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The stubbornness of textile

Yes. I had ‘an experience’ again. With an unexperienced person.

On my Dutch author blog I wrote about naturism, because I released a Dutch crime story that also deals with naturism. An acquaintance writer/poet from near here let me know she’d read the article and though it was “very courageous” to tell the world I’m a naturist.

That is what happened in my head. An alarm bell. Courageous? What’s so courageous about telling the truth?

I asked her that same question and I got a very deflecting answer: “I really like wearing my clothes, and on the beach I always wear a bathing suit.“

This of course made me ask what benefit the bathing suit had since it doesn’t make you a better bather nor does it keep you warm or dry in the water. “So people don’t see my body.“

Aha. So you are ashamed of your body. There was not a clear response on that one, so the answer is ‘yes’…

Which is a shame, as we all know. There is nothing to be ashamed of, but the media are good at creating this impossible image, and keep changing it.

I asked her once more about her aversion to being naked, quoting her words that she liked wearing her clothes and asking if she had ever tried to be naked for a while. The NO!!! which followed that made it clear to me that she’s not yet ready to give this any thought.

The sad thing of course is that many people think this way, that warped way that’s been glued between their ears. They love their clothes. They won’t change. They will buy a bigger air conditioning unit when it gets hot, instead of doing the sensible thing.

So, to all the readers and followers of this naked-skin-oriented blog: be just as courageous and talk about your naturism. No need to overdo it, or to bring it up at any occasion, but if the opportunity is there and you feel confident, go for it.

We’re all people, all born naked, and we’re all naked beneath the textile layers that society forces upon us.

Let’s enjoy the sensible way of life as much and often as we can, and if any of you have a great way to bring up naturism in a friendly circle, do share it with us. Together we stand!

A naturist’s view on the future

How many of you think of the future in terms of naturism? I’ve discovered I’m doing that quite a lot lately. And why is that?

According to this article on the British Naturism website, their membership is on the rise since a long time, and they ‘blame’ (haha) the heatwave of this past year for that. That, I say, is a good sign for the future of naturism.

Heatwaves are going to be more common than they were, so there will be more opportunity, temperature-wise, to undress and be the way we like, naturists, nudists alike.

And although this sounds wonderful and great for ‘us’, there is of course the other side of the coin: heatwaves. Also drought. Ice caps melting. All those things aren’t that great for ‘us’ or ‘the others’ (the textile based life forms)

I realise that being naked as much of the time as possible isn’t going to save the world, but buying fewer clothes (which in turn makes that fewer have to be made) is a good start. It’s scary to consider, time and again, how much crap gets tossed into the environment by the clothing industry, one of the holy cows of society.

I sincerely hope that the world at large will come to its senses and stop messing things up for humanity. And no, “Save the planet” isn’t needed. The planet will survive us all, unless someone can’t keep his hands off a specific red button.

Not at all what we want. Hot is good as we can take off our clothes, but let’s agree there are limits to the kind of heat we all can take.

A naturist’s view on dressed activities.

Dressed?

Yes. Dressed. You know how that works. It’s putting on the dreaded clothing. We all have to once in a while, although occasionally there are people who avoid it in a brilliant way.

Health Hazards

If you are in any way dealing with health hazards, I can imagine it’s smart to have some protection on. For instance when dealing with chemicals or toxic fumes.

Also when there are things around like hot metals or when you’re working with things that can throw dangerous waste around (for instance when working with metal) it’s a smart thing to have some protection around.

I, for instance, have discovered that wearing an apron in the kitchen can be a very skin-saving happening. Of course that’s not always a necessity, but when cooking (and especially baking) things that involve hot oil or hot water, it’s smart to be safe.

Cooking in the nude. (Yes, it’s a link to a video!)

Examples of clothed jobs

What would you think of firefighters? Would anyone volunteer doing that in the nude? I would certainly don’t have the hots for that. (Okay, I agree, that was perhaps a bad one.)

Then there are people working in clean-rooms, where computer-chips are made. I’ve actually worked in one of those, and although it’s something you can do naked, it’s not going to happen. Clean-rooms need to be, indeed, clean, and walking around there without special clothes is going to contaminate the air with hair and skin flakes. Stuff that’s too small to see often, but on micro-chip scale those are huge problems.

Luckily not all jobs require clothing, although we’re facing the big, clothed world out there. I’m glad I can work from home once in a while and then I don’t have to put on things I don’t want.

What I would really like, and I’m probably not alone in this, is a job that doesn’t require clothes. Like working in a naturist resort, or even working in a naturist restaurant like there are in Bristol and Paris these days.

Of course I keep dreaming of a full-time job as a writer, having the freedom to work naked all the time.

What’s your favourite clothes-free job? Do you have one in mind? Do you actually work one? Tell me, I’d love to hear from you and get inspired!

A naturist’s view on sustainability

What is sustainability?

According to Wikipedia, sustainability is defined as “the process of maintaining change in a balanced fashion, in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.”

Naturism and sustainability

When we look back to the origins of naturism (nudism), the movement was all about a healthy lifestyle in harmony with nature. I am convinced there are still plenty of nude walking people who share that idea in some way or other. And that, for me, already points into the direction of sustainability. The harmony with nature part already shows that naturism’s basic philosophy underwrites a world that is a healthier and better place than many areas in our current world.

A while ago I posted a blog about the fashion industry and the amount of pollution that brings with it. The clearest point of that was that wearing clothes has a severe impact on the environment, so less clothes means less crap in the water and the air.

But it doesn’t end with clothes (for me)

Mankind has taken control of the planet in a way that’s totally irresponsible. Mankind thinks they are lord and master (or lady and Earth mistress) of this ball we still live on. A tiny flaw in this mindset is that ‘mankind’ is very wrong. Just because humans feel invulnerable doesn’t mean they win everything. When air is no longer breathable and water is no longer safe to drink, the all powerful human will be finished quickly.
Humans who think that way should spend a while in the nude, outside, in nature. I wonder if they still feel invulnerable then. Naturists and nudists know the fragility of man when faced the outdoors. When there is no fabric or plastic shielding that thin skin from the rough bark of a tree, things quickly look different.

Man’s place in nature

The author nude If we find our place in nature again, I am convinced things can still be set to right.

It won’t be fast because we’ve been doing our best to mess this planet up for decades already, but the nude mindset would be a great help in that.

A naturist’s view on the fashion industry

Fashion. Worse than you might know.

Let me tell you something. Second to oil, fashion and textiles is the most polluting industry in the world. Did you know that? I didn’t. I read about it here. I don’t know if you headed over to read the article. Here’s a summary of the facts:

It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton.
Up to 8,000 different chemicals are used to turn raw materials into clothes.
The clothing that doesn’t sell, falls apart or goes out of style usually ends up on landfills.

Clothes on landfill

Wow. Impressive, isn’t it? According to classiccotton.org 3/4 of all produced clothes end up on landfills. Now that is scary.

Naturism, a.k.a. common sense.

After these figures it’s even more evident that people who prefer nudity are on the smart side of the scale. I hope that all the clothes we don’t buy make a difference. Less water wasted, fewer chemicals all over the place, and less garbage and waste.

Of course there will always be garbage, but I almost fell out of my chair when I read how much junk is created by the manufacturing of clothes. But… did you see the number of chemicals used? Up to eight thousand! And that is used on stuff everyone happily puts on their skin. I’m convinced most of that stuff will be washed out with 20,000 litres (that is almost 5,200 gallons, for non-litre people) of water per kilo / 2 lbs. but still. All that stuff has to go somewhere. Do you trust the fashion industry enough to make sure that any remaining chemical is caught and discarded in a responsible manner? I wouldn’t put my money on that.

After digging into all this matter I am even more inclined not to wear clothes as much as I can. We hear about pollution and such every day, but the fashion industry is a market that goes on doing that without anyone batting an eye at it. If we talk about dirty secrets: new clothes have them!

The author nude

A naturist’s view on what’s normal (and what’s not)

What is normal and what isn’t?

One of the biggest misconceptions today is that people don’t seem to understand the difference between normal and natural. Not everything that’s normal is natural.

Natural is what we find in and do with nature.

Normal is a result of the general acceptance of ‘norms’ in a group of people. Like, you guessed it, wearing clothes.

I know I’ve touched this subject several times, but I can’t stress it enough. Nor can I hope enough that clothed people will read this and start understanding the difference between normal and natural. So many things are being called natural while they are only normal. For example most people consider it natural to own a car. Seeing what the manufacturing of cars, and the pollution from the exhausts does to nature, I would dare to say that nature doesn’t agree.

Car growing on a tree — Crap – was I wrong??

Cars don’t grow on trees, so they aren’t natural.

Clothes don’t grow on trees either, so for that simple reason they fall in the normal category. This to the chagrin of many a naturist or nudist who prefers to be natural when the weather and environment don’t require that normality.

clothes on tree

Benefits of normal

Of course there are benefits to having norms. Not going around killing everyone you don’t like is one of them, a norm that in general most people seem to adopt quite easily.

Driving on the same side of the road as anyone else in your country (after picking one of those cars from a tree) is another one that I consider a good norm. I’m sure everyone can list another of such norms that makes sense. (Not making a lasso out of two rattle snakes, for instance.)

Natural and why that’s smarter

Being clothes-free when you don’t need clothes is smart because you don’t sweat in those clothes. Sweat, trapped in fabric, causes unpleasant odours.

Being clothes-free will decrease the need for air conditioners tremendously.

Eating natural food is much healthier than stuff that comes from labs and adjacent factories. But what about allergies, I hear some of you say. Allergies seem to arise from the chemical warfare you wage on your body by eating the stuff from aforementioned labs. My rule of thumb is that if a package contains at least 2 ingredients I can’t pronounce, I don’t buy it. And what about the colouring additives to make food look nicer? I can do without that. Spots in apples? Please, if that means there was no DDT on them. Did you know that margarine in its pure state is white? It has food colouring added to it so it looks like butter.

Give me natural, please.

A naturist’s view on pockets.

Pockets. What about them when you have none?

Pocket

Pockets. We all know them and put things in them. A big question for non-naturists and new naturists is: where do I put my things? After all, a proper, modern human being isn’t complete without keys, a phone, paperwork, a wallet and what not.

There are no pockets in your skin.

paul nude lanzarote Absolutely true, and that’s how I like it best. If you’re a genetically or surgically modified human who now has pockets, do step forward and tell us about your experiences.

Having no pockets has made me clever about taking things with me.

First necessity: a bag. Consider that one big pocket and you’re already set.

Second necessity: don’t take the kitchen sink with you.

Be clever about what you really need. Are you on vacation and you’re not going to drive, leave car keys and paperwork in your tent, bungalow, hotel room, wherever you stay. It makes for lighter walking. Walking in warm weather? Take something to drink with you. Don’t be stupid and risk dehydration. Do you need your wallet if you’re not going to stop anywhere? Leave it ‘at home’. Same if there’s nowhere to pay for anything; why take the thing with you?

Break the things-obsession.

This is where we get closer to nature-ism, which isn’t for everyone. Nature didn’t invent keys, wallets, phones and all that. If you can do without those, even for a few hours when out and about, do not take those things with you. Learn to live without facebook, twitter, snapchat and whatever more or less social medium you frequent for a while. You might be shocked to find how much you see of your environment when you’re not staring at your phone all the time. You might even meet people. 😉 And if you’re lucky they’re inclined to be naked, like you.

phone zombies

Those tweets will wait for you to come back, trust me.

A naturist’s view on nature

Naturism belongs in nature.

Nature Sounds kind of logical, doesn’t it? Naturists should have some connection to nature. They do, even when some don’t know it. In nature nothing’s clothed. People, how shocking this might be to some, are part of nature, so they shouldn’t be required to be clothed either if there’s no good reason for that.

But without clothes you’re… naked!

Yup. You got that damned right. And guess what… that’s the whole point. Tell me one thing that’s not naked out there in nature, apart from most human beings.

Oh, dogs with their fur? Bears with their fur? Birds with their feathers?

surprised animal

How could I have forgotten! Of course I didn’t. Those creatures didn’t go shopping for fur or feathers to cover themselves. They don’t rummage through shops and online catalogues to get the latest and greatest in new fashion. That is how they are. In that light you might agree that naked people are also what they are. Man dressed undressed

woman dressed undressed

Like this. Just natural, the way they were born, without the obligatory garments.

Don’t get me wrong: clothes can be necessary. When it’s cold, or when the environment is too dangerous for bare skin.

Unclothed creatures are the real deal. The “what you see is what you get”. Like with animals, furry, feathered or scaled. When you hide behind clothes you are hiding your true self. No one will ever know the real you because all they see is the projection of you that you chose at that moment.

Consider that. People see what you want them to see. This means that you also just see what others want you to see! Do you really know the people you know?

A naturist’s view on clothing

What? Clothing? Yes. It’s the stuff we have to hang around ourselves in most of our daily lives to be ‘acceptable’.

tight jeans

You know, the comfortable stuff that can make sitting, walking and moving so unpleasant. It’s something the world has bestowed upon us all for the sake of ‘decency’ and ‘normality’. Because everyone’s born dressed, right? 😉

Why textile?

First of course there’s the obvious reason. Staying warm. Contrary to popular belief that should be the reason for our fabric prisons. Not fashion, not being hip, not being pretty. Staying warm. I’ve seen people take that to extremes. Imagine a summer day, nice and toasty, of about 30C / 86F. You’re sweating because it’s so warm, despite you are down to the bare acceptable minimum. And then you see someone on a bicycle in long pants, a sweater and… a coat.

Or something like this gentleman, having a blast at the beach:

There is a time and a place for everything but if he’s not there for a wedding then I wonder what got into him. (At least he took his shoes off.)

Why dress up when there’s no need for it?

I keep wondering about that. What’s this strange clothing-addiction good for? It’s expensive and most of the time uncomfortable. People who say it’s comfortable have been brainwashed by their bodies for so long that they can’t tell the difference any more.

Give me the freedom of no clothes when possible. I am not the only one. It’s with a reason that in Munich, Germany there are several parks that have clothing optional areas, and since a while there’s a huge park in Paris, France that allows the same.

Check out a nude beach in summer and you’re going to find many naked people. People who shed their garments as soon as they can.

Clothes? I think they’re highly overrated. Brainwash and hogwash. Nude’s good. Nude’s honest. Nude has nothing to hide.

Clothes. I wear them. A lot lately.

Clothes. Really. I wear them.

Naked woman in the rain If you want to stop reading now, do so.

The rest of this article might shock you if you’re a hard core naturist that never wears clothes. (And if you manage to do that, do let me know how you pull that off!)

Weather of late has been quite sad. Rain, drizzle, unpleasant temperatures.

Not the summer most of us dream of unless you’re a needy plant. In which case you’re always naked.

So what to do when the weather’s not nice?

There are a few smart options.

Go on vacation to a warm place where you can be naked all the time.
Nice plan if you have the time and the money for it. I’m sure at least 12% of the people reading this recognise that one. 😉
Turn up the heating of the house and be naked.
Would work, but I don’t do that. I try to be environmentally conscious and not doing the heat up thing has a place in that mindset.
Put on some clothes.
Shocking, I admit, but it’s a tactic people have used for centuries. One that works.
Move to a place where it’s warm all the time.
Now that’s smart!

But… but… you’re a naturist!

In the woods True. I see myself as a naturist but one that’s not made of penguin or polar bear.

I’m a human who doesn’t like the cold. Interestingly I’ve gotten more cold-sensitive over the last few years; I’m sure that age has to do something with it. I’m approaching 60. Are there any people in their second youth who have noticed something similar?

Anyway, this is how I deal with poor weather conditions. At first I wasn’t showing the real naturist but then something made me grin. There are those naturists who claim that a true naturist doesn’t have tan lines. Well, trust me – I don’t have any!

Things will get better. Sooner or later.

It is only a matter of time for things to get better again. Either on a vacation, a summery end dash or something I can’t even imagine now. If nothing else happens there’s always the shower or the sauna.

This is how I handle piss poor weather. If you have other ways, perhaps even better ways, I’d love to hear them. We’re all in this weather together so we can learn from each other.

Stay happy, stay as naked as you can.