Yes, I am a nudist, so what?
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The title of this post is the reply I gave to an acquaintance during a dinner at a friend’s place. The conversation went over swimsuits and I shared that I was avoiding wearing one whenever I could. She looked at me and ask: “are you a nudist?” To which I replied: “Yes, I am a nudist, so what?” We then started a conversation around nudism, what it is, really, and why it matters. It was a cordial conversation although I doubt that this person will ever become a nudist, having too many reservations and insecurities.
Over the years, I elaborated a simple strategy to talk about nudism and explain what it really is, beyond the cliches and preconceived ideas. With such conversations, I have three main objectives: sharing nudism, demystifying nudism and having nudism accepted. A side objective is to recruit new nudists by inviting them to experience nudism. With the latter, you need to develop some resilience as out of ten conversations, you may get only one may be and one yes. However, this one yes opens a fantastic opportunity to expand your personal nudist circle.
For the moment, let’s stick to the three main objectives above. Here’s how I talk about nudism when asked. It helps people to understand what nudism is, why it’s important and why there should be no shame about simple nudity.
Simple Nudity Is Not Sexual
This is the first myth to dispel. Nude does not rhyme with sex. It’s not because I’m naked that I want to have sex. It’s not because I’m naked that I look for sexual gratification. As a nudist, I’m naked because it just feels good and comfortable. This is probably the one thing that many textiles don’t get: how can you feel good naked, without feeling aroused? For many nudists, it’s totally normal. I personally don’t think about it. Being naked feels normal and does not feel sexual.
Society, culture and religions have associated nudity to sexuality. Many parents explain to their kids that they should not be naked, that nudity is bad, that they should get clothed in all circumstances, even those, like at the beach, where nudity would be reasonably more appropriate. With such behaviours, at puberty, the feeling of shame anchors deep and nudity becomes tightly associated to sexuality. Add today the ubiquitous availability to porn and you have a magic potion. Nudity and sex become entangled.
For kids raised in nudist environment, this association is loose and good discussions about puberty may ensure the link between nudity and sexuality is not establi …
Read further at Nude and Happy…
