Clothing optional

We all know what it means, right? A place where you can go any way you want. Either fully dressed, partially dressed or not dressed at all. I think that these places are very good places because they offer something for everyone. Still you won’t easily find me there.

I’m a naked naturist and for that reason I like places where I don’t see clothes, no matter how skimpy.

Don’t get me wrong: facing the choice between clothed and clothing optional I’ll opt for the latter but when I can avoid optional clothes I will certainly do that. Clothing optional for me always hovers in that grey area where you can find peeping Toms and Tinas who hide behind their clothes, hats and sunglasses just to have a good look at (and giggle over? and picture of? and…?) those silly naked folks who are there too.

I don’t know how you feel about this, but perhaps you’re inclined to tell me about it in the comments section.

Nudism me

Tanline free activism

Original article in Dutch in De Volkskrant from December 6, 2014.

Tanline free action against inequality

Opinion: Women should not be discouraged to visit a nude beach or a nude resort.

(Ine ter Berg is cultural anthropologist and board member of the Dutch Nudist Federation.)

Why do men have so much difficult to respect my personal freedom on a nude beach? Often it happens that when I’m enjoying the sunshine on the beach, that a man takes pictures of me. You won’t believe how often it happens that a man thinks it’s normal to come and sit very close to me (on a deserted nude beach!) and stare at me for a long time. Is it me?

If I have to believe the normal debates then it’s indeed me. It’s not uncommon to hear that, as a woman ‘you shouldn’t put yourself in this kind of situation’. If you do that then ‘you’re asking for trouble’. But is that really so?

The statements above result in creating a social norm in which isn’t not ‘normal’ that a woman visits a nude beach. What I see happening around me is that women often cave under the pressure and submit to this norm. Women avoid public places like nude beaches.

The result is that public spaces more and more become a masculine dominated area. This is how we reach vicious circles. While women of my mother’s generation in the 60s and 70s could sun bathe topless without any problem on a ‘regular’ beach, women of my generation apparently are unable to do this on a nude beach. Only in my back garden it’s possible for me to enjoy the sun with bare breasts.

This development, where public locations for nude recreation are less accessible for women, is remarkable. The most recent verdict of the court in The Hague (in the case of the Delftse Hout nude beach), the (well known) Tiki pool that opens its door for nude swimmers and the increasing popularity of saunas make me believe that the Netherlands is going in the right direction to get nude recreation (rightfully so) out of its taboo corner and make it more accessible.

Nude recreation

Concerning nude recreation in general we’re certainly on the right track. On a warm summer day we can enjoy being naked in many places. Resorts, a local lake, a beach or a wellness centre. But my experience is that this is mainly true for men. The options for women are a lot more restricted. Resorts and wellness centres are no problem, probably because they don’t emphasise naturism. Beach visits however is a bigger problem.

‘Then go to a resort or a wellness centre’, you may think. ‘Women always make problems…’ But in this case women make a problem of it with reason. After all, it’s not the issue that there’s the choice of just one more or less nude location. This situation touches the uneven options between man and woman.

My experiences are written above don’t bother me because I am ‘objectified’ without wanting it (even though it’s very annoying). It’s not so much that I feel threatened at times (which is much more annoying). What troubles me is that, being a woman, I just have to accept this.

Last summer I was confronted with this oppression of acceptance. Two physically imposing, male friends had nothing more to say to me than “Yes, annoying, but what can you do” after they saw that I was hindered by another man on the nude beach.

I’m glad to see counter-activities rising. Recent initiatives like ‘free the nipple’ show that women are putting this social norm up for debate and no longer accept this imbalance between man and woman. The nude beach is a perfect place for this.

Regaining public space

Ine ter Berg ©

I want to call upon women to physically go against this imbalance and not to let themselves be discouraged to go to a nude beach or nude resort when they feel like it. By simply being there they can regain this public space.

Despite the ‘inconveniences’ I described earlier, nude recreation is the best thing. Nothing is better than to go into the water in your bare butt and come out of the water without a wet cloth (swimsuit) around you. Grab this winter period to dream of this prospect and pick a nice spot to go to. And when you go to a beach or a lake, take your (male) friends with you. Inequality is best battled when you do it with a group.

And be honest, what’s better than taking on equality while you get a tanline free tan?

No, my clothes are comfortable!

You may have heard people saying that. My clothes are comfortable. They’d rather say that than drop their clothes and be comfortable.

Here is an example of ‘comfortable clothing’.

It restricts your skin and leaves marks on it. That is no problem of course, because skin is flexible and will restore its normal appearance again after a while but… even when this kind of mark isn’t bad in itself, isn’t that a sign that something’s wrong with clothes when they do that?

I have to wear clothes too; when I go outside, to work, when it’s cold, you probably know the drill. And I never like these odd marks on me when I can finally drop the stuff at the end of the day.

The marks that my clothes leave on me however are nothing compared to this:

This to me looks horrible. I wouldn’t want to have something on me that squeezes so much (it has to, otherwise it can’t leave those marks). This can not be comfortable. Being male I have no experience with bras but… just look at this…

Clothes free life wins for me. My skin fits me perfectly and is always more comfortable than any kind of textile I cover myself with.

When you go to a nudist beach…

You may have heard this whining before:

When you go to a nude beach you see all the people you don’t want to see.

Yes. That’s probably true for the people who go to such a beach to look at people. The way they probably also go to a dressed beach, to ogle people and try to see what they can’t see because of the wonders of modern bathing suits (although those aren’t very covering lately).

The people who go on about this don’t have a clue about nude beaches. They may not even have a clue about textile beaches, because people – as far as I understand – go there to enjoy themselves and have a good time. Not to be stared at as if they’re strips of bacon hanging in a window to make other people drool over them. And that goes for both kinds of beach: nudists aren’t there to be stared at. They are not the super model kind of folks. I think I mentioned this before: there are perhaps 20 supermodels in the world (those are the skinny, malnourished people who have to live on air and a slice of lettuce, remember?) in a world population of 7 billion. That is 1 supermodel on every 350,000,000 normal people. How big do you think the chances are to catch all those supermodels on the same beach? Let’s forget the nude part here for convenience’s sake.

I’ve been to nude beaches. I don’t go there to stare. I go there to relax, to meet nice people and have a good time. The folks whining about us (yes, I include myself here) should stop that and be satisfied with photoshopped photos and manipulated videos of people who aren’t real. I’ll even throw in a beach background for them to make them entirely happy. As long as the whining stops.

Maybe someone can show me how wonderful, healthy and fit these whiners look themselves…

Vacation in Greece. Vritomartis – 2

Hi! Welcome back!

As I already promised, here’s some more about my vacation in Crete at the Vritomartis naturist hotel.

Clothing optional.

Yes, that’s right. Vritomartis is not a hardcore naturist hotel. When you come here you can see people in all states of dress or undress, and no one here makes a fuss about it. And that’s the way it should be. Tolerance is master here. I’ve seen nude people chat with dressed people, naked parents walk along with their swimsuit-wearing children, people wearing towels, and so on. It doesn’t matter. Everyone’s here to have a good time and you can shape that any way you want.

So, hard core nudists who don’t want to see any textile shouldn’t even consider Vritomartis because they’ll get frustrated. Just so you know.

Up here is the pool where you can swim, do the aquagym I already mentioned in post 1, or stay out of and grab one of the many sun beds to enjoy the warmth.

The nude beach.

The hotel has its own nude beach. This beach is not clothing optional, the nude beach is for nude people. There’s a small bar where you can get food and drinks so nothing will keep you from spending an enjoyable naked day there. As most beaches on the Greek islands this beach too is a pebble beach but you can get beach beds there so you don’t have to worry about strange imprints on your bare parts – unless you like things like that. *grin*

The Vritomartis nude beach, it’s called Filaki, is a mere 750 metres / half mile away from the hotel. Also for this destination there is a shuttle service which runs very frequently, so even when you’re not good at walking it’s still easy to go there. As I mentioned in the previous post, the roads are public so officially you aren’t supposed to walk there in the nude, but the road to the nude beach is very quiet and the chances of being ‘caught’ in the buff there are slim. Note that at some point you’ll be walking relatively close to a regular road with some traffic though. It’s advisable to keep something at hand just in case.

Naked Crow 2

Yes, while I was here I wrote as well, and I managed to finish the first draft version of Naked Crow 2. I’m quite pleased with the story, and during this vacation I actually had some inspiration for a part 3 if there is any interest for that!

Up here you have a few impressions of the hotel interior. And last but not least a few pictures of my favourite pastime at the hotel:

Activity area — People returning from the hunt for escaped arrows.

Vacation in Greece. Vritomartis – 1

Yes. I’ve been away. And now I’m back, which is a bad thing. You may wonder why so let me tell you:

I’ve been to a very nice naturist hotel in Crete (one of the Greek islands). The hotel is called Vritomartis. The name stems from a Greek Goddess who was (and perhaps still is) the patron of fishermen.

What can I say about Vritomartis? A lot.

First: it was perfect for my needs for vacation. A quiet place, far from busy crowds, mad traffic and all that. If peace and quiet isn’t your thing, don’t go to Vritomartis. If you like meeting nice people, friendly staff, clean rooms, excellent food, space and time to breathe and relax while wearing what you like best, then you need to go to Vritomartis.

General information.

The hotel is located at the south coast of Crete, at the foot of the mountains and close to the sea. The nearest village is Chora Sfakion, 2.2km/1.5 miles from the hotel. The hotel has its own bus service to get people to and from the village 4 or 5 times a day. The distance isn’t bad and for people who like to walk it’s a nice walk to go there and come back. (Note that you can’t officially do this in the nude as it’s public road, but I’ve talked to one man who walked most of the stretch in the buff.)

The nearest ATM / bank machine is in the village, there is no such thing at the hotel. Good to know if you plan to visit Vritomartis.

Excursions and trips.

The staff can book lots of trips for you. There’s really a lot you can do here if you’re so inclined. Note that you need to pay for excursions in cash, so either bring enough or venture out to Chora Sfakion to the ATM. (The machine is filled up about once a week so you run the risk of finding it empty.)

What can you do? There are several hiking tours through the many gorges which make this region of Crete famous. At least one hiking tour is (mostly) naturist. There are jeep trips, naturist boat trips, visits to archaeological sites and bunches more.

For those less inclined to go out there are activities as well. The hotel staff provides lots of fun things to do, like Greek lessons, aquagym, volleyball, shuffle-board, tennis and petanque / jeu de boules.

There is even a big chess board for if you like chess, and my favourite was the archery hour. Everyone at Vritomartis can do and leave what they want. Feeling fine just hanging around at the pool or strolling through the garden? Stroll and hang around.

As you can see, I’m quite taken with this hotel. I’m quite certain I’ll come back here.

In another post I’ll tell some more about Vritomartis. At least now you know a bit about where I spent my time away from zjuzdme.org! 🙂

Curious? See more about the hotel at their website, or wait for the second part of my Vritomartis experience!

Vacation time!

Hello friends of the nude life style and other curious ones. Yes, I am off on vacation again so I won’t be posting much in the form of articles on naturism or nudism although I have prepared the obligatory Sunday Noon Nudist imagery for you, so don’t despair. 🙂 If you happen to be near Vritomartis on Crete, we may meet.

For now I wish you this:

befreebenude

(Image found on a naturist group on Facebook)

When you’re naked you’re honest about your body

More and more I think that nudists and naturists are – in a way – the most honest people. They are honest about their body.

A nudist doesn’t feel the need to hide being skinny or large beneath layers of clothing that have patterns to ‘flatter’ their shape. They are the way they are.

The same goes for people who have what many others consider a ‘good body’ but who have scars and other deformations. Accidents, surgery, giving birth (for women) and so forth, these things leave marks on a human. These are nothing to be ashamed about, even when modern society makes people feel that way.

After all, we all have to be eternally young and beautiful, in the impossible way that many supermodels look.

It amazes me every time that so many people allow themselves to chase such unattainable goals and looks. These people are the “lucky few”, and to be honest I am not so certain if they are really the lucky ones. They have to keep up this look, adjust their diet and what not all the time because the scrutiny of the world’s eye is on them.

And all that when there’s nothing wrong when you look like this lady on the right.

What’s not to like? She’s healthy, she is laughing and she is more than comfortable with her appearance. And all that with difficult diets and a regime for living that makes life not worth living.

Be honest. Don’t try to be the supermodel you’re not. Be happy. I’m convinced many of them aren’t, and in that light you win.

Kunst in je blootje

Ja. Ik ga naar kunst kijken. In mijn blootje. De Nederlandse Federatie van Naturisten (NFN) heeft iets speciaals georganiseerd. In de Beurs van Berlage hangt een expositie van 200 reproducties van werken van Vincent van Gogh, en op 6 september ‘s avonds is er een speciale openstelling voor NFN-leden. Ik vind het werk van Van Gogh prachtig dus is dit een speciale gebeurtenis om van te genieten in mijn meest natuurlijke staat.

Ik zal er meer over vertellen als ik weer terug ben!

Looking at art in the nude — De aankondiging in het Uit! magazine van de NFN

(Afbeelding linkt naar de nederlandse NFN website waar het evenement meer belicht wordt.)

No wrong way to be naked

Quoted ad verbatim from The Ottawa Citizen:

Published on: August 8, 2014Last Updated: August 8, 2014 8:18 PM EDT

A picture taken on August 19, 2012 shows nude women under a sun shade and sunbathing at lake Grillensee in Naunhof near Leipzig, eastern Germany.

WALTRAUD GRUBITZSCH / GETTY

It’s become a summer tradition for a nudist to encourage me to switch my bathing suit for a birthday suit. The first time was last year at Hanlan’s Point Beach, the stripped-down portion of the Toronto Island. Though I had swum naked earlier in the day, a man who is basically the beach’s ambassador of nudity approached me and my friend as we were about to leave. He said we really should have felt comfortable shedding our clothes sooner. It made me very uncomfortable.

My next solicitation happened last weekend in Ottawa when a friend and I stumbled upon a secluded inlet on Meech Lake known as “Little Beach.” A man was tanning naked beside a woman in a bathing suit, and another guy who looked north of 60 pulled down his leopard-print Speedo and dove in the water. We looked at each other like “Ah, it’s that kind of joint.” As we were packing up to leave Mr. Leopard Print walked over and encouraged us to check out the many Ontario naturist organizations (to a layman, naturist and nudist are interchangeable). We smiled politely and tried to act like we were in a hurry. He didn’t take the hint.

There’s something off-putting about being evangelized by someone who is naked when you’re fully dressed. But if you can look past the proselytizers, nudist communities might be one of the best places to build self-esteem. Body images issues that keep women (and some men) from joining a nudist community actually dissipate in buck-naked environments.

The idea is counter-intuitive. If you’re insecure about your body, isn’t being naked around others like being a vegan locked in a slaughterhouse? For most of us (and for the record, I’ve never been a nudist group member) these events seem like an ideal breeding ground for insecurity, especially given the fact that almost 100 per cent of women admit to having at least one “I hate my body” moment each day. But while the regular world is obsessed with how nude bodies look, nudists have a different mentality. Rather than aesthetics, they’re are obsessed with how it feels to not wear clothes.

In Ontario, there are are about 16 clubs or resorts where people who want to be naked can swim together, have barbecues or take vacations. During the colder months, the Ottawa Naturists/Naturistes de L’Outaouais (ON/NO) rents out Ottawa-area pools for its 200 members.

Because we’re all a bunch of 13-year-olds, “nudist community” seems synonymous with “orgy.” But the motivation to bare all is a lot more wholesome. The man at Meech Lake said he likes swimming nude because he can dry off naturally and doesn’t have to deal with wet bathing suits (and no matter how prudish you are, swimming naked just feels better. Admit it). Still, the fact that nudism doesn’t appeal to women in particular isn’t surprising.

My Facebook feed is full of stories about women’s bodies being judged – from the bikini-clad Edmonton mother who was taunted for showing stretch marks on a beach to the woman who says Instagram removed her butt-selfie because of her weight (to bolster her case, see the untouched tome of Paulina Gretzky cheek-shots). But nudist communities aren’t concerned with traditional beauty standards. There is no wrong kind of naked.

Being around naturists is actually like the reverse of the nightmare in which you’re standing naked on a stage in front of clothed people. Everybody fits in. All the parts we fetishize become like wallpaper nudists no longer think about. I spoke with a gender transitioned woman who said joining the ON/NO helped her feel accepted as a female. A British woman joined a nudist community after an operation left her with a huge scar on her torso. She told the Daily Mail she went from not being able to undress in front of her husband to being confidently naked around others. Yet as women, surmounting our own insecurities is only half the battle.

We also have men to worry about. When cops and politicians imply that we’re just a too-short-skirt away from rape, that message makes ditching the skirt seem like a bad idea. But nudist communities have us metaphorically covered. Since more men are drawn to nudism, organizations try to balance the gender ratio of members they admit to make women more comfortable. The majority of parks in Quebec do not accept single men and ON/NO created a bylaw that puts them on a waiting list if the male-female ratio exceeds 2:1.

And contrary to popular belief, nudist communities aren’t populated by gawkers and sexual predators. The ON/NO, for example, has a pretty intensive screening system for new members that involves at least four meetings in a mix of clothed and nude settings to make sure no creeper alarm bells go off. If more women knew how safe these communities are, they could reap the body-image benefits of being au naturel around others.

Of course nudism isn’t for everyone. I’m not even sure it’s for me. But I know this lifestyle doesn’t deserve the stigma it receives. Sure, having naked men convince you to get naked on a beach doesn’t foster a wholesome image. But for most people who go bare, nudism is an escape from society’s scrutiny of their bodies. It certainly sounds a lot better than cutting carbs to fit into that bikini.

Angelina Chapin is the blog editor for Huffington Post Canada.