This is one of the very best articles I have ever read on the subject. It reaffirms my desire to stay weird and possibly even get weirder. Thank you!!!
The key takeaway here is narratives and the awareness that we have of them. Closely associated with narratives is the language that we use. Especially turns of phrase because they are mind shaping spells that get us thinking linearly without even realising it.
The insidious nature of spells is such, that one doesn’t even realise they’re under the power of a spell until something comes along to break it.
I find the term “nonsexual social nudity” personally triggering because it’s so specific and counter to the thrust of what you’re otherwise saying.
Being at one with nature, naked or otherwise, doesn’t need a social construct around it. Nudity itself should be as natural as any other activity and therefore not need a social construct around it.
Sex has been so demonised within society that people are terrified to stand in its defence. The reason “nonsexual nudity” is such an unnecessary term, is because it asserts and reinforces the idea that 1) the only kind of nudity is typically sexual in nature and 2) humans are typically nonsexual unless naked.
On this point it completely side steps the fact that humans are on the whole highly sexualised beings, whether clothed or not.
People are generally so brainwashed that sex is a terrible thing, that the need to suppress that aspect of our nature is compulsory.
An alternative to weird is exceptional. In a world full of mindless zombies under the spell of conformity, critical thought is a rare commodity.
Examine the language we individually use carefully and see if it doesn’t reveal a narrative that is in fact a spell we don’t even know that we’re under.
This is an excellent point and something I’ve thought a lot about as well. I’m really glad someone else has mentioned this, because while writing this I actually went back and changed a few of the instances of “nonsexual social nudity” (what an awkward mouthful either way) to “conscious nudity”. Because there are really only two types of nudity: one you think about and one you don’t. Any other dichotomy, like you said, is a social construct that shapes how we think and act. I even have troubles with the term “naturism” – the fact that we need to use an “-ism” to describe living in harmony with our bodies and nature feels so inauthentic and inaccurate.
In the context of our society though I guess, the narrative is that nudity is strictly sexual and private, so I do think “nonsexual social nudity” has a place when speaking specifically to that. But! I can totally see how even making that distinction reinforces the false dichotomy (in the same way that a non-binary gender identity kind of reinforces the idea that there’s a binary in the first place). Definitely something I’m going to be thinking about further. I’ve already been working on phasing out “nonsexual social nudity” from my language – mostly because “sexual” nudity can also be a respectful practice of embodiment and empowerment.
Really appreciate these thoughts, thanks for sharing!
I totally agree with the -ism as I’ve struggled with it all my life and resist being categorised. Another great social power play to herd us into group think.
Conscious nudity is a great term until nudity itself becomes as unconscious as anything else. It’s actually surprising how quickly nudity becomes unconscious.
I think in many instances nudity can stand alone without qualification.
That in itself is a form of vulnerability, resisting the urge to qualify the term.
If you haven’t already read a translation of the Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu I highly recommend it for an insight into the subtle nature of duality and dichotomies. Among other things 🙂
This discussion brings back memories of grad school during which I read thousands of pages worth of Bakhtin, Saussure, & Halliday. It's difficult to have 'non-X' without casting 'X' as some kind of default, thereby reinforcing 'X' as being within the norm.
Complicating this is the fact many people have never had exposure to this kind of discussion. Also there're those who only see or are only interested in whether or not something has the imprimatur of 'right'.
The question is what to do. It often feels like one is talking to walls; it's like half the country has caught a raging case of Semmelweis Reflex.
I think the general answer is a newer fresher generation that don’t have the baggage previous generations did.
One example of this is the term ‘textiles’ referring to people who don’t participate in social nudity.
The problem with the term is the alienation that it creates and the ‘us’ and ‘them’ tribalism it reinforces.
My daughter is Gen-Z who’s been brought up in a far more tolerant, diverse and inclusive world than I was (Gen-X)
As such her default position is to de-weaponise language. She readily understands why derogatory terminology should be avoided.
Getting older generations to understand the same idea can be quite difficult. They arguably grew up in a tougher world where there were far more hurtful and harmful things than words.
Huge strides in neurological research reveals just how influential and powerful words are.
To a large extent this has always been understood by intellectuals and scholars.
What’s better understood these days is the power of not only external language, but internal dialogue as well.
So coming full circle, even though it seems like splitting hairs sometimes, being intentional about language can help get the desired understanding out there.
I suppose we should deweaponize language as much as practical. You can never do it completely because humans are inherently judgmental.
Intentionally sexual nudity can be just as empowering and respectful as any other purpose for nudity (Or not. Depends on the person and the audience.) Context and empathy are everything. (Ex-stripper here.)
The problem with any word X used to describe a person is that it implies the existence of not-X. It is our personal value system that makes a word weaponized and not the fact it was used to describe a difference. It doesn’t really matter if X has positive or negative connotations because not-X will always have the opposite connotation. Saying that a person is generous is meaningless unless there are nongenerous people.
The tribalism kicks in if you place a value - good or ill, it doesn’t matter - on generosity. There is no tribal separation if the term is considered neutrally. But even if you consider a term morally neutral, the other person may place emotional baggage on it.
I use textile as the set of humans wearing clothing and another person uses it to mean the set of humans who are inferior to us because they aren’t enlightened.
There are times when you happen to be sexual and times when you aren’t, and probably a spectrum in between where you are one and the other at the same time. For a nudist, being nude doesn’t slide you up or down this scale. The context in which you are nude does that.
A person who grows up in textile culture and never gets beyond it doesn’t have this freedom. For them, coed nudity has a strong sexual bias they can’t shake. All you’ve ever known, everything you’ve ever been taught, and the society you are surrounded by reinforces this.
Unconscious nudity is something our earliest Paleolithic ancestors experienced. When you’ve known nothing but nudity, there is no concept of “nude or not nude.” There is just existence.
My very best nude experience is when (climate willing) I forget that I’m naked.
Thanks for expressing this so well. I'm often socially naked around clothed friends. I make a conscious decision also to be frequently nude on my mainstream social media, to the extent allowed. I 'm known for nudity in my social circle, and I think it makes a positive statement. Most of the non-nudists in my life seem to regard nakedness as one of my many quirks; just one of the things that makes me a little weird.
Very well deserved kuodos for this wonderfully expressed article. The article covers the entire spectrum of topics related to naturism-nudism. The title of the article itself is self explanatory & indeed motivates to "keep nudism weird".
Nudism is part of who I am, an inherent trait, an identity. It’s my normal so I resist the framing that I am weird and/or subversive. I certainly get that my being nudist is not in the mainstream and is not often accepted, but I also don’t believe that I should view myself through a lens that others me and build that othering into how I approach my beingness.
I've always disliked the labeling of everything as an "identity." Everyone is many things and tagging one of those things as an identity is to make everything else irrelevant. I like to say I'm a nudie because nobody has co-opted that term yet - and it is easy to say. You can find all kinds of websites telling you that you must be/do this or that to be a "true" nudist or naturist. I just like being naked in the open air and all those caveats and commandments don't apply to me. I do what feels right and true.
I really like the differentiation between "nonsexual social nudity" and "conscious nudity." I wonder if body positivity is really the same thing under a different label? Though I find myself becoming unconscious of my nudity when I'm alone or when everyone around me is accepting. That's a very good place to be. Still when I was a young guy, many decades ago, I often kept it weird. Consent is the ultimate law and if there is consent you can have all the sexuality you want.
I prefer to think of myself as naked rather than nude. A nude can be armored with respectability while to be naked is to be vulnerable.
Excellent piece!
This is one of the very best articles I have ever read on the subject. It reaffirms my desire to stay weird and possibly even get weirder. Thank you!!!
The greatest magic comes from simply freeing oneself by communing with nature in a woods, lake or river. I think I'll go get enchanted...
The key takeaway here is narratives and the awareness that we have of them. Closely associated with narratives is the language that we use. Especially turns of phrase because they are mind shaping spells that get us thinking linearly without even realising it.
The insidious nature of spells is such, that one doesn’t even realise they’re under the power of a spell until something comes along to break it.
I find the term “nonsexual social nudity” personally triggering because it’s so specific and counter to the thrust of what you’re otherwise saying.
Being at one with nature, naked or otherwise, doesn’t need a social construct around it. Nudity itself should be as natural as any other activity and therefore not need a social construct around it.
Sex has been so demonised within society that people are terrified to stand in its defence. The reason “nonsexual nudity” is such an unnecessary term, is because it asserts and reinforces the idea that 1) the only kind of nudity is typically sexual in nature and 2) humans are typically nonsexual unless naked.
On this point it completely side steps the fact that humans are on the whole highly sexualised beings, whether clothed or not.
People are generally so brainwashed that sex is a terrible thing, that the need to suppress that aspect of our nature is compulsory.
An alternative to weird is exceptional. In a world full of mindless zombies under the spell of conformity, critical thought is a rare commodity.
Examine the language we individually use carefully and see if it doesn’t reveal a narrative that is in fact a spell we don’t even know that we’re under.
This is an excellent point and something I’ve thought a lot about as well. I’m really glad someone else has mentioned this, because while writing this I actually went back and changed a few of the instances of “nonsexual social nudity” (what an awkward mouthful either way) to “conscious nudity”. Because there are really only two types of nudity: one you think about and one you don’t. Any other dichotomy, like you said, is a social construct that shapes how we think and act. I even have troubles with the term “naturism” – the fact that we need to use an “-ism” to describe living in harmony with our bodies and nature feels so inauthentic and inaccurate.
In the context of our society though I guess, the narrative is that nudity is strictly sexual and private, so I do think “nonsexual social nudity” has a place when speaking specifically to that. But! I can totally see how even making that distinction reinforces the false dichotomy (in the same way that a non-binary gender identity kind of reinforces the idea that there’s a binary in the first place). Definitely something I’m going to be thinking about further. I’ve already been working on phasing out “nonsexual social nudity” from my language – mostly because “sexual” nudity can also be a respectful practice of embodiment and empowerment.
Really appreciate these thoughts, thanks for sharing!
I totally agree with the -ism as I’ve struggled with it all my life and resist being categorised. Another great social power play to herd us into group think.
Conscious nudity is a great term until nudity itself becomes as unconscious as anything else. It’s actually surprising how quickly nudity becomes unconscious.
I think in many instances nudity can stand alone without qualification.
That in itself is a form of vulnerability, resisting the urge to qualify the term.
If you haven’t already read a translation of the Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu I highly recommend it for an insight into the subtle nature of duality and dichotomies. Among other things 🙂
This discussion brings back memories of grad school during which I read thousands of pages worth of Bakhtin, Saussure, & Halliday. It's difficult to have 'non-X' without casting 'X' as some kind of default, thereby reinforcing 'X' as being within the norm.
Complicating this is the fact many people have never had exposure to this kind of discussion. Also there're those who only see or are only interested in whether or not something has the imprimatur of 'right'.
The question is what to do. It often feels like one is talking to walls; it's like half the country has caught a raging case of Semmelweis Reflex.
I think the general answer is a newer fresher generation that don’t have the baggage previous generations did.
One example of this is the term ‘textiles’ referring to people who don’t participate in social nudity.
The problem with the term is the alienation that it creates and the ‘us’ and ‘them’ tribalism it reinforces.
My daughter is Gen-Z who’s been brought up in a far more tolerant, diverse and inclusive world than I was (Gen-X)
As such her default position is to de-weaponise language. She readily understands why derogatory terminology should be avoided.
Getting older generations to understand the same idea can be quite difficult. They arguably grew up in a tougher world where there were far more hurtful and harmful things than words.
Huge strides in neurological research reveals just how influential and powerful words are.
To a large extent this has always been understood by intellectuals and scholars.
What’s better understood these days is the power of not only external language, but internal dialogue as well.
So coming full circle, even though it seems like splitting hairs sometimes, being intentional about language can help get the desired understanding out there.
I suppose we should deweaponize language as much as practical. You can never do it completely because humans are inherently judgmental.
Intentionally sexual nudity can be just as empowering and respectful as any other purpose for nudity (Or not. Depends on the person and the audience.) Context and empathy are everything. (Ex-stripper here.)
The problem with any word X used to describe a person is that it implies the existence of not-X. It is our personal value system that makes a word weaponized and not the fact it was used to describe a difference. It doesn’t really matter if X has positive or negative connotations because not-X will always have the opposite connotation. Saying that a person is generous is meaningless unless there are nongenerous people.
The tribalism kicks in if you place a value - good or ill, it doesn’t matter - on generosity. There is no tribal separation if the term is considered neutrally. But even if you consider a term morally neutral, the other person may place emotional baggage on it.
I use textile as the set of humans wearing clothing and another person uses it to mean the set of humans who are inferior to us because they aren’t enlightened.
There are times when you happen to be sexual and times when you aren’t, and probably a spectrum in between where you are one and the other at the same time. For a nudist, being nude doesn’t slide you up or down this scale. The context in which you are nude does that.
A person who grows up in textile culture and never gets beyond it doesn’t have this freedom. For them, coed nudity has a strong sexual bias they can’t shake. All you’ve ever known, everything you’ve ever been taught, and the society you are surrounded by reinforces this.
Unconscious nudity is something our earliest Paleolithic ancestors experienced. When you’ve known nothing but nudity, there is no concept of “nude or not nude.” There is just existence.
My very best nude experience is when (climate willing) I forget that I’m naked.
Thanks for expressing this so well. I'm often socially naked around clothed friends. I make a conscious decision also to be frequently nude on my mainstream social media, to the extent allowed. I 'm known for nudity in my social circle, and I think it makes a positive statement. Most of the non-nudists in my life seem to regard nakedness as one of my many quirks; just one of the things that makes me a little weird.
Very well deserved kuodos for this wonderfully expressed article. The article covers the entire spectrum of topics related to naturism-nudism. The title of the article itself is self explanatory & indeed motivates to "keep nudism weird".
Nudism is part of who I am, an inherent trait, an identity. It’s my normal so I resist the framing that I am weird and/or subversive. I certainly get that my being nudist is not in the mainstream and is not often accepted, but I also don’t believe that I should view myself through a lens that others me and build that othering into how I approach my beingness.
I've always disliked the labeling of everything as an "identity." Everyone is many things and tagging one of those things as an identity is to make everything else irrelevant. I like to say I'm a nudie because nobody has co-opted that term yet - and it is easy to say. You can find all kinds of websites telling you that you must be/do this or that to be a "true" nudist or naturist. I just like being naked in the open air and all those caveats and commandments don't apply to me. I do what feels right and true.
I really like the differentiation between "nonsexual social nudity" and "conscious nudity." I wonder if body positivity is really the same thing under a different label? Though I find myself becoming unconscious of my nudity when I'm alone or when everyone around me is accepting. That's a very good place to be. Still when I was a young guy, many decades ago, I often kept it weird. Consent is the ultimate law and if there is consent you can have all the sexuality you want.
I prefer to think of myself as naked rather than nude. A nude can be armored with respectability while to be naked is to be vulnerable.