Nudity Is Healthy for Brains and Bodies

If you put a plaster cast on a broken arm the skin starves for Vitamin D, the muscles weaken due to strangled range of motion, the nerve synapses depress to a whimper of their former joy. Twenty-first century hominids? We shroud our entire skin palette except for face, neck and hands - we obliterate symbiosis with the planet.

We hide in cocoons, when we could be free as butterflies.

History reveals many cultures that were not clothes-minded. Spartans were basically bare and their victories in pan-Hellenic sports competitions enticed all neighboring Greeks to exercise nude, creating the word “gymnasium” (Greek gymnos = naked). Romans mingled in magnificent bathhouses, enjoying dense communal nudity as they drank, dined, defecated, bathed, read books, argued politics, and watched theater. Adamists — naked heretics — performed stripped-down church services in North Africa, Bohemia, the Netherlands, and England. Pre-Hitler Germans were avid adherents of Freikorperkultur (“Free Body Culture”) with 70,000 attending co-edNacktkultur schools.

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Get Naked - Globally!

Our friends at Naked Places have put together a comprehensive website of different clothes free locations around the world. Naked Places takes advantage of the power of the internet and Google Earth satellite technology to provide detailed and accurate information on places to go naked across the world.

To fully benefit from using the Naked Places website. You will need to have Google Earth installed on your computer. If you have never used Google Earth, you may also benefit from the Using Google Earth section of Naked Places. Please support their work by making a donation on their site.

The locations that they currently cover are listed below. Please note that not all locations are documented by Naked Places, please also check out our Links page or get in contact with your nearest national Naturist Society/Federation.

Click here for more links and a full list

Nude Awakening: The Benefits of Getting Naked

There's a lot more to the nudist/naturist lifestyle than the negative stereotypes. And the movement is seeing a youth revival.

November 20, 2012

The following article first appeared in Bitch Magazine.

Consider the nudist.

In American pop culture, nudists conjure up a strange set of images. None of them are very positive, let alone humanistically celebratory of our physical form. As conventional wisdom has it, nudists are the people you least want to see naked, and their mainstream portrayal is generally played for laughs, if not gags. The title essay in David Sedaris's book Naked, for instance, details the author’s foray into the world of “nude recreation” with descriptions of bug-bitten limbs, dimples on the wrong kind of cheeks, sweaty genitals, and toilet paper stuck to reddened rears. The clothes- free lifestyle may sound sexy, but as Sedaris discovers, it’s anything but.

Perhaps as common a perception is that nudists are naive exhibitionists, and, again, this portrayal in media and popular culture is an emphatic punch line. From an episode of 1970s sitcom Love American Style in which a groom-to- be reluctantly accompanies his bride to the nudist colony where she grew up (“When you said “nudist,” I thought you said “Buddhist”!) to the 2011 film Wanderlust, which features a largely clueless band of hippies at a stranded- in-time backwoods commune, nudists are too often painted as people who, at best, simply don't get other people's discomfort—or, at worst, pressure them into awkward co-nakedness.

Full piece

Nudists vow to defy anti-nudity law in San Francisco

Nudists vow to reject order from ‘bunch of uptight Americans’ to cover up but city officials cautiously optimistic ban will pass

San Francisco nudists said on Monday they would continue to walk the streets naked regardless of a proposed law that would order them to cover up.

City authorities are meeting on Tuesday to decide on a new anti-nudity law that is being supported by residents and business owners in the city’s Castro district.

The law would make it an offence for anyone over the age of five to “expose his or her genitals, perineum or anal region on any public street, sidewalk, street median, parklet or plaza”.

Lloyd Fishbach, left, who was standing naked at the corner of Castro and Market, said it should be his choice to dress as he wants, where he wants.

“There is always someone who is not going to like what you are doing,” he said. “I live in the Castro and I’ve been doing this since first grade. This is just a bunch of uptight Americans. But I’ll still keep doing it and if I see the cops coming I will run and hide.”

Natalie Mandeau and her friend Dany, pictured below, said they travelled from Berlin when they heard of the proposed ban on nudity in San Francisco.

Dany said: “If America bans this it would be a shame. San Francisco is one of the only places in the world where you can experience real American freedom.”

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Women Talk About Their First Naturist Experiences

"It is Perfectly Normal to Be Scared..."

Prior to attending your first nudist function it is completely normal to be scared witless. If it's your spouse urging you to try nudism, anger is the normal reaction. Thinking that he is pursuing nudism just to see a lot of other naked women does not help either.

Your first few minutes may be difficult. You may feel vulnerable and ashamed. Trust me, the fear will pass and you will soon discover you are so relaxed you’ll even forget you are no longer wearing clothes! And you will know you belong when it is time to leave and you don’t want to get dressed again! – Julie

"What If My Friends Find Out?"

A lot of first-timers are afraid their friends, children, or relatives will find out. And God-forbid someone at work learns the truth! Of course, how would they know unless they were there? (In which case, you know their secret also!) Respecting another nudist’s privacy is important. Never ask prying questions (like, “Where do you work?”) or for a phone number or address. If the other person is interested, they will tell you on their own. If someone outside the nudist world confronts you, remember as an adult you have the right to choose any lifestyle you want. Treat the discovery as a great opportunity for a discussion about what nudism is all about (and what it isn’t.) – Nancy

Much more at the link

Kate Middleton's Topless Break Was British And Proper

Poor Kate Middleton. She was laying near a pool dressed like millions of other English women on holiday -- in just a bikini bottom and a smile -- and now there is scandal and a stampede of headlines all of which seem to ignore just how normal her toplessness was. British women love to sunbathe topless while on holiday.

The reasons for this proclivity are varied. Many enjoy the chic Cote d'Azur look. Others hate wearing soggy bikini tops. Some like to show their boyfriend or husband that they've still got it and others just hate funny tan lines.

Whatever the reason, it's always fun and relaxing to topless sunbathe in the warm sunshine while on vacation. And many women feel swimsuit tops are about as welcome as bulky sweaters at pools and beaches.

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National 'Go Topless' Day Invades New York

Last year, we here at the Voice discovered a tiny loophole in New York City's legal code after a woman was spotted topless on the Bowery: females have the same right as males to appear naked from the waist up in public. A few months later, we offered a guide on how to rock out with your boobs out on New York City's streets. Needless to say, everyone had a great time writing and reading about it.

Well, today, all the aforementioned information is culminating in a city-wide side-boob extravaganza: it's National 'Go Topless' Day, where women celebrate their inalienable right to show off their God given private parts!

Read the rest

Let My People Get Drunk and Swim Naked in the Ocean

If any human right is inalienable, it is the right to get obliterated with your friends before running ass naked into the same waters in which Jesus once swam. Today, some awful people are trying to take away that right, and we mustn't let them.

In deference to the uninformed, last night Politico published an "exclusive" story in which it broke the news that, one year ago, a bunch of GOP congressmen got drunk in Israel and then swam in the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake made famous because Jesus supposedly walked on it. It's now also famous because at least one Republican member of the House put his bare dick in it, for kicks.

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Holly Van Voast, Topless Advocate, Wins Fight To Bare Breasts On MTA Transportation

Over the years, nudity advocate Holly Van Voast has had her fair share of hiccups with the law after exposing her bare breasts in high-trafficked, New York City areas including Grand Central, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and even a Jennifer Aniston film premiere.

But on Wednesday, Voast had a bit of good news when a judge dismissed a charge alleging she had broken the MTA's hygiene code when she rode the MetroNorth topless earlier in June.

More here

Women's constitutional right to go topless in public

GOTOPLESS DAY 2012: SUNDAY AUGUST 26 Topless demonstration in Washington DC and all around the country

Gotopless.org claims the constitutional right of women to go topless in public in the name of gender equality.

Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement and founder of goTopless.org states: "as long as men can be topless, constitutionally women should have the same right, or men should also be forced to wear something hiding their chest."

Gotopless Day organizes a National Go-Topless Day protest every year at the end of August in honor of Women's Equality Day (celebrated on Aug 26). It it is indeed on that date in 1920 that women won the right to vote.

Please sign this important petition and join us in person on Sunday August 26, 2012. See participating cities on our website.

Source

Gunnison Beach – Sandy Hook Nude Beach In New Jersey

Gunnison Beach NJ - When New Jersey Senate Bill 1912 effectively outlawed nudity on the state’s public beaches in 1999, nude beach fans in the tri-state area were dealt a significant blow.

One notable exception to the law, however, was Gunnison Beach. Located on the Sandy Hook peninsula just a few miles south of New York City, Gunnison Beach is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area – which is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Since it is generally legal to be nude on federal land, Gunnison was spared from S.B. 1912’s effects.

Gunnison Beach is officially divided into two areas – clothed on the northern half and clothing-optional on the southern half (it’s probably a surprise to no one that the clothing-optional side is far more popular). The clothing-optional side is further subdivided (unofficially) into a straight area and a gay area (at the southernmost end of the beach). On any given sunny summer weekend, 3,000 or more bathers can be found on Gunnison Beach.

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When a woman goes topless

If you've ever been to New York in the summer, you'll know the meaning of "hot and bothered".

As the temperatures climb towards 40, the pavement radiates great whorls of heat haze, and car and air-con exhausts clog the air, it's unbearable.

As your bra becomes a puddle and your outfit affects all the fashionable insouciance of a used tissue, you may find yourself longing to tear your top off - as many men do in such weather - and feel the breeze.

Which is precisely what one woman has been doing during the current east coast heat wave, because it's perfectly legal to do so.

Full article

ESPN The Magazine Body Issue

It's okay to stare. That's what The Body Issue is here for. Each year, we stop to admire the vast potential of the human form. To unapologetically stand in awe of the athletes who've pushed their physiques to profound frontiers. To imagine how it would feel to inhabit those bodies, to leap and punch and throw like a god. To ... well, gawk. So go ahead; join us.

See the site here

Top 10 reasons to be a nudist

Practicing nudism is often misunderstood and misinterpreted by many. However, there are in fact many benefits for being a nudist. An educated understanding and an open mind will unveil the many reasons why people choose to become nudists.

1. The human body is demystified.
Often, we feel intrigued about naked bodies because they are hidden. However, sometimes we fail to understand that human body is not something so secretive that we can only look at it with immense curiosity, and sometimes even a sense of guilt. Being a nudist will familiarize us with naked bodies, allowing us to understand that they are not taboos.

2. An individual will feel more comfortable in her own skin.
Although being comfortable in one’s own skin seems to be a cliche, being a nudist will help us feel more at ease when facing our own body. Under the influence of media, we tend to be overly critical of our body and we try to hide our physical “flaws” with clothes. As such, being a nudist will give us an opportunity to accept our body as it is.

3. Skinny dipping is more fun!
Swimming nude is simply more fun because water feels better on bare skin than on a layer of tight swimsuit.

Click here to read the rest

Nudism: Stripping Down Without The Tease

Think of it as a reverse striptease. Nudity isn’t the best part of a classic striptease, it’s actually the signal that the show is over. It’s all about getting there, the hint, the suggestion, the tease.

As long as she was nude, Bikini Barbie wasn’t on display, and she wasn’t putting on a show. Bikini Barbie was just there.

It wasn’t until she strapped on her spiked heels and poured herself into a bikini that was briefer and more revealing than anything that a nice girl would let herself be seen in that I needed to retreat to the privacy of my room.

It doesn’t take much time around a swimming pool to realize that nudity without the tease isn’t sexy, it’s just nudism.

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Nude Beaches: Which Country's Citizens Are Most Likely To Sunbathe Nude?

God bless the nudists. Expedia just released their very scientific list of nation's whose citizens have admitted to sunbathing nude while on beach vacations.

The travel site enlisted Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey of some 8,599 adults in 21 countries to learn more about what people do on beach vacations. (52% of respondents said they were planning a beach vacation this year.) When asked the question, 320 people copped to sunbathing nude while on beach vacations.

So which countries bared all? Germans were most likely to take it off, with 15% saying they'd tanned in the nude; they were also the most beach-loving country surveyed. Spain and India followed in the #2 spot with 8%; Sweden, Denmark, Mexico and the Netherlands came in at 6%. The United States and the U.K. came in seventh with just 2%.

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Mother of All Wars: The Battle to Breastfeed in Uniform

Nothing disgraceful about doing what our ancestors have been doing for tens of thousands of years. What is inappropriate is a modern day perversion of a natural and essential act. I believe this started with a heresy within the Catholic church called gnosticism, which was adopted by Calvin and later the puritan outcasts that left England.

There's the war on women, and there's the war on breastfeeding. Then there's the war on breastfeeding women warriors. That latter struggle broke out earlier this week, when the interwebs discovered a staged photo of two uniformed female Air Force service members offering up camouflage-clad mammaries for their hungry babes. Sgt. Terran Echegoyen McCabe and Staff Sgt. Christina Luna, pictured above, sat for the photo shoot in order to garner attention for Mom2Mom, a network for service-connected mothers at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, Washington.

It certainly got attention. "A lot of people are saying it's a disgrace to the uniform," Crystal Scott, the founder of Mom2Mom, told NBC this week. "They're comparing it to urinating and defecating [while in uniform]." Now, a viral debate's busted out over the propriety of Uncle Sam's finest nursing while dressed for battle.

Read more here at Mother Jones

Time Magazine Cover Shows Mother Breastfeeding Three-Year Old Son For Attachment Parenting Issue (PHOTO)

The cover of the latest issue of Time magazine is sure to turn heads and draw gasps from readers.

It shows a three-year old boy sucking on his mother's breast while standing on a chair.

The image accompanies the magazine's cover story about "attachment parenting" — an approach whereby parents breastfeed and co-sleep with their children, in addition to wearing their children in slings.

Jamie Lynne Grumet, the woman featured on the cover with her son, is a real mother who subscribes to the philosophy. Photographer Martin Schoeller shot her and three other mothers breastfeeding their children.

“When you think of breast-feeding, you think of mothers holding their children, which was impossible with some of these older kids,” Schoeller explained. “I liked the idea of having the kids standing up to underline the point that this was an uncommon situation.”

Read more, see photo

Nudism History Excerpt

At the beginning of the 90ties there was a further increase of nudism adherents, as steadily wider and more various society classes were affected. There arose even the phenomenon of so called "Christian naturism", as some evangelic denominations started to find support for nudism even in the bible. Under the pressure of circumstances even such conservative states as Spain, Italy and Greece were forced to establish official nudist beaches and resorts. There was in 1998 a press-release, that the first official nudist beach was opened even in such a country like Brazil.

Now if we take a look at the present times, nudist are no more considered by the vast majority of the public as crank people or "moral deviants" and they enjoy increasingly tolerance and understanding of the rest of the population, thanks mainly to the public work and bigger standard of knowledge. More and more people get inspired by the nudism movement and they become its members. Nudist groups are nowadays active in the most countries of the world. The asceticism of the early nudism (no cigarettes no alcohol, vegetarianism and the abandonment of material pleasures) was replaced by in some kind of a freer apprehension of life and also by a simple return of the man to the nature through nudism (naturism) on the beginning of the 21 century.

Full piece

5 Countries That Do It Better: How Sexual Prudery Makes America a Less Healthy and Happy Place

To extreme social conservatives of the far right, the word “prude” is not an insult — it’s a badge of honor. “Prudes,” they would argue, should be upheld as exemplary role models because a sexually repressive society is also a society with fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer sexually transmitted diseases. But not only do the facts not bear that out, they also demonstrate that the exact opposite is true. Countries that embrace many of the things social conservatives detest (comprehensive sex education, pro-gay legislation, nude or topless beaches, legal or decriminalized prostitution, adult entertainment) tend to be countries that have less sexual dysfunction than the United States, not more. And when one compares sexual attitudes in the United States to sexual attitudes in Western Europe, it becomes evident that there is a strong correlation between social conservatism and higher rates of teen pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Christian Right would consider the following five European countries to be quite “permissive” when compared to the United States. All of them make a strong case for social liberalism and sexual openness.

Read the article

Info on the New Sites

Heroic Nudist will continue to be updated sometimes here, and on two other sites, one PG rated at http://www.newsandinfo.org/blogs/heroicnudist, and one R rated here for more mature visitors. Thanks for being a loyal member or guest.  I'll keep fighting for rights for nudists, a basic freedom, a pursuit of happiness, until we see this freedom become a reality in the United States.

Unfortunately my time is limited, I do this as a non profit passion, I would accept donations at newsandinfo.org, but since few to none donate, I will still post occasionally out of sheer love of nudism, the nude body, and art.

Nudity unusual but harmless

What we were all talking about this week and last was nudism, naturism, naked people on the beach. Is it harmful or not? Here we go again you may think, but as a liberal and tolerant person I feel the need to have my say.

To cut a long story short, I think it is great that people of all shapes and sizes can get together and enjoy feeling happy and free without clothing. If you don't like it, don't look. They are not doing anything dirty and I certainly don't think it's vulgar to be naked.

I am not a naturist but I am open-minded and I know that naturism has absolutely nothing to do with sex. Good old Wikipedia says: "Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism."

Yes, it says cultural, political, personal, family and social. I will say once more just to get the point across: Naturism has nothing to do with sex. There were plenty of comments on the stories and the editorial we published last week on the nudist event that was held on Papamoa beach on Saturday.

Complete piece here

Nude, Renewed - Nudity as Fantasy

I don’t have the statistics to back this up, but I’m willing to bet that a lot of people fantasize about being able to take off all their clothes and just be nude—maybe not at Disneyland, or the Apple Store, but at least in some place where they can’t be nude regularly. There’s something very appealing, after all, about casting off all that clothing and just feeling free to run around naked like so many of us did when we were kids.Maybe you don’t want to do it all the time. Maybe just having the chance to do it once and “get it out of your system” is all you need. But it’s probably a dream for a lot of people.

Naturists, if you think about it, are people who get to live this dream.They get to take the fantasy and make it reality. And, to use Rashida Jones’ words, they don’t have to pretend “nothing [is] wrong or different”.Again, a nude trip to the Apple Store is probably not on any naturist’s agenda. But a trip to the beach, or the lake, or the mountains, or some other place where it just makes sense to be nude is definitely on the agenda.And when you’re doing it with other naturists, you’re not wrong, and you’re not different. In fact, given the cases of mistaken identity Ms.Jones describes in the article, maybe even she could “blend in” in a naturist setting.

If this is your fantasy, think about making it reality at your local naturist club. It’s a nice fantasy, to be sure, but I bet you’ll find that nothing beats the real thing.

Full piece is here

How Do I Get Started In Naturism?

Naturism and the Romantics

Walt Whitman American writer, A Sun-bathed Nakedness:

Never before did I get so close to Nature; never before did she come so close to me... Nature was naked, and I was also... Sweet, sane, still Nakedness in Nature! - ah if poor, sick, prurient humanity in cities might really know you once more! Is not nakedness indecent? No, not inherently. It is your thought, your sophistication, your fear, your respectability, that is indecent. There come moods when these clothes of ours are not only too irksome to wear, but are themselves indecent.[50]

Henry David Thoreau, In wildness is the preservation of the world., Walking:

We cannot adequately appreciate this aspect of nature if we approach it with any taint of human pretense. It will elude us if we allow artifacts like clothing to intervene between ourselves and this Other. To apprehend it, we cannot be naked enough.[50]

Naturism was part of a literary movement in the late 1800s (see the writings of André Gide) which also influenced the art movements of the time specifically Henri Matisse and other Fauve painters. This movement was based on the French concept of joie de vivre, the idea of revelling freely in physical sensations and direct experiences and a spontaneous approach to life.[51] Later this movement became called Naturalism.

Source

Nude Beaches Within The Uk

Many people discover naturism on a beach on holiday, but there are plenty of places around our beautiful coastline to stretch out on the sand and get an all-over tan.

Whilst it is perfectly legal to strip off on any beach, the law of the land works in such a way that all manner of legislation can be applied to the naked sunbather if complaints are received. Many naturists quietly minding their own business in an out of the way spot have suffered from this when discovered by a prudish member of the public.

However, nude use of some beaches has received the sanction of the landowner or local authority and those are therefore considered to be “official” beaches. We have marked them as such in the list. Because of the official designation and the fact that warning signs are erected, naturists’ enjoyment should not be spoiled by anyone - and we can take action against any non-naturists who disturb us.

From the excellent site from the UK iNaked, click here

In the following places, top freedom is in effect:: United States

The following cities are officially topless "tested":

* Asheville, NC
* Austin, TX,
* Boulder, CO
* Columbus, OH
* Eugene, OR
* Keene, NH
* Key West, FL at Fantasy Fair
* Madison, WI,
* New Orleans, LA, at Mardi Gras
* New York City
* Portland, Or,
* Santa Fe, NM
* South Miami Beach, FL (on the beach)
* Washington, DC

How can I find out if my city is topless?

Simply google the city name and its municipal code and key in the word "nudity". Do the same for the county where the city is located to be sure.

Can I be arrested for going topless in a topless city?

Even if a top free law is firmly in effect, the police can still arrest you under the pretense of "disorderly conduct". Don't be intimidated! You can sue the city back for wrongful arrest (if your only crime was to go topless). That is what Phoenix Feeley did in NYC in 2005 (you can read her story in our news section)

See map of states where toplessness is legalized.

How to find a naturist date

Are you new to naturist (nudist) dating? Regardless if you are returning to the dating game after many years have gone by, or that you have been dating for a while and are still looking for the person that is right for you. If your thoughts have been speaking to you and you would like to try dating a naturist in your area, and have had no luck. There is still hope, with a little guidance that can lead you towards the direction where you will find your true naturist soul mate.

Let us begin by simply having you pull your suit and shoes out of the closet, do not forget to iron that shirt, and give everything a spiff and a polish. Looking sharp is important, as you well know, it is regardless of whether you are clothed or a naturist. Dating a naturist does not mean, you meet your date in the nude, that would be a fun fantasy for a later date. At least not on the first date if or when it comes around, although there have been far few occasions that you will meet someone that will say, “Hey, why don’t we meet at the nude beach or the club?”

It is very rare, and it is a big “if” on your first date with a naturist that they would ask such a question, unless you have known each other for a while, and have met at a naturist gathering spot. Wondering where the two of you should meet for the first time. Sometimes taking your date to a regular location (that would mean you are clothed), outside of the nudity scene is best, to get you started, think of a coffee shop maybe. Picking a quiet place will give you both the opportunity to get to know each other a little better, and plus, you will not be distracted by the surroundings that can spoil a good conversation.

Read more

Consumer nudism

Source Daily Kos

Nude Beach

Nude beaches came into popularity and common public knowledge in the 1950s when they started popping up along the French coast and other places in Europe such as Germany and Denmark. Since then, nude beaches, while still fairly rare, have shown up all over the world. Usually isolated, signs are put up to “warn” others who may be uncomfortable with nudity—and the isolation also helps to protect nudists from unwanted voyeurs. Nude beaches are similar in nature to a “regular” beach, except, of course, the patrons are completely au naturel.

Many people, when considering going to a nude beach or becoming a nudist, question not only the legal aspects, but the moral aspects as well. It may surprise you to learn that many Christian—and denominations thereof—are perfectly fine with social nudity. In America, the Christian Nudist Convocation believes in the beauty of “chaste” nudity. Nudity and sexuality are often linked, but they don’t necessarily have to be. In fact, most Christian nudists believe that it’s clothes that make a body sexual. To put it simply: if you see someone in the nude all the time, you begin not to notice it anymore. It becomes normal and you no longer feel “urges” toward that person. However, if that person is normally clothed, due to the curiosity of the unknown and the “forbidden,” when they remove their clothing, it is more likely to become a sexualized experience. Most anti-nudity views are originally politically-based, not rooted in religion.

Those who choose to go to a nude beach not only enjoy the anonymity it provides (most nude beaches don’t require any sort of membership), but they also enjoy the acceptance they feel. In a nudist environment, social barriers are shed and things such as race and social status no longer matter. Without clothes, everyone is forced to rid themselves of their pride, guilt, shame, insecurities, and ego. Culture and society are left behind and all that’s left is their true selves.

Source

British Skinny Dip 2012 - winter event announced

British Naturism’s The Great British Skinny Dip (GBSD) is a big, fun event that happens twice a year, in summer, and in winter. Get involved and tell us what you think about this event on Facebook.

STRIP OFF INTO SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE
There is nothing quite so liberating and life-affirming as swimming without clothes and the wonderful sensation of the water over your whole body. In fact, the swimsuit is the most pointless item of clothing invented – it neither keeps you warm nor dry! Modern designs also serve to draw attention to the very parts of the body that costumes intend to hide.

GIVE YOUR BIRTHDAY SUIT AN AIRING
We’ve all got one - and it wasn’t designed to be wrapped up in clothes 24/7. Yet cultural issues often mean that simple human nudity is treated with shame, or seen as provocative or dirty. In fact, it’s all good. We all benefit – mentally, physically and psychologically - from shedding our clothes. It’s fun, liberating, relaxing, healthy, de-stressing, bringing a sense of well-being, and an escape from daily life and social convention.

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Tambaba - A Brazilian Nude Beach

Excellent. A Guide to Tambaba and region. Spoken in Portuguese, subtitles in English.

Source

How Nudism Can Save You Money

A couple of excerpts, the rest is at the link.

Stuff: Nudism is often referred to as the “Great Equalizer”. When people are naked around other people, it is difficult to tell if a person is the president of a bank, or a school janitor. Consequently, nudists tend to be far less “class-conscious”. Nudists are typically less likely to want to keep up with the Joneses, realizing that not only do clothes not really make the man, but neither do homes, cars, boats etc.

More Health – Less Stress – More Money: Studies have also found that children raised in nudist homes tend to be more socially developed (and often more intelligent) than those raised in “textile” families. Nudists generally feel that they have nothing to hide. That attitude permeates the rest of their psyche as well, so they tend to be less stressed out and more sure of themselves. We have probably all heard about the health problems produced by living under stress. Nudists save money by not having to treat as many stress related disorders. (source – pdf format) Also, by being more self confident, and supposedly better educated, they are more likely to get better jobs, making more money.

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Topless Protesters at Occupy Wall Street

Taken 9/24/11 Liberty Park, NYC.
9:57 a.m.

Here

The Occupy movement that spread across the country last fall has already changed the national discussion: It's brought attention to the serious, systemic problem of gross inequities of wealth and power and the mass hardships that have resulted from that imbalance.

Occupy put a new paradigm in the political debate — the 1 percent is exploiting the 99 percent — and it's tapping the energy and imagination of a new generation of activists.

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Judge H. Lee Sarokin - What TV Harms Children More: Seeing a Person Murdered or Seeing a Person Naked?

H. Lee Sarokin served on the United States District Court (N.J.) appointed by President Carter, and the United States Court of Appeals (3rd Cir.) appointed by President Clinton. He retired in 1996 after 17 years on the federal bench and now resides in Rancho Santa Fe, CA.

As the Supreme Court (FCC v Fox Television Stations) once again wrestles with government control of profanity and nudity on broadcast television, I marvel at the focus. Children can watch murders, rapes, kidnappings, stabbings and beatings a hundred times a day, but it appears they need protection from profanity and nudity! In considering the difficult First Amendment questions, should the Court be asking whether there is a need or justification for the regulations? The statute and regulations creates a "safe haven" -- safe from what?

The network that allowed Janet Jackson to bare her breast for a millisecond was fined $550,000. The supposed basis for these regulations is to protect our children. How are children harmed by seeing a bare breast or a naked behind? I am not talking here about pornography or obscenity -- which also have their own definition problems -- but language and nudity. What happens to the children of the country after seeing a breast or even an entire naked person? When we were kids we called them "dirty pictures" and somehow we have incorporated that concept into law (and survived and even enjoyed the experience). Every child has or will see someone naked during their lifetime. Are they somehow traumatized by seeing them when they are young?

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Nudists' Bill of Rights

As law-abiding citizens who are friends of nudism, including many members of the American Association for Nude Recreation, we proudly affirm that we have and are entitled to exercise the following rights. These are self-evident and based on the Constitutions of the United States and Canada, the laws of those countries, and their court rulings.

1. Nudists have the right to hold their values and beliefs.
2. Nudists have the right to petition and be heard by their governments.
3. Nudists have the right to responsibly enjoy nudity within their homes and on private property.
4. Nudists have the right to exercise decision-making in the upbringing of their families in a manner consistent with their beliefs and without interference from others.
5. Nudists have the right to assemble in the nude within appropriate settings.
6. Nudists have the right to decisions about what constitutes acceptable nudity to be made free from considerations of age, gender, marital status, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
7. Nudists have the right to responsibly enjoy being nude within appropriate locations on public lands.
8. Nudists have the right to be free from adverse actions by their employers as a result of their lawful enjoyment of nudity when away from work.
9. Nudists have the right to experience accurate, life-affirming portrayals of the human body in all its stages as depicted in the performing arts, the fine arts, literature, and human history.
10. Nudists have the right to be treated as law-abiding citizens.

Show your support by signing the Nudists' Bill of Rights

View Signatories (2,731)

Links above are at the source

Freikörperkultur

Freikörperkultur (FKK) is a German movement whose name translates to Free Body Culture. It endorses a naturistic approach to sports and community living. Behind that is the joy of the experience of nature or also of being nude itself, without direct relationship to sexuality. The followers of this culture are called traditional naturists, FKK'ler, or nudists. There has been an extensive removal of restrictions on public nudity in Germany since about the 1980s.

History

Beginnings in the 18th century

In many parts of central Europe up until the 18th century, people bathed naked in rivers and lakes, although often separately by sex. Beginning in the late 18th century, public nudity became increasingly taboo, though this never penetrated into sparsely-populated Scandinavia. At the same time, Lord Monboddo (1714-1779) practiced and preached nude bathing as a revival of Ancient Greek attitudes toward nudity. This found literary reference in Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's (1742-1799) book Das Luftbad.

"Nude culture" and life reforms - up to World War I

In 1898 the first FKK club was founded in Essen. In 1900 more and more Swedish baths arose in rooms in Berlin and on the North and Baltic seas. A few years before there were mixed sex baths in many places, which, although requiring contemporary, modest bath clothes, were either forbidden or regarded as immoral. Also, in 1900 the naturist movement began in France.

Behind the FKK movement lay, at least in Germany, an attitude towards life in which the naked body is not shameful. The nudity of FKK should not involve sexuality. In this light, the need to be nude in the shower or sauna does not belong with Freikörperkultur, since it's practically necessary. FKK'ler put here nudity with prior group consensus, and therefore demanded no reserved zones, such as separate beaches or club areas.

A while later, after the political liberalization, conservative circles tried to challenge the increasingly popular (especially among urban intellectuals) nude baths as a corruption of morality.

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True Nudists

Social networking for nudists. That was the thought when True Nudists was launched in 2007. The site was created as a way to tap into a younger generation and attract a whole new generation to nudism. Naturists and nudists can sometimes find it challenging to find other like-minded friends, especially in a new town or while on vacation. Let's face it, asking someone, "Do you like to get naked?" can turn into an awkward conversation! Now, those who don't like textiles have a way to get to know others who also appreciate a clothes-free lifestyle.

True Nudists' mission is to provide a safe place for nudists to express themselves. The site—and the lifestyle—is not about sex. Indeed, many naturists are comprised of families, and children are welcome at most events. Not finding a family-friend, ethical site online was the impetus for starting True Nudists.

Now, the site has members from around the globe and has more than 100,000 users. Membership is free, with a paid option to gain access to viewing additional pictures. Since privacy is often an issue, users have the ability to block people, hide their profiles, and ensure that they are only discovered by search engines if they want to be.

We invite you to become a member and start meeting nudists around the world. So take off your clothes and stay awhile!

Web Site of True Nudists

Going Bare

Going Bare from Ruby Keighley on Vimeo.

Going Bare is a Documentary about Linda Adams, a Naturist, or as some people may call her - A nudist.
This documentary was made as an assignment as part of the DFTV610 course at the New Zealand Broadcasting School.

Director, Editor, Director of Photography: Ruby Keighley
Producer: Danielle Stanbury

My naked yoga class

I want to challenge my own anxiety about nudity. But can I really handle downward dog without any clothes on?

My instructor looked at me from the head of the dim room and smiled. Not in a creepy way, more in a “you can do this!” way. But I wasn’t so sure. I had struck a Warrior One pose a thousand times before, yet I still stumbled into the person next to me more often than I cared to admit. Normally I’d just offer a little self-deprecating shoulder shrug and move on, but what would I say in this situation? “Oops! I just ran into your bare penis”?

I had enrolled in a naked yoga class on impulse. My husband was gone for two months that summer, and in my solitude, I began a spiritual exploration of sorts, signing up for Buddhist book groups, taking long, contemplative walks, and reading a good deal of Eckhart Tolle. I was in a normal, fully clothed yoga class when I struck up a conversation with the woman I’d been paired with for partner poses. She was incredibly flexible.

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10 Celebs Who Breastfeed In Public (Photos)

With celebrity babies getting so much attention from the paparazzi, it’s no wonder that the photographers often snap a shot of celebrity moms breastfeeding in public! But these moms certainly have no shame when “committing the crime.”

We’ve seen many celebrity moms commit this act before, but now a whole new slew of moms including Mayim Bailik, Gwen Stefani, and Kate Hudson are getting in on the action.

Whether you agree with breastfeeding in public or not, these photos certainly provide another insight into the lives of the rich and famous.

Take a look below at photos of 10 celebrity moms who have been caught breastfeeding in public!

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