Too Happy To Be Naked?

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As a naturist household we are obviously quite okay about nakedness, that may seem like an odd thing to say but 'being used to' nudity can have consequences we don't anticipate. My wife & I were alone and quite peacefully sat watching a dvd on our television, we were both naked and it was around 7pm. Then a text message bleeped onto my phone to inform me that our niece was about to arrive with her young son & her partner. As I told my wife about the text we could hear the car screeching to a stop by our garage. I looked out and saw the lad racing from the car towards the front door, his mum was less energetic but she too began the short walk to our door. Oddly her partner stayed in the car? (We had previously had a small disagreement with him but never really made much of it.) Lisa caught hold of her hyper-energetic offspring and brought him in whilst still holding his arm. Unceremoniously she dumped a bag containing clothes which spilled out onto our hallway floor. We waited a few moments as she regained calmness with her lad and told him to 'keep cool'. Soon a story unfolded which explained to some degree why we were suddenly being regarded as 'babysitters' to facilitate peace between Lisa & her man.
Although both Lisa & her lad often stay nude around their own home and spend many long naked days in our company, her new man is still adapting to their level of 'natural living' and at times things seem to get 'agitated' in their home. Apparently in the earlier part of the day Lisa and her son just lay out in the garden gaining sun rays onto their skins, a peaceful status of lounging naked & warm was interrupted by the new male suitor arriving. He stayed dressed and muttered about the scene that he had walked into. (Although he too was a 'newbie' naturist). When there seemed to be no hurry to put clothes on, even when Lisa spoke at the garden fence with her very amicable elderly neighbour, an atmosphere soon ensued and her chap said Lisa & the boy should not be naked as 'freely' as they were when non-naturist neighbours could easily see her.
So, it appears that her lifestyle was apparently becoming an issue when it hadn't been so previously. Lisa said she needed some time alone with her partner to talk things through & re-establish some ground rules in her own home & with her own family. We were not to see her partner in our home because we would "probably be naked & on her side!".
After depositing her son with us Lisa went off to 'talk' with the man.
Are we so comfortable in our nakedness that we don't understand the 'uncomfortable' feelings that some others have around us?

58 thoughts on “Too Happy To Be Naked?”

  2. How people came about their sensibilities concerning body image and shame actually is on topic.
    We explored the origination and journey of body shame in one particular group and how it evolved from a religious belief in one group to a cultural standard or norm of behavior. People fear being abnormal.
    As I am the only nudist in my family I have met the fear of which I speak. It is deep and not easily changed. Why the male suitor is a newbie nudist we don't know but his heart hasn't caught up with his mind's decision and still lives in fear.

    • It sounds like, nudist or not, he still has the possessive, "I don't like other men seeing my girl naked" attitude. I think he'll have to come to terms with that before he can really accept nudism. If he can't, well, he probably isn't the right guy for her.

  6. Eveliina de la Digue Hello. You missed the point!You need to re-read what I wrote. It is exactly the opposite of what you wrote. The problem is Culture not Religion.
    The Catholic church is okay with nudity but depending on where they live Catholics and non-Catholics are against it.

    • Thanks for pointing this out. Stupid me thought that one could also see Catholicism as a culture (same beliefs, same traditions, same values).
      But in practice, indeed, the way people handle their global religion, differs per part in the world… So not every culture is homogeneous, even when you try to find everything that people have in common, you still find exceptions, because in the end, we're dealing with human beings, who are all individuals, and we are not dealing with "homogeneous" groups.

      • The U.S. has different traditions based on East Coast, South, West, Middle America etc, etc, and there is South America, Central America, Africa,Asia. Yup We are all different. Body shame was carried from it's Greek beginning by the monks who eventually settled in Ireland. They taught that philosophy. They also preserved the culture that survived the Dark Ages. They saved the good and the bad.

  7. I can understand the last sentence. Many of us are very comfortable being nude whenever possible. We accept our naked bodies. Textiles cant and probably dont want to understand. That I can live with. Here is one I dont understand. I live in a community that it made up of 70 percent nudists who also are members of the next door nude resort. We spend entire days naked at the pool, dine and do other activities nude with each other at the resort. But… I have had many of these same people get upset with me if I answer my door to them naked or if they find me tanning nude in my own fenced in back yard while nude. Am I missing something here?

    • Not all nudists are the same. I tend to be like you Rich, nude always, but I admit that some people do not feel this need and practice nudism only in nudist resorts/beaches/etc. Free range nudists are not the common type. It requires constant explanation and respect.

    • We have similar problems, we speak openly about our naturist life & the fact that we prefer to be naked at home. In conversations people tend to accept quite easily & with a smile what we discuss. Many say the usual things like
      "Well if that's what you choose that's fine, but it isn't for me, I couldn't be naked around my home."
      When we answer our door naked and/or invite people into our home we get a 90% acceptance & understanding, BUT the few who do show disapproval are the ones who have most heartily agreed acceptance in conversation. We can only conclude that words are cheap and reality can be 'too real' for some!

        • Actually I think it is one and the same thing.
          I'm not going to disagree with the concept that people think <nude = sex> but I think it is too simplistic an explanation.

          People have been so shamed into covering up for so long that covering became a cultural act that almost disables their ability to think about it.
          Covering has become "natural" or that other insidious word "normal" so that "Not covering" became unnatural and abnormal.
          I use my particular religious faith as an example because we are well known, world-wide and often under-educated.

          Go around the world asking Catholics about nudity and their faith and many will be aghast. It is immodest, sinful and shameful. Shame is always involved.
          Not only is simple nudity not a sin per Catholic moral theology but two recent Popes stated so and the current one joked about all 'the boobs' over his head.
          You will still get arrested in those countries. It is cultural and needs to be addressed culturally.

          • So Catholics would see us as sinners, because we are not ashamed about the body the(ir) Creator gave us: the body that Adam and Eve also were not ashamed of BEFORE one of them did something as stupid (according to the story). I don't get the logic: Adam costume, Eve costume and being without shame: it's the same as they did and felt. Maybe because it was so long ago? Ah well.. who's in for a dialogue about Christianity? I just wish to understand those people who believe more in a certain old story full of beautiful metaphors, than in their close ones or in strangers..

  8. If nudity was not a difficult topic for most people, it will be allowed everywhere, every time. However, most people have been educated with the sin of the naked body. Most people will teach their kids that they need to get dressed, up to a point that you see 3-yr olds with swimsuits at the beach and a couple of years later they are ashamed by their own body. Never underestimate the power of those ingrained habits. Changing point of view and accepting nudity as a normal state requires a lot of emotional and psychological work that many are just not prepared to do. Therefore, those kind of situations are never easy to handle, but they should be with respect both ways: respect and understanding by the non-nudist to the nudist to stay naked, and respect and understanding by the nudists to the non-nudists to stay clothed. Easier said than done though!

  9. It will be interesting to follow this, Patrick. It seems that your niece was not about to surrender her life to the accommodate prejudices of a potential family member, and this is good. It sounds as though she was about to set some ground rules. Same old story though – naturist lifestyle differences & intolerance. Hope your niece's partner learns acceptance.

  11. Yes, I think that's quite likely. I'm comfortable being nude around others, but I know several people who don't want to see or even think about people casually being nude. I don't understand that – everyone has a body, and there are really only two types. What matter whether or not they're covered? It doesn't change the person, and that's the important thing.

    • One of my co-workers knows of my naturist ways. I told him about the party I went to and everyone was nude there…he was shocked that anyone could be so casual and accepting of their bodies. I told him we're all the same, what difference does clothing really make. Ours is a difficult concept for people to understand.

      • People just have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that someone can be nude with no sexual connotation applied. Many people, Americans especially, can not fully comprehend that some people can be nude for the sake of being nude and feel the same comfort that anyone feels wearing clothes. To friends and family do who do not get it I use the analogy of their favorite comfy PJs. I tell people to imagine their favorite comfy PJ or sweat pants. It makes you feel comfortable and relaxed. Well that is how being nude feel to me. I am confortable and relaxed and there is nothing sexual, or provocative. Conversely I ask people to imagine their most uncomfortable bra, tie, or pants. This is how clothes feel to me. When I have to dress up for work or going out, I feel restricted, uncomfortable, and everything is just tight and uncomfortable on my skin. I can not wait to get home and take my clothes off. Some people finally get it but most just can not understand as they are so hung up on the fact that nudity = sex or you are only nude when you have to bathe.

  12. That last sentence is something I thought about earlier, even without ever being confronted with negativity from textiles. Its already my "fear" of textiles who might be around that makes me less relaxed. But I'm learning.. Anyway:

    Maybe we can compare this to smoking. Say we ignore the possibility of getting cancer, reducing the issue to annoyance of the freedom oft he other. Since the main argument of a smoker is that you cannot tell them what to do (just like naturists often say), but while they are being and feeling free when enjoying their cigarette, the smoke (the residue of their happiness) is coming towards the people who do not enjoy cigarettes in the same way.

    They might just hate the smell as much as textiles hate to see people naked.
    Why? I can imagine 2 silly reasons: "you can be naked, but I cannot approach you make love, because that would be weird, but you are still naked, so you are still seducing me, so now I am confused and I don't want to be confused". The other thought might be: "only truly beautiful people, like fro the magazines should be naked and less beautiful people should not show their body to people who might just be enjoying their view around their garden"

    • I get the comparison to smoking as many smokers do not appreciate how non-smokers feel, just as Naturists can lack understanding. However, there are two problems with this comparison; 1) You can look away from a Naturist, but cannot avoid smelling and breathing the smoke of a nearby smoker, 2) The sight of a naked person does you no harm*, breathing secondary smoke does.

      (*Any psychological harm that some may claim is surely the fault of a prudish upbringing, as no-one is born with an aversion to nudity, so it is the prudish upbringing that is the real harm.)

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