Why naturists are naturists? Because they feel good naked. However, it’s always difficult to explain this wonderful feeling and lifestyle with words and ideas. The best way to understand what naturism is is to go a naturist resort/beach and strip naked. Generally, very quickly you feel good if not great and wonder how you could have lived with clothes all those years.
The title of this post comes from an article written by a non nudist (archive version found here). I generally love those article because they are the best to promote what naturism is about to the public. This one goes a little bit deeper than usual post because it’s written by a young woman doing here senior thesis on nudism as a culture. She has chosen to spend two weeks on a naturist resort and interview naturists, “who came to share the joys of being naked”, to better understand naturism. She shares her observations in a candid and objective way I think (although, yes, if you read comments to the post, she sometimes offer her observation in a way that could be misinterpreted, but hey, everybody is free to have an opinion, IMHO). So before you go a jump reading Sara’s post, what are the 6 things she learned?
- Clothes are important. They show to the world what we want it to see and the way we judge people unconsciously. Once you are naked, socioeconomic, career and education differences vanish. Naked, you cannot “judge” people by their clothes. Simple and powerful!
- No one cares what you look like. Just the better feeling you can have when you step in a clothing optional area. I love this sentence: “Clothes really did start to feel like a costume I was putting on to present myself to the outside world.” And I would add that if anybody care about what you look like, they will not show or tell, because this is how thing goes in a naturist environment. For the first timers, the realization comes pretty quickly and never ever disappears.
- Bodies are bodies. And they are just that, but society wants us to believe differently. Love this quote: “It is the importance we place on our bodies, and the meaning we attach to them that does more harm than good.” All is said. For generations, people have sexualized our bodies. Once you consider private parts as “normal” parts, bodies become what they are just: bodies.
- An ode to pubic hair. I believe in freedom of choice. Shave, wax, trim or do nothing. The choice is yours and should not be dictated by fashion magazine. Like jewelery, do what makes you feel good.
- The big Five-Oh. Because of gained confidence, age does not seem something horrible that you should fear. To the opposite! In a naturist environment you will find older and younger people chatting together, playing together, having a drink together in a total mutual understanding. Respect and confidence play a big role in our happiness!
- We do not need to fear each other. This is probably the most important part of the article when it comes to looking at society and comparing it to a naturist environment. Particularly because the author of the post is a young woman used to threats and violence that women are exposed to. But in the 2 weeks she spent naked on the nudist farm she never felt threatened, while from a non naturist standpoint, a naked woman can be seen as a focal point. But no, not in a naturist environment. And I leave you with this quote: “What these two weeks on the farm taught me was that violence, especially sexual violence, has absolutely nothing to do with the victim.”
All in all, a wonderful article, describing simple and powerful ideas about the joy of naturism.