What are your naturist goals?

Perhaps the notion of “naturist goals” immediately starts you wondering why naturists even need goals. Isn’t naturism supposed to be about simple pleasure and relaxation? Why would a naturist need to have “goals” – which would require planning and exerting some effort instead of simply enjoying any time that can be spent naked?

And the truth is: no, it isn’t absolutely necessary to set goals for yourself, as far as naturism is concerned. If you’re fully satisfied with being naked at home or when you visit a favorite naturist place, that fine. Enjoy it without reservation. Perhaps you don’t need to read any further.

On the other hand, you might want at least to consider why setting goals could allow you to enjoy naturism even more fully, more often, and in new and different ways.
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How to blog about naturism

In the U. S. we have a holiday that commemorates an event in 1620 when (supposedly) some of the first immigrants to this (future) country from England enjoyed a feast together with indigenous people. Besides giving thanks for surviving a difficult sea voyage, the immigrants were thankful for the freedom from burdens on their lives they felt in their old country. Among these burdens was being persecuted for their beliefs and customs – just as anti-nudity laws and censorship in social media persecute naturists.

So this was an exemplary social event celebrating freedom. If you’re a naturist, this probably sounds like something you’re familiar with: the pleasure of sharing with others the freedom from wearing clothes.

I’ve been planning to add my 2 cents to this article: Our Best Tips for Aspiring Naturist Bloggers. Just getting to it now. The article has a lot of useful advice, but it started me thinking about many additional things to say. It’s sort of surprising there aren’t many more naturist blogs – because there’s so much good stuff to write about.
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Recent articles on nudity and naturism, 8/23/20

Well, it seems I’ve gotten somewhat behind in reporting on “recent” noteworthy articles on nudity and naturism. Personal reasons for that, but no excuses. I’ll try to cover the best articles from May here – but with less detail than usual. You’ll see there are some fairly interesting things. Hopefully, June, July, and August summaries won’t be too far behind.

  1. Utah, California, South Carolina Best Places for 2020 ‘Naked Gardening Day’ Saturday


    The World Naked Gardening Day for this year (in the northern hemisphere) was on May 2, and has already been discusssed here. But this article appeared a little later and has additional details. The LawnStarter website has covered WNGD before (last year), when it rated Bakersfield, California, as having “the most conducive climate for getting out and gardening in the buff”. This year it bestowed the honor on Ogden, Utah, based on weather forecasts. But the event is celebrated by naturists in many other countries besides the U. S. For instance, Donna Price (pictured above), from the UK, is quoted recommending everyone to “make it naked and enjoy the liberation”.

  2. The Great British Take Off



    WNGD wasn’t the only special naturist event in May. British Naturism designated Saturday, May 16 as the day for The Great British Take Off (GBTO). Here’s their announcement: The Great British Take Off – 16th May. The name chosen for the day may refer not only to taking off clothes but may also suggest the idea that naturism in the UK could be taking off to a new level. Here’s what BN said on the day of GBTO: The Great British Take Off – Today’s the Day! And here’s their summary of what happened: Didn’t we have a lovely time…!

    The announcement got widespread notice in the British press. Most of it was favorable to naturism and not condescending (as it would certainly be in most U. S. media). It’s no accident there were numerous media reports. BN obviously made a serious effort to get favorable coverage – even supplying images to accompany the stories. U. S. naturist organizations don’t seem to make such efforts, or if they do, they’re not nearly so successful.

    Some of the stories:

  3. The woman behind “Women-in-Naturism”


    Here’s Donna Price again, in her role with British Naturism as a promoter of naturism for women. She’s officially the Coordinator of the Women in Naturism Campaign. We all know about naturism’s gender imbalance problem. It’s to BN’s credit that they don’t just talk about the problem but also have someone who’s responsible for getting things done to address the problem. Simply having a point of contact from whom other women can learn more about naturism is important. Since Donna (and her husband) have only been naturists since 2016, they can explain from their own experience how to overcome the concerns that women have about participating in naturism. Donna has an active Twitter feed, which makes communication especially straightforward.


  4. Naturism goes on in spite of the pandemic


    There’s no question about the pandemic having an impact. But it seems to be less severe than in some other areas. Naturally, since most people are spending lots more time at home – especially if they can continue at their normal jobs remotely – they can be naked much more of the time. Since most traditional naturist activities are outdoors (beaches, campgrounds, resorts, etc.) transmission of the virus is somewhat less likely. Many other activities can go on using video – naked yoga and figure drawing/painting classes, for example. And many more people can participate – even from another continent, since travel isn’t necessary. The use of video also means that naturists can spend more time in conversation with each other, and find new friends.

    It should be noted that British Naturism hosts an extensive calendar of online events. Some are free for BN members (but it’s not necessary to live in the UK to join BN). These include things like chats, a book club, and life drawing. Other more intensive offerings – such as yoga, aerobics, and fitness workouts – can be booked for about 5$US per session (for BN members). The schedule is here. Neither of the U. S. national naturist organizations has anything like this, as far as I can tell from their websites.

    Here are some media reports:


  5. ‘Why we decided to do our podcast in the buff,’ say the women behind the Naked Podcast


    “When Kat Harbourne told her friends and fellow BBC Sheffield journalist Jenny Eells she wanted to make a podcast that explored issues around body image she jumped at the chance. Even when Kat said they, and their guests, would be naked, she didn’t change her mind.” Jenny explained, “For me being naked isn’t really an issue but I know that’s not the case for everyone and we wanted to try and find out why.” The podcast website is here.

  6. Petition to protest censorship of naturism on Google’s YouTube

    The petition, entitled Normalize the human body in its natural form, is at Change.org. I expect most naturists would agree with the notion. The text begins: “Depictions of non-minor persons of any sex either in public or in private in a non-sexual, nude state shall not be prohibited by social media sites or their providers if and when the depictions are intended by their disseminator to be of an artistic, educational, or documentary nature and/or facilitate the formation of an educated opinion…” There have been over 13,000 signers so far. Please take a moment to sign yourself, if you haven’t already. (It’s free, although you can make a donation to help publicize it.)

    The petition was initiated by Hector Martinez of the Mexican Nudist Federation. He had posted hundreds of videos on his channel, which had 1.3 million subscribers and a total of 200 million views. And then “someone” at YouTube deleted the entire channel, without warning or explanation. According to Hector, the videos had been posted since 2016 and observed YouTube’s guidelines for acceptable content. The whole text is worth reading. My own comment, after signing, was:
    There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with nudity. In particular, nonsexual nudity as practiced by naturists is entirely healthy and wholesome. Not everyone agrees with this, of course, but that does not in any way justify censoring the expressing and documenting of a completely valid point of view.

    Some other naturist blogs also reported on this:


  7. British Naturism: Sunfolk – an update

    This British Naturism project has already been mentioned here. The progress that’s already been made is noteworthy, in spite of the pandemic. The plans BN has for Sunfolk are impressive. This may be the first example, at least in the English-speaking world, of a major naturist organization taking over management of an existing naturist facility. It will be run much like a traditional naturist club, but primarily for the benefit of BN members. During the last few decades a dozen or so landed clubs in the U. S. have folded and converted to conventional textile-only use. Neither of the national U. S. organizations seems to have considered doing what BN has done with Sunfolk. That’s a lot of very unfortunate missed opportunities.

  8. I Think I Found the Missing Nudist Bloggers

    In this post I replied to an article on the Sensual Nudist blog: What Happened to the Nudist Bloggers? That led to some interesting dialog (in email and article comments) with Alexis (the article’s author) and other bloggers. Alexis posted an interesting response on her blog, giving a good explanation of her thinking. It’s a long post, so I won’t summarize here – just read it.

Ideas for enjoying nudity while social distancing, part 2

Many naturists now find themselves having more free time at home because of the pandemic, either because they now work from home, aren’t yet able to go back to work, or simply aren’t able to engage in some of their customary activities.

In the previous article we looked at additional suggestions for activities that can be enjoyed clothesfree at home, based on 6 of the 14 ideas suggested in a Naked Wanderings article. But there are other good ideas to consider that weren’t among the 14 – yet should have been.
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Ideas for enjoying nudity while social distancing, part 1

Since the pandemic certainly isn’t over yet, many people will continue spending much more time at home than they did just a few months ago. Whether or not that’s by personal preference, the upside for naturists is the opportunity to spend much more of their time naked in their own homes. Sadly, however, many people have suffered a difficult loss of income, so they simply won’t be able to pursue activities that are no longer affordable, such as using gyms, traveling away from home, or even paying for cable channels they like.

Even if people can continue to work from home at their usual job, they may well find they have more “free” time than previously. Not having to commute to work can save a lot of time. Vacations involving air travel will be much less of interest. Many free-time activities – such as shopping or going to sporting events – may also be less available. And many naturist campgrounds and resorts will be unable to have their usual number of visitors. Some will be fortunate if they can even stay in business.

So, like most other people, naturists will probably have more free time than they’ve been accustomed to. That’s good news, and for naturists it means that not only they can be naked more of the time, but also they can try out new activities where nudity is especially appropriate.
Continue reading “Ideas for enjoying nudity while social distancing, part 1”

Re: What Happened to the Nudist Bloggers?

This is in response to a great issue raised by new naturist blogger Alexis: What Happened to the Nudist Bloggers?

She begins: While I’m sitting here watching everyone and listening to the cows moo and the [crickets] chirp, I open up my WordPress app to explore the bloggers realm to see who else I can find to follow that intrigued me. I have found some RV bloggers, travel bloggers, and others just expressing their thoughts about life and philosophy. What I don’t see is a major representation of the nudist community.

Excellent observation.
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Recent articles on nudity and naturism, 12/21/19

  • I signed up for nude modelling to challenge myself
    Modeling naked for an art drawing or painting class is scary – even if you’re used to going naked at home sometimes or even visiting a nude beach occasionally. It’s even scarier if you have no significant experience being naked in front of strangers who will be staring intently at your naked body for an hour or two. Why did Sonya do it? A friend who had done nude modeling for years had “always spoken about how much fun she had found it.” Sonya writes that she had “spent so long working to the point of getting to be ok with my body, instead of being at war with it” – and she now needed to challenge herself on her progress.

    She writes about her very first experience modeling naked, her anxiety about it initially, and her feelings in the first few minutes. “Disrobing was difficult. All those eyes, staring at me.” But it turned out very well. “Seeing myself through other people’s eyes, laid bare on the paper was amazing for my body confidence…. The next time I am asked to life model, I’ll respond with an enthusiastic “Yes!”.” In light of the next article to be discussed, what this shows is that the discomfort from people staring at one’s naked body is a challenge – but it can be conquered by developing sufficient self-confidence. Most naturists aren’t exhibitionists or ecdysiasts, and they don’t expect to get sexual gratification from being seen naked by others. But neither do they need to be scared or concerned about being seen naked. The pleasure of nudity is just a result of accepting one’s body and not being encumbered by clothing.

  • “Staring is a big no-no”: All the questions you have about nudism, answered


    This article from an Australian source relays advice from the founder of Get Naked Australia. Most of it is aimed at people who know little about naturism or nudism, but are curious about it (in a positive or negative way). The article’s title singles out one specific issue – the concerns people have about being stared at while partially or fully naked.

    This is a more complicated issue than is generally acknowledged. On one hand, people having little or no experience with social nudity believe that most of its devotees have great self-confidence and no embarrassment about being naked. That’s not true, although it should be. On the other hand, people who do have some experience with social nudity often think that others who stare at their bodies are simply being gauche and uncouth. That fails to understand the previous point.

    It’s usually very good advice not to stare – whether intentionally or not – at the bodies of anyone who’s fully or partly naked. While the naked person might be fairly comfortable with nudity, if they’re relatively new to social nudity they may feel mildly to severely uncomfortable about being stared at. Of course, the same is true of anyone who’s stared at because of almost anything “unusual” in their physical appearance, manner of dress, awkward behavior due to disabilities, etc.

    However, people who know little or nothing about social nudity probably assume that anyone who’s fully or partly naked has overcome any sense of shame associated with nudity and therefore must be insensitive to and unperturbed by the stares of others. That’s not a good assumption.

    There are now a variety of “public” places where nudity is accepted and perhaps even common – such as clothing-optional beaches and resorts, fairly isolated places outdoors, or legally approved public demonstrations such as World Naked Bike Rides. Anyone who chooses full or partial nudity in such places – either for a particular occasion or as part of a consistent lifestyle – has probably decided that nudity is at least harmless or actually quite a good thing. Such people have to some degree or other overcome unhealthy body shame and society’s irrational aversion to nudity.
    There’s a mismatch of assumptions on both sides of this issue. People who don’t know much about social nudity may assume, incorrectly, that most who participate in it are quite self-confident about their nudity and have no feelings about shame or embarrassment related to it, and no concerns about how others will react to it. However, someone who’s nude in “public” may be just experimenting with it. They may have gathered the courage to try it, but are still quite sensitive to negative reactions from others.

    On the other side, people who stare at others who’re partially or fully naked may be doubtful about the legality of the nudity and probably still think that open nudity is improper and even “immoral”. So if they stare at others who’re not “properly” clothed it’s not necessarily right to assume that the staring is consciously disrespectful or simply uncouth. It’s more charitable to assume starers still suffer from irrational body shame and are simply behaving in accord with their social conditioning.

    Just as with people who become comfortable as nude models, most people who have enough time and experience with social nudity are able to overcome uneasiness when less enlightened others stare at them. Once one becomes convinced there’s nothing “wrong” about choosing not to cover certain parts of their body it’s easy to enjoy nudity and feel no shame about it. By realizing that staring results from the typical unfamiliarity or disapproval regarding nudity present in most cultures, it’s easier to understand and ignore impolite staring. Unfortunately, it takes a little time for people who are relatively new to being naked in a clothing-optional situation to become self-confident about their nudity. Since it’s usually difficult to know whether staring will cause discomfort to someone, the best general policy is not to stare.

  • Third Time’s the Charm?
    If you think it’s scary to be stared at naked in a life drawing class of maybe 10 or 20 people, what would you think about being naked in New York’s Times Square in broad daylight – open to the stares of many hundreds of complete strangers? It’s actually possible to do that legally, with the proper permits. And it can be done without embarrassment, even if you’re not an exhibitionist (which, hopefully, you aren’t). The naturist activist who goes by the name Ton Dou has been organizing that very thing, in the name of “Bare Body Freedom”. Last year he performed (naked) an “Ultimate Freedom Concert” in the Square, accompanied by two dozen naked men, one naked woman. (Some others were partially naked.) This year he repeated the performance, but this time – as the blog of The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society notes – with about one dozen naked men and four or five women. So the better gender balance is, at least, a “step in the right direction”. Naturists can hope that the third time, next year, could be better still.

    It’s worth noting that in 2016 the OCTPFAS put on performances of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park with the all-female cast mostly naked. There have, of course, been a number of amateur and professional theatrical productions in recent decades with significant amounts of full nudity – but hardly ever so openly in a public park. Just imagine how comfortable the casts of such productions needed to become with stares from the audience. And incidentally, the women of the OCTPFAS regularly sunbathe topfree during the summer – completely legally – in New York City parks. Stares? Who cares?

  • Care home welcomes naked male model after residents request a nude drawing class
    While on the subject of nude life modeling, it’s worth mentioning that people who take art classes offering this aren’t in it for sexual thrills either. Most people will never be acclaimed artists, but artistic skill in depicting the naked human body is something that most people can develop with sufficient effort and practice. Accomplishments in such endeavors are as satisfying as achievement in any other type of artistic pursuit – from making music to making furniture. This type of satisfaction is available to people of almost any age. And the nude models who enable learning how to reproduce the human form on canvas or in clay need not be embarrassed by their role, regardless of who the students are.
    More: Old people’s home invites nude model for life drawing class

  • Art Residency: International artists live in the nude for ten days


    This type of Art Residency is a relatively brief organized program for people who are serious about developing their artistic skills. The immersive experience helps them focus on and improve different aspects of their craft. In this case, the artists themselves work as nude models. This helps artists in various ways. Probably the most important way is understanding the diverse meanings of full exposure of one’s naked body to the gaze of others. Nudity, of course, has a sexual meaning, but it’s only one among many. There’s the pleasure, which naturists know quite well, of directly experiencing the natural world instead of the artificial world of clothing. There’s the self-confidence manifest in lack of concern about others’ perception of one’s naked body. There’s the satisfaction of demonstrating the naked body’s aesthetic beauty. The better that artists appreciate these different meanings of nudity, the better they can express them in their art.

  • Do’s and Don’ts: Making Nudist Friends


    In a previous collection of recent articles we considered How to Find Other Nudists. Among the approaches mentioned was visiting nude or clothing-optional beaches. It was noted that this can be tricky, since visitors to such beaches have a wide range of experience with social nudity, and differing amounts of interest in acquiring new friends while enjoying the beach. The article here offers a number of good suggestions on how to navigate around these complicating factors. Since it was published by the official organization of Haulover Beach (Florida) users, the suggestions should be very pertinent and reliable.

  • A Naturist Girl
    Here’s a good statement on naturism by Aleah, who was raised in a naturist family – and has not seriously wavered from the enjoyment of nudity, in spite of the various trials and tribulations that afflict most people’s lives from time to time. It’s one of the first posts on a new blog: Our Natural Blog. The blog is actually the work of Aleah and her husband Sam. Both Aleah and Sam introduce themselves in earlier articles on their blog. There’s also a very good background article on Aleah and Sam on the Naked Wanderings blog.

    One of the best comments in the article explains how the fear and shame usually associated with nudity is a noxious, harmful fact about our culture (as well as most others):
    We are taught to grow up,,, to wear shoes and stop climbing trees. We are taught the concept of modesty and shame. Taught what the “ideal perfect body” is supposed to look like.

    Naturist blogs from partnered couples are a relatively new thing. It will be great for naturism if the numbers keep growing, since such blogs should be especially encouraging for women to discover that naturism need not be primarily a male thing. Other good examples of this trend are Twonaturists Blog by Hannah and Nick, and Our Naked Story, by Blake and Elle.

  • Three-course dinner where ‘clothes are optional’ is coming to Cambridgeshire this chilly winter season
    The good news for people in the Cambridge area is that the event is not until January 25, so there’s still plenty of time to sign up. Naked dining events are still uncommon in the UK – but less uncommon than in most other countries where many naturists live. Events like this don’t usually just happen spontaneously. In this case, the event has been organized by the Eastern Region of British Naturism. (The folks who also organize other good things like skinny-dipping events and festivals for young naturists.) Sadly for naturists in the U. S., we do not have national (or regional) organizations that facilitate such things. One does have to wonder, though, why whoever wrote the article described the event as “risky”. Evidently a writer for the local news outlet – who isn’t a naturist.
    More: here

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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