I've been thinking about how men, and women, in Europe can see nude and topless people at the beach and not be sexual, unlike most Americans who think it's an invitation to sex.
I believe there is long tradition of intellectualism in Europe, unlike in the U.S. and this is why men, and women, there can see nudity in an intellectual way. Some might mistake that as them being gay, when in fact most are not gay. So if Americans can evolve to the level of people in Europe, we can be nudists like them and not see it as dirty, sexual, immoral, or corrupt. It's a change in mindset I think we are capable of.
As a well educated American who has traveled to Europe often and seen first hand these differences, I don't think they're any more "intellectual" about it than we are. They mindlessly live in a culture which is more accepting of nudity, as do we in our culture, which isn't accepting of it. Most Americans think they're strange in that regard, and most Europeans think we're being weird about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's only when you think about it that their position makes sense and ours doesn't. But I wouldn't give Europeans credit for actively thinking about it. It just is that way for them.
As an American Nudist, I do not see it as dirty, sexual, immoral or corrupt. I have yet to meet an American Nudist that sees nudity that way. In my opinion it isn't nudists that see nudity this way, but society in general.
ReplyDeleteI do not know what happened in America. When I was a boy, I ran around nude all the time. Male nudity was accepted in many public places. I swam nude at the YMCA, School and at Camp. Then for some reason, societies outlook on nudity changed, to what it is today, where all nudity is wrong.
But this is a view of society, not nudists.