Normalising Nudity
A group for people with a common interest in using nudism/naturism to normalise nudity in society, and promoting healthy attitudes to the human body. We will share ideas, events, media, etc. that will help make non-sexual nudity acceptable generally and not only in reserved areas. Society's attitudes towards nudity lead to unreal expectations about appearance, shame, and ignorance of what a...
- created by Former User
What is it you do
Return to DiscussionsWell I hope you enjoyed your swim. Im absolutely gagging to get back to the beaches now, summer starts as your recedes. Ive already arranged to meet nudist friends.
I do feel that nudity should be normal at the beaches, but of course some feel differently. But mostly people are very excepting here and you will see nudists andtextiles together on the same beach, as I say nudism is legal here.
I prefer a mixed beach because it feels right that a person as a choice. Nudist beach are generally tucked away like its the naughty beach (mind you some here are naughty beaches)
There's only a few official CO beaches here (I and soonbenude are in the same state, but a couple of hours apart), and when the weather is nice, the CO beach fills up fast. More of them would be popular among nudists and the adventurous but there does not seem to be a push for more locations and there could be resistance from those who object to 'their' local beach being CO.
Similarly, at the regular 'textile' beaches, there may be the occasional female in a g-string or laying out topless, but females tend to follow the fashions without trying to push for less coverage, while most men wear baggy shorts, with only a few in swim briefs and me usually having the skimpiest brief.
As it is, the law here does not seem to forbid toplessness nor g-strings in public, but only a tiny number take advantage of that. There may be more at more-progressive inner-city beaches, which I don't get to often.
Must visit Spain!
The CO beach I like to go to has a long walk from the carpark, down stairs and through a textile section. At the start of last summer I noticed lots of girls in the textile section in thong / g-string type bottoms only, so toplessness seemed to be coming back. There were a few groups of girls who initially came to the CO part but they seemed to reduce over time, most did not get nude but maybe came for the experience and to think about it. There were a few who got nude and maybe it's a safety in numbers mentality. Walking back to my car a few times I saw couples of girls who were nude where the CO part finishes and back in the textile section. I think that is due to them choosing there to be nude and not be hassled by nude men at the beach. So the walks I do and the talking with a group of guys on the beach is to try to set a reasonable standard.
When I lived in Melbourne I used to go to Sunnyside often but we shifted 19 years ago and I've not been back since. I used to park on the Mt Eliza side and walk to Sunnyside, stripping off when I got well past the bathing boxes, sometimes I used to stay on that side. There was also an older woman who would be nude in the dunes and appear to go for a swim, she normalised nudity on a non CO beach for me and others (I used to take a former girlfriend there). There was a house along that section of beach with literally beach frontage so I think they used to object to nudes and complain to police / Council etc.
On the Mt Eliza side there used to be some sand dunes, so between the house and the bathing boxes. I used to go there sometimes and met woman older than me who used to be nude there. She would walk to the beach and swim for a long way and come back, either nude or in a small g-string if there were a few people around. So I would also be discrete in the dunes if I did not want to go to Sunnyside. Sometimes it was only men there and they were often looking for something other than sun and a peaceful day.
I just wonder what do you do to normalize nudity? Most people (not nudist) do not like the subject.
We've been nudists for over 48 years. Our first year and a half of marriage, I was in the Navy and we lived in apartments. It was tricky just being nude outside living in those accommodations. Once I discharged, we rented a couple of houses before we bought our first home. Our mindset from that very first rented house to the three that we purchased, was that they had to be nude friendly. We decided that we'd live our life as nudists from the beginning and we'd do everyday things as best we could without purposely exposing ourselves to our neighbors but if they saw us, it was to normalize how we lived.
Our first home we lived in for 7 years before we sold it and bought a bigger home, our second. That home was probably the most private of the three. We had wooden fences at that home for the first 8-9 years. The boards shrank and the neighbors could see us in our backyard but they didn't complain, per se, one neighbor woman would make loud comments like, "oh my god or oh geeze!" She even occasionally said, out loud when it was just me, "man, why can't he put some clothes on!" I/we ignored her and she finally stopped and then told her husband to agree to put up the block wall we'd been asking them to do with us.
Our current home is no different. We are naked everywhere but out in our front yard. We wear sheer clothing at times and we've had neighbors or people in the neighborhood walking and they've been friendly and some even stop and talk with us about our yard. Behind the gate and walls, we're naked and those neighbors that have a view, what little there is nowadays, don't seem to matter or don't care because they've been exposed to it for over 13 years now. Live normally without being exhibitionist. That's what we do and it's seemed to work for us for over 45 years.
soonbnude wrote:"Sometimes it was only men there and they were often looking for something other than sun and a peaceful day."
That's still the vibe I get from that area. Not what I'm there for, so I just keep walking. If the mood strikes me while walking the shoreline, I'll continue past the point but stop well short of anyone that's not nude. The guys in that area generally retreat to their towels, perhaps hoping I'll approach.
I worry that their behavior sets the cause back rather than forward.
I was nude working from home during the week and my sister in law dropped in. She said she would drop in for a coffee but not when, anyway she rang the doorbell and walked in, we live close by and this is normal. Anyway I had no where to go, to get to my room for some clothes I would have had to walk past her so I stayed at the table where I was working, she sat at the other end. After some initial awkwardness it was fine, I'd been skinny dipping in her pool with her husband before so my nudity was nothing new or surprising. I explained I like to be that way and my wife / her sister was OK with it in the past. Seems to be fine, we went walking our dogs last night (clothed) and she is driving with me to a function today. I think honesty and openness helps in explaining and hopefully this normalises nudity more for others.
During the week I was driving along our south coast and it was a beautiful sunny winters day. I stopped at a secluded beach I go to occasionally and stripped off for a break and to read some reports for my work. I had a walk along he beach and got some toots from cars on the road when they saw me. Hopefully this normalises nudity a little more. I'd like to think all these things we enjoy, like walking on a quiet / secluded beach, and we are comfortable with should help our cause if we do them right. Respect of others too, it's also about timing and location, I think.