Celebrating 5 Years of Britain Uncovered!
- Admin
- Aug 8
- 7 min read
In a brand new editorial to mark our website's five-year anniversary, we're celebrating the occasion by discussing the site's origins, the body positivity events that inspired Britain Uncovered's creation, our early interviews and photoshoots, the ways the site has developed, the current state of the body positivity movement, and so much more!
We're incredibly proud to announce that today (August 8) marks five full years since Britain Uncovered first opened its doors for business back in the summer of 2020!
During this time, we've often been asked by interviewees (and beyond) what gave us the inspiration for the site, but in truth, it's a combination of many different elements, rather than one decisive, pivotal moment. In the year before Britain Uncovered was conceived, we attended a number of fantastic events promoting body positivity and body image - including Sophie Tea's Send Nudes event in Shoreditch, the Body Love Sketch Club life drawing sessions, also in London, and even a panel discussion event named An Evening with Body Confidence Champions, where various coaches and body positivity activists - including Michelle Elman and Tally Rye - discussed body image and shared their intiguing perspectives on the rise of the body positivity movement.
With a genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for body image, off the back of these events we decided to explore the topic further and set about creating a long-form article offering our own perspectives on the subject. To help with this, we even hosted a brief photoshoot down in Brighton featuring three of the models who had taken part in Sophie Tea's aforementioned catwalk event (Lucy, Verity and Jessica), but sadly, being published right as Covid hit, the article failed to gain any significant traction or leave much of an impact; and thus Britain Uncovered was created, with the intention of creating a dedicated space where we could post not only these existing write-ups, but delve deeper into the subject and expand further - as body image was, and still is, a complex topic which offers unlimited scope for exploration. (As a sidenote, the legacy of this debut, pre-BU photoshoot we mentioned lives on courtesy of the image in the bottom-left of the collage at the top of our homepage).
Despite having bought the Britain Uncovered domain (somewhat on a whim), we didn't necessarily have any long-term game plan or road map for how the site might evolve - and, upon reflection, it certainly didn't feel like it would be a project that would still be standing here in 2025! We officially got going by reaching out to various individuals who seemingly had ties with, or at least enthusiasm for, the body positivity movement - along with people who had recently dabbled in social nudity experiences - and despite the site having very little content or track record in these early days, many of the individuals we contacted generously agreed to take time out of their busy schedules to answer our range of questions, which was a very promising sign that we might be on the right path. Without this leap of faith, the site never would have got off the ground or evolved into the platform it is today, so we would just like to extend a huge thanks to those who helped get us up and running! Our first ever interview with body positivity singer/songerwriter, Cassie, and our subsequent Q&A with Beth about her social nudity experiences, were particularly well-received and set the tone perfectly for everything that was to follow.
Looking back, it's fair to say that our questions in the early interviews we hosted were a little more punchy and simplistic compared to the types of conversations we've moved onto in the years that have followed, but there's some truly valuable insight in each and every one of our stories in the archives; and we're really pleased that, as we've continued to dig deeper into the body positivity movement and its various intricacies, the depth of discussion has naturally evolved over the years alongside it. It has been just as much of a learning curve for us as creators of the site as it has for our readers, and we'd like to think that as our natural curiosity and understanding of body image issues has developed, so too has the maturity and sophistication of the content here on the site.
Original content has been key to the site since day one, and with over 80 interviews and highlights from over 30 photoshoots in the books, it's fair to say that we've more than exceeded expectations in meeting this goal. Our very first photoshoot, which was held at Belt Craft Studios in London in October 2020, was just as pivotal to our early success as the interviews we were carrying out around that time - and hosting our own body positivity photoshoots, and interviewing the individuals involved about their experiences and the effect participation had with regards to their body confidence thereafter, gave us a completely different approach and has proved to be a winning formula in the years since.
Regular visitors to the site will also be aware of the importance and consistency of our beach photoshoots, which have become a mainstay of the site and have provided the basis for some of our finest collaborations to date. Our very first of these reports - which was our debut visit to Fairlight Cove with Elizabeth back in May 2021 - is by far Britain Uncovered's most-viewed post, with just over 14,000 views at the time of writing. Although we've hosted studio shoots, there's just something about the great outdoors and the natural environment of the beach that really helps with our goal of normalising nudity and presenting it in a desexualised way; and, as we've mentioned in the past, we very much hope that by seeing others participating in social nudity endeavours such as these, it will prove contagious and make these types of experiences accessible to all.
Although the standalone interviews and photoshoots were moving us in the right direction, it wasn't until we had the idea of combining these - and actually hosting both elements on the same day, side-by-side - that we really found our blueprint for success. One of our earliest collabs along these lines, with body positivity artist, Issy, is perhaps the best example of this from the early days, but it's a formula that has continued in the months and years since, and the same format served us just as well for our recent beach collabs with Hayley and Laura. Having the focus on the interview, and not necessarily the photoshoot, results in some very relaxed, candid and unposed images - which brings about the sense of normalcy and nonchalance we're striving for.
As for the body positivity movement itself, there have definitely been ebbs and flows in terms of attitudes over the past five years. Last year, the New Statesmen went so far as declaring 2024 as, "The year that body positivity died", and many other notable media outlets have expressed similar sentiments - with the notion being that young people, and especially young women, are turning their backs on the concept. The belief is that companies and influencers are once again leading individuals down a dark path, and suggesting that their bodies should fit the narrow standards society has set for them, which is of course an incredibly dangerous precedent to set, and one that seems to be undoing so much of the good work in relation to body image that we've documented over the last five years.
Of course, Britain Uncovered will continue to champion the cause and strive to instil body confidence in anyone and everyone; but although we launched with the aim of promoting body positivity, even here on the site we've evolved somewhat into promoting body neutrality, and simply normalising nudity and self-acceptance of the body. The 'acceptance' element does feel to us as though it's more impactful and longer-lasting than positivity, which can oftentimes feel forced and difficult to achieve.
Before we finish up with this editorial, we'd of course like to say a massive thank you to every single person who has featured on the site, and for generously sharing your time and perspectives with us - and often, being very open, honest and vulnerable in the process. It may sound cliché, but Britain Uncovered genuinely wouldn't exist without you, and I can't thank you enough for your enthusiastic participation. And on the same note, a huge thanks to each and every one of our readers likewise. It can be challenging to get any project up and running, and maintaining the initial momentum is even more difficult, but we've been taken aback by everyone's support and loyalty - and we're so proud of the community that's evolved over on our Instagram page too. Thank you for absolutely everything!
Lastly, you may have noticed in the past week that Britain Uncovered has launched a brand new VIP membership programme - and as a result, we actually earned our first ever penny from the site in the process! The website has been a passion project since day one and was never designed to be a money-spinner, but by popular demand, we're now extending the coverage of our photoshoots by offering additional bonus galleries exclusively for our VIP members.
Our first post, which continues the coverage from our recent beach shoot with Hayley, was met with a really strong response, and it's been heart-warming seeing all the membership notifications appear in our inbox throughout the past seven days. We will do our utmost to keep this exclusive content coming thick and fast to justify the subscription cost and to make sure it's worth your while, but we will also strive for balance and ensure the entire site doesn't end up behind a paywall. If there's anything you particularly wish to see in our VIP posts, please feel free to reach out to us via the usual channels.
Once again, thank you to each and every one of you for five unforgettable years - it's been an absolute pleasure being a part of this community and interacting with so many of you about a topic that is so near and dear to our hearts. We promise we won't be resting on our laurels by any means, and with any luck we'll be back in the summer of 2030 celebrating a full decade!
