I am happily and unapologetically not a nudist. I've never in my life considered myself a nudist, and though I have tried at times to comprehend and understand the nudist mentality, I simply can't. As such I'm not one of those "like-minded" people.
The truth of the matter is I simply can't accept that there is anything shameful about nakedness or even sex for that matter. To me they are enjoyable, healthy wholesome activities. I have always been bemused that humans, who are after all, merely highly evolved apes, have acquired such a confused disdain for something that is so natural and normal. If I had to sum up my thoughts about attitudes towards both these items, I'd have to say that most humans suffer from a kind of mental illness that prevents them from appreciating what these things actually are. Enjoyable.
I've always been a bit distressed by people's obsession with nakedness, and sex for that matter. The need to view it, display it, and their inclination to pine for it. This to me has always been a symptom of the illness I mentioned. Inherent body shame is of course another notable symptom.
The reason for writing about any of this at all, relates to the fact I've been curing myself of this illness for the last four years. It's been an interesting journey. The most recent aspect of it, is having somewhat cured myself, it's now been possible to cure my wife of this illness. Something I never thought possible given the degree to which she had the illness.
If I had to pinpoint one symptom above all else, it would be mental attitude. As soon as you idolise sex or nudity, you immediately have a problem. Idolising either causes you to abhor something, or consider it sacred. Sex and nudity are neither of those things. No other animal on the planet idolises these things other than humans. Look at the messed up values we've acquired because of it. Women dressed head to toe with every part of their bodies covered because they are deemed sexual objects. At the opposite extreme, men paying women to strip naked. Advertisers exploiting people's unhealthy obsession with body image, nakedness and sex to sell all manner of things.
When it's necessary to say "non-sexual nudity" that underpins the extent to which this illness prevails. To the same extent I can't buy into personal body shame, neither can I buy into the asexuality that many in the nudist movement strive to promote. Are naked bodies sexual? Not in and of themselves. Is it possible for a naked body to be sexually arousing and aroused? Yes, of course. This is perfectly natural and normal!
The saddest aspect of all this, is the fact we all pass this sickness onto our children as it was inherited by us from the majority of our parents, culture and society. I don't know how long this illness will prevail. One thing is for certain, it's future generations that have the cure. A generation that see themselves for what they are. Healthy wholesome human beings who have no shame of themselves or others. Nor shame of what they are capable of feeling and enjoying.
To those who have a spouse that is reluctant to participate or understand, I would say if you're able to cure yourself of your own mental illness; and can acquire the skill of open communication, then you have a chance.
Don't say to others you're a nudist. Tell them you're a human 🙂
Haha, "humans, who are after all, merely highly evolved apes," Are you so sure about that? If highly evolved means living lives of fear and shame, destroying the very environment we depend on for survival. I'd say we are highly confused apes.
You're not so very wrong BN. Some apes are more highly evolved than others.
Observe any animal backed into a corner and you will understand the irrational behaviour of humans.
Isn't it quite ironic that a species who evolved a brain large enough to conquer and control every other animal on the planet is yet to truly conquer and control their own inner beast 🙂
Right, we're backing ourselves into that corner.
The difference is that apes can live freely and we cannot. They have societal rules to follow, but they do not have laws and rulers the way we do that are dedicated to controlling us. They do not have media that constantly tells you what you should look like, smell like and eat, shaping not only us but changing our patterns of behaviour, so that we no longer see ourselves as apes at all, but as something of their creation.
I have read with interest this blog. A different yet very sensible thinking on the whole nudist naturists subject, particularly by 'Shane' and 'Nudebynature'. Nothing here tries to define what either of these mean in a definition, yet the comments describe them well.
Sometimes I am with clothes and sometimes I am without clothes. When ever it is possible I am without clothes, I enjoy being that way for reasons I am yet to fathom, have always been that way. I bush walk nude almost all the time, it's just the way I do my bush walking. I have body surfed nude for years, it's just the way I body surf. I am nude at home any time I can be, it's just the way I am at home. I cover up if someone comes that may will be offended, it's just the way I respect what others think.
Nice to read a blog that just says how much someone enjoys being without clothes, without putting it into a box or tying it to a definition.
Thanks Les. I stand by those thoughts and comments more than ever.
I tend to hibernate in the winter big time. As the days now grow longer and the promise of spring peaks around the corner I can sense nature beckoning me once more outside. I'm looking forward to it and no doubt I'll have more thoughts to share when the time comes 🙂
guys who really cares god like a bunch of old women
I consider myself to be a naturist and a sometime nudist. But basically I just take my clothes off at every opportunity. I am not an exhibitionist because I do not care what others think or if they think at all. I do not try to be provocative.
I do not "idolise" naturism or nudism or nudity. I don't think that most nudists do that either. To idolise places it on another level so that you can worship it. For most nudists (including me) nudity is inseparable from their being and not on another level.
I also do not see this as an illness. You get sick due to a contagion or weakness. There is nothing accidental about society's war on nudity. It is all about controlling us who making us who they want us to be.
Socialisation and media propaganda separates us from who we are and tries to make us believe what others want us to believe to control us and to market to us. Most people do not think of what they believe or even think. They just tacitly accept the programming that is being imprinted on them. To become free you have to think of what this is doing to you and the cost it is exacting on you and consciously decide to break away. That is hard for many people to do, so they stay in their chains.
This applies to nudism, but also to society in general. We are even more controlled politically and economically.
I think you have put into very good words almost exactly what I think about being naked. As I have said before in other places on this site, I was born into a 'naturist' family and so for me (& my late sister) being naked was just as ordinary & accepted as being clothed. We were dressed when we had to be, naked when we could be.
Now in my 6th decade I am even more determined that my nakedness shall become as 'normal' now as it was way back in my childhood years. The difficulty is cleaning the minds of those who have become corrupt by clothes & by those who are very frightened of genitalia.
Food for thought as usual Shane, thanks for sharing, I'll need some time to understand it fully. In this process I'd like to share a couple of thoughts that came to my mind while reading:
1. Idolisation
I think I'm one of those who idolises nudity. I'm inclined to accept it could be a illness, after all. As many illnesses, though, it has a cause. And thats the social obsession for clothes, means through which people effectively separate themselves from other people.
I see my need for nudity, lets say craving to be and stay naked, not only as a compensation for being usally restricted in my behaviour, but also as a statement that has to do with the integrity of my identity.
Being one among many, given the rules that govern the social interaction among us, given my willingness not to break those rules (while maybe actively trying to change them), I'm probably using my nudity as a mean not to forget who I am besides (or before, or around, or in origin) those rules.
As for curing myself, then, It could be hard in this perspective, because I still have to dress up every day to get out of my house. It isnt easy to cure a cold if you catch a new one every single morning.
2. Sexuality and nakedness
I totally agree with you: being human means being sexual. Nothing more should be added to that.
Then again there come the above-said rules which are a compromise among the many diffeent feelings we have as individuals about sexuality. I talk about those rules and the social interaction thing, because they have a direct effect on how I behave, on how I think I should behave and on how others expect me to behave.
Given that, I suffer for the asexuality thing of the "nude movement", which is like saying that we want to be humans free to be naked but not free to be wholly humans. Still, if I accept it, it is probably because I dont idolise sexuality and I somehow perceive it as much more private than the public nature of nakedness.
I'll be reading your blog again soon, I'd wish I be as wise as you, thanks again.
Thanks for your thoughts Paolo. I think the point at which I lost my necessity "to be nude" was when I accepted that dress or lack thereof, doesn't define me in any way. Does that make sense? I don't need nakedness to define who and what I am, and in reaching that understanding, it allows me to think of clothing as completely irrelevant.
Although I understand that some might struggle to understand the following concept, in my own mind, I do have a choice to work unclothed, ride the bus not wearing any clothes etc. For a number of reasons I choose not to, but I could. It isn’t because of some shortcoming on my part that I choose not to forego clothes. It’s the shortcoming of those around me that influence my decision. Some may view this as a ludicrous technicality, or mincing of words etc. Be that as it may, your consideration of anything in any given moment is just that. It’s an assessment or treatment of sensory input. I am in fact at any given moment completely naked whether I’m clothed or not. I am by nature naked.
It’s only really when you consider clothes to be an extension of yourself that they become cumbersome or bothersome. If instead they are some temporary costume for a specific role, your whole outlook on them changes. At home for example, I could if I choose, be completely naked, but given it’s almost winter here, it’s far more comfortable to wear something. I don’t have to, which is really the point, I choose to.
I believe you are talking about accepting and managing complexity, which – going to the extreme – is something like being able to mantain your own path while in the middle of chaos. Reaching this state of mind and being is rewarding in terms of happyness and identity.
If I got it right I think you are following a buddist approach to living, the best I can think of for youself and the ones you get in touch with.
I'm a step behind, still confounded by chaos and sometimes victimized by complexity and still dragged down sometimes by my own shortcomings (due – as example – to childhood traumas, body shame during adolescence, an invasive mother, and so forth). But I think I'm on the right path. Thank you again for sharing all of this.
Interesting point of view, partly I agree with you, it is weird that a nude body is considered offending to some people. Because our bodies are perfectly natural by all means, it’s our vehicle of life. Secretly we all like to see a beautiful nude body because most of us are associating it with something very pleasant, sexuality. But we need to keep that a secret because it reveals something of our private life. We are not open about those private things, because we don’t like to be hurt. It is important what others say or think about us. I think that this is one of the reasons why we share something, we consider very personal, only with people we love and trust.
Personally I think nudity and sexuality are two separate things. But in many people’s minds they are tightly linked together.
I agree that nudity & sex are separate, but not sexuality. I think it is quite normal (& usual) to see another person as being a sexually attractive/appealing person, a person who for some reason has an innate ability to emit a chemistry that is received by an accepting soul. Yes there are times when nakedness is just another state of being, a natural and acceptable way to perform daily tasks or to relax, social nakedness in this context is also acceptable obviously.
In no way should we close our minds to the fact that we can be attracted/attractive sexually to another person either naked or clothed, it is a part of human chemistry or 'make-up'. I still see very appealing and sexually arousing people in all area's of my life. At 64 I am quite pleased that those parts of my physiological being are still as 'operative' as they ever where, the judgement comes in how to respond to sexual people. In my personal situation I am in total command of my responses, I find it quite easy to view & appreciate beauty, (sexual or otherwise) and behave in a socially acceptable way.