Yesterday, a friend posted something on my social media to ask me to recommend a pair of hiking boots. I gave him the brand I use and I seized the opportunity to tell him about where I had used them to hike in last year and I included both my nude hiking in the mountains of Taiwan and of course the NEWT Alpine hiking. My kid who read it told me, 'But he only wanted a recommendation of boots and you went into a long story about naturist hiking'. But you see, I had an agenda. This morning, I reaped the reward. A friend of mine who was dead opposed to naturism and who would always avoid any post of mine about naturism posted something on that thread. She spoke about my recommendation at great length. You may ask what's the big deal?
Here's the big deal. When we talk about our own naturist experiences and we continue to talk about them, a time will come when the idea of nudity becomes normal and acceptable. I believe the world is so negative towards naturism because of sheer ignorance about it. When 99.999% of nude photos on the internet are pornographic in nature and many naturists are hiding their faces and genitals or turning their backs to the camera, what chance is there for nudity to be normalised in the minds of this degenerate world? If we keep posting our decent nude photos without covering our faces as if we were ashamed of nudity and without hiding our genitals as if genitals were obscene and should be concealed and if we keep talking about naturism and our naturist holidays and our naturist lifestyle, there must come a time when people are so used to seeing and hearing about decent nudity that it is no longer viewed with disapproval. That is when they are able to draw a distinction between nudity and pornography.
I have always taken the opportunity to talk about naturism in as unobtrusive a way as I can. Even at my aunt's funeral when my cousins asked me about my holidays, I somehow found my way to talk about my naturist holidays. Especially in my society, people sometimes just can't believe that I'm openly talking about nude hiking. They sometimes ask in shock, 'Did you just say nude? Nude as in naked? Totally naked?' I will invariably treat the question as if the person is concerned if I might be barefoot and what if I injured my foot? So I will tell him that of course I have boots on and nothing else. When I proceed in this vein, I'm forcing my listener to accept that nudity is natural. If you do this ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, you either lose your friend or you've made him or her accept naturism. My experience is you don't really lose a friend. That doesn't happen. But while you may make him or her accept nudity as decent, converting the person into a naturist is quite a different thing altogether. They usually remain firmly textile but I have no problem with that. All I want is for the person to accept naturism as decent. That's all.
If all of us do our part, the day of enlightenment will come soon enough upon the textile world.
Your title reminds me of when I lived in Albuquerque. Like many homes in Albuquerque our house had a flat roof. We also had a 2nd story addition above the garage with a door exiting onto the roof of the first story. Fairly often I went naked on my roof top. None of my neighbors ever complained. I don't know if they saw me or not. People usually don't look unless you shout. Maybe I should have shouted more.
Yeah, most people don't look up unless something attracts their attention.
These days most people have their eyes glued to a screen. You could walk naked down the street in most residential areas and nobody would notice unless they happened to be leaving the house or arriving home when you walked by.
I used to have a theory that people don't look out their windows. I often went naked in my back yard despite being surrounded by a dozen 2 story condos and only low chain link fences separating yards. I doubt if anyone ever noticed.
In our previous house we knew that the only neighbour who could view our back garden was away from home Monday to Thursday every week. We had no problems being outside naked whether working or sunbathing. After around a year of never actually seeing him we spoke to him one day at our local store, we exchanged all the usual pleasantries and chatted quite well, my wife then asked how he was enjoying his few days at home. He laughed and replied, "I left that job a few months back I work from home now." Just as she was about to turn away he said "My desk is by my rear window, I get some great views from there this summer!"
Well, obviously he wasn't offended or upset. That's a good reaction.
Between porn sites, nude fine art, sexting, nude selfies, social media, explicit nudity in movies & TV, confessed skinnydipping in polling data, etc, I think the younger generation is very comfortable with nudity.
It is obvious that millions enjoy being naked for significant others in all kinds of places and while nude selfies/sexting may not have been intended by the subject to be spread across the internet, it is apparent to me the younger generation is afraid of censure, shaming or other negative reactions, rather than of being nude as an act itself.
I think we in the US are on the cusp of public acceptance of nudism, but it will take a bit longer for laws to change. Just as with gay rights, unequal enforcement is preceding the legal changes. Some reaction will occur, but I do have optimism for the near future due to ongoing cultural shift to body acceptance.
I hope the US is on the cusp of public acceptance of nudism Joe, it is said here in England that we are following American trends (socially)? So regardless of how good/bad those trends may be it would appear (hopefully) that nudity will become usual on both sides of 'the pond' ?
We can hope, and work towards that goal! 🙂
I thought were were following you….
I haven't heard of any naked restaurants, like the one in the UK, but that would be cool!
I agree completely. Far too many people believe that no normal person would be caught dead naked. When we talk about nudity as a natural way of hiking, working, or enjoying life it gives many people an opportunity to learn that its a concept they may consider. It often takes years for the idea to become their own and they begin thinking about being naked. Being seen naked by random people while doing ordinary activities also conveys the same message, nude is an ordinary choice. They others may object the first few times, but after a while it becomes normal.
Bob I agree with your sentence " others may object the first few times, but after a while it becomes normal." completely. In our home I am naked approximately 90% of every day, my wife is less likely to be naked at home so she would average around 40%. The point is that all visitors/guests that come into our home accept 'what they see' as normal. Maybe the first time they react as if they have suddenly interrupted our shower time, or they looked blushed bright red and afraid to look at nudity, but when their brains realise that we are just naked people they relax and accept.
Our local authority sent people out to physically measure around our boundary fences etc, one young couple (male & female) came to our door to ask permission and were so surprised to see my (62 year old)wife naked that they became speechless! When I arrived at the hallway equally nude the woman managed to gasp about our perimeter fencing. I took the two youngsters (around 25 year old?) through to our rear garden, after a ten minute talk they had calmed down and 'forgotten' that I was naked.
It seems we are on the same course in our conversations! I know when to bring naturism into any conversation but in recent months I've only spoken to people already aware of our nudist daily lifestyle. I am totally with you in the opinion that the more we speak about naturism the more it will become understood & acceptable. (If only in speech!)
Too often, Asian naturists are silent when others make hostile remarks about naturism. There are many who refuse to be identified with naturism. That's sad.
I have to say that in countries where social nudity is against the law it takes great courage to speak out. I have heard of someone who became an outcast in her own home area because she was known to live naked in her own home. (so did her ex-husband but he was more discreet)
That is very sad. I am very fortunate because in my country, the opposition to naturism is usually cultural and not religious. It's easier to deal with cultural prejudice. The worst for a naturist is to be in a Muslim community. I know an Arab naturist who has to be careful. Someone told me that the punishment for social nudity in Saudi is death. Everything seems to be punishable with death in Saudi. I suppose for Muslim states, it's already an offence for a woman not to cover so many parts of her body. If she goes completely naked, they probably view it as an "offence" worthy of the death penalty.