I work in the mental health sector and have personal experience of mental health challenges, so when I hear about experiences that improve mental health I take notice.
As a lifelong naturist I have met hundreds of people who have spoken with me about their experience of clothing optional social interaction in a non-sexual setting. The experience of most of those I met included one or more of the following:
Feelings of personal freedom
Absence of feeling socially different
Feeling trusted
Feeling empowered
Feeling respected
Feeling relaxed
Feeling part of something wonderful
Feeling accepted
Accepting that my own body looks great / not worrying about my age, shape, weight, skin colour, scars, amputations, skin conditions etc.
Feeling comfortable about making new acquaintances regardless of differences in age, skin colour, social status, education, career etc.
Feeling safe
Feeling fulfilled
Not feeling judged
Feeling that you have found your tribe
Feeling that for the hours you spend together, you are among friends.
With these personal experiences being so widespread, it can be no surprise that so many people report feeling a lot better about themselves during and after naturists events.
This seems to be particularly true for people who live with anxiety and depression, and for people who suffer from low self esteem.
Naturism taught me not to be ashamed of my body, the president of the Irish Naturist Association writes.
Like other Irish people my age, I was brought up in a conservative society.
There were rules of decency to live by, and any group deemed to be outside the social norm – members of the LGBT communities, hippies and people with different faiths – were very often looked upon with disdain.
I carried these kind of conservative views with me into adulthood. Taught to fear my body and alternative ways of life, I never imagined I would eventually come to embrace naturism.
Felipe Dana/AP/Press Association Images
Appreciating nudity
I began to appreciate the benefits of a naturist lifestyle much later on in life, once my wife and I had children. Every June, we holidayed in a caravan by the south east coast.
The weather was often sunny during these breaks and the nearby beach was usually deserted, especially during weekdays. After swims, I would take my soggy togs off under my windcheater, enjoying that exhilarating feeling of the sun and air on my bare body.
Gradually, I became braver and, when no-one else was in sight, often ventured to the water naked, hiding back under my windcheater when others appeared.
I enjoyed the experience so much that I started only visiting very quiet beaches, so I could feel the water all over my naked skin without disturbance.
To my surprise, there were other like-minded people who enjoyed the freedom of a clothes-free lifestyle.
There is a place in the Puget Sound area where affordable, community centered life is possible. Rent is $400 a month and everyone knows their neighbors, but there’s a catch: It’s a nudist community.
KIRO Radio Two residents of the Tiger Mountain Family Nudist Park in studio on 18 February, 2020
Zelinka is newer to the nudist community, but Ferguson has been a nudist for a while. The two moved from their home in West Seattle to Tiger Mountain in October 2019.
“I’ve been doing it for a few years now and just absolutely love the lifestyle,” Ferguson said. “It’s a phone-free lifestyle when you’re out there hanging out with friends, and it’s a non-judgmental lifestyle. People just accept you for who you are because there’s no barriers.”
The Tiger Mountain community is on 40 acres of land, with a pool, sauna, and hot tub, “nestled in the middle of a mountain,” Zelinka described.
There are 30 spaces and about 45 residents, according to Zelinka’s estimates, in RVs, tiny homes, stick-built homes, and A-frame houses. Only members of the club are allowed to be residents.
Garden furniture website FarawayFurniture.com predicted that naturist holidays are going to be a travel trend that is set to take over 2020, with a whopping 543,000 average monthly searches made globally on Google.
FarawayFurniture surveyed 4,281 people to see what their views are and started by seeing what European country is most open to nudism. Germans are most open to going to a nudist beach (83%), followed by Spain (76%) and France (74%). On the other end of the scale and not so ready to bare it all are Brits (41%) and Turkey (35%).
Tanning evenly was the main reason 68% of participants were willing to bare all in the sun. Connecting with nature was next with 43%, followed by trying something new (39%). Helping the planet was another main reason 30% were willing to go on a nudist holiday.
The main reason people said they wouldn’t go on a nudist holiday is they are body conscious, women (72%) more so than men (63%). The second reason was they don’t want people to see their partner naked. 65% of men were worried about this compared to 46% of women. The other reason why people said they wouldn’t go on a naturist holiday is they think it’s not for them, (32%).
Eileen Saunders and Jas Base enjoy walks along the beach but they’re not romantic – they’re nude.
The pair are part of the Taranaki Naturist Club and spent an overcast Sunday morning taking part in the annual nude beach walk with seven others from the Waiongana Stream to Bell Block.
It’s not a nudist beach, but they had alerted the general public to the fact it was taking pace.
Brody Dolan / STUFF Jas Base, Eileen Saunders (looking back) and other members of the naturist club walked a stretch of the New Plymouth coast in the nude on Sunday.
It was the first time Saunders and Base had taken part in the beach walk, and they loved it.
“Once you get your clothes off, you’re all on the same level,” Saunders, who had just a towel wrapped around her neck, said.
Saunders met her husband Ray at a nudist community named Rotota, between Taupō and Rotorua, and he was already part of the Taranaki club, so she joined a few years ago, too.
“I tell you what, it makes washing a whole lot easier.”
It’s not a secret I’m very anxious to be socially nude, and I thought for a moment (after seeing a Twitter tweet saying “RT if you like to walk around naked at home”) how much of an exhibitionist I feel being naked at home, but only when the kids are not home. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like I’m doing something naughty by waiting for alone time to do what I enjoy. I wonder if it’s something you can discuss in an upcoming Naturist article.
– C
I would like readers here to chime in on this subject, because no doubt some of you experience this sort of thing.
Alain Tanguay/Wikipedia Families swim at naturist camping spot Monts de Bussy, Haute-Vienne, France.
I’m guessing it must be difficult for all naturists who live with people who don’t accept naturism and nudity in the home outside of the bathroom and the bedroom.
Then there is the tricky issue of parents being naked around their children. Many parents teach their children about body acceptance and naturism, and whole families participate in public social nudism events at pools, beaches, campgrounds and the like. But it gets trickier, I think, when it comes to nudity in a home where children are present. There can be legal ramifications.
Nudism and sex. Yep. We know. It’s a dangerous subject. A lot of (mostly) men out there Google the word ‘nudism’ and ‘sex’ and are looking for porn. They don’t realize that for all of the real nudists in the world this query imposes a real threat. Their need gives (unjust) ammunition for all those against this unclothed ‘hobby’. And if we nudists and naturists want to do something about that we ourselves really have to talk about nudism and sex.
Because it is also a symptom of the time we live in. Look at Instagram and advertising: a lot of sexiness is used to get our attention. Sex has been made very important. Mucho mas important. And we naturists feel this pressuring on the way we look at ourselves. It influences the way we communicate with the outside world. We tell them that sex doesn’t exist in our world. Nonsense of course. We can do it anytime we want. But not anywhere we want.
A lot of teenaged boys are inspired by the porn they find on the web. And girls are living up to that image and sometimes even use sex as a currency. That must worry us all! It becomes more and more difficult to look back and recognize that sex and nudity used to be a sincere and profound inspiration for writers, painters and musicians etc for centuries. But now it’s a suspicious subject.
Where has the natural phenomenon gone? What if our parents stopped having sex? Well, we would not have been here today. It is an important part of a relationship and it can be a wonderful and inspiring activity. It should be like that anyway.
Sex has become something that is omnipresent as a currency, but is ignored on an everyday level at the same time. And that is why the word ‘nudist’ can be used in one sentence with ‘sex’ and the majority of people don’t bother whether or not this is correct. And pornsites use their online marketing skills and budget to monetize on nudism and sex. And since it is very profitable: we will get overthrown by them.
Caroline Chard really gets back to nature as she enjoys the benefits of holidaying as a naturist
I am a lifelong, though definitely part-time, naturist; I don’t go on naturist holidays in Britain because it’s frankly too cold! Naturism and nudism, are basically the same thing, but naturism is a more accurate description because of its emphasis on nature rather than nakedness. There is a long list of what naturism does not involve, chiefly any form of voyeurism or exhibitionism. It’s not usually a requirement that you get naked, unless and until you’re comfortable.
Naturism is, as its name suggests, a way of getting back to nature in all ways, including dress. It is, in fact, the ultimate in green camping. Most naturist campsites cater for families, and the best ones pay attention to sustainability by recycling, upcycling, harvesting rainwater, and using alternative energy sources where possible. One of my favourite examples of this is the restaurant at a site we stay at regularly, which is built around a large tree growing in the courtyard. The Dutch owner explains, ‘We simply respected the tree.’ Most naturist resorts encourage visitors to use environmentally friendly cleaning and washing products to support their green ethos. Obviously, when you’re not wearing many clothes on a day to day basis, the amount of washing you generate is dramatically reduced too!
It’s not all about nudity
Which brings me on to the main point: clothes. Many first time naturists are worried about clothes. Don’t be. It’s not about going naked all the time; it’s about wearing what you want or need to wear. Getting up in the morning is so much easier when you don’t have to get dressed in your tent! You can just grab a towel and wander over to the shower block. When it’s raining or cold, you’ll see people wearing an occasionally hilarious assortment of clothes, from nothing but wellies and a hat, to street clothes. On a sunny day, someone with very fair skin might be wearing a t-shirt to protect them from the rays. A naturist up a ladder fixing a roof will be wearing safety gear, but may not be wearing anything under it! Naturists are a friendly lot, and will welcome you whether you feel the need to wear clothes or are immediately comfortable in nothing at all.
This is particularly the case with teenagers. Even the teenagers who’ve grown up as naturists get self-conscious about their bodies and want to cover up. I know, I’ve been one. That’s fine; sarongs become standard teenage attire, for both boys and girls. The only place where there’s likely to be strict nudity rules is around the pool and in the sauna. And trust me, when you’ve swum naked or lounged in the sauna with only a towel to sit on, you’ll never want to do either with a swimming costume on again! Your skin will thank you too; it’s much healthier not to wear a swimming costume because your skin can breathe and will dry more quickly.
Animated animal protagonists in children’s cartoons aren’t usually naked, but they’re rarely fully clothed. Winnie the Pooh cavorts around the Hundred Acre Wood wearing naught but a T-shirt, exposing his round, golden bottom to the elements. Sonic the Hedgehog sports only sneakers, socks, and white gloves as he chases rings. Mickey Mouse wears a pair of pants and gloves, and Bugs Bunny just wears gloves. If an animator pitched a human character for a children’s show who dressed in this manner, they’d probably be arrested, or at least put on some kind of industry watch list.
Fleischer Studios
So how are these costuming decisions made in the first place? It’s now the norm for anthropomorphized characters to wear a bit more clothing than their predecessors (think of Paddington’s smart little toggle coat or SpongeBob’s suspenders and dress shirt), but nudity is still somewhat prevalent, and companies tend to leave the original figures in their various states of undress.
It helps to turn the question around and look at it another way: the act of putting an item of clothing on a cartoon animal actually introduces the subject of nudity. Most cartoon characters are unaware that they’re naked, unless a designer puts them into a costume. Animation historian and San Francisco State media professor Karl Cohen says that early production codes responded to cartoon nudity in an inconsistent manner. Human characters, even when sporting exaggerated features, were suddenly held to the same standards as live-action actors. “When the production code was first enforced in 1934, Betty Boop’s dress had to suddenly become longer,” Cohen tells SYFY WIRE. “Her blouse had to be buttoned up with no cleavage.”
You might think that a person ironing clothes at a naturist resort has a strange job. Maybe you can come up with something that, for you, is even weirder.
Let me tell you about something I learnt a few days ago.
Henry 8
For this we have to go back to the times of Henry the Eighth in good old England, around 1520 CE.
In those days people loved to eat, and eat well, especially in the courts of the royals. That food had to be prepared.
A fine tradition for meat-eating England in those days was roasting animals on a spit. You all know the contraptions; close to a fire and turning the spit before one side is black and the other is raw.
“Only barbarian people believe that the vision of a naked human being is shameful and horrible.”
Contrary to what happens in other great democracies such as Britain, Germany, Austria, Spain, Scandinavian countries, New Zealand, some United States such as California …, in France it still happens too often that naturists or simple nudists are treated as “sex offenders.”
On June 17, 2019, a 22-year-old Breton naturist was sentenced by the Nimes Criminal Court to a fine of € 600. The fine was ruled in second instance, after the appeal before an even more disproportionate sentence of one year in prison without parole, by the Lorient Criminal Court on February 7, 2019. The reason was to have sunbathed several times on a beach from Carnac.
Recently, the Prefect of the Paris Police violated the demonstration rights by banning the “ Cycle-nudist March ” that is being convened worldwide, and which we set in Paris on September 8, 2019. No less than 7 Police cars they were mobilized to guarantee the ban on the demonstration leaving the naturist zone of the “Bois de Vincennes”, from where the cycloneudist protest should begin, which also included proclamations of respect for the environment and the “HumanNudity”.
Let’s just say that the whole concept of a nude cruise isn’t exactly new.
The idea – and the execution – has been around for years thanks to Bare Necessities, a company specializing in clothing-optional events.
Carnival Cruise Line) Carnival Legend.
So don’t be surprised when the Carnival Legend sets sail on Feb. 23, as a ship dubbed the Big Nude Boat. It’s only … natural.
In fact, it’s been so popular that this one is sold out, and next year’s trip aboard the Legend, setting sail from Tampa on Feb. 14, 2021, will be the 75th nude cruise put together by Bare Necessities.
Just don’t let your mind wander that this is some sort of Roman bacchanalia.
“We have a list of decorum and attire requirements for our cruises that are sent out with the cruise reservation,” Bare Necessities spokesperson Rosie Ochoa told cruiseradio.net. “They are also listed on our website and are repeated again once on board. This is like our Ten Commandments of cruising. The central focus is R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respecting confidentiality, personal space, the ship, the ship’s staff, the clothing requirements — yes, we have to be clothed sometimes — and respecting yourself.”
Jane Malyon, professional speaker and managing director of The English Cream Tea Company, based in White Roding, writes about her most surreal public speaking engagement to date…
When I’m not being the Chief Scone Gnome of The English Cream Tea Company, I travel around giving talks which are (hopefully) ‘edutaining’. Sometimes it will be for a small group such as a WI and sometimes it’s more of a keynote speech for hundreds at a conference-style event.
On Friday January 17 I was at Rhodes Arts Complex as compere for the Isabel Hospice and Friends Dress Agency fashion show evening, the brainchild of Mayor Cllr Norma Symonds. All great fun.
Jane Malyon with Pam Fraser at the Suncliff Hotel in Bournemouth
However, Saturday January 25 was a whole new experience: I was to travel to the Suncliff Hotel in Bournemouth to give a talk about afternoon tea to 180 naturists. That’s not naturalists, like David Bellamy, you understand – we’re talking about people who have no clothes on. Absolutely nothing. Well, what a revelation this all turned out to be!
I was invited by event organiser Mark Walsh, who is himself a British naturist, and he advised that my own clothing would be optional.
My speaker agent advised me that I’d only be able to use photos for my speaker website if I was wearing clothes, so I remained covered up throughout as there was indeed a photographer.
Perhaps if I’d stayed the whole weekend I’d have thrown caution to the wind – after all, there was a host of naked activities to try out, from water aerobics to yoga (though the thought of the downward dog pose did not appeal).
The decision to create Palm Springs’ newest clothing-optional boutique hotel was driven in part by the serendipity of a furniture sale.
Tuscany Manor opened as a hotel in March 2019. Previously, it was a sober living facility and had been vacant for several years. But other than the mid-century design of the property, owner Steve Bein and the rest of the operating team were wondering how to set it apart from the hundreds of other valley hotels.
Then Bein heard about a furniture sale at a clothing-optional hotel that was shutting down. In addition to snagging a few patio pieces, he started to hatch a new idea.
Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun Steve Bein is the owner of the Tuscany Manor resort in Palm Springs, January 27, 2020.
“Someone said, ‘Oh, there’s another hotel which is closing, and they’re liquidating some of their furniture,’” Bein said. “And it turned out that was Terra Cotta, and Terra Cotta was one of the top 10 clothing-optional hotels.”
(The Terra Cotta, which had first operated on East Racquet Club Road and relocated to a corner lot on South Warm Sands Drive in 2017, closed in August 2019. The property is now the home of Les Cactus, which opened this month.)
So far, Tuscany Manor has had a successful winter hosting many former guests of the Terra Cotta, which is using its website to refer its clientele to Tuscany Manor. They’ve also hosted unique buyouts like a motorcycle club.
In the naturist community, Palm Springs already has a reputation: Visit Palm Springs lists the city has having 18 clothing-optional resorts, including several exclusively for gay men.
When Nelly encouraged overheated people worldwide to get naked in 2002, he was unknowingly advocating much more than just a sexy, sweaty dance party. Sunbathing, sleeping, working out, and lounging around in the buff actually provide legitimate health benefits.
While you shouldn’t ALWAYS seek out St. Louis-area rappers for your medical advice, here are five health-related reasons to take off all your clothes.
Jason Hoffman/Thrillist
Your skin will improve
Tight, synthetic apparel can cause skin to freak out, resulting in rashes, clogged pores, and irritation, according to dermatologist and RealSelf advisor Dr. Sejal Shah. And when you perspire, it creates an environment for yeast and fungus to thrive, which, gross. She recommends sleeping sans skivvies to keep your skin healthy and clear. If you’re into pumping iron at home, maybe try doing it au naturel to avoid sweaty workout clothes that trap bacteria against your skin. That’s the way Arnold probably did it, right? At the very least, you’ll save yourself the stench of old gym clothes festering in your hamper.
