German politician's bizarre swinger holiday invite
Julien Ferrat, a councillor at Mannheim City, in southwest Germany, and representative of local political party 'Die Mannheime', said the eight-day trip to swinger hotspot, Cap d'Agde, in the south of France, is to investigate how it became a global hub in nudist and sex tourism – and how this can help boost Mannheim's local economy.
He gained plenty of attention – and pushback from fellow councillors – when a story of his unconventional idea appeared in the local Mannheim Official Gazette in May.
It was accompanied by a naked photo of Ferrat on the beach with just a sign covering his genitals.
The headline read – 'Political Education Trip to Cap d'Agde', translating to – Political education trip to Cap d'Agde.
'The naturist village in Cap d'Agde is considered a mecca for nudists and swingers,'
the 33-year-old said in the article.
'What few people know: Without government support for tourism (...) this place would never have been created.'
He has called for 'curious and open-minded citizens' to accompany him on the trip which will involve a training camp, to ensure no participant heads into the resort 'unprepared'.
The training camp, according to t he Daily Mail, involves outdoor sex on the Friesenheimer Insel in Mannheim.
He stressed the training camp will 'exclude the media' to protect the participants' privacy.
'In Cap d'Agde, sex on the beach is taken literally. And anyone who's always wanted to shop naked in the supermarket can easily indulge that desire there,' he said.
'Having sex in your own bedroom is different than on the beach with a group of masturbating men like in Cap d'Agde.'
He said a 'great deal can be learned' from the project village, which is now a leading naturist resort on the Mediterranean coast with professional swinger clubs and privately-run nude restaurants, bars, and a beach, the Daily Mail reported.
He plans to have discussions with the tourist office and local business owners, including hotel operators.
As of May 16, 75 people expressed interest in the unique holiday, with 22 people – including 14 men and eight women – confirming their place.
However, not everyone has expressed their support with one councillor calling it 'embarrassing' and 'idiotic'.
'I find this call idiotic because I believe it actually harms politics,' Christian Hötting, CDU district chairman in Mannheim and city councillor, told local publication, SWR Aktuell.
'I don't see anything sensible in it that will move the city, or the people of this city, forward. 'It's just a bit embarrassing.'
Ferrat retaliated, saying, 'Nobody is forced to go there. Anyone who is bothered by it should simply put the article down.'
According to the publication, the city administration is reluctant to comment on the article. 'The official gazette, as the municipality's official publication, is subject to special partisan neutrality,' a spokesperson for the council said, according to the publication.
It added, that members of the municipal council write their articles on their own responsibility.
It's not the first time councillor Ferrat has stripped naked. Last year, he published an introduction to himself in the official gazette alongside a photo of himself naked with his hands covering his genitals.
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ABC News
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- ABC News
The forgotten adventurer who kayaked 50,000km around the world
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According to Vanity Fair, on the Euphrates and along the Persian Gulf, the river's shoreline was "so barren that just finding food and water became a serious problem". For 14 days he didn't see a single person and survived on dates growing on the riverside's trees. At one point, gale winds forced him onto a tiny island for a week. His only company was a decomposing corpse that had washed ashore. Then his boat was stolen. "Somebody must have seen me landing, pulled my boat into the water and disappeared. "There I sat, wearing only my shorts, no passport, no money, no luggage, no boat, nothing," he told Cuthill. The culprits turned out to be the police themselves, who led him back to his boat after Speck offered to pay them a substantial bribe. A sponsorship with the Pioneer Folding Boat Company meant Speck had access to replacement crafts throughout his journey. He also had a little bit of financial help from his family. 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On board he carried coconuts, tins of sardines and meat, as well as tinned condensed milk, which he would sip as he paddled. By the time Burma (today's Myanmar) appeared on the horizon in April 1936, Speck had been paddling for four years. His family was tired of sending him money. They wanted him to come back to work in the new Germany, now industrialising and rearming as a totalitarian Nazi state. In a letter back home, Speck retorted that making the longest solo kayak paddle in history was doing enough for the new Germany. "It would have worked out for him so well to go back," Cuthill tells ABC Radio National's Rewind. "He would have been celebrated, there would have been books made about him, he would have been [Joseph] Goebbels' little pet. "He didn't go back." Some photos show Speck flying a swastika on his kayak, a symbol used by Nazis and their sympathisers but Margot Cuthill says it wasn't because Speck was a Nazi. 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