do you see nudism as 100% unsexual?

Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn't have a Canadian editor splitting hairs about people being naked versus being natural.

If nudity = natural, does that mean I'm not natural because I wear pants? Please enlighten me here. I'm a dimbulb.

 

Yeah, I get that. That's the easy part.

My question is: What does that mean today?

Genital coverings seems to be all the rage in 2011.

Rumor has it they've been popular for quite a few years.

I'm not going to bother with words like "most" or use serious percentages since I obviously can't actually back them up (nor can Jazz) since this is such a ridiculous topic. The OP has made it pretty clear that some level of sexuality is involved; it isn't just about being "all free and natural."

How many nudists do you know, Baraka? Jazz seems to be a SME.

Which doesn't surprise me at all.

 

It means that some people just like being naked and don't feel that there's necessarily anything sexual about it. There are people that disagree and can't go anywhere without becoming solid.

 

Becoming what?

 

issmmm hi ... I checked out that site. Yup ... I see your point. I do street photography in England, and even taking fully-clothed pictures of kids is often a no no. There are 'hilarious' news stories of fathers being arrested for taking pics of their own kids at public playgrounds, the 'watch out if cameras are being pointed at kids' culture is strong. I've been stopped by parents and mob-ready bystanders until I've proved that my recent pictures had no kids in them. The principle is not so much 'are the kids looking sexual to an average mind' but COULD they be sexualized by a pedophile. ie the kid could be wearing arctic gear, and bystanders' reaction to the photographer would be based on the 'worst' possible reaction than the 'average man/woman in the street' reaction. It's a censorial mind-set which opens the doors to closing just about everything. Another member points out that there is no sexual display, and sh/e's right. There's that tension between 'what's out there' and 'what's in the mind of the wost-case beholder'. Since I'm a bit of a prude, I'd never take pics of kids with less than full clothing .... my personal choice, and because I'm a 'photographer', I get frustrated by a culture which wants me to put a ball and chain on my camera.

I think what I've just written touches on the 'how people see themselves and each other' aspects of sara_wifer 's (hello and pleased to meet you ) topic, but funnels too narrowly away from her main gist, which is about people in general ... so ...

Me ... well, I'm nekkid at home except when the weather gets cold. Then, within economic reason, I put the heating on. For many years, 'clothes on' had been my default ... even during the many years I was with the girlfriend of many years who became my wife. Pottering about naked was never even thought about as an option. I look back and find that very strange. In more recent years, I, single, happened upon a spell of some of the hottest weather I have experienced in England and, in my apartment, reckon it would have been positively dangerous to wear clothes [AC is not the norm in England]. A few months of that and 'no clothes at home' became kind of obvious, and I never looked back.

It felt so NOT sexual ... it felt more like MOLT OR DIE. I was surprised by some of my friends' reactions when I mentioned in passing as in 'it's bloody weird being home and not being able to put clothes on in this heat' ... 'What? You mean you walk around NUDE at home ... not a stitch on? Cor blimey!'

A girlfriend and I used to go around the house unclothed most of the time. Household activities such as composing and organizing music at the computer became sensual. I am always clothed when people visit, and were I to go into the yard nekkid, the WTF storm would be severe. My neighbors would not appreciate it and would feel justified in calling the authoress ... it'd just be So unusual in my area. I confess, I would be pretty taken aback if my mates came round and stripped, or if I visited them and they stripped.

I suppose the way it works for me is that by myself, I am naked unless in danger of freezing, and that with an intimate partner, then I'd be cool with that, too, but not beyond. hmmm .... unless I was with a group of people who were ALSO cool with it. Then I'd have my 'I don't like my body' thing to cope with, but'd get over that, albeit with difficulty, pretty soon.

 

hi Zen thanx
Your post is really smart/interesting/cool!
I can't write too well about this, but i think you explain it exactly as i think it
My best friend and me never wear clothes at her house or at my house and especially now its always 30-35 dregrees c. and will go to 40 during jan/feb.

 

So.

Do nudists call themselves such or do they prefer naturists?

You know, "black" vs. "African American." That kinda thing.

I mean, I really don't want to Google either of those terms.

Dumpy white people smiling in nothing but Crocs? Ouch.

 

Apparently you're not familiar with the Germans.

 

Remixer,

Comment?

 

Germans love nudism. It started in the atheist-minded communist East Germany, because the Christian West Germans thought it to be indecent (at first). It quickly became a huge culture in East Germany with many FKK (nudist) areas around the northern coast and inland lakes.

After the two Germanies re-united, the nudist culture spread to the other half and by the mid-1990s it was very common, with almost all seaside resorts having a partial nudist area.

While the practice of nudism has been shrinking in Germany (since 2000-ish), many nudist communities still exist.

Ergo, Germans love going commando and beyond.

 

This is a slippery slope for me. I can’t seem to compartmentalize my sexuality. I find nearly everything to be sexual from red beets to reindeer, so I guess it would depend on who you were sharing your nudity with and under what circumstance.

I find it weird that a site which pays concentrated homage to the nude female, appears to have a large percentage of writers who do not think nudity alone is necessarily sexual. Why all the girl skin, then? Simple anatomy lessons?

No. We've been shrouded so long , that any unveiling done by ourselves, however unsexual (nursing, changing for sports, etc.) will most likely illicit a sexual response.

 

that's my point, just because it isn't sexual to you, doesnt mean it isn't sexual to someone.

there used to be boner-inducing ankles and elbows. everything is sexual to someone.

so why dont people wear nothing but carhartt clothing and cut up car tires that last them their lives? very little clothing these days is that protective against the elements of a cubicle

 

I do know that they like the Med a whole lot and don't see a distinction between appropriate and inappropriate attire.
--- merged: Dec 23, 2011 2:18 AM ---

Removing clothes is an attention getter. Removing them from the equation is just more people with no clothes on.
--- merged: Dec 23, 2011 2:24 AM ---

If everyone were naked, the sexual response to nakedness would diminish after a while. Men would be begging women to put clothes back on so they could undress them with their eyes and imaginations.

As an observation (I could be wrong) but I get the sense that the OP enjoys the shock factor in being naked in a normally clothed environment. She enjoys the attention of male neighbors eyeballing her and her friends over the fence while they're sunning in the nude. This is quite different than being nude in an environment where everyone else is nude as well.

To the OP: I don't understand what your question is, really. Do you expect neighbors and passersby to react to your nudity in a non-sexual way?

There's nothing wrong with with shocking the neighbors but I felt it was worth pointing out that you may be talking about one thing and the rest of us another.

 

Wait... was that a Demolition Man reference? Well played, sir.

 

You made a comment that clothing came about because nudity was thought to be innately sexual. I don't think you have any basis for that. While there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that clothing came about and evolved specifically for providing comfort and protection within one's environment. I don't think there's any evidence to support the idea that early man was hung up on his or her 'junk' being seen by other community members.

As for how clothing has evolved, it is not about protection nor hiding sexuality. It's about status.

I grew up in a clothing optional kind of household. And there was no sex going on there. People can be around each other naked without sex coming into the picture.

[QUOTE-Phi Eyed]
I find it weird that a site which pays concentrated homage to the nude female, appears to have a large percentage of writers who do not think nudity alone is necessarily sexual. Why all the girl skin, then? Simple anatomy lessons?[/QUOTE]

What I find weird is people who are black and white thinkers. Nudity can be sexualized therefore all naked people are necessarily sexual. That makes no sense to me. It seems very closed minded and doesn't take into consideration all of the contexts within which nudity can be just naked people.​

I am a very sexual person. I think about sex a lot. A like to have sex...a lot. But, sometimes a bare ass is just a bare ass.​

 

There's no way I would walk around in public nude. I know what guys are thinking about.