A nude photo in a gallery window

I found the below article on artnet. Isn’t it bizarre how much difference there is between perceiving a female or a male body? This has to change!!

Nude Photo in Gallery Window Gets a Rise Out of Neighbors

Cait Munro, Thursday, July 24, 2014

The photograph in question by Bek Andersen, in the window of Rivington Design House. Photo via Bowery Boogie

Lower East Side gallery Rivington Design House is in hot water with its neighbors over a photograph of a nude man displayed in its front window. Despite the fact that the image is not sexual or vulgar in any way, neighbors accused the gallerists of being unaware of or indifferent to the fact that many children pass by the Kenmare Street storefront every day.

The nude photo is the work of artist Bek Andersen, and is part of a show entitled “Clothed Female/Naked Male,” which seeks to shift the paradigm of nudity in art. “There is nothing pornographic or offensive happening in that photo,” Andersen told Gothamist. “It’s a portrait of a man. He is naked, but doing nothing indecent. We see naked women all the time in photos where they are highly sexualized and people don’t notice because they are desensitized.”

The backlash from community members only confirms Andersen’s point—that we are so accustomed to artistic nudity being limited to portrayals of women that we find it offensive when the male body is put on similar display.

Despite the wave of complaints, there are no reports that the work in question has been removed from the storefront. You can see the photographs, as well as the offended passersby, until August 15.

Barefoot makes me feel more naked.

I’m a home nudist. I like to go around naked in my own house. It’s a good feeling. The only thing I used to wear were slippers. A few days ago somehow I forgot to put them on and walked around barefoot. Then the realisation hit me: I feel more naked when I walk barefoot.

I was astonished about this and tried them on and off a few more times, each time reaching the same conclusion: barefoot feels more naked. I’ve given this some thought. The only reason for that feeling that I can find is that walking barefoot puts me in contact with the world. (As this is the floor of my home I can’t really say nature). Walking on slippers means I feel the same thing everywhere. Walking around barefoot makes me feel different things in different places. Maybe there’s more to it than I understand now. I wonder if any of you have experienced the same thing, so I’m looking forward to your comments on this!

Chronically Clothed: Thoughts on Nudity | The State Times

On Chronically Clothed: Thoughts on Nudity | The State Times. I found this text:

Last year, my cousin posted a link to an article about World Naked Gardening Day, an event celebrated by many horticulturists the first Saturday of every May. The idea behind the event is to tend to your crops and flowers in as raw a state as they are: completely unclothed. My first reaction was pure excitement, followed by extreme disappointment. Sure, I would love to step into my backyard, dig in the dirt and help something grow exactly as I am, but what would the consequences be? What would my family think? My neighbors? Would I be breaking the law?

Laws on nudity fit into Joel Feinberg’s offense theory. This theory states that in order for something to be outlawed, the action doesn’t need to be intrinsically harmful to another, it only has to produce an unpleasant feeling for others (e.g. shame, disgust, anxiety.) So what is it about nudity that makes people feel so shameful and anxious?

I believe one of the main reasons for these negative feelings is our tendency to equate nudity to sexuality. Because we have been conditioned to think of bathing and sex as the only acceptable times to be undressed, we are chronically clothed: it is even expected that while alone you have something on. Reasons such as hygiene and protection from the environment do not need to be answered by law, but rather by common sense. Only we have a say in whether or not we put on a coat while it’s snowing, so why should a shirt have it’s own law? As for people going fully nude in public places, nudist colonies have already established common etiquette to keep everyone healthy, happy and clean.

I believe that nudity has the potential to facilitate better attitudes on body image and sex. Outlawing your natural form in public causes people to be ashamed of their bodies, and in turn perpetuates the cycle of sexual confusion and shame. People ogling at the naked body does not spur from nudity, but from a puritanical school of thought that demonizes the very essence of what it means to be human.

As a fashion design major and apparel business owner, I am as big a clothing lover as they come. However, my interest in fashion is how it supplements a person physically and artistically, not in how it covers something that is supposedly short of perfect. The change would demand a huge psychological shift in seeing nudity as commonplace, and not a form of forbidden fruit. I am not talking about a full-fledge shift into a constant state of undress, (that would be impractical on many levels) but just the acceptability of me sitting in my garden, as exactly the person that I am.

Nude is normal… For all the pictures click here:

On driving naked

You may have heard of it before; people who driving along all over the place without wearing clothes. True nudists will perhaps know how it feels or know someone who’s done it (and/or still does). Last year I posted about this already, it’s time for another one.

Driving naked. If you’ve never done it you have no idea how liberating it is. Some things to keep in mind and know (and this is from experience):

Have a towel. Because you sweat, and once that gets into the chair’s fabric that’s not going to smell nice after a while.
Relax. Driving is something that requires attention, getting uptight and nervous about being naked isn’t safe.
Don’t worry about being seen. If you worry about that, don’t drive naked. The thing is that just about all people won’t look at you, they’re occupied with traffic, their phone, themselves, whatever.
Don’t think that others expect you to be naked in your car. The others usually are non-nudists and it won’t even cross their mind that someone would do that.
If someone sees you, act naturally. After all, you’re all natural when you’re naked. You can ignore them if they try to attract attention or just look at them once and ignore them then. Giving them a lot of attention makes them pay less attention to the road (and you too). You’re naked because YOU want that, not for others to see you. Being behind windows brings the chance to be seen but it’s very small. I drove home naked 6 times in 2 weeks, each trip being over 130km / 80 miles and I’m convinced that no one saw me.

Verdict in the case of Delftse Hout nudism

Perhaps you remember the upheaval about the sudden closure of the decades old nude beach in Delft, the Netherlands. Yesterday there was a verdict on the case, and it was in favour of the nudists on trial.

Here is the official, Dutch verdict on the Dutch justice site. I’ll translate it for those who can’t read Dutch:

Acquittal of forbidden nudity in Delft

The Hague , 11th of July 2014

On the 11th of July 2014 the Court of The Hague has acquitted eight suspects of sixteen cases of forbidden nude recreation.

The city of Delft has closed the nude beach in the nature and recreational area of Delftse Hout on the 18th of April 2013. The eight suspects have spent time on the beach undressed after that date, and for that they received fines.

The law states that unclothed recreation is not permitted in public places that aren’t suitable for that. The suspects have said that it’s not clear what the law-maker means with that. The Court of The Hague states that the law should be interpreted in a way that nude recreation is not permitted in public places that are evidently not suited for that. In the cases of the eight suspects there is insufficient evidence, and therefore they have been acquitted.
The Public Prosecutor had asked the court to provide maintainable rules concerning nude recreation. The court said to that: “It is not for a judge to make clear laws or to clarify laws. That is explicitly a task of the law-maker.”

Natural vs. Normal

Every so often you hear that nudism is normal. Walking around naked, clothes-free, undressed, nude, call it what you like, it is normal.

Actually it is and it’s not. Why do I say that? According to Dictionary.com, ‘normal’ stands for

conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

There is says that normal is natural. Interestingly enough though, looking at ‘natural‘ in the same place doesn’t list ‘normal’ with ‘natural’:

– existing in or formed by nature (opposed to artificial)

Normal means that it’s the norm, the regular, standard thing to do. Most people wear clothes, as that’s the norm. It’s generally considered the proper (normal) thing to do. And then there’s us, the bunch of freaks who renounce clothes wherever possible. Have you heard people say “that’s not normal”? And do you know that they’re right? It’s natural but not normal. Now if they were to say “it’s not natural” then they’re wrong.

Unless they can present empirical proof that most of them were born clothed.

In the end the thing that stands to question is: do you want to be normal or do you want to be natural? And before you get under steam and start venting: yes, we all want natural to be the new normal, but that’s not going to happen by tomorrow. We’ll just have to stay natural as much as we can to make the point that “not wanting to be normal” doesn’t mean we’re abnormal.

Staying clean – naturist style

Staying clean is important. We probably all know that. Sometimes it’s impossible to stay clean. You can slip in the mud, crawl through your garden while weeding, have someone accidentally toss a bucket of fish entrails over you (okay, less likely than the other two but I enjoyed the mental image). All these things make you dirty. At least not so clean. And guess what: naked people have the advantage here.

Above is an image of three kids who were playing in the mud. Nothing but good of course, fun should be had anywhere possible, but… you see it coming… the kids need a shower and the clothes need a good washing. And drying. And ironing. And folding.

And here is a bunch of naked people, also muddy. They take a shower, dry off and they’re done. No need for laundry, drying clothes, ironing clothes, folding clothes. Nothing beats the human skin in ease of cleaning. That’s why I think that more people should dress in it.

Khalil Gibran on clothes

Why Nude Photos are Important to Naturism

Original article to be found at the aanaturist-blog.

Imagine if you will that this blog wasn’t about naturism, but about camping and backpacking. In my theoretical camping blog I’d write about my travels, offer advice, discuss issues within the camping/backpacking community, and show you pictures of my trips. No one would get upset about pictures of Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. But in reality my blog isn’t about camping, but nude recreation and the naturist lifestyle.

Since its early days, naturism has been portraying the nude human body in photography. In fact, it was nudist magazines that set the legal precedent for nude images to be published. Up until 1958, it was illegal for nudist magazines to be mailed by the U.S. Postal Service. In SUNSHINE BOOK COMPANY v. SUMMERFIELD, The U.S. District Court of Columbia ruled that nudist magazines could be mailed. This decision also created the precedent for Playboy and other magazines to be published.

The nude human body is the core of our lifestyle, it’s what defines our philosophy and our outlook. And when discussing our way of living, how can we describe it? Sure I can drone on forever about nude recreation in words and sentences. However, nothing describes who we are or what we believe than a picture. Many of my readers recall that my own foray into naturism began by seeing images of non-sexual nudity. Naturist photos act like ambassadors to non-naturists, demonstrating what nude recreation is like.

Seeing nude photos helps eliminate equating nudity only with sexual activity. For the vast majority of Americans, nudity is akin to sexual activity. Movies, TV, and the internet teach us that mere nudity is only erotic. Seeing non-sexual nudity is the first step to removing society’s warped conditioning.

Nude photos also fosters body acceptance. I used to hate how my body looked. I thought I wasn’t the “ideal” body, or a body fit to be a naturist. But seeing many different people nude has changed my outlook. I have finally learned to accept myself, and accept others.

Now I’m not naïve, I know that our lifestyle attracts the wrong people. It’s a sad fact. Our photos can be exploited by some really sick and warped minds. Case in point: naturist photos used to show pictures of entire families, but now because of a few perverts, no naturist in their right minds would allow photos of their children to be posted online. Another sad fact is that the term “naturism” has been hijacked by the porn industry. But this isn’t the fault of naturism or nude recreation. Blaming naturists for having their photos exploited is like blaming a woman for being sexually assaulted because she was wearing a risqué dress. The accountability should be placed on the victimizer and not the victim. I’m not going to stop being a naturist because of a few losers.

Nude photos are a part of naturism. Nudity is part of the naturist experience, but the biggest part of the naturist lifestyle is what takes place between the ears and not the legs. Nude photos serve only as an example of what naturist activities are. There is nothing shameful about the naked human body. The only “shameful” part of nudity is those who exploit it for the wrong reasons.

What’s so special about nudism?

I guess that’s a question on the mind of so many people. And probably many nudists have been asked this question.

There are several answers to this one.

What’s so special about nudism?

I think most nudists/naturists will mention the freedom. No more bonds of clothing that restrict you in your movement.The falling away of social boundaries based on clothes is also something that many people in the nudist lifestyle will recognise.

But think about this: basically there’s nothing special about nudism. It’s just something that isn’t seen as ‘normal’ these days, with everyone being brainwashed and trained into believing that wearing clothes is ‘normal’.

Dressed people walk around, talk, have fun, watch TV, read books, eat and sleep. Naked people walk around, talk, have fun, watch TV, read books, eat and sleep. The only difference is the few layers of fabric that one chooses to wear. Or not.

Too bad that clothes are such a big deal…