This is probably something people will never agree on. Should clothing optional be a thing?
I think that clothing optional is a nice idea but that it will never work to make naturism more accepted.
The social pressure, instilled onto almost everyone of us from a very young age, to wear clothes ‘or else’ is something that most people won’t ever shed of lose.
At best, clothing optional places are good for when people in and out of clothes are very happy and comfortable together, disregarding the fact that some are dressed and some are nude. It sounds very simple. But it isn’t.
Why is it that people in some prisons are stripped naked while their guards stay in uniform? To make a difference. You may say, “I’m a naturist, I couldn’t care less”, but that’s just the physical part. The psychological part is there, whether you want it or not. The naked person is the exposed one, the one who can’t hide anything (regardless if you want to or not – you have no option), while the clothed one is ‘in control’. Because of our textile conditioning that’s always there, no matter how you twist or turn it. (Again, excepting the lucky few, this is the last time I will add this, so remember that 😉
Folks in bathing suits will usually feel just a bit ‘better’ about themselves, because they are following the ‘civilised’ guidelines of wearing clothes. Even at the beach, no matter how ridiculous those things are, and no matter how open-minded they are towards nudity and naturism.
One of my sayings is “when everyone’s nude, no one is nude”. This creates equality. A nude banker is as nude as a nude construction worker or a nude astronaut. There is no equality in bathing suits vs nude people, and also – wait for it – no equality among bathing suit wearers. There will always be people with more expensive, fancier, more modern bathing suits than others, and so there is the social divide again that (my idea of) naturism aims to remove.
That’s why I think clothing optional will never really work.
Do you know it? When you’re in a clothing optional area and the non-nudists are all doing their subtle best to look at you while trying to hide their curiosity?
I’ve mentioned this before. Nudists and naturists are far more honest about their life than non-nudists. Nudists know what people look like. There are two genders and each one is basically laid out the same for everyone who’s a member of that gender. Some parts are bigger, smaller, rounder or longer. Who cares? We’re all human.
On one occasion I saw something that almost made my eyes fall out.
I’m a naked naturist and for that reason I like places where I don’t see clothes, no matter how skimpy.
