Misunderstanding of naturism is rooted in insecurities about our bodies instilled in us by societal association of the nude body with sex and the entertainment, cosmetic, fashion, pharmaceutical, etc industries financial interest in keeping us that way.
A big part of modern day society is body shaming, whether you’re too thin or too fat or too short or too tall! Obviously this is just plain wrong. In my youth, I had the opportunity during lake days to enjoy being nude in public places, but was always quite private, few or no spectators or participants.
Now, as a chubby older man, I enjoy fresh air and sunshine on my entire body, the body as I was born; it’s part of my effort to overcome body shame, and just enjoy being who I am at this point in time.
At present, in summer, I’d like to sunbathe nude in my backyard using carefully placed privacy screens, so I do not offend if my neighbors are socially skewed. The sad thing is that in my vocality, I can actually be charged with lewd behavior for tanning in my own private backyard in the nude, in the nude body as I was born.
That nudity = sex, or that it leads to sex, especially of the orgy lifestyle type. The fact that this is true for a sizable portion of the naturist community only reinforces and spreads what is not true for most nudists, as it’s certainly more sensational than typical nudist behavior (sunning, swimming, etc).
Agreed, but in this Christofascist neo-Victorian prudetopia that the US is ever rapidly becoming, it will never happen. I only see things getting worse. For naturists, for women and people of color, for the non-traditionally-gendered, for anyone who challenges the white male xtian heterodoxy, the future does not look promising.
All of the above! The media is very much run by those in society who are very much against public nudity, these same people control our lawmakers, and our education system. Now, THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER.......these people are sadly the majority of our country's voting citizens! Sad but true! Almost always a politician doesn't make much mention of their views on public nudity because most people are more interested in other issues. In most cases a politician is not even asked about this. This is a sad state of affairs!
The biggest concept I"ve found to be misunderstood, in the 60 some odd years I've been a naturist and a nudist, is that all nudist are swingers. I have explained to many first time nudist that not all nudist are swingers. Are there swingers and sex in nudist communities? Of course there is after all we are still just humans. Are there swingers and sex going on in the religious community? Of course there is after all they are just humans. Is there swinging and sex going on in every kind of community in the country? Of course there is after all they are just humans. The point is that, it is not just in the naturist / nudist communities, it happens in everyday life and it is up to the individual to either participate in that lifestyle or not. Face it we are all human and capable of making up our own minds. Please don't single out our lifestyle as being explicitly just swinging and sex it's far more then that. It is people who no matter what their appearance is or their opinions are, that drop all trappings of the textile world. For a moment remember that we are all humans that have the same body parts though they may differ in appearance, that can get along and enjoy each others company. That we don't have to judge or be judged by our community. We are all equal with out clothes.
The biggest misunderstanding about naturism is that it is sexual. That is the first thing most textile minds go to when the topic presents itself in whatever form. It was mine for many years, until, unlike most textiles, I decided to actually check it out. I went to Oak Lake Trails in Oklahoma, and was shocked to find that naturism itself had nothing to do with sex. Sure, there are some that try to bring that element into it, but naturism itself is simply about enjoying everyday activities, and nature, simply and without clothes.
I can’t pick one, those choices all are a problem. I like the expression “A comfort of naturists” ala “a flock of birds.” It really is a better choice for so many places. Especially in water.
We have biweekly water exercise class at the YMCA. Makes no sense what so ever to put clothes on (suits/togs) for that. Ironically the YMCA used to be famous for its no cloth in the pool because it “clogged the filters.” Mixed gender now so a bigger hurdle.
I used to think that the biggest misconception was that naturism = sex. That was certainly true 30 years ago. But today I find that the biggest misconception is that naturism is bad for kids. The debate about which one is the biggest depends on how you measure "big". To me it is the damage that the misconception does. While being confused with sex has always been a problem, the general public was largely tolerant. But back then, nobody ever thought that the sex part would ever apply to children since they were wholesome and naked kids were just cute. However today, the sex part is now associated with children too so we're not just seen as nymphomaniacs but as predators or enablers of pedophiles. Of course, the opposite is true and easily explained if we are given a chance. But that's the problem, most of the time they're not listening.
I responded with other because I think all of the areas mentioned are wrong. The one comment about not listening, is most people don't want to be confused with any facts because they have already made up their minds. I tell people to go to the AANR website, the ones that do, then tell me they understand. They may still not want to participate, but at least they are making the decision based on reliable information.
Tbh , questions like these are asked so many times that I'm not going to lie. It's kind of boring to talk about it... The point is, the more rules and laws you have, the less freedom you have.. it's pretty common sense. Now I know that the subject is not the legality here, but more like morality.. but sorry to say those two things are connected..
And we think about it, kind of I said kind of.. the more the West earnish it is, the more it gets bad.. or should I say the more the place is advanced, the worse it is. The fact that you only get naked when you have sex or shower is a pretty clear answer what people think of a bunch of naked people together.
From that POV it's common sense to stink something like that. You have to say that. At the end of the day who cares what people think no?
"... UK's adoption of a non-prosecution model for simple, non-sexual nudity is one we should pursue at the federal, state and local levels". Agreed, but how the heck does one go about it? From the "grassroots" local level (bottom up)? Or from the top down (national or state) level? I have no idea where we would begin.
Fear of being naked and seen by others.
Misunderstanding of naturism is rooted in insecurities about our bodies instilled in us by societal association of the nude body with sex and the entertainment, cosmetic, fashion, pharmaceutical, etc industries financial interest in keeping us that way.
A big part of modern day society is body shaming, whether you’re too thin or too fat or too short or too tall! Obviously this is just plain wrong. In my youth, I had the opportunity during lake days to enjoy being nude in public places, but was always quite private, few or no spectators or participants.
Now, as a chubby older man, I enjoy fresh air and sunshine on my entire body, the body as I was born; it’s part of my effort to overcome body shame, and just enjoy being who I am at this point in time.
At present, in summer, I’d like to sunbathe nude in my backyard using carefully placed privacy screens, so I do not offend if my neighbors are socially skewed. The sad thing is that in my vocality, I can actually be charged with lewd behavior for tanning in my own private backyard in the nude, in the nude body as I was born.
*locality, not vocality
Short answer - everything
That nudity = sex, or that it leads to sex, especially of the orgy lifestyle type. The fact that this is true for a sizable portion of the naturist community only reinforces and spreads what is not true for most nudists, as it’s certainly more sensational than typical nudist behavior (sunning, swimming, etc).
UK's adoption of a non-prosecution model for simple, non-sexual nudity is one we should pursue at the federal, state and local levels.
Agreed, but in this Christofascist neo-Victorian prudetopia that the US is ever rapidly becoming, it will never happen. I only see things getting worse. For naturists, for women and people of color, for the non-traditionally-gendered, for anyone who challenges the white male xtian heterodoxy, the future does not look promising.
All of the above! The media is very much run by those in society who are very much against public nudity, these same people control our lawmakers, and our education system. Now, THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER.......these people are sadly the majority of our country's voting citizens! Sad but true! Almost always a politician doesn't make much mention of their views on public nudity because most people are more interested in other issues. In most cases a politician is not even asked about this. This is a sad state of affairs!
The biggest concept I"ve found to be misunderstood, in the 60 some odd years I've been a naturist and a nudist, is that all nudist are swingers. I have explained to many first time nudist that not all nudist are swingers. Are there swingers and sex in nudist communities? Of course there is after all we are still just humans. Are there swingers and sex going on in the religious community? Of course there is after all they are just humans. Is there swinging and sex going on in every kind of community in the country? Of course there is after all they are just humans. The point is that, it is not just in the naturist / nudist communities, it happens in everyday life and it is up to the individual to either participate in that lifestyle or not. Face it we are all human and capable of making up our own minds. Please don't single out our lifestyle as being explicitly just swinging and sex it's far more then that. It is people who no matter what their appearance is or their opinions are, that drop all trappings of the textile world. For a moment remember that we are all humans that have the same body parts though they may differ in appearance, that can get along and enjoy each others company. That we don't have to judge or be judged by our community. We are all equal with out clothes.
The biggest misunderstanding about naturism is that it is sexual. That is the first thing most textile minds go to when the topic presents itself in whatever form. It was mine for many years, until, unlike most textiles, I decided to actually check it out. I went to Oak Lake Trails in Oklahoma, and was shocked to find that naturism itself had nothing to do with sex. Sure, there are some that try to bring that element into it, but naturism itself is simply about enjoying everyday activities, and nature, simply and without clothes.
I can’t pick one, those choices all are a problem. I like the expression “A comfort of naturists” ala “a flock of birds.” It really is a better choice for so many places. Especially in water.
We have biweekly water exercise class at the YMCA. Makes no sense what so ever to put clothes on (suits/togs) for that. Ironically the YMCA used to be famous for its no cloth in the pool because it “clogged the filters.” Mixed gender now so a bigger hurdle.
Pretty much everything
I used to think that the biggest misconception was that naturism = sex. That was certainly true 30 years ago. But today I find that the biggest misconception is that naturism is bad for kids. The debate about which one is the biggest depends on how you measure "big". To me it is the damage that the misconception does. While being confused with sex has always been a problem, the general public was largely tolerant. But back then, nobody ever thought that the sex part would ever apply to children since they were wholesome and naked kids were just cute. However today, the sex part is now associated with children too so we're not just seen as nymphomaniacs but as predators or enablers of pedophiles. Of course, the opposite is true and easily explained if we are given a chance. But that's the problem, most of the time they're not listening.
I responded with other because I think all of the areas mentioned are wrong. The one comment about not listening, is most people don't want to be confused with any facts because they have already made up their minds. I tell people to go to the AANR website, the ones that do, then tell me they understand. They may still not want to participate, but at least they are making the decision based on reliable information.
Tbh , questions like these are asked so many times that I'm not going to lie. It's kind of boring to talk about it... The point is, the more rules and laws you have, the less freedom you have.. it's pretty common sense. Now I know that the subject is not the legality here, but more like morality.. but sorry to say those two things are connected..
And we think about it, kind of I said kind of.. the more the West earnish it is, the more it gets bad.. or should I say the more the place is advanced, the worse it is. The fact that you only get naked when you have sex or shower is a pretty clear answer what people think of a bunch of naked people together.
From that POV it's common sense to stink something like that. You have to say that. At the end of the day who cares what people think no?
"... UK's adoption of a non-prosecution model for simple, non-sexual nudity is one we should pursue at the federal, state and local levels". Agreed, but how the heck does one go about it? From the "grassroots" local level (bottom up)? Or from the top down (national or state) level? I have no idea where we would begin.