Do you call yourself a nudist? A naturist? I hope you’re happy with your choice.
More and more I see how these ‘labels’ are abused by the porn-happy community, and that makes me think.
Is it still a good thing to call
The pros.
Sticking with nudist or naturist name/label is probably the strongest statement that we’re not giving in to what the porn-happy community tries to make of our lifestyle. The problem here, of course, is that we’re up against a giant ‘opposition’, even when that mostly lives online. Since more and more of our lives take place online, that’s something we can see as a battleground.
The cons.
With porn sites abusing the naturist and nudist label, it’s increasingly difficult to convince the textile world that these sites are wrong and we are right. Most certainly considering the rise of the prudes that we can witness. It’s as if the opposite of the sixties is surfacing.
Because of these things, I sometimes wonder if it’s worth sticking to one of those two labels. Perhaps “clothes-free” is a better option. After all, one would think that “clothes-free” would be a neutral enough way of describing who we are and how we would like to be.
Alas, that won’t hold water for long either, I realised, after some more thinking. Nudist was the best word long ago. Then it became
That is what made me decide that nudist and naturist are perfect. Let’s take pride in the history of those words, of the people who paved the way for us to be naturists and nudists.
As usual, I welcome your thoughts on this subject…
I often feel that there are 3 kinds of people who might be called a naturist/nudist:
1) Someone who eschews unnecessary/non-functional clothing, like swimwear. They would swim, sun-bathe, sleep and, perhaps, hike nude by preference.
2) Someone who prefers to be nude whenever possible, only wearing clothes when demanded by society or climate.
3) Swingers and others who enjoy behaving in a sexual manner in a public setting.
I have always felt that (1) and (2) might be called nudists and naturists respectively [or, perhaps, vice versa]. The application of these words to (3) is more recent and, as you say, unfortunate.
I would say that I am a (1). If someone asks “Are you a n******?”, I am always tempted to expand a little and briefly explain what nudity means to me and how it fits into my life. I do wish that there were an unambiguous word to describe my preferences.
Hi Colin,
Perhaps calling yourself a “preferably clothes-free” person would be an option. So far that concept hasn’t been tainted by the type 3 people you mentioned.
That’s a nice idea.
I became a nudist 5 years ago when I was convinced to try nudism, I was very lucky and nudism infected me immediately. After a few days I started undressing and in less than a week I had become a nudist. After 5 years I feel very nudist, but also naturist, because nudity has brought me back to nature and the pleasure of being naked in nature, I have learned to love the smells of the woods and undressing in natural and distant places gives me double pleasure. Trivial to say that I’m always naked, I managed to stay naked for a whole week, needless to say that when I got dressed I had serious problems, because I couldn’t bear to wear them.
That is indeed a problem that many of us face. I’m glad you found nudism and naturism to be so beneficial for you, and good luck for when you have to put the clothes back on.