I think most nudists are afraid to chance coming out to family, friends and co-workers for fear of losing their jobs, family issues, etc. And even though they are family, or close friends, co-workers, etc, we can't ever know what their reaction will be until we make that decision to be open about it. I'm self employed in construction with my own small drywall and painting business and I figured if others found out about my nudist life it could hurt business. But, I slowed chanced mentioning it to more and more of them, and found, that hasn't been the case at all. In fact, it’s been mostly very positive.
With customers, I approach the subject with casual confidence and am not overbearing. I'll just casually mention it somehow such as mentioning how good it feels to be able to finally get out and get some sun without tan lines and then I get a feel for their reaction. Or I’ll get to talking about liking privacy and mention that we like to sun without swimsuits so privacy is a must for us. Numerous customers have actually allowed me to work naked on their jobs because of this, while the rest thought it was cool or they just ignored it. But it never seemed to hurt my chances of getting the job once, and I probably find a way to hint at it with about 70% of my customers. So the fear was mostly in my mind.
One year my wife worked for a large corporation and we hosted World Naked Gardening Day at our house. The media found out so we let them all know and were on TV 4 times and on the front page of the local paper. NOTHING happened at work besides a few innocent jokes. Several thought it was really cool. And even though we were all over the news for it, we had no major issues with the general public, although our HOA did have a long discussion with us, which resulted in them realizing we weren’t out to flash their kids or anything, so it blew over just fine.
I also started wearing kilts and going out in public with my toes painted years ago. I thought these too would cause my issues. Neither hurt me at all, so most fears are indeed in our mind, we just have to be willing to confront them, which I know not all are. And I think that's sad, and is one reason we have such a hard time gaining the understanding of society, and our legal rights to have places to go nude besides our house or resorts, for those of us inland.
Until we realize that coming out is usually not nearly as traumatic as we think it will be, our whole dream of being accepted by the public may never happen. Those of us who dream of gaining rights to exercise our lifestyle choice in portions of parks, our front yard, etc may never see that happen if more of us don’t stand up for our beliefs and come out to everyone. I know many of you will post reasons you can’t, but I believe that only about 10-20% of you who think that, would actually have any problems. But the choice is of course yours.
And like a friend of mine, Maurice W. Smith said on Facebook - ” It is that simple, it really is. It's when you attempt keeping secrets instead of just being completely honest and open that people can use things against us. If you're open and honest then all people can do is try to use things against us but if we are open books then much of the power has been removed from those that are out to hurt us. No more fear.”
To learn more about the nudist lifestyle, visit http://www.wearlesslivemore.org
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Yes! I came out at work well over 12yrs ago when someone noticed I was sunburnt all over as I was visibly pink through my white business shirt... I was asked "are you burnt all over" and when I said yes I was bombarded by questions about nude beaches, which then led to many lunchroom conversations about Nudism.
ReplyDeleteI was never secretive about my Nudism, just it never came up and I didn't want to push it on people, but since that first "coming out" it has led to me being somewhat of a company "nude mascot" where I get introduced to new employee's as "the nude IT guy"
We have about 120 employee's here and most if not all know I am Naturist as well as most including the business owner knowing I go skinny dipping on my 1 hour lunch break!
In fact just yesterday after I got back to work the receptionist said " did you go for a nudey swim today" and I rep;lied "sure did" she then explained to her boyfriend who was standing near her desk "Michael is our Nudist and he goes skinny dipping at lunch"
I've never really had that many negative reactions, apart from one sleazy pervert of a guy who asked me "where are the good beaches to see hot women naked?" thank goodness he no longer works here now!
I have had a couple of debates about Nudism in front of children, with others arguing that children should not see naked adults but they can't tell me why and end up walking off frustrated!
I also had a good friend who I had lunch with some days who was a Greek Orthodox Catholic and when she found out I was a Nudey she said it's against her religion to be naked.... but then she said to me one day that all she could read in her teachings was that it was wrong for a woman to be immodest and uncovered and nothing about men being naked which she thought was unfair to women, she started to question her faith after that...
I've had many many people at work admit they are naked at home, or they had tried nude beaches etc, it just took one little conversation to bring everyone out :)
Michael Connolly
PS: I'm friends with Maurice as well.
Michael, Thanks so much for sharing your awesome story. If done with confidence and education, coming out usually results in stories such as this.
ReplyDeleteIt's time naturalist go all the way and go barefoot, what are you afraid of? www.unshod.org
ReplyDeleteI work in a small to borderline midsize construction company. All of or regular employees know that I'm a nudist. I say regular, because we have brought on some shop guys, that I don't know, and they seem to rotate in and out of the shop, so they aren't or regular crew.
ReplyDeleteI have a few signs on my bulletin boards that clearly indicate that I'm s a nudist, the largest being an oval NDST! sign.