Body Shame, like prejudice, is not natural, it is learned from others and benefits No One

One of my favorite sayings is "Body Shame, like prejudice, is not natural, it is learned from others and benefits No One".

It makes me sad sometimes how freaked out the US is about our amazing human bodies devoid of clothing as nature intended, while many other countries are much more comfortable with their bodies. It kind of makes me sad that I have to worry so much about whether or not the wrong person will see me without clothes. I just want to live without having to worry about putting on clothes to be around others as I'm just so much more comfortable and happy without clothes.

I feel sad at times that I can't invite family over, or certain friends without having to put clothes on.  Why can't they just accept me the way I'm comfortable and try to get over your unfounded fear of Carla and I naked.  I know it seems weird, but think about it, I've just got body parts like everyone else, it's not sexual, and I'm more comfortable naked.  I don't act any different naked than I do clothed.  It is Not sexual in any way.  I don't try to flash my parts at you and I respect your concerns, I really do.  But I would be SO happy if a family member would write me and say, 'Hey Guy, I've thought about it, and if you are comfortable being naked around me, then I'll get over my irrational fears and allow you to be comfortable, and will accept you just as you are'.  That would make my day, No, that would make my year. When I'm made to put clothes on at home just because someone is not comfortable, I can respect that, but it makes me feel like they are afraid of me, or they don't trust me.  Or maybe they are afraid of how they will react.  Sometimes I'm not sure.  If any family happens to read this, just consider it, please.  And thank you for even considering it.  But, I'm pretty sure none of my family will as they are mostly not interested in my nudist ramblings and such.

Another example is, Why do I have to go to the great lengths shown below to work on my vehicle in my driveway.  Here, I actually put up a blue cloth to gain the privacy I need to do simple cleaning or maintenance.  And I do this multiple times per week.  But Why do I need to do this?

Working naked in my driveway

Why is that so hard for the people here in the US to understand that about those of who choose not to wear clothes, which are man made adornments anyway, and why do naked bodies freak out so many people in the US?

I think it mostly has to do with very Antiquated religious ways of thinking.  But we have long since moved past those ways, except when it comes to the unclothed body.  Many years ago it was considered immoral for a Man to show his bare chest, or for women to show their ankles even.  But we evolved, and our intelligence led us to realize that being worried about those things is silly.

But I feel we are at the next stage in our intellectual development regarding the human body.  We now are ok with seeing all parts of the human body except the butt crack, genitals and women's breasts.  But my question is this: 'Does anyone over the age of 18 NOT know what those body parts look like'?  Of course the answer is NO.  We ALL know what they look like, and although they come in different shapes and sizes, they basically are all the same.  So WHY is it that people are so worried about seeing them?  It's because of social conditioning which mostly comes from over zealous religious extremists.  Are you really going to let this small segment of people tell you how to think, react and believe?  Think about that.

I think another answer to the question above is mostly in the fear that we have that if we see a person with their genitals or women's breasts showing that this will somehow cause mass sexual perversion, or rape, child molestation, etc.  But if people would educated themselves they would see that this is NOT the case.  People have been gathering for years in large groups with no clothes on and it has never caused any of these problems.  Go visit a nudist resort sometime, even if just for a free tour, and you'll see how relaxed the community is, and how there isn't even the slightest hint of perversion going on.  Rape is Not Triggered by the sight of a naked body nor does it cause people to do things that are perverted.

And, here's the real truth others not in the nudist lifestyle need to understand.  Yes, you may be shocked a little the first time you see a lot of naked people in a crowd.  But you Will get over it quickly.  We've all been there.  We've all had that first time and many of us were very apprehensive about trying it, but after disrobing and joining them, we discover that the shock of seeing all those naked bodies turns into the Joy of feeling totally free, and liberated in ways that are hard to describe.  It just feels natural and very relaxing.  Soon we forget that we are among dozens or hundreds of others without clothes.



I think the best way to describe that effect is by quoting the famous actress Mae West who once said: "Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often".  If you take a moment to think about it, what this means is that you are easily shocked because you seldom see something like naked bodies.  But if you are 'shocked' more often, you get over it.  

This fear of naked bodies is irrational, but most people won't realize this and will justify their fear of naked bodies with morality, shame, religion, or the harm to their children.  But numerous studies have shown that children who grow up in a clothing optional environment have no issues resulting from it.  It's all in how you raise you kids. If you raise them to be ashamed of naked bodies, they will be, and they will be shocked if they see one in public.  But kids who grow up in that environment see it as normal, therefore they are not shocked or harmed by it in any way.   


For five years, Dennis Craig Smith and William Sparks studied the effects of social nudity on children. Their book, The Naked Child: Growing Up Without Shame, is written in part from their personal experience with naturism, and remains a solid piece of descriptive self-reporting on the effects of social nudity on children. They conclude that "the viewing of the unclothed body, far from being destructive to the psyche, seems to be either benign and totally harmless or to actually provide positive benefits to the individuals involved" (183). Scholars publishing in academic journals have come to the same conclusion.

You can read more about this at: http://montananaturist.org/Naturism%20and%20Children.html

Or read stories from those who grew up in a nudist family at places like this: http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Grew-Up-In-A-Nudist-Family/1402643

So I just want to post this poster I made, of myself, and encourage others to pass it on as well.

Nudism motivational poster

 Feel free to contact me privately, or to post in the comments section below.

Thank you,
Guy

Nudists are Losing Their Rights, and How YOU can Help

We know that the majority of the readers of our blog are nudists, and that we are reaching very few new people.  But we will continue to try to reach the people who have thought about nudism, or are just curious about it anyway, to show that nudists are just normal people who have gotten over our body shame, learned body acceptance of others, and chose to live a more comfortable lifestyle without clothes.

BUT, for those of you who already enjoy nudism, we are calling on you to 'Come Out of The proverbial Nudist Closet'.  Why?  Because our rights as nudists are being eroded slowly by the ultra conservative minority who think it's their god given job to protect society from all us crazy, weird, sinful nude people.  I believe it really is a minority of people who think this way, but they are willing to work hard to take away our rights, and they carry a lot of weight, especially when the majority of us are hiding in our safety closets.

I know, I know, SOME of you can't come out, and I understand.  But I believe MOST of you can, but you are afraid to take the chance to stand up for something you believe in.  The fear of repercussions is Mostly in your head.  Seldom does any of those fears actually happen.  And if they do, you can almost always deal with them and they usually go away once you explain why you are a nudist.

Let me give you an example.  I used to live in fear that others would find out and ostracize me, look down on me or something similar.  I feared that everyone would just think I was a pervert, or total weirdo, so I never told anyone.  Then one day I got caught by my parents, and 2 nieces and it was no big deal.  They just made a joke of it.  So I then started telling everyone if they were coming by my place, just call first and I'd get dressed.  Didn't have any problems with anyone.  Most acted like it was nothing.  Then I married my current wife, who was also a nudist and we decided to host 'World Naked Gardening Day' in our backyard and announced it on Craigslist to try and attract new members for our local nudist group. 

Well the media got wind of it and wanted to interview us, so we decided, what the heck, we'll put out a press release.  Sure enough, we ended up on the front cover of the local paper (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/pair_to_host_event_for_celebra) and on TV 4 times, nude every time.  All articles were well written and positive overall.  My wife worked for a large

Photo that appeared on Front page of our local newspaper

corporation and the next day there were some jokes made about it, but nothing else.  She didn't get fired over it, or disciplined, or anything.  The only issues have been that the next day the HOA called us concerned about their kids seeing us naked, but after a 15 minute phone call their concerns were laid to rest, with a caveat of 'ok, as long as you keep it private I guess we can't say anything'.  Soon that blew over and we never heard anything else about it.  And my brother asked me to no longer contact my niece via Facebook because he feels I'm only out to show my genitals to everyone.  But he doesn't talk to most of my family, so it's not just me.  My wife also had one sister upset about it, but she still talks to her sister and just never mentions nudism at all.  So overall, very little has happened since we came out of the closet.

If most of us remain in the closet, society will see us as a closet society, hiding something.  And if we are hiding something, it must be because there's something wrong with it, so it's probably sinful or immoral.  And if most remain hidden, it appears our numbers are MUCH lower than they really are so we are seen as this little group of people who like to run around naked together and have orgies.

How can we change this?  I have several ideas.  Here's a few of them-

1. We come out on places like Facebook.  The way to do that is to start gradually by doing things like sharing nudist articles about nude beaches, or nudist resorts, etc.  Others will start to understand what you are trying to say.  Then just answer their questions, and start posting now and then about how you've come to learn sunbathing nude in private, skinnydipping, etc.  
2. Become a member of groups like TNS, The Naturist Society, or AANR.  This shows solidarity and gives us a larger voice.  By having a large support group like this, it shows there's more than a few of us that enjoy this lifestyle.
3. Talk about it with your family and friends.  Again, you can bring it up slowly.  Here's an example.  Tell your friends who are coming over one day not to come over until after 3pm (for example) because you're going to be sunbathing in the backyard and don't want tan lines so won't be wearing anything.  Or if you have a hot tub, say you prefer not swimsuits in the hot tub because the soaps and chemicals in your suits messes up the tub chemistry, (true).  Or maybe you have always wanted to check out the nude beach in your area.  Ideas like this.
4. 'Accidentally' leave some literature laying out on your coffee table regarding a nudist resort, a nudist publication or your book about the worlds best nude beaches.
5. Mention it to your hair stylist.  We do it all the time.  We just talk about how nice the weather is and say we can't wait to lay out in the back yard and get rid of all these tan lines, or something like that.  If they bite, we explain, if not, we don't push it.
6. Wear a T-shirt, hat, etc from a nudist resort, TNS, etc.  Even a bumper sticker will tell people you support the nudist lifestyle.  We have the "Life is short play naked" sign on vehicle back windows.
7. Invite friends or family to go to a nude hot springs, nudist resort, etc.  Many people have done this with great success.
8. Put a sign up by your hot tub or pool saying something about clothing optional, or no swimsuits required.  You can buy these on Amazon.com
9. Run an ad in Craigslist telling others what nudism is all about and mention you are looking for other nudist friends.  Also put a link to a site such as AANR telling them they can learn more about nudism there.
10. Put a sign by your doorbell like we have saying "nudist zone".  The sign on the right is what everyone sees when they enter our house.  Most laugh, or think it's cool.  Quite a few actually ring the doorbell twice meaning we can answer nude if we choose. We got this sign from Amazon.com I believe.  We did add the stickers saying to ring the doorbell twice, quickly, if you're ok with nudism.

Back in the days when gays were thought of as being defective, freaks, and all that other crap, it took one man to create an uprising.  That man was Harvey Milk.  He stood up publicly for gay rights and created a movement that encouraged all the gay people out there to come out of the closet and announce that "hey, I'm a normal person who happens to be gay, and I have rights".  If you haven't seen the movie 'Milk', rent it and see what an impact that can make.  We as nudists need to form a grassroots uprising.

Maybe it doesn't have to be one person, maybe it can be a lot of us coming out together, en mass, and announcing on Facebook, to our friends, with our window stickers, etc that "Yes, we happen to live the nudist lifestyle, and we are just normal, everyday people who live a lifestyle you don't understand, but we are not a bunch of weirdos.  We're cooks, policemen, clergy, CPAs and all the other walks of life and we have rights".

And it seems that many of us are realizing this and trying to do something about it.  For example, a Great Blogger, Felicity Jones, has a blog post about this titled

Are You a Secret Nudist as Well?

People Don’t Know I’m A Naturist Underneath These Clothes Are You Out Of The Nudist closet?

  at: http://youngnaturistsamerica.com/secret-nudist/

These are just a few ideas I have.  If you have more, feel free to post them in the comments section.

In the meantime, remember, the nudist community will continue to be seen as a fringe society and often seen as a bunch of freaks, or weirdos, perverts or sexual nuts if we don't stand up and tell others we are NOT ASHAMED TO BE A NUDIST.

The pic below, by the way, is my current Facebook profile picture.  Feel free to copy the image below and use it ANYWHERE you want, including facebook.

 Until next time, stay nude and comfortable.