I know. This image doesn’t look like much. It’s a browser tab. The initiated have already figured that out.
This is the tab where my “Live Laugh Nude” Mastodon-account lives. The link here is an invite link. Feel free to click, even if you’re just curious. There are no obligations.
What is ‘Mastodon’?
Mastodon is an open source, community driven, free social medium. There are no big companies who want to sell your data.
More and more people are running from Faceborg to Mastodon because of its open and friendly nature.
Live, Laugh, Nude
Live, Laugh, Nude is a “node” of the Mastodon network. It is based on the same principles as all of Mastodon but no one there is censoring your information (unless you talk about really bad stuff like child porn and terrorist crap). Many nudist people from Twitter are moving to this Mastodon server as well, since Twitter has opened a hunt on our kind of people.
If you’re curious: have a look. Don’t be shy. Don’t feel intimidated: the interface is a lot like Twitter in the simple mode, or Twitter’s “tweetdeck” in the advanced more.
January 1st, 2020. Almost exactly 7 years ago I started this blog/website/internet thing. I had no idea what I was getting into. Now I do and I’m glad I got zjuzdme.org off the ground, in the air, out there, whatever you want to call it.
I am happy and proud that this site provides some services to so many naturists, nudists, naked enthusiasts and nude-curious people every day (seriously, every day!).
Being naked as much as possible, preferably in nature, has been my way of life for many years. Let me make that decades. When I found out I wasn’t weird but one of many who enjoyed that too, I was so freakin’ relieved, you can’t imagine. Well, maybe you can. Maybe you were in the very same boat at one time.
Charco del Palo
A lot has happened since 2013 when this site started. I visited Charco del Palo on Lanzarote several times, where I took long nude walks along the beach and in the mountains close to the town.
Stunning to be able to do that and I am more and more of a mind that this should be possible anywhere. Too bad that it takes so long for society to understand the benefits of nude living.
I hope sincerly that I can serve up more interesting things for you in this new year, dear visitors of the site.
Let me thank you for being here, for reading and commenting. It means a lot to me.
I saw this a while ago and had to save it. When I started writing this post, I heard just the latest episode of the Naturist Living Show and I remembered this image.
So what do these two have in common for me?
Naturism and nature
Most of the time I treat naturism and nudism as the same thing, simply because it’s easy. Now, however, for this post, I tear them apart. And here’s why.
Nudism for me is the desire to be naked as much as possible, wherever. To enjoy the feeling of being clothes-free, at home, inside, outside, anyside. (And yes, I just made that up.)
Naturism for me is the desire to be in touch with nature as much as possible, in the most natural state of being. This, you guessed it, is naked.
Your blogger on a nude hike in the UK.
Being naked and as much in touch with nature always makes me fall in love with nature. For simply being able to be there, for feeling in my proper place. For the sheer exhilaration of sensing everything nature throws at me without being fenced off by roofs, clothes and stuff like that.
As the poster at the top says, it’s a revolution that starts inside us. I don’t believe that anyone wants to be nude without an inner desire, a drive, a sense of wanting it. In that respect nudism and naturism line up perfectly. Nudism, I might say, is the first step. Being nude. Natural. Naturism takes it a step further by being nude in nature.
But nudists can be in nature too!
I hear you. Nudists visit nude beaches, nudist resorts, nude venues and play nude volleyball / petanque / tennis etc.
Absolutely true and more be the power to them.
The difference here, for me, is that naturists are trying to be more aware of nature. Of the lifestyle they are carrying. Of respect and care.
If you, dear nudist reader, feel that nudists do the same as naturists, then that’s wonderful. I’m simply laying out the difference for me.
Ecologically responsible
I am convinced that people being naked in nature is the best thing that can happen to nature. It puts us in our place the way we naturally are. Clothes make you less vulnerable and therefore more prone to damaging nature. Rough nature that damages your skin? A solid coat or shirt handles that. Difficult ground? Massive boots solve that. A terrain is hard to get through? Joe, hand me that bulldozer.
The natural human
I understand that sometimes things like that need to happen in the name of advancement, but the way humanity is abusing our planet at the moment, with plastic crap everywhere (even in our food!) and pollution all around us, we’re not doing anyone or anything a favour.
Falling in love with nature might be the best thing that can happen.
When you love something, you care about it, you nurture it, make it better. You don’t rip it apart for most profit.
In the podcast which I mentioned above, Stephane mentions ‘Ethical naturism’. I think that captures all my words in a very nice way. Still, my words will stay up here.
Thanks for reading this far. I hope this post made some sense. 🙂 Please, fall in love with nature.
I am sure you know what I mean. Prude social media. Did I hear someone say ‘Facebook’? Ding! Right in one. That one is, as far as I know, the most tight-assed, buttoned up place that allows murder and porn while being on a witch hunt against naturism, right?
Nope.
They are against nude images that show ‘too much’.
This up here is too much. Totally unsafe. You can clearly see body parts. Something that Facebook is against, unless – under conditions – it’s meant to be art. They decide what is art. Or unless it’s ‘educational’. They decide what is educational. (See, you’re picking this up quickly!)
This up here is Facebook-Safe. I hear what you say: this is bonkers, mad, crazy, bull-shit, BS, insane, unreal. In short: this is Facebook.
And still there is a way, but you may not like it.
Yes, there is a way to promote naturism on social prudia. And you don’t even need to deface (I mean de-body) images for that.
Victorian bathing fashion
The way is to be smart about your images, or forget about images entirely. You can write a good piece on naturism, add an image of someone in a bathing suit and detail how insane such a piece of cloth actually is.
If you are into blogging and you really want to post the links to your blogs on a social prudia, make sure you are careful with the imagery. The hard part is that it’s difficult to predict which image will show up on a Facebook page. When you use WordPress, you can assign an image to be the main one but Faceprude can select a different one. You can work around that by removing the preview from the link. Or add a prude-book safe image to your post there, which will remove the preview and still you’ll have something to show.
But I need my images to express myself!
I know there are lots of people who desperately want to show the world how nice it is to be nude, using pictures. Do so, by all means, in the places where you can. Diaspora is cool, Mewe is cool, Twitter, for now, is cool. Naktiv.net is a good place too. But Faceprude isn’t. You can spread the word there by doing exactly that: spreading words.
I thought I’d dump this info here, in case you are a dedicated Zuckerberger. I understand that – the whole world and their aunt is on Faceprude. If you want to tell the world there about your nudism, your naturism, your clothes-free lifestyle, use the right words and the safe images. Using images that show the opposite of what you want to tell the world is a good way, especially when they are funny.
Dedicate some words to the benefits of looking great in a bathing suit and how it keeps you warm in the water.
Sing the song of your people about the benefits of walking around in smelly, stinky clothes after a hike.
Be creative. Don’t hold back. Use what’s available.
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.
Nudity as a lifestyle as most of us practice it isn’t the only way the naked body is ‘used’.
The World Naked Bike Ride is a prime example of this. You probably know about it; a world wide event where, at a certain day per location, as many people as possible come together to ride bikes through a city naked, to protest car and promote the safety of cyclists. London is a famous location, as is Bristol and Brussels. Many more towns have a similar event, which is good.
WNBR London 2016
But there are other ways as well.
Here, women are protesting against bullfighting, using their bodies to attract attention for their cause.
I can only applaud this kind of action, since these ladies are making themselves vulnerable – even when they aren’t entirely naked. There will be plenty of people with cameras and smartphones around to take pictures. As long as that’s for the right reasons...
This naked protester clearly is against war and pro nudity. I find it striking that there is this one naked man in the image and half a brigade of policemen who don’t seem to know what to do about the situation.
Also our good enemy Facebook hasn’t gone without nude protests. We all know that the microcosm of Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the most welcoming place for nudists and naturists. They have even banned images of nude artwork, after all.
2019. Anti-Censorship Activists Strip Nude Outside Facebook HQ to Fight Nudity Ban .
I found this gem on RollingStone.com. And this was published on June 3rd of this year. I didn’t even know it had happened. The event had been organised by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) together with Spencer Tunick. More about this on the NCAC website.
So yes, nudity can be used for many purposes. As long as those are positive, uplifting, I am quite alright with those. No people should be hurt by such activities though. And I mean physically. There is no way that we, the nude people, can avoid “offending” others with our naked lifestyle. People are offended too quickly as it is, these days.
By the way, if you want to be counted as a proponent of more realistic nudity on social media, you can sign up here.
Many of us know the joy of walking outside, in nature. Not everyone does, I am aware of that, and I pity you if you’ve never had the opportunity to experience that kind of freedom in nature. It is as if you become part of nature. It’s remarkable (yet again) how big a barrier clothing creates.
Jon, the person who created the site and maintains it, mentioned it to me via e-mail so I had a look at the site. It is a true treasure trove for people like us who want to walk and see experiences of others.
Barefoot. (Used with permission.)
One post I found there stood out to me: Need a Nude Trail? Make One. (And no, I didn’t read all the posts yet, they have an archive that goes back years, go see for yourself!) In itself, it’s a great post and an inspiration to see how people create their own trails. Of course, this only works when you’re in a large natural area. I don’t see this happening in cities, but the idea is great and I thought I should share it here.
Along the trail. (Used with permission.)
This site motivates me to go out a bit more and see if I can come up with a proper naturist trail near here. I am convinced there’s something possible, perhaps not near where I live in the Netherlands, but for me the German border isn’t far away and there is a lot of forest land out there!
An intriguing topic, isn’t it? The more as this is not about a brick-and-mortar jail but one of a totally different kind.
A little while ago I received this message. A cry for help. As I don’t feel equipped to comment on this just like that, I asked the sender of this (who asked if he could remain anonymous) if I could post his message on my blog. He agreed. Please read this and if you have suggestions, ideas or constructive comments, please leave them at the bottom of this page!
I was a naturalist growing up from the age i say 10 years old. On my own only deep in the woods in hidden ponds, rivers, creeks i found or knew from geological maps. As i got older and working like EVERYWEAR there was in Puerto Rico. On job assignments. I did hiking in the rain forests and along the beach for 1/8 to 1/4 mile from an access point to a nude beach was aloud.
Now handicapped. I cant drive or visit beach’s because my wheelchair or rollator can’t make it through the sand to reach the nude beaches or even some nudists resorts/camping grounds. There not handicapped equipped! Also i need someone that can drive me there with my wheelchair or rollator and gear (emergency oxygen tank and meds and meters and such.) To sleep at a place would require power and a 4 person tent just for me!
So back to the begining sentence. I am trapped at my house to go out and just be free. My folks come over anytime unannounced and walk into my room where I am sleeping. So I cant even sleep nude anymore…. Or be nude in my house.
What am i to do???
As you see, this is a horrible situation to be in. If you have anything to share with our anonymous naturist friend, please do so. Ideas, solutions, options, all of those are welcome.
Don’t get me wrong. This is not a post about body painting.
I’m going to delve a little into the side of naturism of other ethnic groups. People of colour. Black people. Hispanic people. And why? Because I have found that around 95% of the naturist contacts I have on the internet are white. Caucasian. Whatever kind of ‘colour’ you want to put on them.
I asked one of my non-white naturist contacts about this.
Do coloured naturists feel part of the overall naturist community?
I wondered about that, because the naturist community as a whole is a very open and welcoming bunch. At least, from what I’ve found and experienced.
As it turns out, it depends very much on the group such naturists wants to join. Sometimes they are accepted as they are, no problems come up. That is how it should be. However, there are times, so my contact said, that coloured people are not so easily accepted and in the worst case they are actually shunned.
I’m glad he told me that there are people out there in nudy-land (my words, not his) that do their best to make people of all genders and each ethnicity feel welcome. Which is how it should be.
Are there communities of coloured naturists?
The answer to this was that he hadn’t been invited to any, but he is convinced there are specific naturist groups for ‘other ethnic groups’.
As an aside, I have to throw in here that I hate differentiating between humans and humans this way. We’re all people, regardless of skin tone, and it would be nice if we could just get along. I’m certain most people agree.
Are coloured people as much into naturism as non-coloured ones?
I had to ask. And the answer was ‘no’. That didn’t surprise me. Part of that is in the upbringing, which brings religion into play but also the ‘being different’ as in skin tone. Dark people seem to be ‘watched’ more so they have to stay below the waves of attention. That prevents them from coming out into the open as naturists, or even it will prevent them from even trying. Which is a shame, in my view.
And now to you, coloured reader…
I admit that this is not an in-depth bit of research, that I’m just scratching the surface. So I would like to hear your opinions, your experiences and even your hopes for your (and others) naturist future.
Please drop me a comment and talk about what you have done, what you think and so on.
Naturists and other clothes-free loving people often complain that the world isn’t accepting us the way we want. True, I immediately agree with you. However, we still have options to do what we want, be it in our home, in saunas, on nude beaches, nude resorts and any kind of venue that is organised by people with open minds. Like the British Naturism swim in a water park that attracted so much attention lately.
Compared to many people who have no opportunity to be as free as we are in their country, we can count ourselves lucky in a way. Of course, there are those who are in our league and they draw the short end in their country too. For instance in Egypt, where nudism is illegal. I once read an article by the Egyptian Nudist where he and some friends occasionally came together in someone’s home to have some relaxing nude time, and even that was risky for them.
The world is a weird place. Let’s be happy with what we can do, instead of constantly bemoan what we can’t. Life is too short to whine and complain, trust me. Suddenly you’re old and you should not look back in regret.
Instead, seize every opportunity to be nude and enjoy it. Be as open about your lifestyle as you can. Some can be very open, some risk big problems, so also don’t complain if someone who is not you, is not doing as you do. You shouldn’t judge someone’s seeming unwillingness to talk freely about his or her naturism or nudism. Their life isn’t yours.
Do you have good ideas? Spread them.
I think that’s the best thing you can do. If you have a clever idea to be nude without breaking your local laws, tell the world about that idea. You may not reach someone close very quickly, but the internet (think about places like Twitter and such) has a way to spread your idea like wildfire.
Don’t keep the good things to yourself; you could make a fellow human very happy.
In the case that you’re afraid people will know it was you who had the idea, tell a friend about it if you think he or she can spread the idea, or open an anonymous twitter account that isn’t easily linked back to you. I’m sure many naturists have something like that, and it works.
I hope I have motivated some people to look at the bright side of nude life. I’ve seen plenty of examples where ‘activists’ are not happy. Of course, there will always be unhappy people. As I said, it’s not a perfect world. But spreading good and positive ideas is one way to slowly turn that tide.
