Tell the average person that nudists/naturists face more discrimination than anyone else in the world, and they will probably smile at you before they say anything in response. It’s not that they are trying to be offensive, they just think social nudism outside of the sauna or shower room is a joke.
These thoughts came to mind this morning while I was reading an article on a site called The Hinckley Times. The headline: A Lighter Look at Life: Stripped bare . . . the naked truth about naturism.
No, I am not reviewing the article here. But it is definitely lighter fare, though I suspect some naturists might consider it to be Bic lighter material. (But I digress.)
I write a lot about the persecution of LGBT people in my blogs. Indeed, a lot of people have taken up the cause of LGBT rights. Awareness is being raised, equality is being won.
But while LGBT people are smashing gender and sexual orientation stereotypes and gaining acceptance in society, nudists/naturists are still corralled into segregated areas — and not that many areas, either. The fact that we are all naturally naked — because there is nothing natural about draping your temple in textiles — is irrelevant. Walk naked down Main Street and you’ll be quickly arrested, covered in a blanket, and hauled off to the klink.
Does that image make you smile?
Well, nudists/naturists don’t think it is funny. They feel their natural-born rights are being violated. They’re not against you being clothed; they just want to be able to have more opportunity and places to present au naturel. And believe me, once you’ve spent an afternoon naked at the beach, you’ll never want to wear a bathing suit again. It is such a liberating feeling to be au naturel, the way we were designed by the Great Cosmic Animator. Face it: you are naked. You are a natural-born nudist. You can’t deny it. You can cover up your naked body all you want, but you are still naked.
Maybe you’re not grinning now. Maybe you understand a little bit better. And maybe you still think that general acceptance of social nudism is a lost cause.
Well, it does look like a lost cause, doesn’t it? Objectively speaking, I mean.
But so did the quest for LGBT equality at one point. Indeed, LGBT equality still looks like a lost cause in such countries as Uganda. But we all know it is not a lost cause, despite temporary setbacks.
Thing is, LGBT people are a minority on this planet. Nudists aren’t. There are 8 billion naked people on this planet forced to cover up in textiles. Eight billion people whose natural-born rights are being violated — even if they’ve forgotten that they were born free of the shackles of textiles.
Indeed, YOUR rights to be in your natural state are being violated.
Food for thought . . .
Keep it in mind if you come across naturists in their natural-born state enjoying the great outdoors this summer.
— Jillian
Unthinking social conditioning…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let me preface my comments by saying that I really enjoy your considered, refreshing views on naturism and I’m not sniping when I say that naturism is NOT a persecuted majority. Try being an outspoken Christian in much of the world today and you might find yourself beaten, or worse, raped, tortured and killed! It’s the dirty little secret in the media … they fail to report this travesty with any energy. So what? A few of those Bible-thumpers get offed? Who cares? While persecution of Christians isn’t new (nor should it come as a surprise), i’m just pointing out, as a Christian naturist, a fact. Persecuted majority? Christians are over one BILLION in number and are suffering horribly around the world. I’d go with persecuted minority, since naturists aren’t that large in number around the world. Otherwise, your points are valid.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well written and thought out and accurate. The nudist organizations have never fully organized themselves the same as the LGBT groups though both choose to ride each others coat tails at times. The reaction of the knowledge of our nudity with our friends is all over the place. Some in almost disbelief to those who would like to see pics. Go figure. When we have been caught nude at home by friends and family on several occasions, those that have caught Kim nude have expressed admiration while those who have caught me nude have laughed and had an ewwww moment. We find this to be another double standard, why is seeing a woman nude OK, while seeing a penis is a laughing moment followed by an ewwww? We could discuss all these issues forever it would appear.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on yden4466's Blog A happy naturist . and commented:
So true. Clothes make a black hole in our energy!
LikeLike
As a nudist for 20 years, I’ve honestly never thought about this too much. I live & work in the textile world, and spend my summer weekends & holidays in the nudist world (I have a nice place in a nice park about an hours drive away from home). Admittedly, it’s pretty much an ideal setup!
I don’t really have a desire to walk naked down main street; my desire is to spend time in a comfortable setting with like-minded people. I understand that not everyone is going to be as cool with nudity as I am.
While I don’t hide being a nudist, I really see no reason to be nude in a situation where others might be bothered by it. But maybe I’m just old school.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for a thoughtful post. I think what worked for the LGBTQ community could work for the clothes free community. That is normalization. What has launched the LGBTQ cause forward in a big way in rcent years is the awareness that they are normal people. They are sons daughters brothers sister, father and mothers who hurt love and want o live like everyone else. Most people still see clothes free proponents as fringe weird sexual deviants to be isolated from the rest of society. When nudity or clothes free living is normalized and folks realize we are brothers, sisters etc then I think we will be just normal people who prefer to be clothes free and begin to make great strides forward.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would love naturism to make the progress that the LGBT community has made over recent years in claiming their “rights”.
I have been to Euronat in France and enjoyed going to supermarkets and restaurants naked. I would love to be able to do that without having to go 750 miles from home to do it, but it will take braver people than me to achieve that in what passes for “normal society”.
People do have terrible problem with nudity unfortunately, and often with their own never mind anyone else’s.
I invited a friend and her husband to join me at my naturist club recently, but didn’t get a reply, so after a week I sent a follow-up message of “You’re not interested. Fair enough.” That elicited a reply of “I was trying to think of a way to say no thanks without it sounding wrong. I’m not against Naturism at all – for others. Even I don’t see me naked let alone others – bordering on the body dismorphic.”
I felt so sorry for the poor lass. How can anyone be afraid of seeing themselves naked? Totally irrational, but not the first case I have come across. A French friend of mine tells me her husband has never seen her naked, though they have two adult children.
It begs the question “What are we like?” As you say, for every person on the planet our natural state is to be naked. If some are afraid of being themselves in this most fundamental way, what hope can there be for them? I wish I had something in the way of an answer for them, but all I can do is be there for them whether or not I understand them.
Personally I am thankful I found naturism and love being naked when I get the chance.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I was discussing religion with a friend and was accused of making naturism a religion. I had to think about that. I came to a conclusion that was just the opposite. It’s society’s belief that clothes are necessary at all times and places that is ‘religious’ and frankly a fetish that supposedly keeps society safe and functioning. Like most religious beliefs there’s no evidence and no tolerance for dissent.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very well written piece, Jillian. It’s what we’ve been saying on The Nook (Naked Online [is] OK) social media network for some time. The message needs to get out into the mainstream, and it’s blogs like this which are helping. Good job!
LikeLike
We may well be a persecuted majority, although at 6% of the UK population it might be difficult to claim the majority bit, but the worst part about it is that we seem to be persecuted by a vocal minority posing as the silent majority!
Events like the World Naked Bike Ride prove that the real majority are not averse to nudity – the crowds lining the streets all smile, cheer, applaud and take pictures. All it takes is one prude to make a fuss and they would have you believe that they represent the majority. The same survey that produced the 6% figure above showed that it is less than 1% who believe public nudity should be illegal, so how come they are the minority who’s views seem to be used to represent the majority?
Most nudists/Naturists don’t want to walk down their high street naked, although it is not clear whether this reservation is purely the result of social conditioning. However, an increasing number of Naturists are not happy to be confined to sun clubs or a few short sections of the many beaches we have on our shores, we would like to be able to walk in the countryside naked, to swim naked wherever swimming is available (in pools or wild swimming) to tend our gardens naked without having to wait for our neighbours to go out and even to be able to lie naked in the sun in our local park. This is the kind of acceptance we are trying to achieve. It will not be easy, but that has to be the goal.
LikeLike
The idea is that everybody is naturally naked, so, in fact, everybody is being persecuted by the textile establishment — even if they don’t know it.
Cheers
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have Tweeted a link to this article to my followers which will also appear on my Facebook page as it deserves to be widely read.
LikeLike
Thank you, Gerry!
Cheers
LikeLike
As the (slightly rediculed) subject of the article you link to, I’m thankful that at the very least it has led to folks like yourself using it in a positive way; that it highlights what a problem trying to express ourselves as naturists to the wider social world can be. I will point out that at no point did the journalist in question come across as anything but genuinely honest and interested when he interviewed us. Of course, once he got back to his desk it was a very different story.
Now I’m a very thick skinned individual, and i’m always looking for positives. My view in naturist circles that people talking about naturists negatively is better than not talking about it (or knowing about it) at all is a better situation to be in is often met with incredulity. However education can come about in lots of different ways. In this particular case, the tone of the article was SO poor that educated Joe Public will see through it. In fact we’ve had lots of support after the articles have been published. We will continue to take these risks and all naturists should, just as the LGBT community have had to take risks.
A very interesting article. Thanks for publishing your thoughts on it.
LikeLike
Thank you for this, Simon.
Cheers
LikeLike
Great article!
I “reblogged” it in Italian on
LikeLike
Great article Jillian and bang on.
LikeLike
As a practising naturist for 30+years I find some of the comments above to be miles off target….. the idea of being a naturist has nothing to do with showing myself off down main street, that is voyeurism a completely different thing under the heading of “kinky” not naturism !!!
Hinckley being a town in the UK some 25 miles from me, I know it well, I also know that a great deal of the issues stem from textiles associating naturism with swinging, again 2 completely different things….
I personally do not want naturism to be associated with swinging or LGBT as naturism has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with relaxing and freedom !!!
Now that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a healthy sex life….. ok I’ll put it another way… that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t enjoy a healthy sex life if the chance came along again 😉 lol
But what I really want to know is WHY do so many people want to live “under” a label ?
I don’t see to guys kissing and think there’s a couple of gays, I think there’s a happy couple, I don’t think there’s a bloke that used to be a woman, I think there is somebody happy in their skin …..
Stop labelling us into “pigeon holes”
It offends me….. and we all know what happens when people get offended….. nearly everybody starts apologising !!!
LikeLike
SO true. I don’t think breaking existing laws by trying to walk naked down a street is the answer, but if we ever want anything to change, we have to do something about it. We need less talk and more do to overcome these wrongs. There’s nothing wrong with nudity, and nudity and nudists shouldn’t be treated like something that needs to be hidden away.
LikeLike
You’re absolutely right, M. Perhaps one way is to support your local naturist groups, and to write about the issues wherever you can. Local newspapers are usually pretty receptive to guest articles.
LikeLike
People’s attitudes and perspectives towards nudity change very slowly, if they change at all. When my new neighbor-gal saw me shirtless for the first time a couple of years ago, she said “Get some clothes on”. Now, since she has seen me shirtless many times, I am “dressed” if I have a pair of running shorts on. When I first told her that I am a nudist, she said “That is just plain WRONG!”. Now, when I tell her I am going to Cypress Cove for the day, she says “Have fun!”. She will never be a nudist, because she has way too many issues in her past for that, but she accepts that I am comfortable that way.
Those of us who have overcome textilism may have, at least in our own mind, overcome many obstacles on our way to becoming nudists. Unless we get to know the person very well, including their deep, dark secrets, we may think that they are being totally-unreasonable. My neighbor-gal would never sleep nude, even though she lives alone. A pelvic-exam, even by another woman, feels like a violation, because her birth-mother’s boyfriend tried to rape her while her mother watched. She was six years old. Is it any wonder then that she went ballistic when she came to enough after her gall-bladder surgery to realize that she didn’t have any panties on? From my perspective, she was well covered-up, because she had a hospital gown on, and was covered with a sheet and blanket. From her perspective, she was exposed and vulnerable because she didn’t have any panties on. I found a nurse to help her put her panties on, and I stepped out of the room while she took care of that “problem”.
That is just the tip of the iceberg for her, and even though she will never become a nudist, that she accepts that I am comfortable wearing nothing but a grin is huge. If we could even get that level of acceptance, we will have made huge strides.
That is why I am not totally-open to my church community about being a nudist. If they connect the dots when they read my bumper-sticker “God created nudists/Sinners created clothes”, that is okay. I just don’t want to deal with a bunch of people’s negative attitudes towards nudity all at once, because if I told the wrong person, the word would spread like a wild-fire throughout the church.
LikeLike
Good points. I think there are many people who will never accept social nudism. Which is too bad, because it only takes trying it once to be liberated from the taboos of “textilism.”
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Recked with Finn West.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Penis's Nudist Life.
LikeLike
Great post, keep it going.!
LikeLike
A Great Post. I agree with an earlier comment unthinking social conditioning. In my trip to Haulover beach I saw the segregation of Young, Old, Black White, LGBT and Straight
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let’s try to keep the post replies coming.!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is very interesting, thank you for talking about it. I never thought about it like that before.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Naturist Holidays in Europe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An excellent article and many very good comments (the ‘like button isn’t working for us right now, sorry)!
That insulting article you refer to written by that sexist intellectual midget, Lockley, (along with others he’s written on the same subject) does us all a great disservice. He went there to do a hatchet job and did so. He thinks he’s funny; we think he’s bigoted and narrow minded.
But hey, if you can’t write objectively, exploit someone for laughs!
Re-read that article and replace naturist/nudist with ‘homosexual’ or any other minority and see how funny it is!
Sharing your article on our website soon!
LikeLike
The LGBT community initially lacked political power because the LGBT folks and others who were synthetic the their cause we’re too timid to admit any involvement. It was only after they began to “stand up and be counted” that any significant progress toward public acceptance was made. Currently only a tiny minority of nudists are willing to admit their involvement in nude recreation, so we are thought to be a tiny group of kooks whose rights can be trampled. We lack political power because we are mostly invisible. Too many of us are far too complacent, and unwilling to voice their dissatisfaction with the discrimination we endure. We have met the enemy and he is us.
LikeLike
We agree, to much complacency and more senior members need to lead the way to get our youth involved.
LikeLike
Not sure what naked bike ride you are referring to but at the Vegas event we still had to cover our “discussing” parts.
LikeLike
WOW !! How then is that a WNBR event ???
LikeLike