Emotional Healing Through Proper Nudity

A number of years ago a very dear friend of mine who I have a close brother/sister relationship with, went through a series of abuses by her then husband. 

He had raped her near the end of their marriage and sexually abused one of their daughters, which she learned about later. 

After their last child had been born at home with a midwife, he had 6-8 male work associates that over to the house and was showing them the photos of the birth.  At first, my friend was alright with that and then she realized that they were simply passing around numerous extremely explicit photos of her lying nude on the bed fully exposed, before, during and after the delivery and she was the only woman present.  She suddenly felt very exploited for valid reasons and she became more and more uncomfortable with being nude, even after their divorce. 

They had moved out of state, but we kept in close contact by phone and e-mail.  As I said, we have a very close brother/sister relationship and consequently talked extensively about what had happened and the psychological and emotional effects his abuse had on her. 

During our conversations, the topic of nudity came up and we talked about my being a nudist which did not bother her.  Over a period of time, we talked more and more about it and along with encouraging her to try it herself, at one point I offered to e-mail her some photos of myself that I thought she might enjoy where I was doing various things around the house, including a humorous painting accident and she said that she was interested.  At no time did I ask her to provide any photos of herself.  I later included a few photos of my wife where we had gotten  horrendous all-over sunburns.

She began to get more interested in being nude around her house but was currently living with one of her adult single daughters and was wondering how to handle that.  I suggested that she simply take a shower with the door open and when she was done, dry off and not bother to put anything on when she came out to go to the kitchen or her bedroom.  She tried that and was very happy that after an initial mild shock, her daughter was alright with it.   After that, she began spending more and more time nude at home.  

After a number of months, she planned to come back to see us and some of her relatives and I had talked to her for some time prior to this that whenever she came out, I would take her to a secluded mountain lake I love to go to and would take her skinny dipping, and she was favorable to the idea. 

The time came that she did come for a visit and I took her to the lake and as soon as we were out of sight of the campground on one side of the small lake, I began to take my clothes off and she did not hesitate to do the same and we hiked on to the smaller lake that was our destination.  We spent the rest of the day swimming and hiking nude in the woods.  When we returned to my rig, we didn’t bother to put anything on until we got all the way back and then even though we walked through the camping area and we were parked along the only access road to the main parking area.  It was done nonchalantly and with disappointment of having to get dressed again.  Thinking back on it, getting dressed was the very last thing we did after putting things away, getting some water to drink, etc. all the while standing essentially along the road, putting it off as long as possible.  There was no traffic, but there was also no fear or concern and while we would have heard a vehicle coming, we would not have heard someone walking our way and did not care at that point.

She told me that I was the first man in her life that had ever wanted her to be nude and not have a sexual motive behind it.  After that, she became an advocate for nudity and even took her daughter skinny dipping in a river near their home when she got back which she enjoyed as well. 

The most important thing was that she told me that because of that experience at the lake, she regained her self-confidence and self-acceptance.  She thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and lack of fear that she experienced and she also liked the level it took our friendship to by not hiding behind clothing but being completely open and unguarded with each other.