I’ve enjoyed the nudist way of life since being introduced to the idea of social nudity by a friend who told me that his family were nudists. He told me because we were spending a lot of time together and he wanted to warn me that if I went to their home unexpectedly I might catch them naked. Since then I’ve never understood why society regards the desire to be nude as ‘wrong’. I saw no reasons as to why its not widely acceptable, but followed mainstream societies lines on it. As a teenager and during my early twenties very few people knew that I was a nudist, but as time has passed I’ve become increasingly open about something I’m unashamed about being, I enjoy being naked too much to worry about that.
During those years my nudist times were mainly time spent at home and on trips out of the big city that I lived in to nudist beaches, or on holiday. On one holiday my then girlfriend and I went camping to a nudist site in France with another couple we’d made friends with at a nudist spa. This was my first experience of living nude with many other people and I loved it. I remained nude for days at a time for the first time in my life and knew that my previous experiences of a few hours naked here, and a nude day at the beach there, was something I wanted to turn into a life spent nude whenever possible. It felt ‘normal’ being nude among lots of other nudists there.
I felt that there was no reason why I should hide this from good friends, some said that they also enjoyed being nude at home or on holiday, some just didn’t get what is so appealing to me about being a nudist, but I lost no friends through being upfront. Just as I don’t always like their music preferences,. nor they mine, we were friends before I told them of my nudism and their liking for textiles and my dislike of them made no difference.
I used to work somewhere that being open about my nudism would most probably have lost me my job. I hated this because I saw no reason why being a nudist was wrong. I then found myself working in a situation where nudists were regarded as being ‘a bit odd’ – why would you want to run around naked with friends, family and strangers?/nudity = sex type reactions.
At first when we discussed holidays and social activities at the latter place of work I told them where I’d been and what I’d done without saying directly that I’d often been nude for most of the time. I did give enough information though for this conclusion to be reached. It didn’t take long before I was asked directly if I was a nudist, I said that I was and that I was happy to talk about why I prefer nude living if anyone wanted to know. Some colleagues tried poking fun at me, I’d seen this coming so was prepared to shrug my shoulders and it they did not persist. Sure, there’d be jokes made about me spending my social life predominantly nude with other people, I might joke back about their liking for being tied up in textiles. I don’t mind lighthearted fun, this was the most it ever got to be, more important to me was that I wasn’t hiding being a nudist. I was being the real me, in the same way that I’ve found most nudists to be more open than textiles are, I could take this openness into my workplace. If a colleague was obviously behaving differently to me once they knew that I was a nudist I didn’t let it bother me, we got our work done but I treated them as I would in the world outside of work. If others can’t come to terms with social nudity, I’ll try to convince them that it is a perfectly good thing to do, that body acceptance is a positive attitude, maybe try it before believing media and commercial propaganda. We don’t all get on with everyone, I can live with it if people just don’t accept my preference to be naked socially, I probably wouldn’t choose them as friends outside of work anyway. I prefer more open-minded people as friends.
My current employment situation has no such issues to deal with regarding my nudism. I can be as open about it as I’ve always wanted to be, its a very liberating position to be in. I don’t tell everyone that I’m a nudist, its more on a need to know basis. Over time our circle of friends has evolved towards a higher proportion of fellow nudists due to our preference for living nude and socialising likewise. Good friends who visit know I’m likely to be nude at home, so I often remain so, sometimes its a happy mix of nudists and textiles here. It is how I’d love the wider world to be, clothing optional, each accepting the individuals right to choose to be dressed or undressed, or anywhere in between.
I separated from my long time partner a few years back, amicably, our time was up basically. She is also a nudist but is not so open about it as I am due to those work related issues mentioned above, so I still understand why its difficult for some nudists to let the world know about their preference for living naked. I didn’t want my openness to affect her employment, at the same time she is fine with me openly discussing nudism online and sharing my easily identifiable nude photos. So far the connection hasn’t been made by her employers or co-workers. If it was just me to be taken into account I’d be far more active in advocating for nudist rights. Maybe not as obvious as say Stephen Gough, Naked Rambler, in the UK, probably more like the nudist activists in San Fransisco, but as I had no wish to risk our relationship my most public nudist activities stayed at the level of participation in WNBRs events. I have found that now it is just me that I appreciate how when I decide to share something about my nudist life, a blog post, photos etc I can just hit ‘send’ without needing to consider if it will affect a partner. I’ve not necessarily started sharing a lot more about my nudism, but it is good knowing that I can be completely open about being a nudist, it is something which I see absolutely no reason to be ashamed, embarrassed or secretive about, nudism should be celebrated openly and proudly. Living and socialising naked is natural and is in its most simplistic form, it is wonderful to do so.
We made some good nudist friends through my online nudist presence so my partner appreciated the benefits of my online activities. We both found that the more time we spend nude, we want to spend even more time nude, its a very addictive way of life, but a totally natural addiction.
My experience of nudist and textile friends accepting each other for being ourselves, naked or dressed, makes me want to help gain acceptance for nudists to be nude in a far wider range of situations than how it currently is. I feel that the more of us who participate openly in public nude activities and share our nudist experiences openly online, the better the acceptance of nudism in wider society can be.
In the place I’m at today, and where I’ve been for several years now, where it doesn’t matter who knows I’m a nudist, or who sees me nude in real life or online has taken some time to reach. Now I am openly what I’ve previously seen no reason to hide, but had faced work-related societal prejudices, it is a great feeling to just be myself with no cares about what anyone may think. I don’t need to wear sunglasses in my nudist photos, hide or blur my face, I can be photographed at nudist events and clubs with like-minded people living life in my preferred naked way, without one single need to care about who might see me, or where these photos may be published. Nudism is a wonderful way of life, I find it very relaxing and comfortable and social nudity is fantastic. I feel very lucky that I can enjoy this openly. I wish society accepted nudists more readily and that other nudists could avoid having to face those prejudices, but all minorities face similar hurdles, sometimes far worse ones.
How easy do other people here find it is to be open about preferring to live and socialise naked?
What things stop you being completely open about being a nudist?
Will you become more open about about nudism as you gain confidence in this way of life?
Get involved!
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