Contents: Article: The Nude Generation: A Modest (?) Proposal New and interesting Web pages Nudity in advertising

The Nude Generation: A Modest (?) Proposal

It's The Marketing, Stupid

A possible idea for interesting busy people in naturism
by Mark Cornick

The generation of current 18-30 year olds (please, no more "Generation X", that's so 1993) is often seen as not interested in naturism. How to get them interested has been a topic of some contention in recent memory. What I'm going to talk about might get these people interested. It's quite a bit more general than just applying to 18-30 year olds, but that's where my focus is.

Few things other than being born at some particular time define a "generation", but something that we young'uns seem to have in common is our lack of free time. We're busy. We're career-minded, we work long hours, we spend too much time cursing traffic, and so on. While this is true of 18-30 year olds in large numbers, it's also true of "middle age" folks, and probably of American society in general. (I don't know about society in other countries, but I suspect similar parallels could be drawn in just about any modern "industrialized" nation.)

As one of said generation, and a naturist, and a busy person, it is my opinion that if naturists/nudists/whateverists want naturism/nudism/whateverism to succeed among busy people, it shouldn't really be "marketed" as a movement, or a society, or a philosophy, but rather as an option.

For instance: you have the option to go to resorts/beaches/etc. nude, or sunbathe nude, or do extreme Mountain Dew-style sports nude, etc. For all of our "clothing optional" propaganda, I think nudism (I usually say "naturism", but in this case "nudism" fits better, since many people still think of Audubon and the like when they hear "naturism") is still seen by people my age (at least) as something that people old enough to be their parents or grandparents do on a full-time basis (the "nudist colony" idea, if you will), and not something they can fit into their busy lives.

This is not entirely an irrational view. People work at least 40 hours a week (probably more); free time is non-existent for a lot of people. I have enough trouble fitting my hobbies (playing drums, collecting records, reading, etc.) into that kind of schedule, much less a full-time "nudist lifestyle". (As a naturist I know it's not that big a commitment, but I'm thinking in terms of the "uninitiated" here.)

But here's an idea. Let's suppose that a lot of people my age find time to go to the gym two or three times a week (an entirely reasonable supposition.) Now suppose that gyms offered the option - for those that choose it - to exercise in the nude. In other words, people have the option of doing something nude that they would otherwise still do clothed, something that might actually be more comfortable or desireable to do nude. I think some people, if they had the option of working out nude and knew so, would seriously consider it.

Now, I don't know of any gyms off the top of my head that offer nude hours. (Then again, I rarely go to gyms at all, so maybe I'm lacking in knowledge here.) But I know people who swim daily for the exercise. And I know that any nudist club that doesn't want to be the laughing stock of its peers has swimming facilities. I can't say I know of any CO clubs that open their pools to guests for their morning ritual, but it might be a good idea.

(By the way, I have no particular difficulty resolving naturist "body acceptance" and the desire to exercise and be fit and "attractive to the opposite sex." I think if one can better accept one's body through daily exercise, that's great. But I think people should exercise because they want to achieve some result, not simply because they feel pressured to do so by popular society.)

Some people seem to have picked up on this. For instance, I look at ads for several Palm Springs resorts, where the message is "this is a fabulous resort that just happens to be clothing optional." I think this is a great move. While dedicated naturists plan their vacations around being nude, I doubt most of the non-naturist public does. However, lots of people (naturist or not) do look for vacation destinations that offer lots of fun and/or relaxing activities to do. The fact that you can do things at these resorts without your clothes is probably seen as a "bonus." Think: you probably like to try new things when you're on vacation, right? (If you don't, give it some thought. Vacations are supposed to be a break from the ordinary, silly.)

This type of thought does seem to lend itself best to physical activities. I, for one, might consider taking advantage of a library that offered nude reading rooms, but I may be one of a very few in that area. So this is, of course, not a golden arrow that will solve all our problems. But it's something that might work to get busy people who have no free time - such as career-minded 18-30 year olds, and even people older - to think more about nudity outside the shower and the bedroom, and to consider nude recreation, nude living, etc. beyond the outmoded (but still) popular idea of the "nudist colony."

To summarize, we need to remember that people are people first, and everything else second or third or fourth or wherever. Perhaps it's time to stop marketing in terms of a "nudist lifestyle" and more in terms of how nudity could fit into our current lifestyles. Certainly this isn't a revolutionary idea. I'm seeing it start to happen. It needs to happen more. I'll leave the details to people who, unlike me, specialize in marketing. In the meantime, speaking of things people do nude that they could otherwise do clothed: rather than enraging my fellow drivers, I like to take out my road rage with a daily round of Quake. Think I'll go do that now. Nude, of course. I always play skins, not shirts (although I'll make an exception for armor...)

Editor's note: This article was contributed by Mark Cornick, maintainer of the Rec.nude FAQ. I welcome contributions like this from readers. If you'd like to suggest an article you want to write, just let me know.

New and interesting Web pages

The Terra Cotta Inn

This is one of several Palm Springs resorts mentioned in this week's article as being "a fabulous resort that just happens to be clothing optional."

Morningside Inn

Morningside Inn is another one of the Palm Springs resorts.

Desert Shadows Inn

Desert Shadows is a third example of a clothing-optional Palm Springs resort. Unlike the two mentioned above, it welcomes families with children.

Kiva Retreat House

Kiva is a very different type of commercial facility that features, in addition to its principal purpose, the opportunity to enjoy a clothing optional experience in a casual, unstructured way. Kiva is a small place in Santa Cruz, California, that offers hot tubs, sauna, and massage. It also has a small lawn that may be used for sunning. No membership in either Kiva or a naturist organization is required for admission - everyone is treated as a responsible person who will respect the autonomy of others. It is also a place where one can drop in almost any time of the week either to enjoy the facilities or simply to socialize with friends - with the choice of clothing left up to each individual. This sort of environment is very convenient for busy people who want to work a little clothes-free social time into a busy schedule. One has to wonder seriously just why there isn't a place like Kiva readily available in any urban area.

Women & Social Nudity: A Letter to Wives from a Nudist Spouse

Unrelated to the ideas above, here's something from the earlier days of nudism. This article by Pamela Johnson was first published in the nudist magazine Suntan in 1951. But it is just as true today as it was then. This laconic masterpiece addresses many common concerns women have about social nudism and offers very reasonable reassurance. Woman feel well understood after reading it; they feel others share their concerns.

Nudity in advertising

The Body Shop

In Vol. 1, No. 1 we reported how posters produced by The Body Shop had upset prudes in the midwest. The poster is now running as an ad, which can be found in the Nov/Dec, 1997 Utne Reader, for example. The center of interest is a naked female doll with a pretty face and a rather full figure. The caption reads, "There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only 8 who do."

Epson

This double page ad, designed to sell Epson color ink jet printers, is running in various computer magazines, such as PC Magazine for September 9, 1997. In it, a female swimmer is completely naked (except for a bathing cap). However, she is adorned by some very convincing body paint, a trompe l'oeil bathing suit (which, supposedly, can be recognized as paint only at the high resolution possible with the advertiser's product).

Adaptec

We're not entirely sure about this other computer-related ad, also from the September 9 PC Magazine. The headline is "Bone rattling throughput", which the advertiser's SCSI adapter presumably makes possible. The illustration is a bare-chested man, who may well be totally naked, driving a car. The theme of speed is suggested by the fact that the man, his glasses, and the whole interior of the car are spattered with mud - rather implausibly, since the car is mostly closed. Weird, but attention-grabbing.

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