A place to call home
Rural naturist spaces can be a source of community for marginalized people, but what happens when those spaces vanish?
Like many rural LGBTQ individuals without the means to participate in what author Kath Weston refers to as the Great Gay Migration to an urban and ostensibly more tolerant cultural environment, I’ve spent much of my life isolated and alone in small southern towns, desperately searching for a sense of community and belonging in a region that has very few social opportunities for the marginalized. One summer, while in college, I happened across a now-defunct naturist campground, hidden away at the end of a winding dirt road in the Cumberland Mountains. Almost immediately, I was welcomed into the community and treated as a member of its large, diverse, and ever-growing family. My summers in the naturist camp forged my belief that a philosophically-principled naturism has tremendous potential to offer a supportive, respectful and healing environment for those that feel unsafe, excluded, or unwelcome in mainstream society. A naturist space can offer a community to those that have no ot…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Planet Nude to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.