Do you remember your first impression of nudists?
Chances are that it was something like “a bunch of naked people hiding behind a huge fence doing stuff the rest of the world shouldn’t see”.
But what about your first impression of them at the moment that You became a nudist yourself?
The word “relaxed” may come to mind or “polite” or “connected”. And probably also “friendly”.
We’ve never met anyone coming back from their first nudie experience saying “Those nudists, what a bunch of self-centric idiots”.
Why is that?
Is nudism actually a secret club of good people?
Or is nudism a gift, only given to good people?
Or do people actually become good by being nude?
Regaining your social roots
Privacy is a big issue these days and if you follow the news you could very easily become paranoid. Big Brother is watching everywhere. The government puts cameras on every street corner, the FBI is tapping your phone, Facebook knows which websites you visit and Google is reading your e-mails. It’s scary, we know.
Our grandparents tell us that everything used to be different in the past.
But was it really?
Their neighbours saw everything that happened around their house.
The bartender knew everyone’s alcohol consumption, the owner of the grocery store knew who was buying the expensive stuff and the librarian knew who was reading the “forbidden” books.
The postman knew who was writing love letters to who and the priest knew for whom it actually worked out.
And somehow it all came together at the hairdresser.
Everyone knew everything about everyone.
Why was this less scary?
Because people knew who knew. It wasn’t some dark eye in the sky but it was Betty from next door and Chris, you know Chris, the son of the niece of uncle Brian’s second wife.
And it was alright that they knew, because they were one of us.
We weren’t just individuals. We were Us, a community, a village.
Now we don’t want to make nudists sound old fashioned but you can’t ignore the similarities. The same similarities we also find with tribes in the Africa or South America or wherever a small group of people lives together and trusts each other.
Privacy loses its meaning when you fully expose yourself to each other.
When everyone has seen you naked there’s no need anymore to hide behind clothes, to have a door at you shower or to invent stories to make you look important.
Get yourself connected
The best way to make friends is to find a shared interest. As a kid that’s easy, you like basketball or ballet or saxophone, you go to a club and you make friends. Period.
When you grow up this process gets harder. Being the new kid is painful as a teenager and it doesn’t get that much better as an adult.
You start at the bottom of the ladder and have to find out whose asses to kiss in order to get accepted. If we were monkeys, you’re the one picking everyone else’s flies.
Among nudists this is different, there doesn’t seem to be a social ladder. There is no “upper nudist” who decides who can join the club and who will be made fun of.
One of the pillars of nudism is equality and everyone who joins the group is on the same level as everyone else.
When you’re looking lost, people will come to you and ask if they can help.
You will be greeted with a smile and a nod, often with a “hello” or “how are you doing” and from time to time you’ll find yourself in a conversation for hours with a nudie you’ve never met before.
Us against the world
We, nudists, are a minority.
We are a minority with laws against us, with people telling us that our way of living is wrong, unethical or pervers.
And sad as it may be, it does create a bond.
Think about your reaction when someone tells you that they’re also tennis players. You’ll say “Oh, cool, maybe we can play together sometime”.
But when you discover that someone’s also a nudist it’s more like “oh my Gooooooood! Seriously? That’s awesome! We didn’t know! Oh my God! Really? This is so cool!”. Ok, maybe we’re a bit exaggerating, but you get the point right? Suddenly someone from whom we thought they were from the textile world, became one of us.
But where is this going?
With public nudity, especially in Europe, getting more and more acceptance. We’re moving out of our nudist colonies and designated beaches to a park in central Paris or a restaurant in downtown London. We’re riding our bikes across all major cities in the buff and we’re getting more and more recognition.
The world starts accepting us, they start opening up and more and more people are making the first step.
What if we become the world?
Will we be able to keep our nudist identity?
Won’t we lose ourselves in individualism?
Will it still be Us?
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We are realitvly new nudists and had our very first nudist experience in St Maartin at Cupacoy beach and also Club Orient twice. We live in the Central Okanagan of British Columbia and have also now joined the OCNS nudist club in Kelowna. We all get together in the winter and have nude swims in a local indoor pool. We have met some beautiful friendly people and now really enjoy reading articles such as yours about the nudism lifestyle. I really agree that all nudists are friendly and open. When I my wife and I are nude we feel so free and relaxed.
I loved and appreciate your article.
I have been a naturist/nudist all of my life, I am 65. I have met & known some incredible people naked, I have met some that I wouldn’t choose to meet again. People have personalities & issues in all area’s of life. At least ‘what you get is what you see’ in nudist situations, but let’s not pretend that all nudists are wonderful. Shake off your inhibitions, take off your clothes, begin at the beginning and make a new start. You’ll be surprised to discover that about 75% of naked people are open, honest & fun!
I agree with most of your post and also with Patrick’s comment about it being the majority of nudists who are the open, honest and fun people that help to make nudism a great way of life (Hi Patrick). Removing our clothes socially does indeed shed inhibitions, there is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about being nudists but getting naked for the first time in public can seem awkward for some newcomers. Many soon realise that nudists are among the most accepting of people, we come in many shapes and sizes, genuine nudists don’t judge appearances or backgrounds, we’re all simply people in our natural state when naked socially.
When we’re nude with both friends and strangers we’ve removed that physical barrier of clothing and hide nothing from each other physically, its a wonderfully liberating act. Our shared nudity seems to help open ourselves up mentally too. We feel much closer to our good nudist friends than we do with those who prefer to wear clothing. I can’t think of any topic that we don’t discuss with close nudist friends, the simple act of being naked together seems to make us very open to each other about everything.
Even when we meet new nudists we find it very easy to talk with them about many subjects compared to similar situations in the clothed world.
“Privacy loses its meaning when you fully expose yourself to each other.” Sharing communal showers with complete strangers at nudist places seems entirely natural. Don’t textiles have a lot of hang-ups?!
Somebody wrote, you can’t really know someone until you see them naked. Maybe that explains a little of what this post is getting at.
We zijn inderdaad de happy nudisten, Openmindet. Maar vergeet niet dat er een behoorlijke groep mensen is die zich (en ook haar mening) verbergt achter een hoop kleding.
Wel scheppen ze er genoegenin zich sarcastisch negatief uit te laten over naakt zijn. het liefst anoniem via sociale media.
Dat is nog lang niet overwonnen. kijk maar naar de toename in de geklede Sauna mogelijkheden. Veel Blootplezier!
We are indeed the happy nudists, Openmindet. But don’t forget that there is a decent group of people who (and her opinion) hide behind a lot of clothing.
They do, however, take pleasure in being sarcastically negative about being naked. preferably anonymously via social media.
That is by no means overcome. Just look at the increase in the dressed Sauna possibilities. Have nude fun!
Will it still be us?
A very interesting and difficult question. It seems to me that we will cease to be US. a completely new imperative of behavior will arise… I am very afraid that hierarchical relations will arise again… Everything is very complicated…. we need to think about it…
Mikhail