How to help people understand naturism and social nudity

Obviously, most people misunderstand naturism. It's up to naturists themselves to clear up the misunderstandings.

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably a naturist already. (You may prefer the term “nudist”, but for simplicity let’s stick with “naturist”, and “naturism” instead of “nudism”. The distinction, if any, isn’t very relevant here.)

You probably discuss naturism or being a naturist with only a few non-naturists - if any at all. Hopefully, you’ll discuss it with members of your immediate family, and possibly with a few trusted friends or members of your extended family. If so, you’ll hope that such people won’t think badly of you for your interest and participation in naturism, even if (as is likely) such people can’t imagine participating in it themselves.

The fact that there are serious misconceptions about what’s involved in naturism is mainly why having such conversations is difficult. The automatic assumption that naturism and social nudity are inherently sexual is the most obvious problem. Naturists enjoy their sexuality as much as other people and have similarly satisfying sex lives. But they’re adamant that open sexuality should be separate from naturist places and activities. Some naturists have a more colorful sex life than is typical. However, they’re careful not to mix that with their naturist activities, simply because they know it’s essential for naturism to belie the prevalent but incorrect assumption that sexual activity is inherent in naturism.

There’s a related issue about the attractiveness or sexual appeal of naked bodies. Movie stars, professional models, and avid bodybuilders may take pride in their appearance when naked. But most non-naturists tend to worry about how they look with nothing on. That worry may either grow or else diminish as of little importance. However, naturists consider nudity to be natural, innocent, and enjoyable, so concerns about the appearance of their naked bodies are soon forgotten. When a naturist family visits a nude beach, naturist resort, or naturist house party, they may challenge each other to get all their clothes off the fastest.

A third factor that deters people from participation in naturism is religions or social traditions that dictate rules - ranging from lenient to very strict - about how much of a person’s body or specific parts of it must be covered in public, or even in private. This is generally related either to strictures concerning sexuality or simply a matter of nudity taboos extending back many centuries.

Rather than addressing these issues directly, examining some philosophical and psychological factors that underlie problems people have with nudity is more illuminating.

On the philosophical side, contemporary naturism seems to lack a strong base. This contrasts with earlier incarnations of naturism from the start of the 20th century into the 1930s. Richard Ungewitter, a German, self-published in 1905 a short treatise, Die Nacktheit, which is generally regarded as the first exposition of “modern” naturism. It was preceded by an even earlier German mid-19th-century health movement known as Lebensreform that advocated addressing the ills of modern society by living more “naturally”. This philosophy included vegetarianism; exposure to fresh air, water, and sunlight; abstaining from tobacco and alcohol; and outdoor activities like gardening, hiking, and camping.

Ungewitter’s contribution was to take this further by embracing and celebrating full nakedness, dispensing with clothes, and enjoying one’s life wearing nothing whenever possible and agreeable. Humans are the only species to make and wear clothes. This does enable people to live in relative comfort even in inhospitable climates. However, over several millennia, wearing clothing of some sort gradually became regarded as necessary in a “civilized” society. Ungewitter dared to challenge the necessity of clothes when they hampered the healthy enjoyment of life itself.

Since Ungewitter’s ideas, of course, were anathema to most people in “modern” societies, individuals and families that embraced his ideas almost always had to practice a clothesfree, nonsexual lifestyle and enjoy their nudity with others apart from the rest of society - either in their own homes, or in private locations with other celebrants of living and socializing naked. So, naturist campgrounds, parks, and a few isolated “nude” beaches gradually appeared - first in Germany, and subsequently in England, France, other Western European countries, and eventually in the U.S. (around 1930).

However, as increasingly more people began to enjoy private or social nudity for its own sake, the philosophical principles that justified dispensing with clothes receded into the background. Nonsexual nudity could be enjoyed simply because it felt really good. That’s not inherently a “bad” thing (despite what most people seem to think). Pleasure is a legitimate end in itself as long as it doesn’t supersede other positive values. Unfortunately, persuading most people of the value of naturist nudity is more difficult if the values championed by lebensraum and Ungewitter’s later celebration of nudity are neglected. Without the philosophical foundations, naturism and a naked lifestyle seem to be merely hedonism to most people.

A generally positive outside observer of naturism observed that:

[T]he new nudism, apart from its obvious demographic differences, diverges from that of decades past in that it’s not nearly as philosophically or politically motivated. Yes, mass naked parties and gatherings constitute a basic rebellion against societal norms, but so far, it’s a rebellion without a unified ideologic cause or M.O. … If the new nudism is oriented around event planning rather than intellectual conversations, the discussion and debate required to change the very entrenched—and outdated—elements of the culture may not be taking place.

Naturists who aim to persuade others of the value of nonsexual nudity or a deliberate clothesfree lifestyle are at a disadvantage if they don’t emphasize the basic principles enunciated by Ungewitter and others who followed him. Unfortunately, even sound philosophical arguments often don’t suffice to change the minds of many people. It’s necessary to augment the philosophy of naturism with more concrete analogies and conceptual frameworks, such as “metaphors”.

A metaphor is simply an analogy that replaces an unfamiliar idea or concept with one that will likely be more familiar. For example, think of a place in which a person lives - a private home or an apartment. Another example is a fence around any sort of private property. In these cases there is an “inside” and an “outside” - and there is a barrier of some sort that is between the inside and the outside.

For naturism, clothing is the barrier between what’s inside (a person’s naked body) and the outside (everything else). Such barriers often exist for good reasons - they “protect” what is inside from what is outside. However, one way of thinking about naturism - or explaining it to others - is that this barrier does not always need to exist. Naturists believe that there are legitimate and reasonable times and places when a person can better enjoy life by going naked, without the barrier of clothes.

Often there are good reasons for the barrier of clothing, so few if any naturists insist that the barrier shouldn’t exist. Naturists simply believe that, in the right circumstances, eliminating the barriers of clothing has real, legitimate benefits. Wearing nothing together with others demonstrates confidence that nudity is safe and healthy, that people’s naked bodies should be accepted without negative judgment, and that personal bonds can be stronger when the barrier of clothing is absent.

What are the “right” circumstances for people to be together without any clothes, besides naturist parks and resorts? Naturist clubs without their own land may have gatherings in private homes or elsewhere that property owners allow. Many other possibilities exist for people to get together where clothes are unnecessary and unwanted. In private homes and possibly in the surrounding property. In naked yoga classes and musical and theatrical performances, where audience nudity is encouraged. On designated nude beaches. Often in secluded places outdoors for camping, hiking, swimming, etc. In some countries, nudity is normal in saunas and spas. Although clothes are almost always required in public spaces, there are exceptions, such as some public parks in a few cities, World Naked Bike Rides, and various other occasions.

The truth is that people use clothing unnecessarily to present an artificial image of themselves when they feel their naked bodies aren’t “good enough”. So the objective is helping people understand that naturism and nonsexual nakedness with others - as in the preceding examples - can enrich their lives by eliminating the unnecessary barriers created by clothes.

For socializing naked to be enjoyed, as naturists usually prefer, it’s necessary to unlearn the idea that clothes are usually necessary - instead of little besides protection from uncomfortable cold, sunburn, biting insects, etc. Except for such sensible purposes, naturists believe clothing is far less necessary than usually assumed. Naturists probably will never persuade most people to socialize without their beloved clothes. But growing the number of those who will is worth the effort.

So let’s turn to the main issue: changing minds that are changeable about the value of social nudity and not wearing clothes in suitable circumstances. In other words, celebrating the values of nudity. That was Richard Ungewitter’s objective 100 years ago - and for the rest of his life. Stated differently, naturists should help others understand that less is more as far as clothes are concerned, that wearing clothes is less important than generally supposed, and that social nudity can enrich their lives. Yes, that’s a very idealistic goal - but not an unreasonable one.

Most people (English-speakers, at least) have encountered poet Robert Frost’s poem that begins “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. He’s referring to physical walls made of stone or bricks, such as walls of a house or fences between private properties, that form a barrier between inside and outside. Such walls are a metaphor for clothes - which are a different type of wall between people. Some have a useful purpose - but sometimes they just get in the way.

The speaker in Frost’s poem questions the need for certain walls, chides his neighbor for insisting that a wall is necessary. Like Frost, naturists question the need for the metaphorical walls that clothes represent. The poem’s narrator says walls can be “just another kind of outdoor game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall.” The narrator wants to know why walls make good neighbors. And he says, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense.”

In naturist terms, exactly why do so many people insist on having a wall of clothing between themselves and others? Sure, that makes sense if one knows nothing about who is on the other side. But that concern (usually) doesn’t apply to family, relatives, or friends. And in a naturist setting, at least ideally, it shouldn’t apply to “friends” who just haven’t yet met each other.

We’re now ready to help people understand naturism and social nudity. They’re difficult to understand because most people don’t have, from personal experience, an accurate way to comprehend them. Why, indeed, should a person be fully naked with others who are equally naked? Instead, most people can understand nudity in general, or social nudity in particular, with the only concept they have related to nudity being that of sexual activities. That’s, of course, not appropriate for naturist social nudity.

Since most people have no personal experience with naturist social nudity, the misunderstandings are easily explained. So, ideally, in order to help people comprehend social nudity properly, the best way would be for them to experience it under the guidance of individuals who do have some personal experience. Sadly, the misunderstandings of social nudity that most people have usually prevent them from gaining a better understanding, either on their own or with the guidance of experienced naturists.

A family would be an ideal place for children and young people to acquire experience with social nudity. Unfortunately, even that may be insufficient, as children raised in families where casual nudity is common or even normal often lose interest due to social pressures from people who misunderstand nonsexual nudity.

Unfortunately, casual nudity in many families isn’t common or even tolerated, because nonsexual nudity is so poorly understood in society. Since experiencing nudity at home isn’t the norm, an alternative for learning about naturist nudity would be for individual naturists and their organizations to educate people about social nudity using means such as stories, pictures, books, online videos, narrative descriptions, etc.

However, there are few such efforts, and attempted efforts usually fail since people lack direct experiences in their own bodies of what being non-sexually naked with others and naturist social nudity is actually like. Up until a few decades ago, simple nudity was more frequent in YMCAs, communal showers in schools, skinny-dipping in secluded ponds and streams, etc. Consequently, the concept of people casually experiencing some sort of informal social nudity is increasingly uncommon.

This discussion can be rephrased in the language of metaphors and analogies. Recall that a metaphor is a way of conceiving or understanding some concept by analogy to a similar or more familiar concept. So clothing can be understood as a sort of wall or barrier, whose purpose is generally to conceal or protect something - in this case, one’s naked body.

Clothes are the normal way of protecting parts of a person’s body, primarily bare skin and certain body parts. Appropriate clothing can protect against either excessive heat or cold. It also protects against excessive exposure to sunlight, which causes sunburn and skin cancer. Proper clothing can protect skin from damage caused by contact with rough surfaces. And then there are the protections against biting insects and poisonous plants. These are all examples of harm protection from different physical sources. They all illustrate the value of clothes as a useful - and often necessary - type of barrier from potentially harmful physical sources.

However, most people also desire protection from non-physical sources - especially the gaze of other people nearby or the “eyes” of cameras. This is a nearly ubiquitous concern of most people, and often for good reason. Especially for women, but often for men too, there’s an understandable concern that exposing “too much” of one’s skin to the eyes of either other people or cameras. Why? Because of the potential danger of sexual harassment or physical attack.

A related concern is that exposing more than limited parts of one’s body can lead to unfavorable opinions of others regarding the appearance of some or many body parts. Are some too large or too small? Are some disfigured or discolored? Are some deemed unattractive by society’s prevalent standards of “beauty”? These may well be the main concerns of people who can’t imagine socializing partly or fully naked with others. So, naturally, they’ll want to protect themselves by insisting on wearing some or a lot of clothing as a defense.

For many people, clothing is more than a modest barrier or wall. It’s more like a fortified wall or a suit of armor. Anything less than tough armor may be deemed insufficient protection against nonphysical dangers.

The upshot is that for most people, wearing clothes provides a physical barrier - a literal wall - that protects them not only from physical risks, but also from the opinions or overt actions of others related to their bodies. To most people, this barrier is quite real and necessary, not merely metaphorical.

Practicing naturism can do little about physical harm possible when naked. However, what most people don’t understand is that the principles of genuine naturism (as opposed to some practices that claim to be naturist but aren’t) oppose both any type of sexual harassment and holding negative attitudes toward the appearance of one’s own or others’ naked bodies.

Naturism can be enjoyed in a variety of ways - full nudity at home or in nature, use of clothing-optional beaches, participation in naturist club activities, visits to naturist clubs and resorts - a whole spectrum. Naturist places like clubs and resorts, as well as informal events arranged by individual naturists, do not tolerate improper behavior, so they’re very safe places to enjoy nudity with others. At some clothing-optional beaches, voyeurs and others who disrespect naturist principles can be present, but naturists there generally make an effort to thwart bad behavior.

So let’s address what’s promised in the title of this post: How can you help people understand naturism and social nudity?

Basically, unlike most people, naturists consider clothes to be unnecessary or undesirable in many circumstances, not only with a romantic partner. Instead, naturists believe nonsexual nudity can be greatly enjoyed in many ways that don’t need to be concealed from family, friends, neighbors, and other people who might be just casual acquaintances - but only if such people are open-minded enough to respect the sort of nudity naturists enjoy - even they don’t share naturists’ pleasure in being naked. Naturists, of course, will respect the feelings of others who just don’t want to see nudity.

Naturists should explain that they feel no need to wear clothes as a barrier or wall between themselves and other naturists. The wall simply doesn’t - and shouldn’t - exist. Indeed, the barrier of clothing should also be unnecessary with family, friends, neighbors, and others, provided they respect a naturist’s preference for nudity - even if the others don’t share or understand the preference. Of course, that’s a big ask from most other people. And that’s why naturists try to respect the feelings of others who consider clothes a necessary barrier.

Naturists understand that their lifestyle is both pleasurable and a significant part of their sense of well-being. They should emphasize that to others who are willing to respect naturists’ preferences.

Of course, this preference is difficult for most people to understand. So what can naturists do to improve that understanding? Obviously, they first have to reveal it to others. For others who at least accept that it’s acceptable for naturists to enjoy nonsexual nudity, the next step is to help them understand why naturists enjoy freedom from clothing.

There are many people who simply, for whatever reason, cannot imagine the enjoyment of naturist nudity. Naturists should use good judgment, respect the opinions of those people, and turn to others who might see some value in naturism.

Roughly speaking, the people who might see the value are of two sorts. The first sort is people who understand a naturist’s preferences and even, to some extent, can sympathize with them - yet cannot imagine adopting the preference themselves, for various reasons. I’ve listed some such reasons for this at the beginning of this article: Naturism needs YOU to fight groundless nudity taboos.

For people of this sort, probably the best you can do is thank them for considering your thoughts about naturism, but respect their feelings and be content if they sympathize with your preferences to some extent.

However, there’s much more you can do with people of the second sort - anyone who not only accepts your enjoyment of naturism - and is open to learning more about it in some way or other. The old truism that “seeing is believing” applies. In the second half of the article referenced two paragraphs back, there’s an extensive list of ways to invite someone to witness naturism in action - even if they keep some of their clothes on, but even better if they’re willing to get naked too, at least once, if not more.

The basic principle is: “Try it, you’ll like it!”

Here are some ideas to try on your own to entice people you know to experience being naked with others in safe and sensible ways.

• Invite people to small gatherings in your home to get clothesfree and enjoy a meal, watching movies, playing board games, telling stories about previous naked experiences, and using a spa or swimming pool (if available).

• Invite people to visit places with you where nonsexual nudity is practiced, such as naturist clubs and resorts, clothing-optional beaches, hot springs, and other skinny-dipping places.

• Plan a weekend (or longer) trip for naked outdoor hiking or camping in places such as state or national forest areas where nudity is legal.

• Have body-painting parties in your backyard or garage.

There’s a saying generally attributed to Confucius, although scholars have attributed it to a lesser-known philosopher, Xunzi.

I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.