The "female modesty cult" is Victoria Bateman's term for society's intense pressure on women to be "modest". Look on Amazon for her book "Naked Feminism" that explains it in detail. I'll be writing about it here before long (I hope). Everyone - men as well as women - has their own personal feelings about how they are perceived by others. They vary considerably, and every individual has to decide for themselves. There's no single "right" answer for everyone. But people who value their independence will put less emphasis on what others think of them. From a naturist point of view, society's typical attitudes on this issue are quite wrong.
Hi Charles - great article! Sadly I think you are pointing to a steady and inevitable decline in naturism. You identify the main pressures that affect younger people's participation as being a consequence of a culture that has sexualised nudity to such an extent that young people are afraid of their own bodies as an expression of their individuality. Whereas nudism began as a revolutionary opposition to nineteenth century authoritarianism it seems to me that twenty first century authoritarianism is very adept at suppressing challenges to its mission to deny the right to an individual's autonomy..
Sadly, authoritarianism is growing stronger almost everywhere in the world these days. Women, in particular, are victims. In the U.S. they face losing control of their own bodies. Most people now don't realize that women in the U.S. had no right to vote until 1920 - 144 years after the Declaration of Independence. It's not impossible that women could organize now as resolutely to protect their rights to control their bodies as those who pushed successfully for the right to vote. Women have used nudity in the past to support or oppose other issues. Victoria Bateman, who I mentioned in the article, used her nudity to protest Brexit in the UK less than 10 years ago. People in the UK have discovered how right she was. Check her site: https://www.vnbateman.com/gallery - but note that it's very NSFW.
An article, preferably a book, on best practices to own and operate a nudist venue would be helpful. Such a work would be the beginning of a successful business plan, bringing fantasy one step closer to reality.
Great, if discouraging, piece, Charles. Christian authoritarianism is flexing its muscles these days, and clamping down on the freedoms of alternative lifestyles is part of cementing their control. I believe naturism is the perfect challenge to it; the vulnerability of nude people always strikes fear into the buttoned up crowd, similar to non-violent civil disobedience, and young people seem to be waking up a bit to public protest. I think we’re working against the ever-present awareness of the cellphone camera, which is mentioned by young women forgoing even topless beach-going in Europe. Young women especially understand the perils of social media by the time they reach high school, and public body exposure when they have had no practice with peer exposure (locker rooms, casual skinny dipping), or family exposure (fear of the sex-crime gestapo) is cause for anxiety, I’m guessing. In the long run we might all just accept that there is no such thing as personal privacy and throw our nude pictures online to inoculate ourselves against exposure, but it might be a while before the young come around to Richard Feynman’s insouciance. If you were ever tempted to do a World Naked Bike Ride, this is the time to do it. We need to all challenge the march of conformity culture with its prudery and fear. Let’s get out there and be naked with confidence.
Yes, religious arrogance is certainly a problem. It's part of the "culture wars" that authoritarian politicians are using to take power for the benefit of the billionaire class that funds them. We saw some of that in Wisconsin where there was an attempt to basically outlaw WNBR. The huge income inequality in this country sours people's moods about many things. People are losing hope they can live their lives the way they would like. Cellphone cameras are another important factor, even though the U.S. has so few popular nude beaches the issue is muted. That provides a good argument for naturist clubs and resorts where cell phones and cameras are policed to some extent.
Very well written and thought-out article. In these economic times one other factor is a problem for young people too. That is the cost of going to or becoming a member at nude resorts, they are not free like free nude beaches which the USA has very few of. However, can't blame the resorts for their fees either, they are a business and the cost of business these days is tremendous.
This article is spot on. I have stumbled more so into nudism in my late 50’s now and wish I was open sooner. My initial reluctance was body consciousness more than anything. Most of us may not like our body for whatever reason and showing too much skin does not work. Now, I don’t care. But for my children (all who are adults) this is something that we don’t discuss. My youngest who is 20 and still living with us at freaks out at seeing me nude and though accepts me he would rather that my nudity is hidden. I think that it is not me as so much of his culture of his body not being special to him. Plus what America is facing is that we are being ruled by older people who don’t want change and want to live in the glory years of when nudism was fresh and upcoming. Now it, like so many institutions and government, it is bound by old ways of thinking and old ways of bureaucracy. If we want nudism to grow a reset is needed and now. If not, we will see that our own worse enemy is from within.
Nice article. I see the main issues as sex and sexuality. We are afraid of sexual issues with being nude because our children are being taught about sex at such an early age that we are in fear of them seeing us naked or them being naked around us. We use to have nudist and naturist magazines that showed nudists doing all kinds of things. Now if there is anything online it is just a faceless naked body doing nothing or engaging in sexual activities. Nudists have become afraid to show their faces and activities they are involved in. It is sad that we are afraid to show ourselves even in a perfectly normal legal setting.
I haven't had a child in (elementary) school for over 20 years, so I don't know what kids are taught now about sexuality. It varies from state to state and district to district. Really, parents should accept some responsibility if the schools do a poor job. Naturist parents should explain why nudity is OK at home, but clothes have to be worn in most other places, because non-naturists have unhealthy ideas about human bodies. Children ought to learn that nudity should NOT be a cause for shame, although too many people think it should.
As for online media vs. naturist magazines, we're now in a new regime of strict censorship of nudity in online content, even though naturist nudity was in effect legalized for material distributed through the mail in 1957. Naturist nudity is legal online, although most large social media don't allow content with photographic nudity - even though non-photographic art that's explicit and very realistic is generally allowed. It's crazy. Many naturist clubs and organizations do show uncensored naturist nudity online on websites they control. But most non-naturists don't know about those websites.
It doesn't help that the mass media portrays the naked body as something to be judged as either "attractive" or "unattractive" (e.g. the tv show Naked Attraction), or that it portrays nudity as a discomfort that one must overcome in order to flourish (e.g. Naked and Afraid). I can't think of any tv show or movie that depicts naturism, or the state of being naked, in a positive light, as something healthy and pleasurable.
Long story short: Mass media is CRAP. This is no sudden revelation. 63 years ago Newton Minnow, then the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, didn't mince words, calling U.S. television programming a "vast wasteland". It and other contemporary forms of mass media (including online social media) are mostly just as bad now. Why are all these media able to get away with shoveling crap at the public? Because what else is there? Hardly any other sources exist to offer much of anything better.
Well, besides the mass media, the only other source of information most people have is... other people, who're just as poorly informed. I mean, seriously, how many people are going to the effort of looking for naturist sources like naturist organizations or naturist blogs or newsletters? Would they find naturists among their acquaintances who'd give better information? Of course not, because most naturists are afraid to reveal themselves and explain the facts. Why are they afraid? Because of the crappy information the media keep spewing.
Would public schools or college sociology courses teach anything about naturism? Of course not. Many public schools are being forced to say nothing about topics like LGBTQ people or even the history of racism in the U.S. And college courses don't consider naturism worth mentioning.
It's up to naturists themselves to come out of the closet and explain "naturism, or the state of being naked, in a positive light, as something healthy and pleasurable." - the splendor of nudity. A trickle of books have been written over the years, either by naturists or scholars who'd studied naturism and participated to some extent themselves. But how many "ordinary" people even think to look for such books (in libraries or on Amazon)?
As you know, there is a popular book that does express in a few words the essence of naturism:
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy, you may find in them a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your body and less of your raiment.
- The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran
But I suppose most people who've read it haven't taken those words seriously.
I completely agree: there’s a vicious cycle at work. The media distorts the meaning of nudity, and then people become ashamed of expressing the joy that it brings them, and then that shame gets reinforced by the media, and so on.
I love that you quoted Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet! There’s so much wisdom in that book!
As a millennial couple I will admit I skimmed the article but I was looking for what I have observed. Youth are more liberal these times however very little is mentioned about naturism or nudism.
One of the challenges I encounter when trying to visit some clubs is a prohibitive requirement to take a tour that has to be done on weekdays when someone my age would be working. When we are talking about further destinations because we may want some distance from our friends that becomes a prohibitive task.
We are left to less secure places like the few nudist beaches that may be around to bare it all.
That is how we got introduced. We went to a nudist beach and quickly learned how we felt far more comfortable being nude than not.
We had a negative experience in one of the clubs with someone wearing bondage gear on their genitals by the pool in plain view of children and we stopped going for 6 years. Just now getting back into things but preferring landed clubs with robust checks everyone has to follow, even though those checks are often prohibitive for us attending.
Cost may be somewhat a factor but not entirely, we dispose of income for other types of entertainment that can add up. If the interest can be created then cost is just a factor of recreation and relaxation.
There is a huge concern of harassment and sexual concerns before disrobing for the first time that may be a barrier. But if introduced over social media sources about the benefits of nudism on mental health, personal health and maybe even creating virtual communities to provide a soft introduction non-nude, I feels those could be benefits.
I don’t think AANR is the place to do that, they operate too much in lobbying and the attention on media might affect their lobbying activities. Other national orgs create additional 501c3 versions of themselves intended to be for educational purposes that might not share the same name.
The policies of landed clubs can vary a lot from place to place and from time to time. I've never had to "take a tour" on visiting a new place the first time, but that was some years ago, and things may be different now. Smaller clubs sometimes can't afford enough staff to run tours for every new visitor. The tour's purpose is to acquaint you with the place, but sometimes also to get some idea of what a new visitor is like. That may help assess the visitor's intentions.
If you've ever considered joining a fraternity/sorority in college you get the idea - they want people who're compatible with existing members. The exact same thing happens often with job applicants in a business. People who're otherwise qualified won't be hired if they don't seem to fit in with the company's staff. Still, first impressions may not be enough. I've personally hired people with good qualifications who later proved not to be good choices.
Non-landed clubs often have similar practices, where a prospective member must come to an event with a current member. I'm not saying this is good or bad, but it's just how things are. In the place I visit most often - which is popular and has many visitors - I've never seen something like a person in "bondage gear". If a new person sees something like that, they should ask others around about it. Maybe the place just isn't where they'd want to visit. People new to naturism are pretty nervous the first few times they have to get naked with strangers. I know I was. This happens in many other social situations too, and being adult means learning how to navigate in unfamiliar places sometimes.
Just a few days ago I read an interesting article on the "Man or Bear" issue that many women think about these days. Women who travel alone in unpopulated areas think they'd be more comfortable encountering a bear rather than a man (https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate/) If they do meet a man they don't know, they are very sensitive to assess the person's intentions. Something like that may explain why women are especially uncomfortable about participating in naturism - for similar reasons. Some young men probably have similar feelings.
There's a lesson in this for naturists. For new people to try naturism, one of the most reassuring things they can do is participate with someone they know and trust. That means that as much as possible naturists should not be secretive about being naturists, so they can invite people they know who might be interested to accompany them on a first visit to a naturist place. A person who's curious about naturism can read lots on social media about naturism's benefits, and still be hesitant to try it without someone they know to (metaphorically) hold their hand at first. It's often not enough for a couple to try naturism together. They may still need one or more others they respect to help them get started.
Yes I agree with what you say. I don’t actually disagree with the tours. I think they are a great space for people who have questions and for both learn if it is a good fit. I prefer to go to places that require that as well.
It’s the timing that is unfortunate. Specially in a place that requires a background check to also clear but the tours end at 4 pm on a weekday.
Fantastic article, Charles. It’s clear you’ve done a lot of studying and put many hours of thought into it. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. I’ve been a naturist my whole life. I’m 37 years old. I grew up in a naturist family that followed a lot of the beliefs and practices of the early 20th-century naturists. We don’t see many of these types of naturists at AANR affiliated clubs, and even though I’ve been a member of one on and off again since the age of 18, there isn’t much for me there that interests me. I’ll stay a naturist till the day I die and preach its benefits because I believe it’s one of the best hopes for earth, especially in this era, with the rise of authoritarianism and environmental degradation all around us. But, even I, the truest of believers, admit things do not look good for the life philosophy of naturism.
"We don’t see many of these types of naturists at AANR affiliated clubs, and even though I’ve been a member of one on and off again since the age of 18, there isn’t much for me there that interests me."
I understand completely. But I hope you take steps beyond preaching. As Confucius said, "I do and I understand". So even if a club doesn't fulfill your needs, people who might be interested need to actually visit a club or participate in some other naturist activity, like hiking or camping. If there's a nude beach relatively close, that may be even better. It's much easier for people to take a step like that if they do it with someone they trust. The need to engage in social nudity to understand it is especially important for people your age and younger. The rewards of naturism are comprehensible only by doing. Perhaps some are casually naked at times in their home. That's a good sign, but not really enough. The problem is that too many people are afraid to be naked with others (apart from a very few friends and relatives perhaps).
Also in this Century one has to worry about getting a "Nudie Ticket" Where before it was a simple fine. Now you can be listed as a Sex Offender and loose your job...
What states have laws like that? What are some examples where this has happened? Does this happen to women as well as men? (I wouldn't be surprised with Arkansas and Utah - but others?)
Something poopy out about common nudity among families; as someone who grew up in the '90s early 2000 locker room nudity for public pools and communal showers at summer camp we're still popular. One reason why I believe it disappeared saying what's nudity of in the home between parents and child ( I'm talking about non nudist families), is because many people are who led to the false narrative that children should not be naked with adults as it is a sign of sexual abuse. I don't know how this guy started, because even psychologist who specialise in sexual abuse would say that's not true, in a fact having non-sexual nudity presented early to children is healthy and will help prevent abuse. Like to fear of children playing outside alone until the lights came on, I think this unrealistic fear was how about the dangerous of being naked was made up by morning talk shows and other forms of media.
The "female modesty cult" is Victoria Bateman's term for society's intense pressure on women to be "modest". Look on Amazon for her book "Naked Feminism" that explains it in detail. I'll be writing about it here before long (I hope). Everyone - men as well as women - has their own personal feelings about how they are perceived by others. They vary considerably, and every individual has to decide for themselves. There's no single "right" answer for everyone. But people who value their independence will put less emphasis on what others think of them. From a naturist point of view, society's typical attitudes on this issue are quite wrong.
Hi Charles - great article! Sadly I think you are pointing to a steady and inevitable decline in naturism. You identify the main pressures that affect younger people's participation as being a consequence of a culture that has sexualised nudity to such an extent that young people are afraid of their own bodies as an expression of their individuality. Whereas nudism began as a revolutionary opposition to nineteenth century authoritarianism it seems to me that twenty first century authoritarianism is very adept at suppressing challenges to its mission to deny the right to an individual's autonomy..
Sadly, authoritarianism is growing stronger almost everywhere in the world these days. Women, in particular, are victims. In the U.S. they face losing control of their own bodies. Most people now don't realize that women in the U.S. had no right to vote until 1920 - 144 years after the Declaration of Independence. It's not impossible that women could organize now as resolutely to protect their rights to control their bodies as those who pushed successfully for the right to vote. Women have used nudity in the past to support or oppose other issues. Victoria Bateman, who I mentioned in the article, used her nudity to protest Brexit in the UK less than 10 years ago. People in the UK have discovered how right she was. Check her site: https://www.vnbateman.com/gallery - but note that it's very NSFW.
An article, preferably a book, on best practices to own and operate a nudist venue would be helpful. Such a work would be the beginning of a successful business plan, bringing fantasy one step closer to reality.
Great, if discouraging, piece, Charles. Christian authoritarianism is flexing its muscles these days, and clamping down on the freedoms of alternative lifestyles is part of cementing their control. I believe naturism is the perfect challenge to it; the vulnerability of nude people always strikes fear into the buttoned up crowd, similar to non-violent civil disobedience, and young people seem to be waking up a bit to public protest. I think we’re working against the ever-present awareness of the cellphone camera, which is mentioned by young women forgoing even topless beach-going in Europe. Young women especially understand the perils of social media by the time they reach high school, and public body exposure when they have had no practice with peer exposure (locker rooms, casual skinny dipping), or family exposure (fear of the sex-crime gestapo) is cause for anxiety, I’m guessing. In the long run we might all just accept that there is no such thing as personal privacy and throw our nude pictures online to inoculate ourselves against exposure, but it might be a while before the young come around to Richard Feynman’s insouciance. If you were ever tempted to do a World Naked Bike Ride, this is the time to do it. We need to all challenge the march of conformity culture with its prudery and fear. Let’s get out there and be naked with confidence.
Yes, religious arrogance is certainly a problem. It's part of the "culture wars" that authoritarian politicians are using to take power for the benefit of the billionaire class that funds them. We saw some of that in Wisconsin where there was an attempt to basically outlaw WNBR. The huge income inequality in this country sours people's moods about many things. People are losing hope they can live their lives the way they would like. Cellphone cameras are another important factor, even though the U.S. has so few popular nude beaches the issue is muted. That provides a good argument for naturist clubs and resorts where cell phones and cameras are policed to some extent.
Very well written and thought-out article. In these economic times one other factor is a problem for young people too. That is the cost of going to or becoming a member at nude resorts, they are not free like free nude beaches which the USA has very few of. However, can't blame the resorts for their fees either, they are a business and the cost of business these days is tremendous.
T & K
This article is spot on. I have stumbled more so into nudism in my late 50’s now and wish I was open sooner. My initial reluctance was body consciousness more than anything. Most of us may not like our body for whatever reason and showing too much skin does not work. Now, I don’t care. But for my children (all who are adults) this is something that we don’t discuss. My youngest who is 20 and still living with us at freaks out at seeing me nude and though accepts me he would rather that my nudity is hidden. I think that it is not me as so much of his culture of his body not being special to him. Plus what America is facing is that we are being ruled by older people who don’t want change and want to live in the glory years of when nudism was fresh and upcoming. Now it, like so many institutions and government, it is bound by old ways of thinking and old ways of bureaucracy. If we want nudism to grow a reset is needed and now. If not, we will see that our own worse enemy is from within.
Nice article. I see the main issues as sex and sexuality. We are afraid of sexual issues with being nude because our children are being taught about sex at such an early age that we are in fear of them seeing us naked or them being naked around us. We use to have nudist and naturist magazines that showed nudists doing all kinds of things. Now if there is anything online it is just a faceless naked body doing nothing or engaging in sexual activities. Nudists have become afraid to show their faces and activities they are involved in. It is sad that we are afraid to show ourselves even in a perfectly normal legal setting.
I haven't had a child in (elementary) school for over 20 years, so I don't know what kids are taught now about sexuality. It varies from state to state and district to district. Really, parents should accept some responsibility if the schools do a poor job. Naturist parents should explain why nudity is OK at home, but clothes have to be worn in most other places, because non-naturists have unhealthy ideas about human bodies. Children ought to learn that nudity should NOT be a cause for shame, although too many people think it should.
As for online media vs. naturist magazines, we're now in a new regime of strict censorship of nudity in online content, even though naturist nudity was in effect legalized for material distributed through the mail in 1957. Naturist nudity is legal online, although most large social media don't allow content with photographic nudity - even though non-photographic art that's explicit and very realistic is generally allowed. It's crazy. Many naturist clubs and organizations do show uncensored naturist nudity online on websites they control. But most non-naturists don't know about those websites.
It doesn't help that the mass media portrays the naked body as something to be judged as either "attractive" or "unattractive" (e.g. the tv show Naked Attraction), or that it portrays nudity as a discomfort that one must overcome in order to flourish (e.g. Naked and Afraid). I can't think of any tv show or movie that depicts naturism, or the state of being naked, in a positive light, as something healthy and pleasurable.
Great post! It gave me much to think about.
Long story short: Mass media is CRAP. This is no sudden revelation. 63 years ago Newton Minnow, then the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, didn't mince words, calling U.S. television programming a "vast wasteland". It and other contemporary forms of mass media (including online social media) are mostly just as bad now. Why are all these media able to get away with shoveling crap at the public? Because what else is there? Hardly any other sources exist to offer much of anything better.
Well, besides the mass media, the only other source of information most people have is... other people, who're just as poorly informed. I mean, seriously, how many people are going to the effort of looking for naturist sources like naturist organizations or naturist blogs or newsletters? Would they find naturists among their acquaintances who'd give better information? Of course not, because most naturists are afraid to reveal themselves and explain the facts. Why are they afraid? Because of the crappy information the media keep spewing.
Would public schools or college sociology courses teach anything about naturism? Of course not. Many public schools are being forced to say nothing about topics like LGBTQ people or even the history of racism in the U.S. And college courses don't consider naturism worth mentioning.
It's up to naturists themselves to come out of the closet and explain "naturism, or the state of being naked, in a positive light, as something healthy and pleasurable." - the splendor of nudity. A trickle of books have been written over the years, either by naturists or scholars who'd studied naturism and participated to some extent themselves. But how many "ordinary" people even think to look for such books (in libraries or on Amazon)?
As you know, there is a popular book that does express in a few words the essence of naturism:
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy, you may find in them a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your body and less of your raiment.
- The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran
But I suppose most people who've read it haven't taken those words seriously.
I completely agree: there’s a vicious cycle at work. The media distorts the meaning of nudity, and then people become ashamed of expressing the joy that it brings them, and then that shame gets reinforced by the media, and so on.
I love that you quoted Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet! There’s so much wisdom in that book!
As a millennial couple I will admit I skimmed the article but I was looking for what I have observed. Youth are more liberal these times however very little is mentioned about naturism or nudism.
One of the challenges I encounter when trying to visit some clubs is a prohibitive requirement to take a tour that has to be done on weekdays when someone my age would be working. When we are talking about further destinations because we may want some distance from our friends that becomes a prohibitive task.
We are left to less secure places like the few nudist beaches that may be around to bare it all.
That is how we got introduced. We went to a nudist beach and quickly learned how we felt far more comfortable being nude than not.
We had a negative experience in one of the clubs with someone wearing bondage gear on their genitals by the pool in plain view of children and we stopped going for 6 years. Just now getting back into things but preferring landed clubs with robust checks everyone has to follow, even though those checks are often prohibitive for us attending.
Cost may be somewhat a factor but not entirely, we dispose of income for other types of entertainment that can add up. If the interest can be created then cost is just a factor of recreation and relaxation.
There is a huge concern of harassment and sexual concerns before disrobing for the first time that may be a barrier. But if introduced over social media sources about the benefits of nudism on mental health, personal health and maybe even creating virtual communities to provide a soft introduction non-nude, I feels those could be benefits.
I don’t think AANR is the place to do that, they operate too much in lobbying and the attention on media might affect their lobbying activities. Other national orgs create additional 501c3 versions of themselves intended to be for educational purposes that might not share the same name.
You make many good points.
The policies of landed clubs can vary a lot from place to place and from time to time. I've never had to "take a tour" on visiting a new place the first time, but that was some years ago, and things may be different now. Smaller clubs sometimes can't afford enough staff to run tours for every new visitor. The tour's purpose is to acquaint you with the place, but sometimes also to get some idea of what a new visitor is like. That may help assess the visitor's intentions.
If you've ever considered joining a fraternity/sorority in college you get the idea - they want people who're compatible with existing members. The exact same thing happens often with job applicants in a business. People who're otherwise qualified won't be hired if they don't seem to fit in with the company's staff. Still, first impressions may not be enough. I've personally hired people with good qualifications who later proved not to be good choices.
Non-landed clubs often have similar practices, where a prospective member must come to an event with a current member. I'm not saying this is good or bad, but it's just how things are. In the place I visit most often - which is popular and has many visitors - I've never seen something like a person in "bondage gear". If a new person sees something like that, they should ask others around about it. Maybe the place just isn't where they'd want to visit. People new to naturism are pretty nervous the first few times they have to get naked with strangers. I know I was. This happens in many other social situations too, and being adult means learning how to navigate in unfamiliar places sometimes.
Just a few days ago I read an interesting article on the "Man or Bear" issue that many women think about these days. Women who travel alone in unpopulated areas think they'd be more comfortable encountering a bear rather than a man (https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate/) If they do meet a man they don't know, they are very sensitive to assess the person's intentions. Something like that may explain why women are especially uncomfortable about participating in naturism - for similar reasons. Some young men probably have similar feelings.
There's a lesson in this for naturists. For new people to try naturism, one of the most reassuring things they can do is participate with someone they know and trust. That means that as much as possible naturists should not be secretive about being naturists, so they can invite people they know who might be interested to accompany them on a first visit to a naturist place. A person who's curious about naturism can read lots on social media about naturism's benefits, and still be hesitant to try it without someone they know to (metaphorically) hold their hand at first. It's often not enough for a couple to try naturism together. They may still need one or more others they respect to help them get started.
Yes I agree with what you say. I don’t actually disagree with the tours. I think they are a great space for people who have questions and for both learn if it is a good fit. I prefer to go to places that require that as well.
It’s the timing that is unfortunate. Specially in a place that requires a background check to also clear but the tours end at 4 pm on a weekday.
Fantastic article, Charles. It’s clear you’ve done a lot of studying and put many hours of thought into it. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. I’ve been a naturist my whole life. I’m 37 years old. I grew up in a naturist family that followed a lot of the beliefs and practices of the early 20th-century naturists. We don’t see many of these types of naturists at AANR affiliated clubs, and even though I’ve been a member of one on and off again since the age of 18, there isn’t much for me there that interests me. I’ll stay a naturist till the day I die and preach its benefits because I believe it’s one of the best hopes for earth, especially in this era, with the rise of authoritarianism and environmental degradation all around us. But, even I, the truest of believers, admit things do not look good for the life philosophy of naturism.
"We don’t see many of these types of naturists at AANR affiliated clubs, and even though I’ve been a member of one on and off again since the age of 18, there isn’t much for me there that interests me."
I understand completely. But I hope you take steps beyond preaching. As Confucius said, "I do and I understand". So even if a club doesn't fulfill your needs, people who might be interested need to actually visit a club or participate in some other naturist activity, like hiking or camping. If there's a nude beach relatively close, that may be even better. It's much easier for people to take a step like that if they do it with someone they trust. The need to engage in social nudity to understand it is especially important for people your age and younger. The rewards of naturism are comprehensible only by doing. Perhaps some are casually naked at times in their home. That's a good sign, but not really enough. The problem is that too many people are afraid to be naked with others (apart from a very few friends and relatives perhaps).
Also in this Century one has to worry about getting a "Nudie Ticket" Where before it was a simple fine. Now you can be listed as a Sex Offender and loose your job...
What states have laws like that? What are some examples where this has happened? Does this happen to women as well as men? (I wouldn't be surprised with Arkansas and Utah - but others?)
Something poopy out about common nudity among families; as someone who grew up in the '90s early 2000 locker room nudity for public pools and communal showers at summer camp we're still popular. One reason why I believe it disappeared saying what's nudity of in the home between parents and child ( I'm talking about non nudist families), is because many people are who led to the false narrative that children should not be naked with adults as it is a sign of sexual abuse. I don't know how this guy started, because even psychologist who specialise in sexual abuse would say that's not true, in a fact having non-sexual nudity presented early to children is healthy and will help prevent abuse. Like to fear of children playing outside alone until the lights came on, I think this unrealistic fear was how about the dangerous of being naked was made up by morning talk shows and other forms of media.