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Comments |
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 | Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 23:26:30 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Sajid
"-- mostly men, it seems -- "
haha. Interesting observation. I would say its primarily a form of rebellion when they do it at a young age. My favorite story regarding this sort of nudism:
A friend of mine had a friend in college who decided one day to go for a jog in his birthday suit. A cop stopped him and asked for his ID. His reply: "I left it in my other asshole" |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 0:51:56 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: John Harris
E-mail: John.harris00(at)gmail.com
"In any case, the point about all that is to say that (1) I'm not prudish about nudity but (2) nudism completely baffles me. Why do some people -- mostly men, it seems -- feel a need to put their usually less-than-attractive bodies on display? I just don't get it."
Why don't some people shower? Why do they allow themselves to go out and small like they've rolled around in pig poop?
It's bad enough when they want you to sell them a printer, and you end up down wind....
Heck I feel really bad for our folks back in ImPress (OfficeMax's copy center.)
Nudity I can get, they think their body is great and either everyone wants to see it; Or they really just don't care.
People that smell, I just don't get.
(And no, we're not allowed to ask them to leave, nor say anything about the smell.)
John. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 5:59:33 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: C. August
E-mail: titanic.deckchairs(at)gmail.com
URL: http://www.titanicdeckchairs.com
I suppose I'd say that nudism baffles me as well, though I'm willing to go out on a limb and make some judgments about it... Rather than a celebration of the human form -- which an idealized nude statue is -- nudism smacks of contempt for the human form. The traditional nudists (not a young, attractive exhibitionist going topless at some European beach) are just as Diana said -- rolly, saggy, and generally unattractive (though I agree with Diana that even someone in good shape and otherwise attractive would cease to be so in a nudist context). And they say that don't do it out of exhibitionism or for sexual gratification or anything. "It's totally natural, man!" So what does "natural" mean in this context? The way I understand it, it sounds like they are saying "we're all rolly, saggy, and unattractive, none of us is any better than the other, we're all animals, and I'm going to throw my ugly animal nature in your face and claim that it's a beautiful thing." Like I said, contempt.
I obviously haven't made a big study of this behavior, nor do I ever see a need to, so this is just a broad-brush characterization. I'd guess there are all varieties in the spectrum of this behavior, some if it perhaps even rational and having real value. But I see strong similarities between nudism as it is commonly represented (the Granju quote Diana included) and the dirty, smelly, nihilist hippie culture. If the way one carries himself is a clue to his underlying self-image and view of his place in the world (benevolent vs. malevolent, hero-worship vs. hero-destroying, egoist or nihilist) then these behaviors say to me that somewhere buried in there, the person has a strongly negative view of himself and the world.
Back to Diana's post... I'm surprised by even the mention of breastfeeding. It never would have occurred to me to bring it up because it so completely has no relation to nudism. Diana, were you anticipating a line of discussion you thought might come up, and wanted to nip it in the bud? |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 7:29:09 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: Paul Hoppe
E-mail: prt2000(at)gmx.net
Nudism sounds a bit primitive to me. It seems like a "back-to-nature" thing. Just let go of your "artificial" clothing and show yourself like nature made you. Although nature made us to wear clothes. Cavemen wore clothing. Our rational mind invented clothing. For me, nudist are similar to those people who do not want to live with all our technological advances. Anti-industrialists of some sort. Although I think this applies specifically to nudist camps.
I also agree with the last comment. I assume many nudists want to defy the "modern obsession" with beauty and youth. Well, as long as they do not push nudity on us I don't really care. I am just baffled and I try to minimize my exposure to public nudity. Its just akward.
And just to emphasize how disgusting nudist camps are: My parents made me go to a nudist beach when I was litte (about 6 to 9 years). I can still remember the picture in my mind of naked and moderately overweight men waiting in line at the hotdog stand. I waited in that line too and will not further describe what I occasionally felt on my back. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 8:13:35 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog
C. August said: "Back to Diana's post... I'm surprised by even the mention of breastfeeding. It never would have occurred to me to bring it up because it so completely has no relation to nudism. Diana, were you anticipating a line of discussion you thought might come up, and wanted to nip it in the bud?"
Yes, I agree that breastfeeding has no relationship to nudism. Yet some people seem to think that it does -- hence their opposition to public breastfeeding -- and so I wanted to make my view of that perfectly clear. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 8:39:42 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Blue
I just find that under the right conditions being naked can be generally very comfortable. Also, though this one is a little odder and harder to explain why, I find that when I'm clean and naked it feels like it somehow enhances my sense of cleanliness. The reverse is true though too, if I need a shower and am naked it just makes me feel like I'm even more of a gross mess. Additionally, though this is really just being lazy and bad with managing my time often, I frequently find if I don't need to go find something else to wear, change into it, and then end up with more laundry needing to be done sooner, then I'd rather just not bother doing so. It takes me a long time to do laundry and especially when I'm running low on clean clothes it can bit to get something suitable to wear put together too. I don't typically want to be running around naked because I have some kind of lowly view of the human body and a desire to shove it in other people's faces, personally I recognize that the law will come after me if I try to go much of anywhere naked no matter what the weather is, so usually I'm hanging around alone when I'm not clothed. I have my own reasons for liking being naked and they have nothing to do with other people at all. However, I also wouldn't mind if nudity walking around in every day life was normal either, but I suspect that is in large part due to some uncommon positions I hold on a couple things. First, I wouldn't be made uncomfortable by such situations with any kind of association with sex unlike many people because while I certainly agree nudity is a great thing to have frequently with sex, I think that unless what somebody is doing would seem sexual clothed, then it isn't of a sexual nature when nude, just that when naked it could be even more overtly sexual in nature due to one less barrier being there between you, that other person, and sexual acts. Next, I don't think I'm repulsed by human figures nearly as easily as most people. The majority of people who haven't suffered from some obvious negative things in the medical realm like severe burns and very distorting birth defects look fine to me, though perhaps there is evidence that some people aren't as healthy as would be optimal and so could improve upon their bodies, but still, nothing I really find would disturb me at all typically. In most cases, the attitude with which a person conducts themself I think makes a substantial difference (possibly, for me, aside from truly obvious bad medical conditions, the most significant difference) in whether they would be seen as having an appealing or unappealing appearance. I find it odd how many people worry how much about their body's look and in the process start acting quite obviously self-conscious, embarrassed, like they themselves are already putting themselves down and think you shouldn't think well of them either, in fact making themselves now much less appealing. (I'm not advocating just "letting yourself go", just I think far too many people are too harsh on themselves and making mountains out of molehills.) I think this though could help explain at least a significant part of why you seem to find wrinkly old men making up such a high percentage of nudists - it can take people a long time to stop being embarrassed and beating up on themselves, thus the old part, and as far as I've noticed, it seems there's even among older women a more lasting and stronger pressure to try to aim for looking a way that they may no longer even be able to, so a possible reason you may find men more frequently than women among nudists. Or also though about how people typically associate just being naked at all with sex, maybe more women, especially younger ones, are afraid they might be sexually assaulted. Women do seem to be victims of such things more often than men and probably many people figure they're less at risk for somebody being tempted to sexually assault them if they aren't what would be typically considered attractive. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 9:00:01 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: William N. Green
E-mail: william.green(at)gmail.com
I recall a recent podcast by Dr. Peikoff discussing the differences between nudity in our society and among the ancient greeks. I'll try to dig it up... |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 9:59:11 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: Brian Fritts
E-mail: bcfritts(at)mac.com
My brother and I were discussing this the other day - we both observed that it seems old men at the gym like to hang out naked. I'm not sure why it is so hard to put on some boxer briefs before blow drying your hair, but apparently it is difficult for these guys. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 11:18:14 mst
Comment ID: #9
Name: C Andrew
E-mail: ca4papen(at)mindspring.com
I think that nudity response is probably cultural. In Japan, "nudity is seen but not looked at." Except if you are a foreigner. I lived for nine months in an old farm house in Nagoya that survived the carpet bombings. So the public baths were the only comfortable option for hygiene.
When we would go into the baths, there was usually an obasan (grandmother) on the front desk. Invariably, when we came out her granddaughter was on desk duty. Of course it could have been my companion. He was a weightlifter and had reddish brown hair that covered everything except his forehead, nose, palms of hands and soles of his feet. And was about 2 inches long. You can imagine the effect. So I'm not sure if he really qualified as being nude...
The blogger Diana linked to had a comment about how she found spandex in public distateful. My particular version of that has to do with muffin tops and midriff blouses. Exactly why people think that tight jeans overtopped by a roll of fat showcased by a midriff top is attractive is completely beyond me. My boss and I were headed north for a construction job and stopped for gas. Three twenty somethings were displaying the midriff muffin top combo. My boss shook his head as he went to the cashier. Apparently one of the twenty somethings caught the message and said, "What?! What's the matter with you?" Curt turned around, pulled up his shirt, displaying his belly. "See anything you like here?" he asked. "That's just gross," she responded. "Yeah," he replied, "Right back at ya." |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 11:19:53 mst
Comment ID: #10
Name: C Andrew
E-mail: ca4papen(at)mindspring.com
Sorry. That's distasteful. I'm not sure what "distateful" means. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 11:57:38 mst
Comment ID: #11
Name: Lemuel
E-mail: synthesist(at)ymail.com
A history professor of mine once talked about nudity being a value to ancient Greeks, particularly in the Olympic games. Legend has it one runner's loincloth dropped off during a race, and he suddenly sprinted ahead of the pack and won. From then on, Olympic athletes competed nude, thinking clothing was a hindrance, and it affected the rest of the culture as well. (I don't know how true that all is; I've read it in several places.)
I think the reason why nudists -- as defined by people who wish to be perpetually naked, as opposed to only times when it's appropriate -- tend to be unattractive is a rejection of the culture of shame placed on nudity in America's strong remaining Puritan culture. But that's it: it's a rejection, not any kind of acceptance. It would make some sense if some of that ancient Greek influence was part of it, i.e. looking your best, exercising, achieving personal beauty rather than assuming it, and mostly having the decency to know where and when to be naked.
Another part of it, I think is that attractive nude people are distracting and titillating to others, and there's a definite sexual association with nudity that I can't imagine exists when all the naked people are grotesque and unkempt. Further, there are *ahem* physical responses which others don't usually appreciate, but aren't exactly controllable by will ...
I don't like public indecency laws, but I hope that if they're ever repealed, it won't inspire mass nudity. (I doubt this will happen in a culture eager to brand everyone it can as a sexual predator.) I don't want to wade through throngs of naked people when I go to work or the grocery store, mainly as an issue of hygiene.
I say if you want to be nude on your own property, and you're not being a pervert about it, have a great time. Just please, not at the salad bar. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 14:14:05 mst
Comment ID: #12
Name: Jim May
E-mail: seerak(at)gmail.com
Lemuel writes:
"I don't like public indecency laws, but I hope that if they're ever repealed, it won't inspire mass nudity."
I am reminded of when the province of Ontario in Canada struck down the law against women going topless in public, on grounds of the law being discriminatory by gender (it did not apply to men). I wondered whether concern for the above was why that decision was handed down in January ;)
Regarding Japan, I recall being told a long time ago that in Japan, it is not nudity that is seen as sexually stimulating, it is certain types of clothing that hint at what is beneath; it's all in the concealment, not the revealment :). IIRC the wardrobe of the geisha is intended for this purpose, but I'm not certain about that. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 16:28:08 mst
Comment ID: #13
Name: BrianS
"Conversely, if someone other than Paul did want to see me naked, that would be creepy. It would indicate a most unwelcome kind of interest in me."
I think this hits the proverbial nail on the head. Furthermore, I think it applies in the reverse as well.
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"I recall a recent podcast by Dr. Peikoff discussing the differences between nudity in our society and among the ancient greeks. I'll try to dig it up."
Here it is:
Episode 61
9:51 to end
Q: In Europe, nudity is the natural state: nude saunas, parents running around nude with their children, the entire family nude and totally indifferent. Is there a rational basis for not being comfortable with public nudity?
A: Well - let's just take 'nudity' as a concept: being nude. Obviously that, in the appropriate context, is a tremendous value and there Objectivism agrees totally with the Greeks and with the Renaissance. When they portray a man or a woman, they don't do it in jockey shorts - or a Victoria's Secret bra. It is the metaphysical value of the body, the *flaunting* of the physical, that is involved in nudity. Now if you do it as a person though, a certain context is appropriate. You are doing it then as an act of intimacy. It is like you are stressing your relation to the person by saying: you are an exception to my normal behavior. Everything about me is going to be bared to you. I want to you to know every value. And my nudity - my nude body - is certainly a crucial value.
So in that sense nudity, flaunting nudity, is highly desirable.
That doesn't mean you always have to make love without clothes on. It means nudity as such is a tremendous value. You know there were Puritans who had a sex life, so to speak, and at the end of their life the man did not recognize the woman's body because he had never seen it. There was just a little hole he used. That is totally, totally corrupt, anti-nudity. And in fact that was the Christian attitude. That is why they went around smashing the genitals of Greek and Roman sculptures.
Now I don't think it is appropriate for parents to run around nude with their children for this reason. It is not that type of relationship. But in the right context I think it is great.
Now you say: talk about 'public nudity'. The only case I can think of which strikes me, at least off-hand, as being obviously proper and good was the Greek conduct of gymnastics - where there was a strong worship of the body and a real bonding of the gymnasts, and where the whole thing was oriented around, you know the - what is the - 'A healthy mind and a healthy body' - and they actually had a worship of the body. And, from that point of view they were expressing it. So if you had a context in which the body was offered and accepted, even in a non-sexual context, as a value to be worshiped - lets say a model in a sculpture studio - then nudity is great. The bad thing about nudity is treating it *casually*. Treating it as if 'Well it has no significance'. Like treating sex as an itch.
So now, in saunas and things of that kind, I would say it pretty much doesn't come out - because in the saunas I've been at (and the steam bath and so on) men don't flaunt anything. It is usually a practical measure so they don't get burned in the wrong place.
Now I very much doubt whether today - even to Objectivists - because of the influence of Christianity over *everyone*, we can have the attitude of the Greeks or the pagans. I think the vast majority of people have a sense of discomfort. Or the ones who do it, do it with a kind of defiance - showing off, exhibitionism, voyeurs, etc. The Greeks were not that way. But the idea of being able to take the body, with the kind of innocent - almost naive - admiration, devoid of sex and devoid of cynicism - you just can't find it, that I know of, in the modern world.
I was taken by a group once to a nude beach in San Diego. And, in principle, I thought 'Well, I approve of the body' etc. But when I got there (leaving aside the way, heh, those bodies looked - they're not exactly the kind that you could, uh, have a response to) I couldn't do it. I just couldn't - because the feeling was: these are not people who share the same attitude toward nudity that I do. We don't have any kind of bond.
So, as I see it now, it's appropriate only in a love or in art type of relationship. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 16:53:03 mst
Comment ID: #14
Name: Mike
E-mail: mikedialj(at)netscape.net
When I was a kid, the first look I got at a woman's nude body was in a magazine produced by a nudist organization. Great googly-moogly, it was horrible! My friends and I were quite put off by the reality of it all. Fortunately, Playboy came along with airbrushes, grooming techniques and poses to make the whole subject seem more glamorous until we could appreciate women for everything they are to us men. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 18:56:43 mst
Comment ID: #15
Name: Ashley King
E-mail: atking(at)mtaonline.net
BrianS,
Did you transcribe that? Wow. |
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| Monday, June 22, 2009 at 19:27:39 mst
Comment ID: #16
Name: Ryan C
"...Rolls of fat, saggy breasts, and/or a shriveled frank and beans..."
I'm totally suing you for using my likeness without my permission. :D |
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| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 10:22:01 mst
Comment ID: #17
Name: Rational Jenn
E-mail: rationaljenn(at)gmail.com
URL: http://rationaljenn.blogspot.com
"....the practice of breastfeeding is good and proper."
Just wanted to add a (somewhat belated) YAY to you for writing that! :o) I haven't experienced too much negativity when nursing in public but it does happen every once in a great while. Squeamishness about breastfeeding does seem to come from a sense of prudishness about breasts. Which is very silly. I am glad that the practice is more common these days and it's not usually such a big deal. But had I written this post, I would also have included a "breastfeeding disclaimer"--because there are still some out there who don't quite get it. |
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| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 14:46:17 mst
Comment ID: #18
Name: Jenn
There are people who are more beautiful naked than with clothes on. I have been drawing and painting naked people for 20 years, and not everyone is hiding something ugly under their clothes. Just wanted to remind you of that.
I have also been the nude model for others in art studios. After modeling nude, I realized it does actually matter when someone sees you naked. It gives them a certain knowledge/intimacy of you that can be unnerving, if you didn't really choose for them to have it. |
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| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 17:29:42 mst
Comment ID: #19
Name: Mike
E-mail: mperry48(at)hotmail.com
I knew a couple in college who were nudists. Nice enough people, and I guess, decent looking.
I remember telling them once that I could see why someone might want to go to a nude beach. I grew up in the country, and whenever we went swimming we simply went down to the pond and dropped our clothes. But I added that I just didn't see the point in going to the cafeteria nude or playing shuffle board in the nude. They accused me of fetishizing clothing. |
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| Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 16:02:51 mst
Comment ID: #20
Name: Luke Baggins
E-mail: lukebaggins(at)gmail.com
URL: http://bodybuildingelf.blogspot.com
An interesting point on the whole standards/ natural responses thing. I was talking to a friend who had been to a nude beach near Carmel CA. He told me that he got there, got naked, and started looking around and his eyes went to the attractive women as male eyes tend to do. Then he got a boner. He was told by one of the lifeguards / ushers whatever they have there, that he had to leave. Naked bodies, even ugly ones were okay, but boners were a violation of the decency standards, or something. |
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| Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 17:56:49 mst
Comment ID: #21
Name: Mike
E-mail: mperry48(at)hotmail.com
I've been doing a little reading on this, and I find it interesting that modern nudism grew out of the "physical culture" movement, which advocated exercise, a healthy diet and an emphasis on improving and admiring the human body that was sometimes explicitly linked to ancient Greek values.
I must say that most of my experience with nudists, which has admittedly been small, doesn't indicate they are committed to a exercise and a healthy diet. Rather, the idea of "body acceptance" has been perverted from the original idea that the human body is good no matter what natural imperfections any individual might have into the idea that a body is good no matter how much an individual might mistreat it. |
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| Friday, June 26, 2009 at 0:48:17 mst
Comment ID: #22
Name: Adam Reed
E-mail: adamreedatalumdotmitdotedu
URL: http://borntoidentify.blogspot.com/
Having spent my first 10 summers on the shores of the Baltic, I found my first encounter with a swimsuit a rather averse experience: constraining and uncomfortable when dry, clammy and disgusting when wet, irritating and stinging when sand got under its edges on the beach. How it feels on my skin matters much more to me than how it might look to other people. The wind, the sun, water all feel good on my skin; clothing feels tolerable at best. I consider my own experience of my skin and my body far more important to me, than other peoples' experience of how I look.
By the way, when I first read the opening of The Fountainhead, how Roark stood naked at the edge of the cliff, then dived and swam, still naked - the words evoked how my skin would feel in his place, wind and sun and water on my unconstrained body - and yes, damn the idiots who care what others think. I think that this was what Ayn Rand had in mind when she wrote that paragraph. I don't understand people who alienate themselves from the experience of being at home in one's body and in one's world, the experience that this paragraph and that feeling are about.
Being naked is not about how people look, or how you look to them. It is about being aware of oneself not as some kind of disembodied consciousness, but as a whole, aware, embodied organism, at home in the elements of the world. Sorry, Diana: it sounds like you were brought up as most Americans were, and so you just don't know what you have been missing. And if you never stood naked in the wind, what can the opening words of The Fountainhead mean to you? |
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| Friday, June 26, 2009 at 11:24:43 mst
Comment ID: #23
Name: Dana H.
I do find modern nudism odd. (I'm not talking about skinny dipping, but about living in communities where you walk around naked all the time.)
But from limited personal and anecdotal experience, it appears that young children just love to be naked. Several years ago, Dana Carvey did a hilarious stand-up bit on the pleasure his two boys got from running around the house in the buff. After awhile, he and his wife decided to limit this by setting aside specific hours as "Naked Time", which his kids looked always forward to with gleeful anticipation.
My own two children (ages 2 and 5) also like to get naked and run around or jump on the bed whenever they can. Can other parents confirm whether or not they have observed this of their kids? |
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| Friday, June 26, 2009 at 16:02:54 mst
Comment ID: #24
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog
Adam -- A few points:
* Your assumptions about my upbringing are completely wrong. My family was extremely relaxed about nudity. That was good in some ways, but not in others. We had no visible neighbors on our farm, and it wasn't uncommon for me to be running around naked, even when I was a teenager.
* I am wholeheartedly in favor of swimming naked, and I did so routinely while growing up. If I had a pool now, I would swim naked all the time, except when we had company. That's because naked swimming -- unlike naked TV watching or naked dog walking -- serves a genuine purpose. It's a much more sensual experience. However, I would also ensure that the pool was shielded from the view of my neighbors. That's only polite.
* Yes, Roark was naked while alone at the quarry -- something that I have absolutely no objection to, as that's not "nudism." However, he did put on clothes when he walked through the town. He didn't care what other people thought of him, and so he wasn't an exhibitionist. That would be Gus Webb's style. |
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| Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 17:46:42 mst
Comment ID: #25
Name: Adam Reed
E-mail: adamreedatalumdotmitdotedu
URL: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/areed2
Diana,
I fully agree about swimming; I apologize for wrong assumptions. However, I prefer (for good personal reasons that you may not share) to live in relatively high-density cities, where a nude beach or a nudist resort are the only places where one can swim naked, stand naked in the wind and so on. Standing naked in the surf of New Jersey's Sandy Hook nude beach, facing the shore of New York City - Capuletti painted this in "Not Guilty" - is an experience of joy. How one looks to others is insignificant in comparison. |
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| Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 9:17:49 mst
Comment ID: #26
Name: Dario Western
E-mail: dariowestern(at)bigpond.com
URL: http://www.myspace.com/fatpizzaman
Americans and Australians really need to start growing up and being more accepting and tolerant about the naked human body. Don't criticise or condemn something until you've actually experienced it for yourself. It is about understanding and accepting there are ALL different body types and shapes and sizes out there, just as much as there are different types of people who make up the world be they tall, short, fat, thin, black, yellow, gay, lesbian, bi.
In the early days of nudism and naturism in Europe and America, it was based on health, self-improvement and self respect. The word 'gymnasium' comes from the Greek word 'gymnos' which means naked, and they were the ones who brought aerobics and calisthenics to the modern world.
Body acceptance does not mean the right to mistreat or abuse it. Sadly we live in a world today where healthy and balanced diets have given way to food that is laden with sugar, salt, and fat - and especially promoted to children. Plus the TV has replaced communal family recreation - too many people are more interested in watching sport than participating in it.
Nudist and naturist camps and clubs need to start going back to their roots if they want to be attracting the masses again, particularly women. Organise more sporting competitions and beauty pageants again, and give the people something that they can aspire to instead of reviling and ridiculing.
The problem with nudism today is that it's all about comfort and chilling out, and some of them get too comfortable that they lose track of the real world. |
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| Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 10:51:00 mst
Comment ID: #27
Name: sea
E-mail: arscott_s(at)yahoo.ca
I would like to comment on nudism. It isn't for everyone that's for sure. For me it's not about exhibition or anything like that. Most of the time it's my wife and myself. Sometimes with others on vacation or what ever event. It's an experience you wouldn't forget. If you can lower your guard enough to enjoy the moment. It dosen't have to be within a crowd. But to feel yourself as part of the environment. Which you are...We have created these safe bubbles we live in. I think the fact that people get together is part to find others who are like minded. There will always be bad apples on the tree. Stay away from that sort of bad energy. You'll know if you are in an appropriate environment. You create your own circle of friends or just enjoy it on your own. But it really should be experienced. Clothes aren't everything they are made up to be. It created a very judgemental society. The haves and have nots. They keep you warm, dry if needed. It has it's place, likewise for naturism. |
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| Friday, July 10, 2009 at 11:53:23 mst
Comment ID: #28
Name: Reinaldo
E-mail: reinaldo(at)emerging-images.com
Being nude in nature is a marvelous experience. It reinforces the sense of being a part of the environment, not standing apart from it. Sitting relaxed with a small breeze blowing across my skin enhances my thought processes. I am an occasional writer of articles, blogs, and instructional material. I find myself more productive when I am visiting my local nudist resort.
Social nudity also provides a different and wonderful experience. Sitting comfortably with three or four others, we seem to put aside our defenses and become freer to share ideas and entertain those of others.
Research also demonstrates the value of family nudism. Children raised in family nudity are more confident and have a healthier sense of themselves. (See Okami, 1995 and others) They become aware of the aging process and how it changes bodies. They have a healthier acceptance of sexuality and seem to end up as more well-adjusted sexually.
Most--though not all--of the comments here simply show the lack of understanding of people who do not have first hand experience and who have accepted the culture-based views. |
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| Monday, August 10, 2009 at 21:57:21 mst
Comment ID: #29
Name: Joe
Being nude is as much a reality as it is a fantasy. We learn from an early age to dress in clothes so from a young age we learn that clothes are natural when in reality that is the real fantasy. By the time we unlearn what we never should have as adults we are mostly older and maybe fat people at that. So when you see nude people it is because that is what you learned and know of people - I just see people. |
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