Sosna sarna from Jucho, on Vimeo. Escaping the madness.
Category: Being outside
Sunday Noon Nudist
And fitting for the season:
Flevo Natuur naturist park
On January 4th I had my first encounter with Naturist park Flevo Natuur. (Link to Dutch site). Cooperating with Unox (a food manufacturer in the Netherlands) they had organised a new year’s dive. As this was in a naturist park it would be a naturist dive of course. I’d read about the event on Google+
Such a beautiful location for a naturist park! Hidden behind more trees than I had expected in a ‘polder’ (reclaimed land from the sea) there’s a large, open park with many options to relax and be active, like a heated pool, a large swimming lake, playgrounds for the kids, and everywhere there are funny houses, chalets and trailers (for sale or rent). There are also camping spots, but I didn’t see any tents. Not many people camping with +9c/48F I guess. Everywhere you’ll find garbage bins and toilets too.
After the skinny dip in the lake there was pea soup (made and provided by Unox) and hot chocolate with whipped cream, a good way to warm up again. Trust me, you need that then.
The even was arranged very well, all the people – large and small – were kind and friendly, and this was definitely not the last time I was at Flevo Natuur. Just bring on the sun!
Good on the Naked Rambler – more public nudity would be a good thing | Daisy Buchanan | Comment is free | theguardian.com
Good on the Naked Rambler reposted verbatim from ‘The Guardian’.
Good on the Naked Rambler – more public nudity would be a good thing
Stephen Gough is back in jail. Embracing his activism might just do wonders for our society’s unhealthy attitude to flesh
Stephen Gough. ‘Why is it OK to hint at highly sexualised nudity all day long and then persecute a normal man for getting naked.’ Photograph: David Cheskin/PA
You’d think that a fortnight of gale force winds would have us all hunkering down in jumpers, tucking our thermal vests into our jeans and flagrantly disregarding our partners’ hostility to bedsocks. Most people might be layering up in order to maintain bodily warmth – but not the Naked Rambler.
On Monday, Stephen Gough was jailed for 16 months after he breached an asbo intended to make him cover up in public. Gough is a prominent public nudity activist and has walked the length of Britain unclothed on two occasions; his most recent trip was the subject of a BBC documentary. He has also been sentenced and imprisoned numerous times on public nudity charges.
Gough maintains that being nude in public allows him a sense of personal freedom. The British legal system maintains that Gough’s nudity is not for mass consumption. But why, in 2014, is so much money being spent on keeping his body out of sight? His court records state there is nothing disorderly about his behaviour – it’s just about, as his lawyer pointed out in the autumn, “people’s reaction” to that behaviour.
We’re continually being exposed to sexualised nudity, but it’s rare to see a middle-aged man naked in public. During the day, before the watershed, we see hundreds of advertisements for gorgeous, semi-nude women moaning in ecstasy because they are enjoying their yoghurt or shampoo. Go and stand in any gym, cafe or shop with a TV on, and count the seconds until you see cleavage. For more than 40 years, the Sun newspaper has been publishing pictures of nipples that readers can gaze at over breakfast. Why is it OK to hint at highly sexualised nudity all day long and then persecute a normal man for getting naked as he goes about his business?
Gough’s critics are concerned that his presence could make vulnerable people feel disturbed and threatened. There’s nothing disturbing about nudity itself, just the meaning that people ascribe to it. Yet when nudity isn’t being used as sexual semaphore, it’s presented as something grotesque, to frighten the observer and make the subject a symbol of ridicule. Shows such as Embarrassing Bodies and The Man With the 10 Stone Testicles have fetishised freakishness in a way that stops us recognising real bodies. I suspect that the many men and women of all ages who experience body dysmorphic disorders are not helped by this. We may be regularly exposed to representations of naked flesh but we only ever see gods and monsters.
Initially, I thought that the laws “protecting” us from Gough’s body had a wider purpose. After all, if he’s allowed to get naked, we might all start doing it, and no one wants that. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the widespread adoption of naturism might solve our problem with nudity. If we stopped seeing our bodies as either a source of shame, or something to show off, we might become healthier, happier human beings. Public nudity could prove revolutionary.
Young women would grow so accustomed to seeing real bellies and bottoms that they would feel less inclined to lose weight in order to match up to imaginary images, or get industrial filler injected into their buttocks. Violent sexual crimes might become more clear cut and easier to prosecute: you couldn’t make a big deal of a victim wearing a short skirt if no one was wearing any clothes at all. And there would be no need for Embarrassing Bodies, because we’d tackle our health issues frankly and fast, knowing there’s nothing to be ashamed about.
Gough has not chosen to go nude in order to invite us to comment on his body. He is reminding us that we are all naked under our clothes, and that no individual’s body should warrant particularly close inspection – but our collective attitude to nudity certainly does.
Sunday Noon Nudist
The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State
Here is a very good article on how to prepare for nude hikes: The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State. Please enjoy a snip from the post:
Finding the right spot
The first and foremost task is to pick a track that is a little out of the way, not so popular, or a little tricky to get to. The rougher a track is, the less likely it is to be used frequently. The type of people that are likely to use the track are probably keen hikers who might be a little more receptive to you than day trippers out for a Sunday stroll with their kids.
Ideally you want to find a track that has a single entry point and car park, so when you’re there you can ascertain if anyone else is on the track. If the car park is empty, this is a good sign nobody’s around. It’s not an assurance, but a pretty good indicator.
More at: The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State.
Military wives naked calendar photographed in Scotland
Military wives naked calendar photographed in Scotland – Daily Record.
In pictures: Scottish military wives bare all for naked calendar
A GROUP of military wives trekked up a mountain and bravely bared all in freezing temperatures of minus 4C to create a nude calendar in honour of their husbands.
THE Garrison Girls, who are wives of men from the three Armed services, stripped off in the Scottish mountains to reveal their breasts and bums.
The women, who have never modelled before, can be seen stretched out naked on rocks by a river, walking across a narrow wooden bridge and perched in the window of a ruined castle.
Helmets, berets and military kit bags are cleverly hidden in the set of artistic calendar shots to remind people of the linked to the armed forces.
“It was around minus 4C up the mountain and when we took our clothes off it felt like being in a freezer,” said Emma Matthias, 29, who helped co-ordinate the shoot and whose husband is a Royal Engineer based at Kinloss Barracks in Moray, Aberdeenshire.
Follow the link to Daily Record for the entire series.
Naked sports.
Everyone does it once in a while, more or less fanatical. Sports. Whether it’s just a walk, running, cycling, volleyball or some other type of activity, there usually is something in it for you.
Many times I’ve heard and read that people, even ‘hard code nudists’, prefer to do their sports dressed when the activity level goes anything over a leisurely stroll or hike. As it’s mainly men who appear online in the nudist scene, I can only base my information on the male side of the nude sport spectrum. (Which is a shame, so please, ladies, step up.)
The problem: flopping parts. The gentlemen in question all were afraid that if they would do a sport that is more intensive than walking or swimming, their penis would flop all over and be a hinder to doing the actual sport.
To put the problem to the test, I went running for a mile. (Don’t worry, I do this more often.) And of course, I did this short run naked. I was curious about the flopping parts that were mentioned quite often, so I was determined to find out how bad this was.
After all, in many places it is written that the people in the original Greek Olympics participated in the nude, to honour the human body, and we have images to prove it:
So off I set myself, for a short run in the name of amateur science. The result: yes, there is some floppage, but not in a way that it would stop me from running naked. I am convinced that if I hadn’t occasionally looked down to actually see my penis flop, I wouldn’t have known that it did. Before someone says that running on a straight, flat road may do that: I ran a stretch of forest, with the trail going up and down, and lots of twists and turns in it. Maximum opportunity for sprained ankles, encounters with trees and floppy parts. I state that my parts did not flop in an upsetting way.
The gentlemen on the left in this picture also don’t seem to be bothered by anything flopping, and their activity level has far more opportunity for that.
It is indeed an older image; perhaps men in those days were still real men.
Luckily, once in a while, there are also ladies who are not inhibited by floppy parts, and trust me, gentlemen, even though I don’t have breasts, I can absolutely imagine that those hurt a heck of a lot more when they bounce than our parts will ever do.
Happy sports, everyone!
My vacation, part 4. Sneaky textile.
This is probably the last time I’ll annoy you about my vacation…
And this is, again, about the beach at Fuerteventura, but it could happen anywhere. As I already wrote, all beaches in Spain are clothing optional. This happened during one of my walks along the beach.
A group of four women, in various state of bikini, were having fun talking while they sat in the sand. As I came walking along, a lot of commotion seemed to set in among the women. Two got up and one started digging in a shoulder bag. Out came a camera of sorts, and one of the women positioned herself for a photo. Remarkably enough she kept looking over her shoulder, clearly to make certain that I would be in the picture too. The women talked to each other in Spanish, not a language I understand, but there was no doubt about what they had in mind, they wanted a naked man in the picture. Without a thought I had made up my mind, diverted my course, and went to stand next to the posing woman. I put my arm around her shoulders and gave them my best picture smile.
The effect was beautiful and instantaneous: the posing woman yelped and jumped, the others exclaimed something in Spanish, and the four of them took off as if a nude bat out of naturist hell was chasing them.
They’ll think twice the next time when they want to sneak a picture of a naturist on a beach.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D? And here you are thinking that this is a blog about nudism. Well, it is. And vitamin D is an important part of nudism. Bear and bare with me. What does Wikipedia say about vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for enhancing intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (also known as cholecalciferol) and vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol).
Okay, not very impressive nor clear. But when we also see this:
Although vitamin D is commonly called a vitamin, it is not actually an essential dietary vitamin in the strict sense, as it can be synthesized in adequate amounts by most mammals exposed to sunlight.
then things suddenly look different. Sunlight. A vitamin you get through sunlight? Wow, that’s easy “food” then! But – take notice. Exposed to sunlight doesn’t mean that your clothes take care of it. It’s the skin that picks up the sunlight and transforms that into vitamin D. Hey, do you see a link to nudism? The more skin is exposed to the sun, the more vitamin D you pick up without doing anything else than being out in the sun!
As you see, there’s not much to taking in vitamins this way. It’s healthy, pleasurable and you can read something interesting too.
You can, of course, also actively go about and enjoy the sunshine in another way.
An interesting observation in Medical News Today is: “People who are exposed to normal quantities of sunlight do not need vitamin D supplements because sunlight promotes sufficient vitamin D synthesis in the skin.” Again, this does require that the skin is exposed to take in the sunlight. The same web page also notes: “Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found that higher vitamin D levels in healthy individuals have a significant impact on the genes that are involved in several biologic pathways associated with illnesses, including cancer, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease and infectious diseases.”
And since we’re talking sunshine: did you know that sunscreen is one of the reasons that people get too little vitamin D even when they’re out in the sun? Sunscreen prevents the skin to take in the sunlight because of the UV blockers that it contains. You can go out in the sun without sunscreen, but only if you’re sensible about it.
- Stay inside on the hot part of the day. It’s too warm to do anything anyway, so take a nap or read something.
- Stay out of the sun during the noon hours when the sun is hottest. Also a parasol won’t help, UV goes through that.
- Get used to the sun in smaller doses. Don’t go from 0 to 60 in no time, give your skin time to start absorbing UV without getting burnt.
Sunburn is the reason for most skin cancers. Skin cancer happens least with people who have outside jobs; their skin is used to sunlight and has a resistance already. When you’re pale (and I look at myself too), take care. Don’t over do it. And then you won’t need sunscreen. If you need information from another place, have a look at Realfoodforager – why I stopped using sunscreen. Enjoy the sun, and show your skin. It’s beautiful.
