Naturism, No, It’s Not For Me! Never!

If you are a naturist and have talked about naturism with friends, you surely have some who told you they would never ever try. They cannot even think about showing their “private parts” to others. You may sometimes wonder how to convince them to, at least try. Here are three ideas to try to convince a textile to go naturist.

Get Naked First

There’s no other way, in my opinion, if you are a naturist and try to explain what naturism is about to textiles, than to ask for permission to get naked and to totally undress. Charity begins at home, leading the way is probably the best way to show people there’s nothing wrong with being a naturist.

Every time I tried this, permission was granted, as most say, do whatever you want, but I won’t! And voilà, I may not convince them to become naturists, but at least, I am naked and can enjoy the day in my preferred suit.

But what if the permission to get naked is not granted? The only good reason I see for not granting a permission to get naked is the presence of children who may get shocked. The intention of naturists is not to cause distress or alarm. Respect is a very important topic for naturists, we will go over it later. Textile parents may fear their children to be shocked by nudity. If it’s a genuine concern to be respected, it should also spark a discussion about the human body, sex and violence. It’s interesting to see parents not wanting their children to see naked bodies but letting them watch hyper-violent movies or play violent video games. It’s, though, very difficult to convince somebody who’s blindsided by his or her own indoctrination. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

In the absence of children, there’s no good reason to refuse a permission to get naked. Will your friends leave if you get naked, will they feel distressed? Have a serious discussion with them. Why is it so? What does shock them, what causes their distress? You may hear phony reasons: nudity is private, it’s again my religion, we are not animals… This leads to the second idea you should push forward: nudity is perfectly human, normal and natural.

Naturism and Nudism Are Perfectly Human, Normal and Natural

Why did we invent clothing in the first place? Well, nobody really knows, although a 2011 scientific study on the origin of clothing lice suggests clothing appeared around 170,000 years ago. A long and well-researched article entitled We did not invent clothes simply to stay warm suggested that if clothing had been invented first-hand to protect against cold and contributed to the human species traveling to colder climates, it’s also used to define culture and identity: “The truth about clothes is therefore more complex than you might have imagined. Without them we might not have survived, but today we use clothes for more than keeping warm.”

We know clothing plays an important role in today’s society, beyond being a multi-trillion USD industry. It shows your taste, your culture, your money, your social status, and, of course, it protects us from the cold, the rays of the sun and various dangerous activities. Now, take a minute and take one step back. Let’s say it’s warm, you’re away from potentially dangerous activities that could harm your body and skin, and nobody looks at you, would you be fine getting and staying naked? For a lot of people and maybe you, it may be a resounding no! Why? Just because you do not feel comfortable naked! Why? Because you’ve been told that being naked is not a human state, it’s not normal, it’s not natural. We need to control our emotions and elevate our thinking! We cannot be naked!

Control your emotion, elevate your thinking. You’re in the shower, alone in your apartment. Would you shower with clothes on, covering your body? No, of course not! If you answered yes, stop there and move to the last part of this post because you may never become a naturist, but you should, at least, respect others’ willingness to be so. Very few people would bath or shower clothed. It’s just a normal way of being. Replace shower by hike or swim. What really prevents you from doing so, beyond the laws of the country you’re living in? Nothing but you! Your own beliefs and cultural norm. Most native people in Amazon for instance or some tribes in Africa live naked, hunt naked, cook naked, without feeling bad. It’s their beliefs and cultural norm. This shows that sociologically and psychologically, body-shame is learned.

Being naked is totally human, normal and natural. Actually, there are many studies that show the harmfulness of clothing, particularly dyeing and synthetic fabrics, and others that show the numerous benefits for the skin, the immune system and our psychological balance to get and stay naked outside. The first aspect to understand about nudity is its total normality.

The second aspect to understand about nudity is the dramatic increase of body-shaming behaviors. A lot, if not most, of human beings seek attention and are somehow narcissist. Nothing’s really dramatic here. It’s part of our humanity to look for feedback and a form of seduction. It’s the way evolution has programmed us all to be attractive for reproduction and hormonal balance. However, the media, and particularly social media, have contributed to the creation of resounding boards, putting forward exceptions and not the norm. They have created a form of mirror that shows constantly how far we are from perfection: we don’t have a perfect body, we don’t have a perfect family, we don’t have perfect breasts or penis, we don’t have the designer clothes, and so on…

Not only we are shaming ourselves for our imperfect bodies, others are jumping on the bandwagon, reinforcing the bad image we are creating in our minds. This is filling up shrinks offices, but a better therapy is to get naked and make peace with our own body. Not that we should not take care of ourselves by exercising, eating well and having good sleep practice, but not in an excessive and compulsive manner, and not for looking for perfection, but for the right balance. By getting naked on a nude beach or in a nude resort, we immediately realize perfection is rare. And on the other hand, nobody really watches you. Others don’t look at your imperfections the way you look at them. Nobody really cares how you look but who you really are.

You may not be convinced and other naturists may not be able to convince textiles about this, but then respect comes into play.

Respect is A Two-Way Street

What if I respect the way you dress? Should you not respect the way I dress too? To me, it seems mutual respect is the basis of a peaceful and balance life. Now, if I explain that, to me, nudity is just simple, normal and natural, and has no sexual connotation whatsoever, should you respect that point of view and let me get naked in front of you? My answer is a resounding yes. However, society is answering by a resounding no, because it equates nudity with sexuality. Because it sexualizes the body. Because it brings it back to the original sin we talked about.

Now, take the existence of nude beaches, nudity in arts, world naked bike rides, the burning man festival, naked runs. Very few people really care about naked body in those places and during those events. In art, nobody, or very few, see naked bodies as vulgar or sexual. So why then people make a difference between those situations? This is what we call context. And it has an importance. Now take a beach. Relaxing, playing, or swimming in summer on a beach are pleasant experiences. The context is prone to undressing and most people are wearing swimsuits. But, if, on a textile beach, you suddenly undress completely, some people will be shocked and you may be arrested. Is nudity out of context?

I believe all beaches should be clothing optional and people should be allowed to go entirely naked. You want to wear a suit, so be it! You want to get naked, so be it! What’s the real problem here? The same old one we are describing: nudity equates sexuality, and sexuality is a private matter. But, on a normal nude beach, people are not making love or masturbating. What is more sexual: a woman with a micro thong, a man with a very tight speedo, or the same woman or man entirely naked? It’s all perception. It shows the hypocritical position of many textiles and the role of so-called modesty in the way people think. De-sexualize the body, show people there’s nothing like “naughty bits” but body organs and nudity becomes a non-event. What it is for naturists and nudists.

One of the justifications for clothes I often hear from textiles is that we are not animals and only animals go naked. Well, we may argue that animals have not destroyed the environment as human beings did, and that may show their superiority. But the way I’m tackling this argument is by engaging on our consciousness. Although there are ongoing discussions on whether animals have a conscious, it’s clear that we have one that allows us to talk logically about things around us. We can, therefore, explain that a breast has two functions: sexual and non-sexual. We can explain that a penis has two functions: sexual and non-sexual. We can explain that a body can be used for sexual functions and a plethora of other functions. We have a choice and we can decide, based on the context.

If I am at the beach, in a family and friendly environment, I can choose to not use my body in a sexual manner to excite others sexually or to get excited sexually. If I am in my bedroom with my partner, I can choose to use my body in a sexual manner. If I am hiking in nature alone or with friends, I can choose to not use my body in a sexual manner. As soon as there are other people and that sexual behavior is not the matter of the moment, we can choose to behave in a non-sexual way. This is a choice we can make, this is one animals do not make. We have all been witness of two horses, two cows or two dogs mating in front of our eyes. It’s because they do not have the conscience of sexual behavior being private. We have it and we can exercise it so nudity and sexuality can be separated in nudist environments.

Nudists and naturists need relentlessly to explain this separation. Not that nudists and naturists do not have sex. They do, like any other human beings, they just make a difference between being naked and having sex. Being naked is just being naked, it carries no other meaning. Being naked is a sensible state of being when weather allows it. It’s comfortable and pleasurable. There’s nothing more to it. The moment you reach that point and can explain it clearly to textiles, they may start to see it the same way naturists and nudists do, and respect your choice of being naked while they remain clothed, or, to the least, understand and accept your choice of being a naturist, without labeling you as being a pervert or a sexual predator.

Respect of differences is the basis of living together. This applies to every minority, be it sexual, cultural, religious, etc. This should apply equally to nudists and naturists. Sometimes, more often than not, politics have a word about the way society treat minorities, for the “good of the community.” And some minorities become rejected and marginalized, if not thrown to jail, or worse sometimes killed. It’s not the case for nudism in progressive and democratic countries, but desexualizing the body has a huge impact on many businesses, starting with the politics one. This should not stop nudists and naturists to repeat, even ad nauseam, that nudity is normal and natural, and has only positive side effects on human beings and nature.

Get naked, stay naked, live naked and share the naked love!

Photo by form PxHere

Originally posted on Nude and Happy, my blog, dedicated to naturism and naturism only!