How long would it take for nudity to be accepted?

Yes, isn’t that a fun question?

The bias against nudity removed

During a walk a while ago I suddenly wondered about that. Suppose that one day (and may it happen soon), there would be no more bias against the nude body, and we were all free to go naked wherever we want.

How long would it take before the majority of people would be fine with that? After how much time would people stop pulling out their phones to take pictures of yet another naked person walking by?

Here are my uneducated guesses

I think the first days would be bad. There would be outrage by the overly pious and ‘faint of heart’. Tonnes of images and miles of video footage would go online and I am sure we’d be mocked and called names too.

But after those first few days I think that more and more people would feel the urge to at least try this. Mostly after the first wave of pictures and video has come to an end.

Why just a first few days?

I base this guess on how quickly people get used to being naked when they try naturism themselves. Usually, it’s only a matter of an hour and often even less. When you see more nude people, the fact that they’re nude vanishes. I think the same thing will happen in the streets. It’s like the Carnaval in Rio: when 1 person dresses up and goes into the street, everyone will notice that person.

Carnaval, Rio de Janeiro

But if more than 20% of the population does it, there is some kind of critical mass that gets passed and then the dressed-up folks get not that much attention anymore. Now I am probably way off with the 20% for Rio but it’s not Rio I am talking about here. This post is about the number of people who want to go nude when the weather’s okay for it – and it’s okay for going nude much faster than the dressed community would agree. Simply because we know and they don’t.

And then, after a few weeks…

I think that after a few weeks the big acceptance will happen. When people notice that nude people are just like dressed ones. We won’t go around having sex all over the place, like they don’t.

I am convinced that there will be people who are going to do that though. And then it would be our responsibility to step in and stop that behaviour. It will have much more impact when a nude person stops other nude people from such behaviour than when we wait for the (dressed) police to come and do that. Showing the textile world that we, the nude, are against that, makes the most powerful sign.

Naked discrimination should stop

Nude, bodypainted girl being arrested

I think we all agree with this. It is my experience that most normal people (the ones in the street, not the politicians, religious zealots and other ‘influencers’) don’t have a big issue with nudity. It’s the media that make it a ‘big deal’, and then there’s the ‘lucky few’ who take it as an opportunity to put themselves in the spotlight, but if it’s not nudity, they would find something else for their own purpose.

That’s what irks me the most. During nude walks in England, I’ve met people, also older people, who didn’t give a damn about me being naked. They liked me being polite, wishing them a nice day. The normal things.

Also here in the Netherlands people don’t really care. I do notice there is a trend in the wrong direction going on, which has to do with the influences of the many restrictive cultures and religions that are coming in. And then there is Germany, where clothes-free recreation, FKK, was ‘invented’. They’re really okay with it.

Baring it all. Down to the feet.

We probably all have heard about it and / or know about it. Walking barefoot is good for you.

Often the reasoning is: when you’re naked already, why not go all the way and get rid of the shoes. I recall I wrote about this some time ago.

It still is true what I wrote in that post: “barefoot feels more naked”.

Since then (which was 2014, blimey) I have been experimenting with going barefoot in lots of places. Unfortunately I have to decide that going barefoot everywhere is not for me. Maybe not yet, maybe not ever. In my house and on grass I’m fine. My feet like it. On rougher grounds however, no matter how short the distance and how much I practice, it’s not working for me.

I gave it as many tries as I could over the past years. As long as the weather was acceptable, my feet got the opportunity to get used to all kinds of surfaces and I didn’t start with pebbles, trust me. I read up on the tips on Walking Barefoot, followed some barefoot-walking people on Twitter and nothing seems to work. My feet have the last word in this and that word is ‘no’.

There is a tonne of information on how to do it, what to avoid and all that. Maybe I will give this another try next summer. It’s definitely getting too cold for my feet now: a combination of the wrong temperature and the wrong surface is a no-no for me. And if I never make it to walking barefoot on anything rougher than grass: so be it. I made it to my current age with shoes. I’ll probably make it to the end of it that way too.

Power to you, all barefoot people. It’s great that you do what you do. But someone has to keep the shoe manufacturers in business! 😉

A writing-update

It’s been a while since the writer in me spoke out to update you on the world of stories and the likes.

P.Z. Walker writing

I’m working on far too many stories.

This is a true and a false statement in one, of course. False because there can never be enough stories. As I once read, the world needs more story-tellers and dreamers. In that respect I am doing my best to add my words.

In the true sense this means that, though there is progress in every story, it seems to take forever to get something done and finished. That’s something I have been thinking about. Would it be better to focus on one story, get that done, and then focus on the next? Some may say yes, some may say no. For now I am in the no-camp…

So what’s going on?

Naked Crow 9 is beginning to take shape. I’m at chapter 3 as I write this post (which is in the past hahaha, I love how you can manipulate time online). It took a lot of researching for me to find something that I hope will be interesting. For me to write it definitely worth the while.

Unsworth part 3. I already know the title for it, which I won’t tell you now as that might change. My way of writing allows for such flexibility. 😉 So far the story ambles along nicely. My trusted word-advisor Mr Bun says so as well, which should be enough of a quality certificate.

Murphys in Space part 2. That is going slowly. I have a lot to think about regarding that one, but it is growing. The thinking comes from the space parts in it. I don’t want it to be the thirteenth-in-a-dozen kind of space thing where you already see what’s happening before even seeing the cover image of the book. Bear and bare with me, it will come.

Emma Nelson 1 - See-Through

Emma Nelson part 2 is also slowly taking shape. I am only 2 chapters in with that story because this is mystery sleuth stuff and I am not very good (at least not experienced) with that. It will take place partly in Dallas, Texas (just adding that for good measure, maybe there is another Dallas somewhere), and the story will shed some light on Jo-Anne’s absence in book 1.

And then there is something which for now is called Crazy Pictures. It’s a superhero fantasy story that somehow popped up in my head and so I had to start writing that.

So there you have it. 5 naturist volumes are on the roll at the moment so plenty to look out for in due time.

Be well, happy and as naked as you can!

Paul

The advantage of being old and wrinkled

Wrinkles

I kid you not. There is a big advantage to being old and wrinkled. To being “beyond repair” from modern industry that tries to beautify and rejuvenate everyone in order to flog their products too.

When you reach that age, there is not much advertising bugging you. You are how you are and you accept it. That might be the reason why there are more old than young people into the nude lifestyle.

When you reach that age, most people don’t want to look at you any more so what the hell, might just as well be as comfortable as possible. When old joints aren’t cooperating, can you imagine how welcome it is not having to put on clothes, or shoes?

Your blog host

I know that many people don’t know but I am approaching 60. Next year I’ll be there, and I’m happy with that. I have never given a wet fart about how people see or look at me. Maybe I’m weird in that fashion, or just a mental hippie, but it is how it is.

If people don’t want to see me, fine. Then I won’t see them, which works both ways. Perhaps it is because I hate advertising with a vengeance (I don’t watch great youtube videos if I have to first sit through a stupid ad), but I have no problem with old people being old, or even young people being old. This craze that everyone should have the body of a 20-year-old, with silicone-filled boobs and viagra-supported erections, all in the name of youth… blargh.

Give me old, wrinkled, happy and nude over fake youth, plastic surgery smooth skin, depressed and never wearing the right clothes. I met most of my best friends on nude occasions, in sauna’s, nude beaches, nude resorts etc. And they don’t care either.

Here’s a cheer to naked friends. Old and wrinkled. And without a care.