Hi Raymond - thanks for your question. It's absolutely not okay to have an erection in a nudist space in Canada. Just like everywhere else, nudism is a non-sexual practice. If a man is experiencing an erection, he will discretely cover it up for the sake of others' comfort.
Good article. I want to suggest that there may be a layer beyond sexualized/non-sexualized nudity that comes back to that old adage "sex sells." I think what we need to take into account is that generally, what we see depicted in media are bodies than can be sexualized for profit. That, ultimately, the nudity we see depicted in movies and TV are unlike our true selves in exactly the same way that the living rooms and kitchens we see depicted on our screens are unlike the living rooms and kitchens in our homes. I remember when the TV show "King of Queens" was on the air there was a lot of commentary about the "attractiveness mismatch" between the two main actors, and that it was unbelievable that a "average looking" UPS driver would have an "absurdly hot" wife. But when I watched the show I was more struck by seeing a UPS driver in bed underneath a $2,000 duvet. It seems like the "aspirational" nudity in media is not so different than that "aspirational" duvet. In a world where everything is for profit, the line between good nudity and bad nudity may really be between profitable nudity and unprofitable nudity. Good naked, we are told, is naked that you can spend lat least a King of Queen's duvet's worth of money annually to achieve for yourself. If there is a solution to be had, it may be in working to restore public spaces where communal nudity is accepted and where not everything has to always be for sale.
That phrase, "aspirational nudity", is so clever and so powerful! It definitely fits in with the overall idea - things that can be commodified and commercialized are fine, things that can't are problematic. And your solution is definitely in line with my thinking as well. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
This really is an important conversation to be had with non-nudista in society, even if most of them can be standoffish at first. Planting that seed can often begin working even if it doesn't seem to at first. I have dozens of people on my life that, while they will probably never become nudists, have at least come around on their thinking and accept my part in it a lot more than when they first learned about it...
What strikes me though, is how many NUDISTS still have this line of thinking. How many proclaimed nudists still only follow or promote 'attractive' imagery on their social media. How many will still comment negatively on bodies that are not 'classically' attractive, but comment positively on those that are. How many that go to lengths to put filters on their own photos to cover body 'flaws' etc.
The idea and societal issue runs super deep... And I don't know how many more children and adults lives we have to lose to eating disorders, abuse and suicide (to name a few) that are a direct result of this addiction to attractiveness before we even begin to learn.
Oh, you've anticipated a future essay idea of mine! ABSOLUTELY these ideas are perpetuated by nudists who post slim, young, conventionally attractive nudes on social media. It has been a long-standing issue for me, and I'm really glad you brought it up. Thank you!
It's beyond a peeve of mine. Before I deleted twitter I was in a constant battle with 'nudists' that defended that crap constantly. It was so disheartening.
Great article! 🎉 I think we can start even sooner, before nudity, to support celebrating every kind of body. Compliments are so easy to give and can really make someone's day if they do not hear them often. "You look great in that colour" is one that stays away from any kind of body commentary but still promotes lifting up someone's self-acceptance. For people who tend to criticizd others, some can be brought to awareness and others are simply narcissists. It is helpful to make a first entreaty, always.
I appreciated the Seinfeld example very much. As is true for Seinfeld's artistic excellence, using a fringe idea, in this case nudism, and connecting it to unresolved societal opinions eg. sexual attraction, makes the point very clearly. Even though many will consider our current societal norms permissive, we still have a long way to go. I guess you could say, there's a good permissive and a bad permissive.
Hi Matthew - great post and love the comments. Since we all, every one of us, has a naked body - why do we pretend we don't? A leopard may not be able to change its spots but we are able to adorn our bodies to reflect our moods, aspirations, status etc, etc - all cultures do that, it is the mark of acceptance of subservience to the ruling ideology. Nudism, most especially public nudism, is a revolutionary statement of radical individualism. No wonder the fascist prudists persecute it...
Si bien apoyo mucho de lo que el autor expone, algo lo considero erróneo: decir que por ese capítulo la idea del nudismo malo o bueno se volvió universal. Definitivamente ese programa televisivo no tiene impacto en mi país, México, y seguramente en muchos ni lo conocen y, mucho menos, creo que tenga influencia indirecta en las sociedades del universo.
Por cierto, a quien le interese saber qué escribí, le recomiendo aprender español o por lo menos utilizar el traductor. Yo amo mi idioma.
And the conversation continues. As a family naturist for the last 40 years I can say this conversation has been ongoing and unfortunately hasn't really gotten anywhere other than more hope for a different future. Question or the exploration has to be expressing what the transition looks like from where we are to a place where being in one's skin in social settings is the norm.
Nakedness has a history of having trauma associated with it. There are many in the textile world who have this as their boundary not necessarily sexuality. Sexual violence emotionally and physically is definitely a factor. This is one of the reasons I don't really advocate naked bike rides. I see it great value in naked bike rides but going through textile cities doesn't help the image of social acceptance to that city. It's seen as nostalgic or a fun different thing to do while at the same time potentially triggering a lot of people who have traumas associated with nakedness.
For example how do we get a commercial that's selling a product or service and the actors in the scene are naked but the commercial isn't about their nakedness and no comments are made about them being naked. You don't need to have genitals be shown.
Having more and more commercials like this would be an interesting social experiment though I do think it would backfire and here's why.
Neurologically the textiles brain responds differently than a naturist's brain. Let me explain walk with me for a moment.
I've been looking for the clinical study and I still can't find it but years ago I read about it and I don't know if it was replicated here's what they did.
They had an FMRI machine in the back of a semi and they brought it to a textile community and they brought it to a naturist resort. In the textile community the clinicians were dressed in white coats and the naturist community the clinicians were also naked or had white coats on but were naked underneath.
People were asked to go into the FMRI machine and look at pictures when they saw a picture of someone who had green clothing on or some sort of green textile they were to press a button. The pictures were of people of all ages in different forms of dress and undress some of them completely naked none of them in specifically erotic positions of any sort. All of them just doing normal everyday activities mowing the lawn baking cookies watching TV things like this.
What they didn't tell the subject was the clinicians were looking at the parts of the brain specifically associated with erotic arousal. They gave the results to a group of neurologists who knew nothing of the tests and were supposed to identify the brain scans that were more erotically stimulated or less erratically stimulated.
What ended up happening is the brains of the naturist subjects were much less erratically stimulated by the pictures then the brains of the textiles.
What this means is when textile brains experience nakedness They have a tendency to be more erotically aroused so even if there was a commercial where people were selling a product or service and all these showed was different parts of the people's naked bodies without genitals those textile brains would still be erotically charged because they haven't been desensitized by being around nakedness 24/7.
So how do we get textile people inspired to go to a socially naked space or socially naked event to see what it's like?
If people from the textile world go to occasional naked social events is that enough to desensitize their brains to the extent that it becomes a norm?
I don't think so I think in order for our brains to be comfortable or see safety and comfort within social nakedness and the vulnerability of that social nakedness it has to be constant.
We're talking about the radical vulnerability of trust respect and honor of our nakedness with strangers.
This is a great discussion and I wonder if there's people out there that would be interested in having a zoom meeting to have this as a discussion. I am a facilitator for restorative practice and I would be willing to put effort into setting up the meeting and facilitating. If there are co-facilitators that would join me that would be great!
The pictured scene is from when Jerry walks into the living room naked carrying a power tool. The woman called that bad naked, which is correct. One shouldn't use power tools naked.
Hi Raymond - thanks for your question. It's absolutely not okay to have an erection in a nudist space in Canada. Just like everywhere else, nudism is a non-sexual practice. If a man is experiencing an erection, he will discretely cover it up for the sake of others' comfort.
Good article. I want to suggest that there may be a layer beyond sexualized/non-sexualized nudity that comes back to that old adage "sex sells." I think what we need to take into account is that generally, what we see depicted in media are bodies than can be sexualized for profit. That, ultimately, the nudity we see depicted in movies and TV are unlike our true selves in exactly the same way that the living rooms and kitchens we see depicted on our screens are unlike the living rooms and kitchens in our homes. I remember when the TV show "King of Queens" was on the air there was a lot of commentary about the "attractiveness mismatch" between the two main actors, and that it was unbelievable that a "average looking" UPS driver would have an "absurdly hot" wife. But when I watched the show I was more struck by seeing a UPS driver in bed underneath a $2,000 duvet. It seems like the "aspirational" nudity in media is not so different than that "aspirational" duvet. In a world where everything is for profit, the line between good nudity and bad nudity may really be between profitable nudity and unprofitable nudity. Good naked, we are told, is naked that you can spend lat least a King of Queen's duvet's worth of money annually to achieve for yourself. If there is a solution to be had, it may be in working to restore public spaces where communal nudity is accepted and where not everything has to always be for sale.
That phrase, "aspirational nudity", is so clever and so powerful! It definitely fits in with the overall idea - things that can be commodified and commercialized are fine, things that can't are problematic. And your solution is definitely in line with my thinking as well. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
This really is an important conversation to be had with non-nudista in society, even if most of them can be standoffish at first. Planting that seed can often begin working even if it doesn't seem to at first. I have dozens of people on my life that, while they will probably never become nudists, have at least come around on their thinking and accept my part in it a lot more than when they first learned about it...
What strikes me though, is how many NUDISTS still have this line of thinking. How many proclaimed nudists still only follow or promote 'attractive' imagery on their social media. How many will still comment negatively on bodies that are not 'classically' attractive, but comment positively on those that are. How many that go to lengths to put filters on their own photos to cover body 'flaws' etc.
The idea and societal issue runs super deep... And I don't know how many more children and adults lives we have to lose to eating disorders, abuse and suicide (to name a few) that are a direct result of this addiction to attractiveness before we even begin to learn.
Oh, you've anticipated a future essay idea of mine! ABSOLUTELY these ideas are perpetuated by nudists who post slim, young, conventionally attractive nudes on social media. It has been a long-standing issue for me, and I'm really glad you brought it up. Thank you!
It's beyond a peeve of mine. Before I deleted twitter I was in a constant battle with 'nudists' that defended that crap constantly. It was so disheartening.
Great article! 🎉 I think we can start even sooner, before nudity, to support celebrating every kind of body. Compliments are so easy to give and can really make someone's day if they do not hear them often. "You look great in that colour" is one that stays away from any kind of body commentary but still promotes lifting up someone's self-acceptance. For people who tend to criticizd others, some can be brought to awareness and others are simply narcissists. It is helpful to make a first entreaty, always.
I appreciated the Seinfeld example very much. As is true for Seinfeld's artistic excellence, using a fringe idea, in this case nudism, and connecting it to unresolved societal opinions eg. sexual attraction, makes the point very clearly. Even though many will consider our current societal norms permissive, we still have a long way to go. I guess you could say, there's a good permissive and a bad permissive.
Hi Matthew - great post and love the comments. Since we all, every one of us, has a naked body - why do we pretend we don't? A leopard may not be able to change its spots but we are able to adorn our bodies to reflect our moods, aspirations, status etc, etc - all cultures do that, it is the mark of acceptance of subservience to the ruling ideology. Nudism, most especially public nudism, is a revolutionary statement of radical individualism. No wonder the fascist prudists persecute it...
The reason Seinfeld is funny is because he says
The reason Seinfeld is funny is because he says things that many people think but don't feel comfortable saying. It's a common comedic device
The last paragraph seems so true. The perception of non-sexual nudity hasn't changed in 40 years. That is sad.
Si bien apoyo mucho de lo que el autor expone, algo lo considero erróneo: decir que por ese capítulo la idea del nudismo malo o bueno se volvió universal. Definitivamente ese programa televisivo no tiene impacto en mi país, México, y seguramente en muchos ni lo conocen y, mucho menos, creo que tenga influencia indirecta en las sociedades del universo.
Por cierto, a quien le interese saber qué escribí, le recomiendo aprender español o por lo menos utilizar el traductor. Yo amo mi idioma.
And the conversation continues. As a family naturist for the last 40 years I can say this conversation has been ongoing and unfortunately hasn't really gotten anywhere other than more hope for a different future. Question or the exploration has to be expressing what the transition looks like from where we are to a place where being in one's skin in social settings is the norm.
Nakedness has a history of having trauma associated with it. There are many in the textile world who have this as their boundary not necessarily sexuality. Sexual violence emotionally and physically is definitely a factor. This is one of the reasons I don't really advocate naked bike rides. I see it great value in naked bike rides but going through textile cities doesn't help the image of social acceptance to that city. It's seen as nostalgic or a fun different thing to do while at the same time potentially triggering a lot of people who have traumas associated with nakedness.
For example how do we get a commercial that's selling a product or service and the actors in the scene are naked but the commercial isn't about their nakedness and no comments are made about them being naked. You don't need to have genitals be shown.
Having more and more commercials like this would be an interesting social experiment though I do think it would backfire and here's why.
Neurologically the textiles brain responds differently than a naturist's brain. Let me explain walk with me for a moment.
I've been looking for the clinical study and I still can't find it but years ago I read about it and I don't know if it was replicated here's what they did.
They had an FMRI machine in the back of a semi and they brought it to a textile community and they brought it to a naturist resort. In the textile community the clinicians were dressed in white coats and the naturist community the clinicians were also naked or had white coats on but were naked underneath.
People were asked to go into the FMRI machine and look at pictures when they saw a picture of someone who had green clothing on or some sort of green textile they were to press a button. The pictures were of people of all ages in different forms of dress and undress some of them completely naked none of them in specifically erotic positions of any sort. All of them just doing normal everyday activities mowing the lawn baking cookies watching TV things like this.
What they didn't tell the subject was the clinicians were looking at the parts of the brain specifically associated with erotic arousal. They gave the results to a group of neurologists who knew nothing of the tests and were supposed to identify the brain scans that were more erotically stimulated or less erratically stimulated.
What ended up happening is the brains of the naturist subjects were much less erratically stimulated by the pictures then the brains of the textiles.
What this means is when textile brains experience nakedness They have a tendency to be more erotically aroused so even if there was a commercial where people were selling a product or service and all these showed was different parts of the people's naked bodies without genitals those textile brains would still be erotically charged because they haven't been desensitized by being around nakedness 24/7.
So how do we get textile people inspired to go to a socially naked space or socially naked event to see what it's like?
If people from the textile world go to occasional naked social events is that enough to desensitize their brains to the extent that it becomes a norm?
I don't think so I think in order for our brains to be comfortable or see safety and comfort within social nakedness and the vulnerability of that social nakedness it has to be constant.
We're talking about the radical vulnerability of trust respect and honor of our nakedness with strangers.
This is a great discussion and I wonder if there's people out there that would be interested in having a zoom meeting to have this as a discussion. I am a facilitator for restorative practice and I would be willing to put effort into setting up the meeting and facilitating. If there are co-facilitators that would join me that would be great!
The pictured scene is from when Jerry walks into the living room naked carrying a power tool. The woman called that bad naked, which is correct. One shouldn't use power tools naked.