"Some day adult people will grow up and realize that the only thing vile
about adult human bodies is the small minds some people have developed
within them."- Dick Hein
In the Long
View
For generations we have been seeking
to cover up the so- called primitive peoples of the nude adult world with our
Western styles of clothing, whether they were appropriate to the
climate and conditions of those peoples or not. Today, we have this
change in thinking on the part of some of us that perhaps those
"primitive peoples" were wiser than we.
Let's be honest. The "movement" of
nudism/Naturism involves a truly minuscule number of adult people in our
society (albeit a growing number, across virtually all segments of the
population). Worse, we are considered by some to be some sort of
"cult." But in this regard it is highly revealing in many meaning of
the term that whereas less than 30 years ago there were officially
25,000 nudists in the United States and 50,000 in Germany, the number
of the officially and unofficially involved today, if we include the
occasional skinny-dippers, runs well into the millions.
Mere adult nudity begins to cease to be
either a matter of exaggerated concern or abnormal interest to the
majority of the adult public. And while the number of "official" members of
organized nudism remains small, the effect has been like the leaven in
the loaf; for the workings are far greater and vastly more extensive
than the small numbers would warrant.
Small as our numbers may be in
relation to the entire nude adult population, each one of us has to reflect and
develop some clear ideas about what nudism and Naturism means in our
individual live and in our relationship with others. What are the
values available to me from being nude, naked, bare of all clothing in
the company of others of all ages and both sexes -- and what benefit
might derive from these practices? Are there negative aspects, too?
I read with interest the various
proposals for changing the name of the American Sunbathing Association
--doing away with "sunbathing" and stating the Nude purpose
directly. Sunbathing seems to me, as it clearly did to others, a bit
of a misnomer; yes, we enjoy the sun on our total bodies, we enjoy the
fluidity and motion of the human body in the light of the sun; yet we
know nudism and Naturism are more than that.
Let's look for a moment at
terminology. Naked, nude, nudism and Naturism. According to my
dictionary, naked and nude are largely interchangeable. On the other
hand, I believe a distinction can be made between the Nude -- one
who joins with others on occasion in mixed company in a state of
nakedness -- and the Naturist, who is seeking to live in a state of
nudity at all appropriate times and as much as possible in a close
relationship with the natural surroundings, alone or with others of
all ages and both sexes. These descriptions are certainly subject to
correction and revision.
It is Naturism that I seek to
practice in my own adult life. In neither description have I said anything
about "values", but I like to think that the Naturist is more
positive-value oriented, whereas among nudists there is considerably
greater latitude in the values tolerated. I shall use these terms
interchangeably, though with the above definitions understood.
In virtually all the literature, in
many of the letters one reads from new "converts" to nudism or from
those who have been active in the lifestyle for a long time, one often
finds the comment that practitioners enjoy being nude "because it
feels good." Quite aside from all the other physical and psychological
reactions, I suppose that this feeling of freedom from the confinement
of restrictive clothing is one of the first things many of us
experience.
At the same time, however, among the
beneficial and enjoyable effects or feeling of freedom is the ability
of our bodies to function as intended: These bodies can breathe,
adjust to variations in temperature, cleanse themselves through the
pores, lungs and the whole circulatory system.
One very negative commentator writes:
"The alleged improvement in health, physical or mental, is founded on
no evident fact but is simply a gratuitous supposition, or at most is
based on far fetched analogies with life among certain primitive
people." Fortunately there is ample evidence based not on suppositions
but on valid empirical studies confirming that under proper conditions
nudity is a desirable aid to good mental and physical health. In
contrast, here in the U.S., body image confusion, sexual
overstimulation and commercialization of nudity has reached an
absolute height.
For years, the adult health insurance
organization of Sweden has sent patients to Dalmatia, prescribing nude
sunbathing and relaxation in the mild waters of the Adriatic for skin
and other illnesses. We are often aware of the effort of practicing
adult nudists to care for their bodily health. We know that we find every
possible body type and form and we are no longer under the dangerous
illusion that everyone can conform to the nude examples of 'Playboy'
and 'Playgirl'. Seeing the great variety of adult bodily characteristics, we
no longer worry so much about "positive" or "negative" attributes of
our bodies, and we learn to accept both our own image and the images
others present. We see those with scars of injuries and surgeries and
other disabilities and "imperfections" who participate in Nude
activities without any self-consciousness.
I might also add here what I
profoundly believe to be one of the greatest benefits of Naturism: The
positive effect it has on the mental and physical health of our
children. For almost 20 years I took groups of adult children to a beautiful
Nude center in Istria, Croatia, on the Adriatic. These children,
even the so- called "difficult" ones, were a joy to be with. Despite
an occasional sunburn, the general health of these children and,
especially, their later attitudes toward the adult bodies of both men and
women were markedly improved. Today many go to the adult nudist camp with their own
children.
Short Reading About Nude Culture
Being a Christian, I naturally had been taught the body shame and disgrace of being nude, especially in front of others. But for some reason, while I was about 12-13 years old, I was on a farm and found out that running in the pastures and woods was fun naked. Over the years, I would find places alone to be nude. But something was just not right. First, I was alone in my feelings and couldn't talk to anyone about it, and two, my religious teachings still gave me a guilty feeling.
When my wife and I were in our 4th-5th (in my late 30's) year of marriage, I started to look into naturism a lot more seriously, but my wife was against the idea. Not that she was against being nude with each other since we did that a lot around the house anyway, but was afraid of the social idea. She thought I was going to some sex crazed wierdo bunch. And of course she doubted that there were any more than a couple of real nudists in the whole state anyway. So that would make me stand out even more.
I found a magazine called Nude and Natural Issue 16.1 I believe. It was the issue that published the "205 Arguments and Observations of Naturism". I took that home and read it through. Then a few days later I showed it to my wife. We discussed it, prayed about it, studied it and decided to give it a try. She wanted to talk to our pastor about it at first, but I told her that we can't always depend on what they say on this. I already know what they will say, "No". So our beliefs are in vain. Either it is between us and God or it's not. So we decided to keep it between us two and we've been at it now for about four years. Keep in mind, we are not just sneaking around our church to do something "sneaky and underhanded", but doing this on our own because of our beliefs. Later we hope to tell our pastor and church. There is a couple we may tell fairly soon.
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