What attracts people to nudism and naturism?
We love being naked.
And how do you explain this to non-nudists? Do they even want an explanation? And why don’t they want this same thing?
So be naked, who cares?
As every nudist and naturist will confirm, just being naked inside your own home isn’t everything. It is a path, a journey, from discovery to exploring. As you get used to being nude, you want to push you boundaries and expand your experience.
The simple joy of home nudity
Let’s start with nudity in your own house, in private.
For people that do not have this need to be naked, this must already we weird. Being naked in your bathroom, yes. Being naked in your bedroom, yes. But no matter how they try, they will never understand what’s so nice about running around naked, unprotected, uncovered, cold—that’s their association, not ours.
To us, nudists and naturists, it’s about feeling free. Just the mere fact of being able to be naked is already bliss. Free of the shackles of what we were told. Get out of bed in the morning, go to the bathroom, go downstairs and to the kitchen, have some coffee and breakfast. Naked. That is already relaxing our mind, not having to bother with putting on some clothes.
I wonder if any of us can even explain why that is so important to us, why it gives us that feeling. And I wonder if all the other people in the world can explain why they hate even just the thought of it. The most heard reaction to this is usually “eeew… yikes”, as if we’re pooing on the table and smearing it on the walls.
Anyone who doesn’t understand this might as well wonder why a naked body triggers sexual response, arousal. Anyone care to explain? It’s not rational either, and nobody cares, they just enjoy it, rightfully. And so do we with our casual non-sexual nudity.
Maybe non-nudist might just be afraid to be seen by the neighbours, but might otherwise consider more nudity in the house. Some might be afraid of getting cold. Or getting dirty. Or getting the furniture dirty. Or they were just taught that nudity is a bad thing, is wrong, and they never questioned that point of view.
Turning the tables on textile comfort
Now let me turn the table. Let me ask the non-nudist what it is that attracts you to wearing clothes all the time? Why does it make you feel comfortable? Why do you prefer to sit in a wet swimsuit after a swim?
Hard questions, no? Absurd questions? Welcome to my world; nudists and naturists get the same questions about being nude.
The difference is that I’ve been in your place, I have been wearing clothes all my life—because I had to, but that’s not the point, and you haven’t been in my place—yet.
And I know clothing is comfortable, when it’s cold, or when it’s raining. Or when you ride a motorcycle and you want to protect your body in case of a fall. Or you step through the bush and don’t want to scratch your skin all over. And all of those reasons are rational ones. It is easy enough to convince people why they should wear clothes.
Until it gets really hot. You have to admit that you have thought at least once in your life how clothes can feel too much on a really hot day. You start sweating, your clothes get wet, and it gets very uncomfortable very quickly.
So now I have also found a rational reason to be naked.
The difference is that I can easily be convinced to wear clothes when it’s cold, but a non-nudist can’t be convinced to go naked when it’s really hot. The non-nudists’ reasons for not being willing to go naked are as irrational as the reasons that nudists have to wanting to be naked whenever they can. But the non-nudists have the advantage here that the majority in our society supports their irrational reasons and not ours.
So when we are at home, we just don’t feel like wearing clothes. No, that is not really literally our reasoning. We rather prefer being naked. Because it makes us feel good.
So doesn’t it sexually arouse us?
No, not really. Thinking like that might be a projection of the feelings of a non-nudist towards nudity. And that would be a natural feeling and reaction to nudity, of oneself or of others around you, nothing wrong with that at all.
Nudists can get aroused from nudity too—but in a different setting. When we’re with the one we love, and we’re “in the mood”. But not from nudity alone. I really adore the body of my wife. In a non-sexual context I can watch her naked body for hours, and admire it, enjoy it, love it. Just like a non-nudist can adore their partner in beautiful clothes, I can adore the sight of the naked body of my partner, without necessarily getting aroused by it. I admire it like a work of art, and it triggers strong feelings of love in me.
In a sexual context, we’re all the same. I get the same reaction to her naked body than everyone else when we make love. I mean, we’re not made of stone.
The practical realities
Now let’s get back to nudity inside the house. One might wonder—Isn’t it uncomfortable when your skin touches the furniture for instance? We have leather seats and a sofa in our house, and yes, it isn’t really comfortable to sit directly with your naked skin on a leather surface, true. But there’s a simple solution for that: we use towels to sit on. It is a bit fiddly, I admit, but you get used to that very quickly. It becomes second nature—after you got tired of your skin sticking to the leather when you get up.
But that doesn’t diminish the great feeling of bodily freedom that I described above, of getting out of bed, going downstairs, have breakfast, all without bothering with clothes. You really have to experience this with an open mind, before judging. There is nothing wrong with doing this, we are not bothering anyone with that, no animals or children were harmed by us being naked in our own house. And the world order won’t collapse because of that (there are plenty of other reasons currently). On the contrary, I’m absolutely convinced that the world would be a much better place if everyone would do this, and I’ll later explain why.
Beyond the walls
Even though this inhouse nudity feels very liberating, it does become limiting after a while. You want to feel more, you want to feel more “normality” about it, and that isn’t achieved by hiding yourself inside your own house, afraid of anyone seeing you. It still makes you feel too much like what you do needs to be hidden, like it’s a weird thing to do, and that annihilates the feeling of liberation. There must be more that you can do.
Like going outside? 🪐
Editor’s note: This essay is part one of a three-part series by Catherina, exploring how nudists and non-nudists experience nudity differently. Part two is coming soon. You can find more of her writing on naturist life on her Substack: https://kath62.substack.com/
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I have always contended that either you get the enjoyment of being naked or you don't. Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I've found my non-nudist friends just cannot wrap their heads around the simple enjoyment of being nude. And IMO it seems to me that a lot of time and effort is wasted on trying to convince the non-believers.