that's pretty often?
F: Yes.
G: That makes a lot of wet clothes
to dry?
F: Ha ha, yes but I have a good
clothes line.
J: OK?
F: I just have to make shure that
I have rinsed the clothes properly. If
I don't do it the
metal buttons will rust.
J+G:
Hmmm....?
F: Once I left a pile of clothes
wet from salt water for a couple a days
and it took me some
time to remove all the rust stains.
G: So all the metal rusted?
F: Yes.
J: When you get out of the water
soaking wet do you then change into
something dry?
F: It depends if I'm going out in
the water again shortly after. But I
change clothes before
going home. It's too cold to drive home all wet.
J: Can we get closer to an
explanation on why.....why are you swimming in
your clothes?
F: Hmmmm....There is not an
absolutely clear explanation. I remember falling into
the water from a
wooden raft in my early teenage years and then I found
out that I liked to
swim in clothes. It was pleasant in some way. So I
have continued to
swim like that.
G: Maybe we should try it out....
J: Are you the only one in Denmark
into clothed swimming?
F: No, but I'm one of the few who
do it in public.
J: I can understand why. It is
like it's more legitimate to remove all your
clothes when bathing
compared to bathing fully clothed?
F: Yes, that's true.
J: So you are saying that there
are other "in-the-closet" clothed swimmers
in Denmark?
F: Yes, there are.
J: And they go to the beach maybe
in the evening?
F: Yes, or at deserted beaches, or
in a pool in the garden, or other
places where they can
do it alone. I have done this myself untill
a couple of years
ago. I have often been swimming at small lakes in
cloudy weather or in
the rain because then I could do it undiscovered.
G: And now you do in public? You
have broken down that psycological
boundary?
F: Yes.
J: So now you just go to the west
coast and jump into the waves?
F: Actually I'm wading out!
It's hard to find something to jump from.
J: That's true.
G: Well, Flemming Sørensen
we got your story. Thank you for participating.
F: You're welcome.
G: Bye bye
F: Bye.
MUSIC STARTS
End
****
Page
created on Monday August 14th,
2006 A.D.