Why Nudism is Good

Nudism is a wholesome, healthy lifestyle and there are innumerable reasons to be nude when you can. Being nude in a comfortable and relaxed situation is a serene and wonderful experience and offers the freedom to be happy, healthy, active, productive, sane, social, bold, unashamed, and truly alive. Social nudism is an interesting and effective way to communicate and bond with others. Nudity is relaxing and stress-relieving, which is healthy for the body and mind. Nudity also has other positive physical health benefits. Moderate exposure to sunlight increases Vitamin D intake and actually improves many aspects of skin health, discouraging fungal and bacterial infections. In fact, sunlight exposure is even sometimes prescribed for people with some skin diseases. Nudity allows more exposure and gets sunlight to body areas normally neglected.

One of the most compelling principles of nudism is the ideal of body acceptance. Mainstream society and mass media makes harsh judgments about and often discriminates against those who don’t match the unrealistic air-brushed and digitally enhanced ideal promoted by Madison Avenue. In the past women have born the brunt of being made to feel shame by not living up to these unrealistic ideals of the body, but now many younger men are also being made to feel insecure because they don’t match up to similar unrealistic ideals. Most nudists and naturists make you feel welcome no matter what you look like. Nudists have developed some very positive ideas about what nudity should be about and promote acceptance. This in turn helps many to develop a better self-image and improved body image.

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Laid-back beach, lost in time, in Zipolite, Mexico

It feels light years away from the areas of Mexico that tourists now avoid due to drug violence. Not only has the U.S. State Department spared Oaxaca from its travel warnings about Mexico, but Zipolite in particular seems lost in time, a place where visitors think nothing of leaving their belongings unattended on the beach and backpackers sleep in hammocks strung along the coast.

Zipolite also has a few claims to fame. The climactic beach scenes in the Mexican blockbuster movie "Y Tu Mama Tambien," were filmed here. And it's gained notoriety as one of Mexico's few nude beaches, although the majority of sunbathers remain clothed. (Farther east, past an outcropping of rocks is the cove known as "Playa de Amor" where nudity is more openly practiced.)

Mike Bolli, a retiree from Vancouver, Canada, says he has been visiting the area for the last 10 years without "accident, issue or injury."

"I have only ever met the nicest and friendliest eclectic mix of locals and visitors — it's a great throwback to the '60s," Bolli said. "So it's all good and safe from my viewpoint."

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Social Nudity: Nothing Is Better

Of course, it wasn’t such a big deal being among naked men; that happens in locker rooms all the time; but it was very different seeing a woman undress in mixed company. I was particularly struck by how casually a slim redhead removed her clothes while continuing her conversation with her husband, totally unconcerned about others — including me, a stranger — being present.

But those in the car were correct: Within five minutes, being among naked people of both sexes seemed just as natural as being among clothed people in any other setting. While I of course noticed the naked bodies, I was paying more attention to what they were saying and being impressed by the diversity of people there. For they were a diverse and interesting group, ranging from puzzle-makers to computer gurus, telephone executives to truck drivers, bankers to factory workers and nurses … and even a Baptist minister. I would discover that naturism fits everyone from fundamentalist Christians and conservative Catholics to atheists and agnostics. There is a spiritual element to being clad as we came into the world, feeling all the effects of heat, cold, wind, and rain.

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The "Labia Pride" Movement Is on the March

Rebelling against the porn aesthetic, women are taking to the Internet to sing the praises of "endowed" women.

Underneath a self-portrait snapped of the ruffly pink flesh in-between her legs, a woman writes, “I am 23 and so embarrassed of my labia that I still have never shown it to anyone — to a guy or even a doctor!” It’s a post submitted by an anonymous reader on the Tumblr “Large Labia Project.” The blog is filled with similar photos accompanied by tales of vulval shame. One woman writes of distress over the fact that her labia are lopsided. Another worries that she’s lost lovers in the past because “they all thought my vagina was weird.” There are concerns about taste and smell, too, but mostly vulva shape and size.

It’s just one of several new sites calling on women to bare all — to benefit womankind.

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Naturist Wreck Beach on CBC TV

How nudism works in Europe vs. America

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.

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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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