Over more than 60 years I must have been asked one question many millions of times, the answer has broadly been pretty much the same, with only slight variations. When seasoned naturists/nudists are faced with the question placed by either the curious or the 'doubting' it often pre-decides how the reply is phrased. My answer to the question "What is it really like to be totally naked with people you don't know?"
My stock type answer is that being naked is about as natural & 'normal' as anyone can be, every human ever born has the ability to overcome all those pre-conditioned behaviours when being seen naked, with some it is a fairly easy process, for others it is a very tortuous & almost impossible task. I seem to find myself so many times saying to people that if you are having an 'internal battle' with your own nakedness then you are probably either underestimating what you look like or over estimating what other people look like naked. The one truth is that the physical variations in the appearance of the naked body is only outnumbered by the number of actual people alive today. Who has got the 'perfect' body? who has got the 'right' body for their age or nationality? who has got 'issues' with some scar or imperfection on their skin?.
The realisation is that every person is individual and unique, every person has at some stage had doubts & fears or certainly moments of sheer panic. So when we can each understand that the naked human form is NOT perfect, it is not unique, it is not either the best or worst than has ever been seen before. Males & females have ideals about what they would 're-arrange' or totally change if they could, possibly even a degree of envy about others that they see. These are all perfectly usual in all walks of life & none more so than in 'clothed' or 'textile' situations. The one surprising realisation that dawns on many people in naturist/nudist situations is that there are no badges of class or personal achievement, there are no trends of fashion or finance to segregate people into groups or types. The openness and informality of being naked is a great leveller and opportunity to actually get to know people even more easily than in any other situation. So to sum it all up I can usually say that socialising naked with other naked people is probably as easy & normal as it gets! So cover up those fears & trepidations, shake off all the preconditioning that society (& possibly your family) taught you, smile and bare all, just be yourself!
18 thoughts on “Just Be Yourself!”
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Well said, Patrick, as are the other comments here. So many textiles have no idea what they are missing out on, due to unnecessary fear and anxiety. Naked is natural; nudity is freedom!
Absolutely. Naked is the NORMAL human condition, like every other species. If clothes were normal we would have been born clothed. Being a tropical species we are forced to adopt special protective covers for winter in high latitudes, but only in winter and only outside. Compulsory clothing is a psychosis as is fear of being seen.
That pretty well covers it. Non-nudists don't realize how quickly you stop being conscious of being naked in a situation like that, and that you end up feeling about the same as you do in any similar crowd. Except that there are fewer status markers from clothing, so all of the various social levels are compressed – you end up treating everybody as if they are the same class as yourself, and so end up seeing them as people. Not as rich or poor, educated or not, before you get a chance to actually know them.
You certainly got that right Roger, naturism is the greatest leveller & the easiest way to integrate into any social stratus without concerns about equality.
Very well said. I compare that particular insecurity to when I was too afraid to dance and look stupid to every body watching.
After I joined a divorced group and danced just for the fun I realized the only ones watching were the people to afraid to dance as I once was. Nudism put another knife into the heart of that insecurity.
The world would be a much better place, if we were all nude.
Very well said. I have some issues with scars and skin imperfections, but I found it very easy and relaxing to be totally nude with strangers the first time I went to a nudist resort in 2014. Nudists are accepting and don't seem to care about imperfections the way non-nudists do. It would be difficult for me to be nude with people that I know who are offended by nudity.
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