‘Every body is beautiful,’ Toronto’s annual Naked Bike Ride happens this weekend, championing body resistance and activist causes

Two clothing-optional events are taking place downtown Toronto this weekend, in a ride through the city that encourages freedom and body resistance for queer, trans, and feminist folks in the city. 

The annual World Naked Bike Ride is taking place on Saturday, with a new alternative event also kicking off on the same day. 

Now Toronto spoke with one of the event organizers, Abuzara Chaudhary, to find out more about what these events are all about. 

The right to be naked in public

Chaudhary is one of the organizers of the original Naked Bike Ride, which is part of a global movement that encourages safe and environmentally-aware cycling, while promoting body freedom in several cities around the world, including Toronto. 

According to her, the event began in 2004, four years after Canada decriminalized being naked in bar events. 

In 1997, Toronto gay club The Barn & Stables hosted naked dances, facilitated by the Totally Naked Toronto Men Enjoying Nudity Inc. (TNTmen), a non-profit organization that promoted nude events for men. However, the event was targeted by police, who arrested several attendees in 1998, including Chaudhary herself. 

The wave of arrests prompted local attorney Peter Simm, the same lawyer who restored the clothing-optional designation at Hanlan’s Point Beach in 1999, to fight the charges against TNTmen and attendees and to decriminalize being naked in bar events in 2000. 

“That was one of the reasons why I wanted to be part of starting the Naked Bike Ride, but again, it wasn’t just me. In fact, most of the work was done by lots of other people, and it was very collectively organized, with no real leader. It was just a collective community effort,” she told Now Toronto. 

Since 2004, the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) has been annually held in Toronto and about 80 other cities across 20 different countries. 

A political movement

Although every organizer and attendee have their own personal reason for attending and supporting the WNBR, for Chaudhary, riding naked every June is highly political. 

Growing up in a conservative environment as a woman of colour, organizing and attending naked events allowed Chaudhary to fight and let go of internalized prejudice she grew up with as a child.

“I do believe that every body is beautiful, and that we should not be buying into mainstream stereotypes, we should not be sexualizing the nude body, that is something artificially created in our culture, and I consider that to be wrong, and something that is damaging,” she said.

“We should stop this tendency to objectify the human body and actually build a more healthier relationship to ourselves and to others. There was a lot of politics that went into why I wanted to organize the events, and this was just one of them.” 

As an activist focused on supporting homelessness, trans folks, sex workers, migrants, those living with disabilities, and anti-war actions, Chaudhary said her favourite part of the ride is the conversion of different movements. 

Since the event doesn’t have a clear set of leaders, attendees are free to ride for the political movements they support, making the event a time to bring together activists for several different causes. 

“The best thing for me was seeing people from different activist spaces, like people who are involved in anti-racist struggles joining and then making the connections between different movements, like disabled people coming in… [It] actually gets me excited.” 

Two alternative events taking place on June 13

According to Chaudhary, two separate naked bike ride events are taking place on Saturday. 

One of them, which is the original WNBR, will take place at Coronation Park at 1 p.m., with riders being asked to meet by the Canadian flag pole at noon. 

An alternative ride organized by Chaudhary and Lez Beach Toronto, a group that organizes annual naturist beach day events for queer women in Toronto, will also take place on Saturday at 1 p.m., at the Allan Gardens Conservatory. 

According to Chaudhary, the alternative event was created due to an internal conflict within the nudist community, after certain attendees allegedly started making other riders feel uncomfortable during the ride. 

“A lot of women and queer and trans folks have actually dropped out. Out of my circle, I would say at least 20 people have dropped out. There is a major conflict going on, and so this new bike ride…is to address that issue.” 

To ensure that all attendees can feel comfortable while participating, Chaudhary said organizers of the new ride are specifically inviting women, queer and trans attendees and developing a system of strict guidelines. Organizers will also be removing those who act in a disrespectful manner. According to her, it was difficult for the original bike ride to organize a similar system, since they operate without set leadership roles. 

“For a lot of people, this will be their first contact with nudism, so we need to be creating an environment that actually shows real nudist politics, and we need to do a little bit of cleaning,” she explained. 

Excitement for the future

Having been hosting the event for over 20 years, Chaudhary said she is now looking to step down from her position as an organizer, leaving room for younger generations to take it over. 

“I really do want to see the younger crowd just come up and take this event, and yes, that is in the works… I’m hoping this is my last year organizing an event,” she said. 

On top of the new naked bike ride, Chaudhary said she has also been working with different activist groups, including Lez Beach, about new events. Some of these ideas include a topless ride, a burlesque show, or an unofficial body pride event. 

“Nothing gets me more excited than seeing younger queer people show up and organizing, because that is our future,” she added.