Category: Nudism

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 nakedDriving 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

nude beach signPerhaps 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.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

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.

Why Nude Photos are Important to Naturism

Original article to be found at the aanaturist-blog.

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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.

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Nudist dating sites.

I wonder if the way that some nudist dating sites are ‘promoting’ themselves is smart or rather damaging to the general concept of nudism.

As comments on an article about the World Naked Bike Ride in Clacton (UK) I found this:

My gut feeling says that this is not good for the image of nudism. What do you think?

Wat is er nou zo speciaal aan nudisme?

Ik denk dat deze vraag bij heel veel mensen wel eens is opgekomen. En de meeste nudisten zullen deze vraag wel eens gehoord hebben. Er zijn een aantal antwoorden op deze vraag.

Wat is er nou zo speciaal aan nudisme?

Ik verwacht dat de meeste naturisten/nudisten de vrijheid zullen noemen. Geen belemmerende kleding meer die je tegenhoudt als je gaat bewegen. Ook het wegvallen van sociale grenzen gebaseerd op keren is iets dat veel nudisten zullen herkennen.

Maar eigenlijk is er niets speciaals aan nudisme. Het wordt dezer dagen enkel als ‘niet normaal’ gezien, omdat iedereen gehersenspoeld en getraind wordt in het idee dat kleren dragen ‘normaal’ is.

Geklede mensen lopen rond, praten, hebben plezier, kijken televisie, lezen boeken, eten en slapen. Naakte  mensen lopen rond, praten, hebben plezier, kijken televisie, lezen boeken, eten en slapen. Het enige verschil is een paar lagen stof die iemand wil dragen. Of niet.

Jammer dat kleren als een verplichting worden gezien…

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…