I’ve been a member for a while but have not contributed until today. I prefer to listen and learn about the community before jumping in. This community does seem to be rallying around the same themes that I feel are important: our society and media have trained us to associate nudity with sex and violence. It is small wonder that people claim to be offended by nudity. The trick is how to desensitize people who have been so molded. Part of the solution has to be exposing people to more nudity in unthreatening situations. Our local Seattle Summer Solstice Parade that has decades of tradition of naked painted bicycle riders is part of the solution – as well as the WNBR events here and elsewhere. My wife and I have not marched or ridden naked down the streets but we have shed our clothes at beaches and elsewhere even with non-nudists around. Although my wife is concerned about offending people, I am of the mind that we need to be bold and to be visible.
A comment to this community, I would like to see more stories being told of what people are doing. I’ve uploaded several albums of photos today to make the point. The photos in each album have a flow and a narrative. I know that a few people are doing this but too many pictures here lack descriptions that provide even the barest context. Can I encourage others to make an effort to tell a story with pictures and a short narrative? This would be more interesting than random photos of people starring at the camera while nude.
I totally agree with your sentiment. Here in the UK we have a terrible schoolboy attitude to nudity.
Nudity seems to be equated with naughtiness including sex and titillation. Years of saucy seaside postcards and carry on films have only added to the issue.
So unfortunately I keep my love of being nude to myself and only share it with people I know are like minded.
I have broached the subject with my partner and friends and they all react in a similar way, embarrassed and assuming that it is sexual.
My partner is tolerant of me being naked from time to time (holidays and when the house is empty) but she will never go nude.
Nicely expressed Mike. I made a similar appeal to the general audience in writing today. I mean, "in writing" as "about writing" because I believe people do have the ability to write about this 'thing' that we love, and one day none of us that are here now will be present to see what responses our pictures and written experiences will encourage. We can imagine an idealized world in our minds, but doing things to make our imaginations into reality IS the next step!
Oh, and on photographs I can recommend using Paint or PhotoScape to "tag" or caption their photographs before uploading them. This gives context to the image and sort of prevents it from being used for other purposes later. Simply adding a caption like, "My nudist life – 2014" can COMPLETELY change the meaning of a simple nude photo.
Valid point, Mike. I think you'll find Melvin's photo-stories quite interesting, with his deer-hides and gardening. Also Pascal's and Stuart's mountain hiking photos are interesting too. We do have some marvelous contributors here. There is always room for more textual description and/or blogs.
I agree with your last sentences.