WHAT'S THE BIG WHOOP-DE-DO? MARIE CLAIRE October 2003 (UK edition)  An excellent six page introduction for first-time visitors by a journalist who stayed at Cap for a week.  "The place is littered with clubs libertins - liberated couples' clubs, where people can have sex in public or swap with other couples." Click here to read the article as an Adobe Acrobat PDF

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"I know what we should do" she said after a long silence. "We should go and have an orgy on the nudist each at Cap D'Agde. You get a lot of Dutch nurses and German businessmen there, all very correct, very middle class- very Northern European. Why don't we go fuck around with some policemen from Luxembourg?"...

They arrived at the station at Agde on Monday morning and took a taxi to the nudist colony... It was September, so they found a spot easily. The nudist colony at Cap D'Agde was divided into five blocks built in the late Seventies and early Eighties with a capacity of 10,000 beds - the largest in the world. Their apartment was 22 square metres; a living room with a sofa-bed, a kitchenette, two bunk beds, a bathroom, separate toilet and a balcony. It had a maximum occupancy of four people - usually a couple with two children. They felt at home immediately. The balcony was west-facing, with a view over the port, and so they could drink their apéritifs while watching the sun set.

Though it boasted three shopping centres, a mini-golf course and bicycle rental, the primary attractions for holidaymakers at the Cap D'Agde colony were sex and sunbathing...

That, at least, was how Bruno portrayed it in his article "THE DUNES OF MARSEILLAN BEACH: TOWARDS AN AESTHETIC OF GOODWILL" a distillation of his two week holiday...

'Holiday clubs usually run the gamut from "family" concerns (Mini Clubs, Kids Clubs - bottle warmers and sun loungers) to more trendy establishments (body boarding, night clubs for ravers, "not recommended for under 12s"). The nudist colony at Cap D'Agde - with its high proportion of families and the focus on sexual activity divorced from traditional pick-up rituals - ignored this standards dichotomy. What is most surprising is how different it is from traditional nudist colonies, which tend to stress the "healthy" aspects of naturism, avoiding any allusion to sexuality. They are big on macrobiotic food and smoking is usually forbidden. Their outlook is very "new age": holidaymakers study yoga, painting on silk and oriental exercise and are satisfied with rough-and-ready accommodation in a wilderness environment.

At Cap D'Agde, on the other hand, there is no dress code and, from the supermarkets to the bars, dress ranges from fully dressed to full nudity by way of overtly fetishistic clothing (PVC mini-skirts, lingerie, thigh-length boots). Voyeurism is tacitly condoned; it is commonplace to see men on the beach stop to admire the female genitalia on show; some women shave to make it easier to see the vulva and sometimes the clitoris. Even if one does not take part in the activities of the centre, all this makes for a singular atmosphere, as far removed from the erotic, narcissistic ambience of an Italian disco, as from the sleazy ambience of the red-light districts of major cities. What we have here is a traditional, rather genial, seaside resort with the single distinction that sexual pleasure is recognised as an important commodity.'

Rudi passed the bottle of kirsch around again. None of them had dressed Bruno was excited to discover that he was hard again, less than half an hour after coming in Hannelore's mouth. He mentioned this, his voice naïvely enthusiastic. Touched, Christiane began to masturbate him under the tender gaze of their new friends. As he neared climax, Hannelore knelt between his thighs and started fellating him gently as Christine continued to stroke him. Somewhat absently, Rudi murmured 'Gut...gut...' They left, a little drunk, but in good spirits...

The following afternoon the went to the beach together. The weather was beautiful and very hot for September. Bruno thought how pleasant it was, the four of them walking, naked, along the shoreline...

'During our two week holiday, we went to the beach every afternoon' Bruno's article went on. '...In this space between the dunes and the shoreline, any couple can begin the initiative and begin public fondling; often the woman begins to stroke or lick her partner's sexual organs and the man returns the favour. Neighbouring couples watch with interest, move closer the better to observe their caresses and slowly begin to follow their example. From the original couple, a wave of affection and sexual excitement will quickly ripple across the beach. Sexual passion begins to mount, couples come together to indulge in group sex - though it must be stressed that each waits for acknowledgement or explicit consent. If a woman wishes t decline an unwanted caress, she indicates this with a simple shake of the head, and the man makes a formal - almost comic - apology.

'In Cap D'Agde, as anywhere, beautiful, firm young women and seductive, virile men will find themselves inundated by flattering propositions. In Cap D'Agde, as anywhere, the obsese, the old and the ugly are condemned to solitary masturbation - the sole difference being that whereas masturbation is generally prohibited in public, here it is looked upon with kindly compassion. What is most surprising is that so many diverse sexual practices - many more than one might witness in a pornographic film - can take place with such exemplary courtesy and not so much as an undertone of violence.