Northern exposure! Why Scots have been baring all on the tops

Maybe it's the unusually hot weather this year, or maybe it's just social media gone wild… Scots have been enthusiastically stripping off on mountain tops and posting photos of their bums.

The photos have been (arguably) tasteful, rear view shots.

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The craze took off after a fine-looking gentleman posted a photo of himself on the top of Goat Fell on Arran at 5am wearing nothing but a pair of walking shoes.

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The photo was so popular that a Scottish newspaper ran a story on it.

Raising the blood pressure

It's certainly not the first time that people have posted naked photos of themselves on the Scottish hills, but after one of my favourite hillwalking Facebook groups made it their "July Photo Theme" it has become a "thing" – and quite a controversial one.

There are few things more guaranteed to raise the blood pressure (in more ways than one!) than the sight of a human being going about in their "birthday suit", just as Nature intended!

I haven't gone through every single comment on every single bare bum shot posted on the Scottish Hill Walking and Wild Camping page, but going by the many comments I have read, the negative ones all appear to be coming from men. It seems that about 20-30 percent of the men commenting are not completely happy with this craze. Their comments range from uncomfortable to outright criticism.

The women's comments that I've read have all been supportive.

Role reversal?

I'm wondering if there's a bit of role reversal going on here. I remember when photos of "Page Three Girls" – topless women posing in the newspapers – was a controversial topic.

Is this a fair comparison?

Page Three models (which the major tabloid newspapers stopped running a few years ago) were often criticised for portraying women as sex objects, and for setting impossible airbrushed and breast-implanted standards of beauty that ordinary women might be expected to aspire to.

Supporters of "Page Three" countered by saying it was all a bit of fun, and that the mostly female criticism was the result of envy.

Are these nude mountain shots portraying men as sexual playthings? Probably not in the way that "Page Three" did, but there's certainly an element of that in many of the online responses to the photos!

Some of the comments made by the men suggest that they might feel more than a bit uncomfortable with all this. Many of the men posing for these butt shots are in excellent shape – maybe not surprising, given the number of mountains they climb! Hillwalking is great exercise for the gluteus maximus.

Which might make some of the more sofa-bound pie-munching chaps feel a bit uncomfortable. I could be wrong. It's just my interpretation of some of the more negative comments on this theme.

And it's not all men who are gleefully stripping off in beautiful locations. The women are at it too!

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Interestingly, a post from a woman who stripped off in the snow last year was censored by the very same Facebook group! Maybe the recent spell of hot sunshine has led to a relaxation of inhibitions for some of us in the chilly north.

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Bare cheek: when this photo first appeared, it was censored by the moderators. Now, bums are all over the place!

Stephen Gough, known as "The Naked Rambler" has spent 10 years in prison, with 40 court appearances, as a result of his crusade against public nudity laws.

Speaking personally, I have nothing against nudity in public, but I do have a couple of concerns. What kind of views am I going to see next time I climb a mountain? Will I be asked to take a photo of someone in the buff?

And… what's the right etiquette when you go onto social media and see a good friend of the opposite sex posing naked? If you click "like", will their long-term partner take it the wrong way? If you don't click "like", will they take it the wrong way and think you don't like their beautiful body?

Is it best just to pretend you haven't seen it?

Am I over-thinking this?

Will I be posing nude on a mountain top anytime soon? Hmm… I'm not sure.

Where do you draw the line?

A post to one of the social media hillwalking groups was recently deleted by the moderators because the male poster was asking for female company on the hills, and his request was accompanied with a sexually suggestive photograph.

There is a difference between an attractive or humorous photo of a naked body in a natural setting and a sexually suggestive photo.

Yet despite this, the more you think about it, the more you realise that our reaction to naked bodies is quite bizarre. The human body incites intense curiosity, and a whole host of emotional reactions, including lust, humour, envy and rage. But we all have one!

To coin a Yorkshire phrase, "there's nowt so queer as folk".

What are your thoughts on going au naturel in Nature? Would you be happy for you or a loved one to bare all in the great outdoors, or do you think butts should be for private viewing only?

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Botty Chilly