Swedes, long famous round the world for their relaxed attitude to nudity, are now some of Europe's biggest prudes, according to a new survey.

While Italians, Spaniards, Brits and Germans were unperturbed about the idea of women taking their tops off on the beach, Swedes were far less at ease with the practice, according to a survey of 3,000 people by flight website Skyscanner.

99% of Germans were in favour of topless female sunbathing, but only 84% of Swedes agreed, and a mere 67% of Swedish women thought it was acceptable to let it all hang out at the beach.

Now, even traditionally prudish Americans are more relaxed about stripping off on the beach than people from Sweden, according to the survey.

A Dip in the Nip

Based on article from telegraph.co.uk

I don't know about this sin-sodden corner of the world, but in Ireland public nudity is illegal. In theory at least, striding proudly around my native country in the buff, apart from scandalising passing grannies and inviting the jeers of hooligans and corner boys, could easily earn you 30 days in the local calaboose.

Hats off, then, to the 200 brave ladies of every age and shape, from all four corners of Erin's Isle, who gathered together this month on a beach in Sligo, in the shadow of Ben Bulben's mighty head, and divested themselves of every last stitch, then hurled themselves into the chilly Atlantic waters.

They call it A Dip in the Nip and they're not doing it to flaunt themselves in front of lascivious eyes, nor to moon the local constabulary, but to raise money for cancer charities.

Some of these women have suffered the ravages of the disease themselves, but for all of them, it takes nerve and courage, knowing that they'll be filmed and photographed. It's a brave, inspiring sight.

Canadian nudists have complained bitterly after being threatened with arrest by a police officer at a remote beach.

We're tired of being the victims of prejudice and intolerance, Don Pitcairn, president of Surrey's United Naturists, said: A lady who came by was calling us perverts and child molesters.

The 28-member Surrey group was part of a North Americanwide attempt to beat a Guinness world record of 13,678 skinny-dippers set last year at 139 locations.

Surrey's numbers may have been paltry, but Pitcairn's outrage was in good supply. We were doing nothing wrong, he claimed, citing a section of the Criminal Code that permits nudity at isolated shorelines.

The beach is down a steep bluff, several hundred metres away from more popular bathing spots.

Police Cmdr. Steve Wade said police were acting on a complaint from a man about public nudity. The people at the beach were co-operative. Everything was nice and polite. There was no altercation. We will not go looking for it [nudity], but if there is a complaint, we will take appropriate action.

Pitcairn said the bathers put their clothes on when the female officer showed up, except for two women who refused to cover up, citing a Canadian Charter of Rights decision that permits females to bare their breasts.

Longtime Councillor Bob Bose said the police's presence may have elevated a relatively small matter into a much bigger one: Police don't have to take action, even when a complaint is made. I'm OK with what they're doing. I think we have to make accommodation for people with different interests than our own.

Asbury Park in New Jersey has shot down a proposal to allow women to go topless on one of its beaches.

After hearing a report from City Attorney Fred Raffetto that two city ordinances prohibit public nudity, including simply going topless, the City Council declined to consider the proposal any further.

There is no intention to change those ordinances, Mayor Ed Johnson said.

The idea was the brainchild of Reggie Flimlin who told Associated Press: It's a shame: They had a real opportunity here to embrace women's rights in Asbury Park. It's discouraging.

Supporters say the topless beach would revitalize tourism in Asbury Park and create a new buzz surrounding the resurgent beach town. But others worry it would scare away families who recently have started coming back to the once-famous resort.

The proposal would have enabled women to take off their tops on a beach in the city's north end. No other New Jersey beach permits topless bathing.

Grindr brought gay men together via the iPhone. Grindr 2.0 will aim at the straight sex market

The phenomenal success of a phone application that allows cruising gay men to locate one another instantly using GPS technology has led to plans for the release of a straight version by the end of the year.

The app, Grindr, which promises to help users Find gay, bi, curious guys for free near you!, launched in March 2009. It enjoyed a modest uptake in the UK until Stephen Fry showed it to Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, prompting 40,000 men to download the free iPhone app in a week.

There are now more than 700,000 men in 162 countries using it, with 2,000 downloading it every day. A Blackberry-friendly version was launched last month.

Users see a grid displaying photos of men and their proximity to them. If you like the look of someone, you can exchange flirty messages before meeting up immediately. One fan of the app told the Observer: I've probably had as much [sex] in the past eight months of Grinding as I have over the 20 years since I came out.

Grindr is the brainchild of Joel Simkhai, a 33-year-old American international relations and economics graduate who worked in finance in his twenties. It took him six months and $5,000 to build Grindr, with the help of a Danish app developer and a friend who was an expert in branding, marketing and design. It's about finding guys. Being among your peers. Socialising, he said.

The rapid success of Grindr is prompting Simkhai to launch a straight version. This notion of: 'Who is around me? Who is in this room now? Who else is like me?' – this is not just a gay thing. Gay men don't have the monopoly on loneliness and isolation.

In the days following the World Naked Bike Ride, which rode boisterously through Madison, Wisconsin, on June 19, championing alternative energy and body acceptance, several questions remain unanswered.

For cited participant Lea Zeise, one big question is: Does the Madison Police Department understand the meaning of the word genitalia?

Zeise was shocked that after following the instructions of Madison police to cover her genitalia during the event, she was later issued a citation, even though only her breast were uncovered.

I asked [the ticketing officer] what genitalia was, because I know the meaning of genitalia does not mean breasts or nipples, says Zeise. The officer informed her that all the riders had been warned plenty of times to cover up and she could dispute her disorderly conduct citation in court.

According to Zeise, early on in the event, the entire group of naked riders had been stopped by Madison Police officers and specifically instructed over a megaphone to cover their genitalia. Zeise begrudgingly, but dutifully, cooperated by covering her bottom-half with shorts, and then continued the ride only to be ticketed later.

I was fully ready to comply, but we never received a direct 'you need to have fully-covered breasts,' says Zeise, who was one of multiple women issued citations for being topless during the ride. Zeise also has concerns about the forceful manner in which she saw police officers force two naked female riders off of their bikes.

She's not alone in her complaint about the way police officers handled the event. Many of those who received $429 disorderly conduct citations say they intend to contest them in court.

Swingers, straight couples who swap sex partners or have group sex, have some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, Dutch researchers said.

The researchers at the University of Maastricht based their findings on the data on patients seeking treatment in 2007 and 2008 at three sexual health clinics in South Limburg, Netherlands.

During the study period, there were just under 9,000 consultations at the three clinics, in which 12% were identified as swingers.

The study, published online ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, found swingers were among those with the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections -- young people and gay men.

The combined rates of Chlamydia and gonorrhea were 10% among straight people, 14% among gay men, just under 5% in female prostitutes and 10.4% among swingers.

While other risk groups for sexually transmitted infections, such as young straight people and gay men, are systematically identified at sexually transmitted infections healthcare facilities and provided with appropriate services, this is generally not the case for swingers, the authors said in a statement.

A British man has died following a BDSM session with a woman who boasts she is Europe's most perverted dominatrix.

The man collapsed in a shower after an intense session with Mistress Lucrezia and her assistant Mistress Juno at their villa near Brecht, Belgium.

The two women, whose website says they specialise in administering extreme pain, called an ambulance after their unnamed customer died.

Lucrezia and Juno were both arrested and charged with assault and battery leading to death, without intent to kill. The Antwerp prosecutor said the man could have died after being given nitrous oxide, used as an anaesthetic to prolong sex sessions.

Mistress Lucrezia, who has been running her dungeon in a detached house in the quiet village of Sint-Job-in-'t-Goor for five years, was also a much sought-after mistress in British bondage clubs, the Belga news agency said.

Her website says she has performed at Club Rub and Club Subversion in London, and also holds sessions at a studio described as Mistress Katya's in Warwickshire. Mistress Lucrezia informs potential customers on her site that she offers bondage, humiliation, torture, education and cross-dressing.

A Swedish court is to consider the issue of how much sexual violence is legally permitted between two consenting partners in a case involving a 32-year-old man who came into contact with his 16-year-old sex partner (over the Swedish age of consent of 15 ) via a sex website.

The teenager penned a letter declaring that she wanted to be used, abused and thoroughly humiliated. When the pair met the girl was, among other things, locked into a cage and had clamps attached to her breasts, according to a TV4 Malmö news programme.

Police became involved after a relative of the girl noticed the bruises all over her body.

The prosecutor, Ulrika Rogland, has ruled out rape as the parties are accepted to have consented to their sexual liaison. But the court is set to rule on the issue of where the legal limits lie with regards to violence inflicted on another human being, even if they agree to it.

What I want to establish is that even if they say they are in agreement over this then you not allowed to seriously assault someone. It is on this issue that the district court has to issue a ruling, is this aggravated assault and was she able to agree to it? Rogland said to the local Sydsvenskan daily.

Karl Maddocks does not approve of traditional nudists. The 25-year-old from Manchester believes that they have too many rules.

You shouldn't need to fill out application forms and pay fees to clubs, he argues. Just go to the beach and get your kit off.

As a reaction, two years ago Maddocks created Skinbook, a website that claims to be the world's largest nudist social network. Thousands of people have flocked to the site that has many of the same features and functions as Facebook — except everyone on it is naked.

Skinbook sees itself as a safe haven for those intrigued about stripping off in public, but without having to meet the strict regulations of many nudist clubs. It does have some rules though. Blank profiles are not accepted, or overtly sexual chatter. The site claims to have had 150,000 applicants but only 10% make the grade.

The site has quickly gained popularity and is beginning to approach the same size as the country's largest nudist organisation, British Naturism, thought to have about 13,000 members.

Now the site is having its own conference on July 19 in Brighton. Naked spas and beach barbecues will feature along with discussion of the future of the site.

The organizer of a June 12 naked bike ride protest is heading to federal court on a mission to overturn San Diego's anti-nudity ordinance, saying it doesn't protect her right to engage in free speech by going without clothes in public.

We think it's too broad and sweeps all nudity into one big category, said attorney Mitch Wallis, who plans to file a request for an injunction on behalf of organizer Sarah Bush. She and others want to use the ride -- and the nudity -- to promote biking and oppose the country's dependence on oil.

The legal brief, which says the nudity ordinance violates the First Amendment, puts Bush's case this way: The Plaintiff Is Entitled To Strip Naked, Paint Her Body With Political Slogans and Protest Important Public Issues.

The city isn't cooperating, and appears ready to crack down on any bicyclists who ride naked (or, in the case of women, topless) on the World Naked Bike Ride's 10-mile route through Hillcrest and downtown.

The city's position is that the law will be enforced, said Gina Coburn, a spokeswoman for the City Attorney's Office, in an e-mail. The law does not prohibit bike riding. It does prohibit public nudity.

San Diego's World Naked Bike Ride is one of more than 25 nude protest rides scheduled around the world on June 12.

A court in Switzerland has upheld the appeal of a man who was fined for rambling naked.

The court in Trogen ruled that the naked hiking did not amount to indecent behaviour.

The case was the first since the eastern Swiss canton of Appenzell allowed naked hikers to be fined. Appenzell has become a popular destination for those who like to hike without clothes, but some locals are unhappy about the trend.

The hiker in question was fined 100 Swiss francs (70 euros, £60) after eyewitnesses complained that he had been hiking in full view of a communal barbecuing area. They also say he walked past a Christian care home, whose residents saw him.

Swiss federal law states that public nudity is not a crime.

A college professor accused of organizing a swingers club and holding private orgies in China was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, officials said.

Ma Yaohai was convicted and sentenced on charges of group licentiousness for participating in group sex parties, said an official.

Ma, along with 21 other people, was arrested and charged last year — the first time anyone has been charged under a 1997 law in a case that has snagged huge public interest with its titillating details. It also generated debate about sexual freedom in a nation trying to reshape its own modern morality.

Prosecutors had accused Ma, a computer science professor at Nanjing University of Technology, of organizing a swingers club, where members met online and gathered in private homes or hotels for group sex parties.

But Ma had maintained his innocence, arguing that his activities involved consenting adults meeting in nonpublic places.

Ma's attorney Yao Yong'an said his client plans to appeal the verdict.

What was billed as the Muslim world's first nudist hotel has been forced to close, just six days after it opened.

It was shut after a local authority inspection trumped up some nonsense that balconies did not conform to the architect's drawings.

The first 12 sparsely-clad guests at the 64-room Adaburnu Golmar Hotel in Datca on the Turkish Riviera have had to be moved to more conventional accommodation.

The hotel owner Ahmed Kosar said he hoped to modify the balcony and re-open by Wednesday. He said he was campaigning to re-open the hotel, and argued that many other hotels in the area have been allowed to continue operating despite not getting some of the many different licences required in Turkey.

The resort was constructed in a quiet spot on the Datca peninsular, east of the popular resort of Marmaris. It offers guests the opportunity to bare all around the pool, or to take a special shuttle bus to a private beach where nudity is tolerated.

The hotel is only open to foreigners - Turks are not allowed to stay - and the staff, nearly all male, keep their clothes on.

A fake brown tourist sign, pointing to an official dogging area at a Cotswold beauty spot has been ripped down by angry residents.

It was put up on the Cirencester bypass at Birdlip and points towards the Barrow Wake viewpoint - a well known site for public sexual activity.

David Parkinson said Barrow Wake's reputation was a problem for local residents and the sign did not help.

Parkinson said: It does tend to make the lives of local residents impossible. The viewpoint itself is one of the best in the area, giving fantastic views across Gloucestershire. You park there and you get accosted by people after 'stranger sex', I believe the terminology is. It's become a no-go area for residents.

He said the sign looked very much like an official one, but he was planning to burn it on a bonfire.

Police said they were aware of their concerns and were addressing them.

Tops for All!

Nearly two dozen women marched topless through a Maine college town to protest at what they call a double standard that allows men to take off their shirts on a hot summer day.

Many men joined the women, taking off their shirts and marching side by side.

It's already legal under state law for women to go topless in public in Maine. But the protesters in Farmington want it to become socially acceptable, too.

It's about gender equality, said Tia Jacques of West Gardiner, joined by husband Charles University of Maine at Farmington. Added Charles: Whether you choose to do this or not, I want you to be free to do this. He also offered some advice: Keep making a big deal about it until it's not a big deal.

The event was organized by 22-year-old Andrea Simoneau, a student at the University of Maine at Farmington who was inspired by her participation in a topless march April 3 in Portland. She'd been going topless downtown and near campus for the past couple of weeks to drum up interest in the march.

Thanks to the back-to-back events and ensuing Internet buzz, Maine is fast earning a reputation as a place where women can let down their hair—and their Advertisement EarthShare tops.

Not everyone is happy with the display of skin. Men shouldn't be half-naked in public, either, said Heidi Marshall of Weld, who held a sign that said Tops for All as the mass of people marched past.

Streakers, public urinators and others who bare themselves in public out of foolishness — and not for sexual gratification — wouldn't have to register as sex offenders if House Bill 1334 continues its progress through the legislature.

The bipartisan bill attempts to sort the sexual deviants from the merely stupid, said sponsor Senator Pat Steadman, who said the man caught urinating behind a building hardly deserves to face the stigma of a sex-offender label.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on has voted unanimously to approve the changes, and it next goes to the Senate for full consideration.

Originally, the bill said that a person caught streaking or urinating in public more than once would have to register, but Steadman and the committee killed that section of the bill.

Boulder nudists, naked pumpkin runners, nude bikers and others who want to disrobe in public can now be ticketed by police for violating a city law that bans public nudity.

In a 6-3 vote, the Boulder City Council approved a proposal to extend the city's anti-nudity laws and give police a new charge to ticket under.

The new municipal code makes it illegal for people over the age of 10 to show their genitals in public or on private property where it's obvious to passersby. It does not ban women from going topless in public.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner and District Attorney Stan Garnett both support the measure and told the council they need an alternative to stricter state laws for situations such as streaking, the annual Naked Pumpkin Run or the World Naked Bike Ride.

The council decided to enact the rules immediately, rather than wait for a bill being considered at the Colorado statehouse to move forward.

House Bill 1334 gained approval by the state House of Representatives last week. The bill would change the penalties and definitions for several offenses involving public nudity, which some council members argued would do essentially the same thing as Boulder's ordinance.

But others, including Garnett, said the state law is too strong in that it requires anyone convicted of more than one instance of public indecency to register as a sex offender.

Women walked topless through Portland in Maine in demonstration in support of topless rights

Organiser Ty MacDowell said the protest was aimed at showing the double standards in the state of Maine.

Men are allowed to walk down the street shirtless but, although not illegal, women are too afraid to go topless.

Police gave the two dozen women an escort as they bared their breasts for a stroll through Maine's biggest city. Hundreds of onlookers, mostly men, turned out to watch the topless demo.

MacDowell said she was upset that many of the men were taking photos on their mobile phones at the spectacle. She said: I'm really upset by the men ... watching it like it's a parade.

Maine has some of the most relaxed nudity laws in the US. Women are allowed to go topless, but very few choose to strip off for fear of being ogled.

Cases of syphilis have increased four-fold in Britain's Facebook capital as users meet up for unprotected sex, it was revealed.

Figures released last month showed that people in Sunderland, Durham and Teesside were 25% more likely to log on regularly.

And an NHS trust chief said Facebook and similar sites were to blame for a shocking rise in cases of potentially-lethal syphilis in the region.

Professor Peter Kelly, director of Public Health for NHS Tees, said: There has been a four-fold increase in the number of syphilis cases detected, with more young women being affected. He said staff had found a link to social networking sites among those infected.

Prof Kelly said: I don't get the names of people affected, just figures. And I saw that several of the people had met sexual partners through these sites. Social networking sites are making it easier for people to meet up for casual sex. There is a rise in syphilis because people are having more sexual partners than 20 years ago and often do not use condoms.

Chinese prosecutors have charged 22 swingers who joined a wife-swapping club with criminal licentiousness, a crime that carries a five-year sentence.

The case has stirred fierce debate among lawyers, sex experts and the public over whether the practice really merits a place in the criminal code at a time of calls for greater sexual freedoms and when brothels are found on many streets in the heart of Beijing.

The mastermind of the club was associate professor Ma Xiaohai, a master of mathematics who worked at an unidentified university in the southern city of Nanjing.

Ma has been under police supervision at his home, taking care of his ageing mother, since August last year when he was arrested after a tipoff to police that he was organising spouse-swapping parties at his home.

Between the summer of 2007 and May last year, a total of 22 people took part in 35 encounters as members of the unofficial club. Ma took part 18 times. Even though he did not have a wife, Ma was accorded special privileges as the organiser.

As many as 6,000 trees have been axed in a forest near a British town to prevent couples from having sex there.

The trees were hacked at the 12-hectare site on the outskirts of Darwen, the Daily Express reported Tuesday.

Officials claimed the forest that runs for kilometres along the busy A666 was cleared as some of the trees, planted after the Second World War, were in danger of falling. But Police and councillors have confirmed another reason was to discourage strangers from the known dogging area.

Dogging is a term for people having sex with strangers in public places, or watching others have sex, often in woods or country lay-bys.

It's awful that a public green space, an asset to the local community, has been destroyed mindlessly. If the law was enforced properly then there would be no need to chop down these trees, Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, was quoted as saying.

Alistair Foster, an environmentalist, said: It is such a terrible thing to do. Old trees do not just fall down. What next, chop down 300-year-old oak trees in case they suddenly fall over one day? And to do it to reduce people having sex in the woods is farcical.

Sergeant Mark Wilson said the sexual activities in the area were an on-going problem and very worrying for members of the public. It's far too early to tell if cutting the trees back has had any impact on the dogging situation, but we'll be paying regular attention to the area.

I'm more than happy this is being carried out and it has a double whammy in terms of the sexual behaviour. I've heard anecdotally that since the trees have been cleared it's quietened down a lot, ward councillor Jean Rigby was quoted as saying.

A little over a year ago, Amarillo's swingers geared up for their New Year's Eve party at Route 66 Party and Event Rental, a downtown business owned by a prominent couple, Mac and Monica Mead.

Few in this conservative, church-heavy city knew about the weekend parties, and the swingers liked it that way. Everybody in the lifestyle has to be very, very discreet, says Mac.

The Meads enforced strict rules at the members-only club: no drugs, no single men, no audio-visual equipment. Most couples, even ones who had been in the lifestyle for years, are on a first-name basis only. The location of the club is (or was) to be kept strictly private. So imagine the swingers' surprise when they arrived at their New Year's Eve bash to find two dozen protesters, local media in tow, holding signs and singing songs. This was a most unwelcome coming-out party.

Some protesters, mostly young men in their teens and early 20s, wore black hoodies and military fatigues. The men, Amarillo would soon learn, were foot soldiers of Repent Amarillo, a new, militant evangelical group that advertises itself as the Special Forces of spiritual warfare. Their leader, David Grisham, a security guard at nuclear-bomb facility Pantex who moonlights as a pastor, explained the action. We're here to shine the light on this darkness, Grisham told the Amarillo Globe-News. I don't think Amarillo knew about this place. This is adultery. This is wrong. There's no telling how many venereal diseases get spread, how many abortions. The goal, Grisham says, was not just to save the swingers' souls, but to shut the club down.

For the past year, this Bible Belt city of 200,000 has been consumed by a culture clash between Repent Amarillo and their targets, a list that includes everything from gay bars to liberal churches. For the Route 66 swingers, Grisham's special forces have been a near-constant presence. Jobs have been lost, families estranged, assault charges filed and businesses shuttered. So far, no public official has stood up to defend these businesses, which operate legally. To the contrary, Repent Amarillo has managed to turn the city's own laws and employees into an effective weapon. Amarillo, it turns out, doesn't have the stomach to stick up for gays, swingers, strippers or even Unitarians. Absent a peacekeeper, the conflict might end up being settled the old-fashioned way, frontier-style. This will not end until somebody gets hurt, either us or them, one swinger warns.

Repent has made it clear that its crusade won't end with the swingers. Last January, community theater group Avenue 10 was set to open Bent, a play about the persecution of homosexuals during Nazi Germany. The day before opening night, the fire marshal, police and code enforcers showed up, tipped off by a Repent associate, according to Sirc Michaels, co-founder of the theater. Avenue 10 didn't have the right permit for holding events, and the space was shut down.

What's next for Repent? They've posted a Warfare Map on the group's Web site. The map includes establishments like gay bars, strip clubs and porn shops, but also the Wildcat Bluff Nature Center. Repent believes the 600-acre prairie park's Walmart-funded Earth Circle, used for lectures, is a Mecca for witches and pagans. Also on the list are The 806 coffeehouse (a hangout for artists and counterculture types), the Islamic Center of Amarillo (Allah is a false god), and compromised churches like Polk Street Methodist (gay-friendly).

Police discover sex dungeon in Devon village (on the first floor of a semi-detached home)

Police (in uniforms with  batons, handcuffs and Tazer guns) were predictably 'shocked' to find a sex dungeon containing Nazi uniforms, whips, chains, sex toys and cattle prods.

Officers were alerted after neighbourhood snitches reported unusual behaviour and strange sounds coming from the four-bedroom semi in Lee Mill, Devon.

Police arrived with battering rams to raid the home but a plain clothes officer knocked on the door and the residents let him in thinking he had an appointment.

The sex dungeon was found in a converted first floor room filled with hundreds of items including whips, gas masks, wooden bats, handcuffs, clothes pegs and shackles. Police also discovered bondage chairs with straps, straight jackets, sex toys, gimp masks, S&M outfits, shackles, cattle prods and car batteries used to power the toys. The dungeon was also stuffed with various electrical vibrating items and a recording studio complete with computer equipment and mixing desk.

During the raid, one customer arrived at the home and still asked for his appointment to go ahead despite the large police presence.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Gilroy of Devon and Cornwall police said the home had been a suspected brothel and police had expected to make a forced entry.

A spokesman said: The current tenants have had the property since October and neighbours had reported many different cars and strange men arriving.

A man from Lee Mill, a woman from Ivybridge, Devon, and a woman from Plymouth have been arrested in connection with the incident. They have been released on police bail until April 30 to allow police to carry out further enquiries.

One neighbour said: I've seen traffic jams caused by people trying to go there. It's disgusting. We just want them out and have a nice family move in.'

A sex club has moved into an art gallery with the stated aim of helping visitors to a Gustav Klimt exhibition confront their sexual inhibitions.

The Secession, a contemporary art venue in Vienna, has incorporated the club, named Element6, as part of a project by Swiss artist Christoph Buechel.

Visitors must walk through it to reach one of Klimt's paintings.

A spokesman said Buechel hoped to spark a scandal similar to when Klimt's Beethoven Frieze was exhibited in 1902.

It has already attracted opposition from Austria's far-right 'Freedom' Party, which issued no fewer than six press releases denouncing the project. By abusing artistic freedom, the significance of Austria as a country of culture and of Vienna as a cultural capital is being dragged in the mud, said local 'Freedom' Party politician Gerald Ebinger.

Vienna's Mayor, Michael Haeupl, said that he did not approve of the club, but noted that outraged politicians and newspapers were playing into the artist's hands

Klimt's 1902 painting Beethoven Frieze was once considered obscene and pornographic because of the way women's bodies were depicted, but it is now seen as one of the Austrian artist's key works.

While the club only opens at night, long after the art hall closes, daytime visitors aged 18 and older pass through its dimly lit rooms, complete with mattresses, bar and spa bath.

The club, which is normally located in another part of town, said its participation aims to give as many people as possible the opportunity to overcome their inhibitions. In the framework of this exhibition at the Secession, each individual can test for himself or herself whether this opens up new dimensions for his or her own sexuality, the club said in a statement.

The town of Boulder in Colorado gets all het up by the streakers of the annual Pumpkin Run on Halloween.

A public-nudity law is now being considered by the Boulder City Council would expand the definition of being naked to include exposing the female nipple, and it would make it a municipal offense to be naked in public places or view.

After years of debate about how to deal with people who streak as a prank or participate in events like the annual World Naked Bike Ride and the Halloween night Naked Pumpkin Run, Boulder is now seeking to expand the ban on public nudity to the entire city, while also expanding its definition of nudity.

The Public Nudity Prohibited ordinance would apply to anyone older than 10 who exposes any portion of his or her private parts, including the areola of a female breast. Tickets would carry a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.

The rules would not apply to people who enjoy going au naturale inside their own homes -- so long as it's not obvious to passers-by -- or sunbathers in backyards. Women who are breastfeeding in public would also be exempt, along with people in dressing rooms, shower rooms, bathrooms or other enclosed areas where nudity is permitted.

Judd Golden, chairman of the Boulder County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, disagreed and said that the law would go too far: They are deciding that anyone who is in a state of undress must be committing a crime. He said people who are naked for some sort of sexual purpose, such as exposing themselves to children, are committing a crime that's already covered under state laws. Other people, like streakers who run across sports fields, people who ride bicycles naked or run nude on Halloween, should be arrested or ticketed based on their behavior -- not because of a lack of clothing, Golden said: Let's look at the actual conduct and decide if there is a public interest in criminalizing that or no. This non-sexual prankster stuff shouldn't be against the law.

A man who admitted strolling naked along a Scottish beach in September sunshine with a bag containing male sex toys walked free from court after a sheriff branded him eccentric, but not a criminal.

He was arrested after a holidaymaker reported seeing a naked man near Shell Bay Caravan Park in Fife, while she was out walking her dog.

Sheriff Charlie Macnair said he was not satisfied that any crime had been committed, and Holliday's explanation for possessing a bag of sex toys on the beach, he said, might be eccentric but is probably not criminal.

Last week Stephen Gough was found guilty of breaching the peace when he walked naked from Perth prison in December after finishing a 12 month sentence for the same offence.

Mr Gough was warned he will continue to be jailed every time he steps out of prison without any clothes on.

All children will get lessons on how to say no to sex under reforms proposed by the Conservative party leader, David Cameron, to mend Britain's broken society.

He said school curriculums should include teaching about sexual consent – with an emphasis on empowering youngsters to refuse.

Naked rambler Stephen Gough has been warned he could spend the rest of his life in jail unless he puts on some clothes. Gough, who has become notorious for trying to walk around the UK naked, was arrested within seconds of being freed from Perth Prison on 17 December.

He was found guilty yesterday of breaching the peace by walking naked in the street and refusing a request by police to put on some clothes. On the past two occasions when Gough has been released from jail, officers from Tayside Police were waiting at the prison gates to re-arrest him.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Gough he would not have to be crystal ball gazing to realise that the same process would occur again and again and again.

Gough – who has spent the bulk of the past seven years in jail for identical crimes – yesterday turned down an offer to walk free on condition that he get dressed.

Foulis told him he would consider granting him bail to go back to his warmer home county of Hampshire if he agreed to put some clothes on, but Gough said he would not. A number of your recent convictions have arisen in similar circumstances, the sheriff said. You have more or less been apprehended when you have been released from prison. I suppose it doesn't need an expert in crystal ball gazing to anticipate that if I impose a custodial sentence then in so many months a similar scenario will arise. When the day comes for you to be released from a prison establishment, you will be apprehended and the same process gone through again.

Gough said he accepted it was potentially the case that he could remain in jail forever – apart from the few seconds of freedom he enjoys every six months or so.

During the trial, he compared himself to the African-American civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks, and said he believed his behaviour was reasonable. Gough said: Essentially, this is about individual freedom and people's tolerance to other people being different. I understand a lot of people will disagree and have strong feelings about it. Walking the amount of miles I have, through towns and cities, it is on the whole a very small moral minority who act in an irrational way. I believe I am behaving in a reasonable way.

Gough was allowed to conduct his own defence in open court while completely naked and the sheriff said he would consider whether that was a contempt of court when he is sentencing. He warned Gough that he could be jailed for upwards of 18 months.

Jennifer Moss, known for biking around Ashland, US, in just a g-string, has allegedly prompted officials to extend a ban on public nudity.

The 34-year-old former waitress, popularly known as Ashland's Naked Lady, will have to take her joyrides in clothes after the order takes effect in February and applies to anyone over the age of 8.

I just wanted to stand up for evolution. In Europe it's no big deal to see naked people. It will be nice when Americans have evolved and they won't even notice that I'm naked anymore, CBS News quoted her.s.

Two Russian couples have been arrested and charged with public indecency after being discovered having sex on Jomtien Beach.

A Pattaya police captain received a report at approximately 5:30am on Sunday that a crowd of onlookers had gathered where a group of foreigners were having sexual intercourse on the beach and in the sea. A team of police went to the scene to investigate further.

At the scene officers discovered the four foreigners (two men and two women) frolicking around on the beach and in the water, semi-naked, whilst a large crowd of Thai and foreign onlookers had gathered. Police intervened, asking the group to cease the indecent display, get dressed and accompany them down to the local Dongtan Police Station.

After police interrogation it was discovered that the foreigners were of Russian nationality and between the ages of 25-30. They were accordingly charged 500 baht (£9.50) each for public indecency.