Category: General naturism

Recent articles on nudity and naturism, 8/02/19

How is it that many of the most perceptive articles on nudity and naturism are written by women? That, in any case, seems to be true of this group.

  • UK NudeFest
    Sun writer bares all as she goes uncovered at the UK’s biggest naturist festival NudeFest
    Amy, the writer, at first is rather nervous, but not resentful, about her assignment: “I am naked in front of a room of strangers. What must the person on the mat behind me be seeing of my nether regions?” As the day goes on, she begins to take the experience in stride: “At the rock-climbing, I slip into the harness. It serves as a sort of spreading vice and I almost certainly give an involuntary gynaecological showcase to those queuing at the bottom.” For some reason, Amy seems most concerned about her derriere: “I definitely hate my bum more as the day wobbles on, instead of feeling less self-conscious about it. (Pictures accompanying the article don’t suggest much reason for her concern.) At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem to have been an experience she couldn’t repeat: “I go home with no washing and no tan lines and wonder, could I get used to this?”

  • Hysteria over innocent child nudity
    When did my naked child become nude?
    This is another perfect example of how our society abhors nudity. People who object to innocent child nudity employ rationalizations such as that a child will be embarrassed when she’s older if there are pictures around of her naked as a toddler. Or that pedophiles will flock to the child’s home to do… something awful… to her. The first rationalization falls flat, because it’s based on the despicable idea many in our society have that nudity is just “wrong” and so must necessarily be embarrassing. The second rationalization fails, because no sensible parent would post a naked, but not sexualized, child’s picture to the Internet in a way that allows a predator to find her. As Katherine, the child’s mother and author of the article observes, “among the harsh rebukes, another thread emerged: nostalgia for simpler times when people didn’t “freak out” over naked children or worry about how much skin kids showed.” In other words, social attitudes towards nudity actually seem to be going backwards – much like attitudes in too many other areas as well.

  • Why can’t we all just get along?
    First time in mixed nudist & textile camp
    In the U. S. not long ago, most nudist camps and resorts generally required guests to be naked, at least when it wasn’t too cold. Now it is increasingly common for them to be clothing-optional, except around swimming pool and spa areas. But are there any textile camps that are at least tolerant of naturist campers? If any, they are rather few and far between. That’s not the case in naturist camps in various other countries. One example, provided by Naturism Girl, is the camp Kosirina in Croatia. It probably helps that in Croatia naturism has been considerably more successful than in the U. S. (See my post on Croatian naturism.) Consequently, guests are not under undue pressure to either wear, or not wear, any clothes. They can simply enjoy the camping experience either way. In the U. S. this is somewhat the case with clothing-optional beaches – except that many of those have separate areas for nudes and prudes. But how do things work when the areas aren’t separate, at either camps or beaches? Naturism Girl didn’t have any problems with the textiles at Kosirina: Textiles “all know before coming that the camp is mixed and therefore there will be naked people around. I have never heard someone commenting nudity. Or even notice someone staring improperly. Perhaps there was some more looking at the naked people, but I guess that was more from curiosity than anything else.”

  • LadyGod1va writes on where naturism should go from here
    Improving Naturism
    LadyGod1va is the nom de naturisme used by a long-time naturist blogger and WNBR organizer (who now, unfortunately, is too busy to do much of either). Here she reflects on how to make naturism more successful. Her key point is that there need “to be more activities that bring naturism and textile activities together as combined events, in other words, clothing optional, and held in public areas, not secluded or fenced or promoted as naturist/nude only event.” This is close to what Naturism Girl wrote about. LadyGod1va adds: “if we continue to organise nude events exclusively for those who are already naturists or will to go nude for the first time, we are not going to get to the point where nudity is acceptable as is in some parts of Europe, or a general acceptance.” Where I think it’s necessary to go further has to do with the “we” in “we organize” and the nature of the events themselves. I think the “we” must be “individual naturists” instead of established naturist organizations, and that the events are best organized as small, personal gatherings at an individual’s home or convenient local facilities (such as a room at a cooperating restaurant). See my article here for a fuller explanation.

Recent articles on nudity and naturism, 8/01/19

  • It’s time to push back against vilification of nudity by prudes
    Body Art Vs. Protestors: Art Exhibition Or Exhibitionism?
    The 6th Annual NYC Bodypainting Day event took place on July 20 at a park in Brooklyn. This is now recognized as a fully legal event – even though it involves public nudity in an essential way. It was a popular success despite the presence of half a dozen protestors pathetically objecting to art using human bodies as a canvas. The nudity involved here is wholesome and harmless. The handful of protestors should be pitied for their obsession that nonsexual nudity like this is “harmful” to children. In the words of one protestor, “It just isn’t right for the children to have to be exposed to that in a public park.” No. What isn’t right is for the few protestors to perpetuate the fallacy that children must be “protected” from seeing nonsexual nudity.

  • Perspectives of an enthusiastic young naturist
    The Joys of Sharing Naturism with Others
    Addie, a guest blogger on Dan Carlson’s popular Meandering Naturist blog, offers two vignettes from her experience of one specific noteworthy pleasure of being a naturist: introducing others to the enjoyment of social nudity. At the end of the post, Dan provides 7 prescient pieces of advice on “How to Prepare to Share Naturist Experiences with Others”.

  • An article on the World Naked Bike Rice… in Forbes?
    Naked Bike Ride 2019: Nudity With A Message
    As the article itself says, “This year for its 16th version, the event reached 70 cities in 20 countries from Argentina and Finland to South Africa and New Zealand”. So, the WNBR has been going on since 2004. It’s not exactly news, although it may be remarkable to have persisted this long – let alone having spread to 70 cities. The article notes that the purpose is “to expose the dangers of global warming and to protest against “car culture,” the world’s dependence on oil and other non-renewable energy sources, and in defense of cyclists’ rights and other environmental related issues.” And the tone of the article is actually positive. So why is a publication targeted at big business executives and other super-wealthy people promoting an event that highlights problems they are – to a large extent – responsible for? Perhaps it’s because such people, however selfish they may be, aren’t stupid. They probably enjoy nudity frequently on their private yachts.

  • A young woman confronts objectification by celebrating nude recreation
    The Dangerous Female Body?
    It seems to many people that female naturists who are unafraid of participation in social nudity are simply allowing their bodies to be objectified. Melissa, a member of Calgary Nude Recreation, compellingly refutes that idea. She writes that “a friend of mine invited me to join her and another friend at one of Calgary Nude Recreation’s wave pool events.” And the result? “Nothing bad happened! No one made me feel uncomfortable, commented on my body, or acted as if they couldn’t control themselves around my naked female form.” In fact, she “felt less self-conscious while nude then I did with clothes on!” Far from feeling objectified, “Social nudity allowed me to feel less like an object and more like a person.” So she resolved “not [to] let someone else define my body’s intent or alienate me from my bodily autonomy ever again.”

  • Sexual objectification is something all naturists should push back against
    Stop the Sexual Objectification!!
    The controversy focuses on the problem that too many commenters on Get Naked Australia make sexually objectifying remarks on certain images of young women. As the site curator says,

    “Just because there is a young, “attractive” body on this page, does not mean she’s putting herself out there to be objectified. She is not asking for it! Maybe, she, like most other good natured people on this site, just enjoyed her skinny dip and wanted to share it with others in the hope they do the same? Maybe she doesn’t want to see your “great sexy ass” comments and “eggplant” emoji’s. Maybe she just wants to join in on the freedom that is being naked in nature? Just because she’s “attractive” does that mean she’s not allowed?”

    Since this topic seems to require a lot more attention, I’ve put further remarks here: Controversies over Get Naked Australia

Controversies over Get Naked Australia

Many naturists are aware of the Get Naked Australia Instagram account. Last year in April the site was temporarily suspended by Instagram due to “inappropriate content”. Instagram (like its owner, Facebook) censors “explicit” (but nonsexual) naturist nudity. However, as on Facebook, full nudity is allowed as long as genitals or female nipples aren’t shown. GNA, as far as I know, has always been careful to play by the rules.
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Recent articles on nudity and naturism, 7/31/19

  • Recollections of naturism in Europe
    Looking at naturists can be life threatening – as I found out to my cost
    A columnist for The Guardian recalls office workers taking their lunch hour nude in a Berlin park.

  • Unique New York City naturist club organizes many social nudity events
    There’s almost nothing you can’t do naked if you’re in this club
    The organizers of the club, Just Naked, “are encouraging nudity-loving New Yorkers to strip down for all manner of activities: playing Pictionary, listening to poetry and jazz, eating pizza, sketching live models — and, for their latest birthday-suit bash, gymnastics.”

  • Naked yoga as a way to build self-confidence
    Taking a naked yoga class gave me a new appreciation for my body
    Jen “made it a goal to purposely put myself in uncomfortable and emotionally terrifying situations to help my personality evolve and increase my tolerance level for nerve-wracking situations.” At a class put on by Naked in Motion she found that naked yoga was just the thing: “I was shocked that the class delivered on its promise to help quiet the negative self-talk that I so often hear running through my mind. ”

  • New Zealand woman tempted to be nudist… almost
    I think I might be a nudist
    Lucy and a male friend try a clothing-optional Japanese onsen. “Never in my life had I ever felt so at peace with my body. No one looked at us, no one said anything. Being nude at that moment just felt completely right.”

Additions to the blogroll, 6/24/19

Back in the early days of blogging – only a little more than 15 years ago – it was customary for blogs to have a “blogroll”. That is a list of other blogs – dealing with subjects similar to the blogger’s own site – that the blogger respects and follows. But now that custom seems to have waned. The most popular blogs on almost any topic are now elaborate, flashy, and crafted for their appearance as well as their content – but with no blogrolls. Even if there is a blogroll, it’s often not well maintained to delete inactive older blogs and add new ones.
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Quotations on nudity, nakedness, and body acceptance

Obviously, everything here was written in, or has been translated into, English. But for this, there surely would be much more good material.

One other thing you might notice about many or most of these quotes is that they are by painters, photographers, sculptors, dancers, actresses, actors, poets, writers, and philosophers. That is, they are by people who have either attempted (and succeeded in) appreciating the naked body as a work of nature’s artistry, or thinkers who have striven to apprehend and elucidate the subject using their minds. Often, both approaches to understanding naked human bodies have been taken by the same person. What they generally have in common is that they are known to large segments of the population on the basis of the quality of their work in their chosen field.
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Where is social naturism popular – and why?

Any naturist who’s at all aware of naturist opportunities in other countries besides their own has certainly noticed that there are large differences in social acceptance of naturism and nudity from one country to the next. This is true even when consideration is restricted to countries with modern economies, democratic political systems, and tolerance for social diversity. This is also true between different regions of such countries. For example, between states in the U. S.

There are a number of variables that could help understand the reasons for such divergences. These include such things as social attitudes that are favorable to tolerance and diversity, benign climates that allow for outdoor naturist activities, relative lack of religious strictures against body exposure, and sometimes just flukes of history that enabled naturists to achieve a critical mass of acceptance within the country.
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Northern California naturism

Contents

Northern California has many places where naturism can be enjoyed. Among the possibilities are naturist resorts, clothing-optional beaches, rivers and streams for skinny dipping, commercial and non-commercial hot springs where clothing-optional bathing is possible, and occasional public events. There are also several non-landed naturist clubs. And, perhaps best of all, there are hundreds of thousands of acres of U. S. National Forests where innumerable secluded campsites allow for unfettered nudity.

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The augmented N-scale

This is a somewhat revised version of a March 1999 article I wrote to suggest improvements to the N-scale, which measures the degree of one’s enthusiasm for naturism. The original article is here.

In the previous post here we considered the N-Scale, a tool for rating yourself and others on fondness for nudity. It’s a good start, but if you’re reading this, the chances are that you fall at the high end of the original scale. According to that scale, everyone’s bunched up together from a score of 5 to 7 (the highest).

It’s sort of hard to measure your “progress” when the range of scores is that narrow. In order to remedy that, I’ve come up with an augmented scale that renumbers the high end of the scale to include a few more milestones on the road to perfect nudity. The descriptions of higher levels have been reworded from the original. There’s no claim this is a definitive list. Every naturist is a little different from any other one. There can be differences at every level, and the steps towards more complete naturism may be taken in a slightly different order.
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The N-scale

Here’s another old post, from February 1999, which is mostly from an ever older source. Almost no changes required. (The original post is here.)

Do you love to be naked? Of course you do. So does anyone in their right mind. But just how much do you love it? There’s a way to measure that, sort of. It’s called the “N Scale”, and it was devised by naturist Dick Williams several years ago. Here’s the original article, used by permission. (I’ll be offering some refinements and extensions.)
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