Gymnophobia in the News

Earlier this month I read a nice article by Julie Scelfo, When Do They Need a Fig Leaf, published at New York Times.com. The article was an interesting discussion of the appropriateness of child nudity and modesty. Today I happened to read the following comment posted by a reader pertaining to the article which is provided her verbatim.

"To the Editor:

As a parent, I have a few observations and responses to your article. First, boys are just as modest as girls. There is nonsense floating around that girls are more mature and that it is therefore O.K. for boys to be nude at older ages.

Second, it is never appropriate for you to allow your children to be nude in front of visitors or other children without the knowledge of the parents. Even then, it is just plain wrong. Parents should encourage modesty, which usually starts around ages 4 to 6.

There is nothing healthy or cute in encouraging your children to be nude, or in just ignoring the behavior and hoping that they will grow out of it. As soon as one sibling starts noticing differences, clothing-optional behavior needs to be discouraged. I would be furious if my son or daughter went to a playmate’s home and there was nudity as described in your article.

Children are highly impressionable; what you allow, encourage or ignore will come back to haunt you. So parents need to grow up and be responsible. If you are a nudist and belong to a nudist colony or resort, obviously the situation is somewhat different, but please don’t impose your beliefs on the rest of us.

DARRELL V. HAMPTON
Rocklin, Calif."

What interests me about the above comment is the fact that while Mr. Hampton and many like him resist in his words, having nudists “impose your beliefs on the rest of us”, it never ceases to amaze me that he has apparently not the slightest hesitancy in attempting to impose his beliefs on the rest of us. He begins by lecturing the New York Times on what is and isn’t appropriate and then expounds on his own beliefs about what children should be taught about modesty. Mr. Hampton is entitled to his opinion just as we all are. Yet his comment illustrates the obvious internal conflicts and phobias he holds with respect to nudity which he was likely conditioned to internalize during his own “impressionable” years as a child, likely imparted to him by his own misguided parents, which causes him to see nudity as such a scary thing.

The fact that I am a nudist aside, I never think it appropriate to lecture others on such a personal issue as how to raise their own children. Since he alludes to the fact that he is a parent, I find it most unfortunate that Mr. Hampton is busily raising another generation of nude-phobic Hampton’s who sadly will likely never feel comfortable with their own bodies. My response is, Mr. Hampton please don’t impose your beliefs on the rest of us.

Managers of the Appalachian Trail Just Say “No” to Nude Hiking

What does Father’s Day and nudity have in common? Usually nothing, but this year summer solstice happened to fall on Father’s Day so dad’s special day shared June 21, 2009 with the annual observance of Naked Hiking Day. It should come as no surprise that nude hiking is a European tradition where the American aversion to the natural state of the human body is less keenly felt.

For an article published by the Associated Press, a reporter interviewed Brian King, spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Brian’s take about hiking in the buff? “It's just rude.” “People are out there hiking with their kids and families, and there are Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.” Yes, by all means, we shouldn’t deny our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts their inalienable American right to grow up sexually repressed with life-long body image hang ups. God forbid that they might become privy to the closely guarded, deep dark secret that beneath the clothing, everyone is naked and males have penises while females have vaginas.

In the same article Ranger Tammy McCorkle, of the state-managed South Mountain Recreation Area in western Maryland, acknowledged that rangers were on the job and responded quickly to reports of a group of naked men spotted hiking along the AT. Although all were clothed by the time a ranger reached them, eight received disorderly conduct warnings after admitting they had been nude. According to Ranger McCorkle, they got off lucky since full-frontal violations could have resulted in indecent exposure charges. In a way it is comical how seriously and negatively so many people take something as harmless as nude hiking. One also has to wonder why authorities can’t simply solve the issue for the benefit of non-nudists by declaring one or two days out of the week as clothing optional. I mean how much trouble would it be to post a few signs along the Appalachian Trail, “Warning! On Mondays and Wednesdays you may encounter nude hikers.” I guess it is just easier to deny nudists their personal rights to enjoy nature in the natural.

For those interested who might have missed it, my most recent nudist related article published at Associated Content, Modern Nudity, explains the practice of modern nudity and includes historical underpinnings.

Couple Faces Eviction for “Nearly” Nude Gardening

Today on the Internet I came across a United Press International story about a Boulder, Colorado couple who are facing eviction on the grounds that they are in the opinion of their landlord, creating a nuisance. According to the report, the married couple, Catharine Pierce, 51, and Robert Pierce, 58, enjoy gardening in the front yard of their Boulder home wearing only thongs and pasties. Since the two are not exposing their genitals, their activities are not a violation of any local laws or ordinances. Still, their “nearly” nude gardening obviously is an irritation and affront to their apparently prudish landlord who has taken legal action to put an end to things by having the pair evicted for creating a nuisance.

Their landlord is Boulder Housing Partners, which administers an affordable housing program for the City of Boulder. In an interview with the local Boulder newspaper, Executive Director Betsy Martens was quoted to say, “Defining the word ‘nuisance’ is tough.” “This is not a legal issue, it's a community issue. We try and balance the needs of the whole community.” The implication apparently being that the nude gardening activities by the Pierce’s violates community mores as they relate to modesty.

The couple however begs to differ with Ms. Martens, asserting that Boulder Housing Partners is infringing on their basic rights. “We want our freedom,” Robert Pierce told the same Boulder newspaper, adding, “We want exactly what the law gives you, and we don't want to be harassed about it.”

Boulder was recently the center of nude behavior controversy over the annual “Nude Pumpkin” run where a number of college students engaging in an annual prank were arrested and prosecuted under indecency laws for appearing nude in public. The ACLU intervened in that situation and it will be interesting to see whether they come to the aid of the Pierces.

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Associated Content Update

As an update, I have had three more “nudist” articles accepted for publication by Associated Content and the links are provided below. I appreciate those who have taken time to view the first article I mentioned several days ago and hope you will click on the links and check out these new articles. Thus far the folks at Associated Content have been quite accepting of my nudist articles and I have a couple of more in queue.

A First Nudist Experience

Have You Ever Considered a Nude Cruise?

The Skinny on Skinny-Dipping

A New Direction

Recently I decided to expand into another venue by becoming a contributing writer on the Associated Content web site. While I still intend to post regular content here on my blog, I thought this might be a good way to more effectively conduct outreach among non-nudists by having positive articles on naturism and nudism published in a more mainstream venue. Happily, Associated Content accepted my first nudism article, The Emerging Nudist and I even received a few bucks for my trouble. While I will be submitting articles on a variety of topics there under the pen name, Jon Stall, I intend to concentrate on naturism and nudism and in fact have already submitted two more articles on that topic and am awaiting the decision of the site editors on publication. It would be much appreciated if the readers here would follow the links I will be providing to my Associated Content articles. The more the articles are accessed I think the better the chances that similar articles will be accepted by the editors for publication on AC and the more non-nudists I can reach with my message.

Nudity Equals Sex

Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth. Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial socialization. It is then that we acquire language and learn the fundamentals of our culture. Unfortunately, a part of the socialization process in this country includes people learning from childhood to equate nudism with sex and sexuality and to be conditioned in general to maintain a very juvenile attitude about sex; it's either locker room naughty or the ultimate evil. This is the kind of thing that makes Europeans snicker about us uptight Americans. There are ways to teach children healthy boundaries about their bodies without making them feel uptight about their body or about nudity in general.

Discerning the difference between nudity and sex is difficult for those who have grown up in a society like ours. If you have only been naked to get in the shower or to have sex it is understandable that you would assume that if you are naked around someone else it implies a desire to have sex and would make the same assumption about others. Having been raised in a very religious household, it took me almost four decades of my life to get over the shame that I felt about my own body and about sexuality. Those were some wasted years that I would not want wish on anyone. Much of the American stigma concerning sex and nudity has to do with “traditional Christian values.” America has a lot of those old Puritan influences as well as the biblical view from Genesis 3 that people should be ashamed of their bodies. It is no surprise that the more fundamentally religious people are the more sexually repressed and uptight especially in relation to nudity and sexuality.

In a society that equates nudism with sex and sexuality it is a given that stereotypes will develop and be promoted such as: people who follow the nudism lifestyle are sexually promiscuous and nudists or naturists will have sex with anyone at anytime. Stereotypes predictably lead to prejudice. Whenever society views a group of people that doesn't follow what it feels is the norm in the society than prejudice is always quickly attracted that particular group. No matter how often we naturists and nudists tell people that social nudity is not sexual, they remain unconvinced believing that there is overt sexual conduct in the nudist/naturist environment. Many believe that while we might talk a good non-sexual game, behind closed doors it's all orgies, all the time.

Even when we do our best to overcome the “nude is lewd” idea, there are still too many people who maintain these ideas. This hinders the naturism community. Since the United States is very conservative, there are only a few designated clothing optional beaches and most public lands are simply off limits to naturists and nudists. Naturism can only be practiced in very few private places. Extremely restrictive legislation is another issue that nudists face today.

Our knee jerk reaction has in the past when faced with accusations that sex and nudity are inextricably inter-related and thus going naked amongst other naked people must inevitably be sexually stimulating and arousing is to immediately deny that there is any connection whatsoever between traditional naturism and nudism and sex. The problem with this is we shall never get people to understand that sex and nudity do not normally go hand-in-hand if we continue to deny the obvious truth that sometimes, it does. A better approach might be to say that while nudity does not equal sex, sex is nothing to be ashamed of either.

While American society today is in some ways overly sexual and sex obsessed, in other ways we are a very prudish and sexually repressed society. While pornography is rampant, it is still looked down upon and thus most usually viewed in secret. Millions of Americans don’t talk about sex openly and sex education is America is in most cases very poor and insufficient. These conditions produce as a result a situation where many Americans tend to be more offended by something like Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction than they are about the violence portrayed on the average nightly news.

A general lack of understanding by society in general of what naturism is about is very apparent and it is a given that ignorance of the general population towards naturism affects the naturist community in negative ways. Many non-nudists simply believe that taking your clothing off is sinful and immoral, and teach this to their children. It's from this type of thinking that misconceptions are formed that equates nudism with sex, a corrupt mind and loose morals. Equating loose moral character with nudity is preposterous to naturists but makes sense to those who equate nudity with sex. Education is the only method that can be used to counterbalance these misconceptions among non-naturist people.

Separating sex from nudity honestly isn't the biggest issue. I think we should instead be stressing that communal nudity as practiced is naturism and nudism provide a more modern approach to sex education, destroying the secrecy and mystery of sex, elevating women to equal status with men, and thus abolishing sexual shame, perversion, and repression. We should stress that nudism is not a new phenomenon but has been around for centuries; that being nude is fun and healthy; that after all we are all born nudists and that nudism promotes body acceptance, self-confidence, and freedom. It is also very important that we communicate the fact that nudists are very cognizant that within society it is respectful to take the feelings of your fellow citizens into account and thus we do not advocate the right to be nude in public at any place or time. We also need to communicate that nudity cannot equal sex because of the reality that sexual arousal is much more complex than simply looking at a naked human body. We need to encourage people to learn about naturism and nudism before they condemn it out of hand.

Too often I hear other naturists and nudists say it is a waste of time to try to educate non-nudists and that the “clothes-minded” are in fact close minded, have their minds made up and will never be convinced to see naturism and nudism in favorable terms. I know this is not reality because once I myself only saw nudism in the common stereotypical ways and harbored that same misconception that nudity equals sex. Unless you were raised in a nudist family, you likely could tell a similar story to mine. But at some point, I became open to understanding what naturism and nudism were really about and as a result not only became tolerant of the idea but actually embraced it with a passion. Nudity is not something to be ashamed of, it's something to enjoy. Nudity does not equal sex although sex is nothing to be ashamed of, either. We can hide our bodies, turn them into taboos, try to ignore them, mistreat them, obsess about them, or accept them and even be happy with them. I know which I'd rather do.

Examining the “Sexting” Hysteria

Sex•ting

Slang for the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive content between mobile devices using SMS. A genre of texting that contains text, images or video that is intended to be sexually arousing.

About the only topic that I’m wearier of hearing about these days than Carrie Prejean and her nude photographs “controversy” is the current hysteria revolving around “sexting” the fad predominantly popular among 10 – 14 year olds that involves sharing nude pictures and suggestive language through cell phone text messaging.

Candidly, I’m dumbfounded by the number of state legislators scrambling to enact new legislation or add to existing laws to combat this phenomenon that they apparently fear will end civilization as we know it. Couple that with the number of prosecutors around the country advocating the criminal prosecution of children who either send or receive “sexting” messages “to the fullest extent of the law” and I find a situation that is, well just disturbing and more than a little frightening. One Florida prosecutor, prosecuting an 18 year old for distributing nude images of his former 16 year old girlfriend, went so far as to say about sexting, “It's not ok. It's very illegal. A child under 18 years of age can not consent to taking these pictures, and that's child pornography, it's a felony. And that's mandatory jail time.”

I’m not intimately familiar with the whole sexting issue beyond being bombarded almost daily by news articles and radio talk show hosts who feel compelled to raise the issue ad nauseam but it appears this much ado about nothing is primarily over 10 – 14 year girls sending nude or partially nude images of themselves by text messaging to their boyfriends or other boys they are acquainted with. Is it a good idea for youngsters in this age group to take and distribute nude images of themselves? No of course not. As many people have observed, at that tender age children do not have the maturity to understand all the ramifications of doing this. A good illustration of this was the highly publicized suicide of a girl in Ohio last July that was alleged to have resulted from extreme emotional distress after she learned that nude pictures of her she intended for one person were distributed among neighboring schools. It would appear to be a no brainer in this age of the Internet and camera phones that taking and sending nude photographs of yourself to anyone could quite predictably end up being circulated among lots of other people you never wished or intended to see them but kids just don’t always take the time to fully think through all of the possible consequences of their actions. Yet this texting issue does have deeper ramifications I think. Does any sane person really advocate that 10 - 14 children should be convicted of a sex offense if found guilty of sexting and then listed for life on sex offender lists next to people who commit rape, molest kids and things like that?

First of all, it is nothing short of a myth that images of even a completely nude 10 -14 year old are de facto child pornography. Images transmitted by text message would have to be ruled obscene and thus pornographic in order for the act to even be considered unlawful in terms of possession or distribution of child pornography or obscenity. For a good many years now, the three part Miller test has been used to determine whether something is obscene and considered pornography:

Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.

Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law.

Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

While I admit I cannot think of any wholesome or redeeming justification for an adult to possess or distribute images of nude children not members of their family, clearly images depicting nothing more than mere nudity on the part of anyone including children do not meet the Miller test and by definition are neither obscene nor pornographic. The photographic image must depict a child engaged in some sexual conduct to be considered child pornography: actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sado-masochistic abuse, or other “lewd” exhibition of the genitals, the anus, or any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola. I have not read in any of the reams of articles on sexting that any such conduct has been alleged. The controversy seems to center on images depicting only complete nudity of exposure of the breasts and/or genitals.

Second, this whole situation is focusing on the wrong thing. The problem isn’t children taking and distributing nude images it is parents who are giving their sons and daughters cell phones when they're 10 or 11 years old, without any restrictions and who are not setting any limits. It's just, “Happy birthday, here is your cell phone.” Sexting is the result of parental irresponsibility and it is the responsibility of parents, not law enforcement, not school officials and certainly not the courts who need to address the issue.

Thirdly, the very term “sexting” is just further evidence of the absurd and unhealthy perspective that general society in this country holds with regards to nudity. Perhaps if the majority of non-nudists did not adhere to the frankly sick and perverted notion that “nudity equals sex” and didn’t condition their offspring to see nudity as a taboo and something that is wrong, then perhaps the thought would never occur to children to take and distribute nude images of themselves in the first place.

Finally, can any rational person actually blame the children when the television and movie industry as well as advertisers and main stream media insist on sexualizing the naked human body to the extreme and for the most part parents won’t or in some cases can’t do anything to shield their children from the onslaught?

I for one am really sick and tired of parents who either abdicate their parental responsibilities to the government because they can’t be bothered with supervising and raising their own children as well as those who stand idly by and do nothing but wring their hands when government decides to make unwarranted intrusions into areas that should be parental and not governmental business.

The Relevancy of National Nudist Organizations

North America is served by two naturist or nudist organizations; the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) and The Naturist Society (TNS). While it seems that many nudists and naturists have a rather apathetic attitude towards membership in those organizations, I make no apology for the fact that I am a staunch supporter and member of both. In fact I at every opportunity encourage others to join one or both organizations. While I allow that it isn’t likely necessary to be a member of both, I choose to be because I think there are some differences between the two organizations that cause membership in both to have value for me and others who enjoy social nudity. Another thing is that both offer excellent periodicals and I wouldn’t want to forgo receiving either of them. AANR publishes a monthly newspaper, The Bulletin and TNS publishes quarterly, a full color magazine, Nude & Natural, often simply referred to by naturists as N.

What do these organizations do besides collect dues from their members? In a nutshell, AANR is primarily responsible for the oversight of nudist clubs and resorts. They have core values such as associated organizations must provide an environment that is family friendly and free of any sexual atmosphere. They promote positive body acceptance. AANR also by committee does become involved in issues where governments or other entities attempt to infringe on the rights of people to engage in responsible social nudity.

You could say that AANR is the “nudist” organization and is most concerned about the more urban practice of social nudity. TNS on the other hand, has the more naturist type philosophy and is primarily concerned with the preservation and expansion of the rights of naturists to responsibly utilize public beaches and other public lands for nude recreational purposes. I think it fair to say that TNS is the “green” organization as they promote responsibility in interaction with nature and the environment. TNS is also active in protecting nudists and naturists from those unfriendly to social nudity. They have a legal adjunct called the Naturist Action Committee which regularly intercedes when federal, state or local governments raise issues designed to restrict the use of public lands by naturists.

Recently I submitted an article to the editors of Nude & Natural for their consideration. In part that article encourages all naturists and nudists to unite under the umbrella of a national coalition by becoming active and participating members of AANR, TNS or both. In the article I drew a comparison between naturists and nudists and gun activists, citing the effectiveness of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in shaping legislation that affects a citizen’s rights to own firearms. I see some compelling similarities in mission between the NRA and the national nudist organizations. While it is the mission of the NRA to protect and preserve what they view as the rights granted under the Second Amendment, both AANR and TNS seek to protect and preserve nudist rights from a First Amendment issues perspective.

While I’m not going to give away the whole of my proposed Nude & Natural article since that wouldn’t be fair to TNS until they make a decision about whether they will publish the article, I would just like to expound a bit more on the idea of how naturists could benefit from following a model similar to that of the NRA. The NRA is consistently rated by members of Congress as the most powerful lobbying organization in the country. NRA members are noted for registering to vote, showing up at the polls, calling their congressmen and holding their representatives accountable for the kind of legislation they introduce or support. NRA members support their organization through dues, donations and active participation in volunteer activities and recruitment. In 2004, the annual revenues of the NRA were about $240 million. Yet no matter how large NRA becomes (estimated now to have more than 4 million members), they remain true to their heritage as a grassroots organization that very effectively serves the interests of their membership.

The biggest successes I find in the NRA model are there ability to grow and retain their membership base through active and aggressive recruitment and their ability to attract additional revenues in the form of donations, allowing them to finance court challenges when necessary and support the bills and politicians that they believe are most aligned with their member’s interests. Big money and a large membership of individuals standing together, ready and willing to engage in the political process are the secrets of the NRA’s success.

In comparison, the two largest nudist organizations combined have an estimated dues paying membership of less than 100,000. While I have no figures on their annual revenues, certainly it would pale in comparison to the NRA simply by virtue of the huge difference in numbers of members. This is not to say that there are only 100,000 or so naturists in North America, as I am certain the number would easily surpass a million or more, yet that doesn’t count for much when they haven’t banded together to present a united front. 4 million members and about $240 million in annual revenues get people’s attention on Capitol Hill and in the various statehouses. That to me is a lesson that naturists must not only learn but emulate if we are ever to win the battle for respect and legitimacy that we have been fighting for since 1929. Since that time it seems we have vacillated between trying to “fly beneath the radar” and escape the notice of non-nudists or else we have been engaged in a war for the hearts and minds of clothed society through diplomacy. Neither of those strategies has brought us much success. My personal belief is that we are never going to enjoy becoming a part of mainstream society and gain at least tolerance from non-nudists until we become, to borrow a phrase from Al Gore, an “inconvenient truth” that the political forces in this country are forced to reckon with. Individual naturists need to look deep inside and find the will to become participating parts of a vital and effective united group and our nudist organizations need to discard the old ideas that haven’t worked and look to new and innovative ways to attract broad support from those who embrace naturist principles. If we could learn to shape public policy and legislation in the manner the NRA does so effectively, I think we would then be light years ahead of where we are now.

Much of the hostility and depreciative attitudes we get from a large segment of society is because we are viewed as being a fringe group of questionable morals, character and I suppose intelligence. Those kinds of opinions must be dispelled along with all the ridiculous misconceptions that many people harbor about who nudists are and what we are about. Our culture, our philosophies and our practices are good and noble and demand the same respect as those of any other alternative lifestyle. Gaining that respect is an achievable goal if only we will take a united stand. Instead of being perceived as a group of weirdoes who are always fighting city hall, let’s plug into the system and learn to use it effectively to achieve our purposes and secure the rights that are due us. As Confucius reportedly stated, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” We may be facing a proverbial thousand mile journey but we can and should start taking those steps now. If the “almost” 100,000 members of the AANR and TNS would individually commit themselves to convincing just one other confirmed nudist they know over the next 12 months of the importance of membership and help to encourage them to join, one year from now the memberships of those organizations would be double their present size. Yes, 200,000 is still a far cry from 4 million but it’s a start, a first step on that thousand mile journey; a step towards the expansion of rights and access; a step towards respectability and viability of our lifestyle, beliefs and practices.

Nudity in the News

Annie's Mailbox: Hot-tubbing at home not public nudity [1]

By Kathy Mitchell & Marcy Sugar
For The Norwich Bulletin

Posted May 18, 2009 @ 11:04 PM


DEAR ANNIE: I am 23 years old and a virgin. I have never seen a naked man in my life because I believe virginity should be kept until marriage. The other day, I went with my sister to watch my nephew’s baseball game. He plays on a field that is uphill, so you can see the backyards of some of the houses across the street. My nephew had heard from his friends that one of the men in those yards sits naked in his hot tub. I always assumed this wasn’t true.

When I got to the game, I instantly remembered those rumors. I didn’t intend to be a Peeping Tom, but I looked around and saw a man in a hot tub. I assumed this was the guy, so I kept watching. Five minutes later, he got out of the hot tub and really was naked. I instantly got a headache and my eyes burned. I want to do something to prevent children from seeing him. I know he was in his own backyard, but you could see him clearly from the field. Would that count as public nudity? Do you think I should report him?

SCARRED FOR LIFE

DEAR SCARRED: We’re sure glad you didn’t go blind. For someone claiming not to be a Peeping Tom, you certainly expended a lot of energy trying to catch a glimpse of this naked man. If he is hot-tubbing on his own property and taking appropriate precautions to be discreet, it is not public nudity. Unless, of course, he does the hot-tub routine only during games, in which case there is some exhibitionism going on. If you think this is traumatizing the Little Leaguers, you can mention it to one of the parents.

[1] Mitchell, Kathy & Sugar, Marcy. Annie’s Mailbox: Hot-tubbing at home not public nudity. The Norwich Bulletin, May 18, 2009 (accessed May 20, 2009). http://www.norwichbulletin.com/lifestyles/x342404240/Annies-Mailbox-Hot-tubbing-at-home-not-public-nudity

The re-printed article above is the latest example of nudist related news I came across from crawling non-nudist news sites. The original writer to this “Dear Abby” type column goes far beyond being ridiculous and yet I found the article another sterling example of the equally ridiculous perspectives of non-nudists when it comes to the nude human body.

First, since she thought it necessary to inform everyone that she was “a virgin” who “[had] never seen a naked man…because [she] believes virginity should be kept until marriage” it is evident that this person clearly associates nudity with sex, a most common misconception among Textiles. Second, she goes out of her way to become a common voyeur and spy on a man who within the privacy of his own backyard, enjoys a refreshing dip in his hot tub sans clothing and then has the unmitigated gall to complain that she was so offended that she signed herself “Scarred for Life.” She attempts to justify her “Peeping Tom” behavior by rationalizing that she was only concerned about the welfare of children who might be exposed to seeing a naked man which was nothing short of hypocritical. I did enjoy the dramatic flair she exhibited by stating that after she observed the naked man whose privacy she was brazenly violating, “I instantly got a headache and my eyes burned.” There is no way of knowing of course whether the man involved was an actual nudist or just one of likely millions of Americans who finds hot tubbing most meaningful when enjoyed in the nude. My girlfriend, who does not at all have an attraction for naturism per se, does enjoy both nude hot-tubbing and skinny-dipping on occasion when we have the opportunity. But the article does bring to light many issues related to nudity.

First, why should nudists and others who like to be nude on their own property, in the privacy of their own backyard and who have taken the reasonable precaution to avoid offending the prudish community by erecting a reasonable privacy fence, have to fear repercussions resulting from complaints by the likes of Miss Virginal Prude? I think this lady needs grow up, don her big girl panties and accept the fact that every male on the planet has a penis and every female has a vagina and breasts and both have butts, and then she needs to get over it. The simple fact that she happened to be occupying an elevated site that permitted her to be able to violate someone’s privacy by looking over their fence into their backyard does not all serve to condone the fact that she took advantage of the circumstances to do so and then became “offended.” After a span roughly 5,000 years of recorded human civilization, it is mind boggling to me that the majority of humans are so plagued by an unhealthy view of their own nudity and that of others. Doesn’t it make you wonder how we ever progressed as far as we have? In some respects I find myself wondering whether as a society we are becoming more civilized or less so.

I did for the most part find myself in agreement with “Annie’s” reply. She not only flatly informed the writer that what she described was not public nudity but also called her out on the fact that she was the person in the wrong by engaging in voyeuristic behavior and then crying foul! I also enjoyed the little jab, “We’re sure glad you didn’t go blind.” The only disagreement I found with the article was the final “Unless, of course, he does the hot-tub routine only during games, in which case there is some exhibitionism going on. If you think this is traumatizing the Little Leaguers, you can mention it to one of the parents.” While I agree if someone was exposing their nakedness for exhibitionist purposes, they cross that invisible line between mere nudity and lewdness but of course someone like the writer who has already revealed their agenda would of course skip over the “if” and go directly to the “then" "mention it to the parents” part.

Personally, I think erecting a privacy fence around one’s backyard is all the reasonable precaution a person should be expected to take with regard to taking appropriate action to preclude offending someone who finds nudity offensive. Once they have done that, if others choose to build an elevated baseball field or a two story home for that matter that provides people the facility for peering over a privacy fence and observing what is going on in someone else’s backyard, then they cannot then claim to be offended if they happen to observe someone sunbathing or hot-tubbing in the nude. This madness has to stop!

The Emerging Activist?

ac • tiv • ist

- noun

1. an especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause, esp. a political cause.

Recently, in comments as well as in a very eloquent, well written email packed with cogent and compelling arguments, a reader made the very valid point that I have begun not only to sound like an activist with respect to the rights of the naturist and nudist community but should just admit that I have become one. Candidly, I can’t deny the validity of that observation. Frankly no one is more surprised by this development than me as I have never thought of myself as having an activist bent. In fact, if you have followed this blog for very long, you may recall that I have in the past stated that I did not identify myself as an activist. I meant those words when they were written, but as time has passed, I have felt myself inexorably drawn towards the very thing I never perceived myself as becoming. Why the change?

Part of it is the fact that as I examine the history of naturism and nudism in this country, and consider that after almost 80 years have passed since the first real nudist outing was held on American soil and after Kurt Barthel formed the first American naturist club, The American League for Physical Culture, the naturist and nudist culture still languishes as a misunderstood fringe culture that suffers ridicule, isolation, discrimination and the denial of certain rights that I believe are basic to all in a free society. Another part of it is that almost daily I find new articles reporting that groups, politicians and government agencies are proposing to either step up enforcement of current laws or pass new ones to further restrict the few liberties that the naturist and nudist community now enjoy. I have never been tolerant of injustice and injustice is what I see when it comes to the current state of naturism and nudism in this country. I simply find it more and more difficult as I contemplate the current state of affairs to understand why we should willingly continue on the same path we have followed to date, when at least to me it could not be clearer that that path yielded nothing but dismal failure.

The reader observes that in my recent series, “Shock and Awe” that I brought up "extremists", those who conduct public nude protests and that I attempted to “distance” myself from them. He also stated that he felt such an attempt was in vain because the very substance of my arguments was an extremist point of view. This point I can’t find agreement with because I do think it quite possible to be an activist without being an extremist. Isn’t it true that one can be very passionate about a particular thought, ideal or practice and yet not be fanatical about it? At least in my understanding, when one speaks of social change, an extremist is so passionate and consumed with his cause that he is often so blinded by his own myopic view of the thing that he cannot trouble himself with the fact that he attempts to further his own agenda at the exclusion of all others. He is more than willing to trample the rights of others in order to secure his own. This is not what I am about at all. Clearly within our society there are large numbers of people who are not tolerant of nudity and will never be. There are those who find nudity offensive and their opinions will never be changed by any amount of rational, logical argument. Their beliefs, values and moral standards are sincerely and deeply held and I neither deny their right to have them nor condemn them for having them. It is not agreement I seek from people like that, but merely tolerance of an idea, a concept, a practice and a culture that they don’t personally embrace. Whether I agree with their views or not, which I don’t, I still owe it to them as a member of civilized society to show sensitivity for their opinions which includes refraining from forcing them to become non-consensual observers of my nudity when clearly they find nudity offensive and objectionable. This is the point where I depart from the “extremist” view.

In calling for organization, for change and for more proactive action on the part of naturists and nudists, I am not calling for the legalization of public nudity in the sense of the right to appear nude in every public place at any time we choose which would be unrealistic and frankly, irrational. It has never been a part of our movement to disregard the rights of others in seeking to exercise our own. To do so would serve no purpose other than to further stiffen the resolve of those who are already intolerant of nudity and who are not accepting of the practice of naturists and nudists. I am also not calling for the abolishment of the current system of landed clubs and resorts because I see them continuing to provide a valid means and venue for the practice of social nudity just as they always have. Some of us will always prefer those types of facilities to more public venues of enjoying the practice of social nudity and there is of course nothing wrong with that.

Still I think there are areas that organizing our community could produce needed change. To summarize the areas I personally feel need to undergo change are;

• Naturists and Nudists should have the right to hold our system of values and beliefs without suffering discrimination and without the interference by others and government.
• Naturists and Nudists should have the right to responsibly enjoy nudity within our homes and property. As long as reasonable precautions are taken we should not have to fear intervention of law enforcement and unwarranted intrusion of the government based on frivolous complaints of neighbors or passersby who observe us nude because they violated our privacy by peering over or through cracks in privacy fences and then assert that they were offended.
• Naturists and Nudists should have the right to be parents, and to exercise reasonable decision-making in the upbringing of their families in a manner consistent with their beliefs without interference by others or government.
• Naturists and Nudists should have the right to responsibly enjoy being nude on public lands, within appropriate locations. Here again, not at the exclusion of the rights of those who are offended by nudity. It would be quite simple to accommodate both nudists and non-nudists by providing equal but separate access to all public lands. Clothing-optional access could be set either geographically or by decreeing certain days or times when public areas could be enjoyed clothes-free so that those offended by nudity would not have to suffer exposure to it.
• Naturists and Nudists have a right to be free from adverse or retaliatory actions by their employers as a result of their lawful enjoyment of nudity when away from work. Simply working for someone who is either intolerant or hostile to the idea of social nudity should not be justification for discriminatory retaliation. Employers are already prohibited from taking adverse or retaliatory actions against employees on the basis of religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, race and the like. So why should naturists and nudists have to fear losing their jobs if their employers were to discover that they practiced social nudity when away from the workplace?
• Naturists and Nudists have a right to be treated as law-abiding citizens rather than as criminals. We have a legitimate expectation that our local, state and federal governments should limit law enforcement activities to laws that prohibit lewdness not nudeness. The nude human body is natural and more important it is neutral. It should neither be vilified nor deified. In its constitutional accepted role as regulators of morality, government’s role is to prohibit objectionable behavior and acts not natural states of being.

Are there potential dangers and uncertainties in departing from the old ways and trying something new and innovative? Of course there are. There will be some in society who already dismiss us as “a bunch of whacked-out nut jobs” who would brand us “confrontational nut jobs” if we organized, became more readily visible and more openly lobbied for our rights. But when the old ways have not worked, perhaps it is time to change strategies and tactics and find means and methods that do work toward securing expansion of important rights. Comparison between our movement and the activities of the NRA is an admitted favorite of mine and so I draw the comparison once again. There are many in our society that consider NRA members and others who are passionate advocates of gun ownership rights to be whacked-out nut jobs, wild-eyed extremists and such, but there is no denying how effective the NRA has been in supporting and opposing politicians and legislation that they consider either positive or negative with respect to their agenda. Visibility and organization are the two principle ingredients to their enjoyment of political power and the ability to influence the political process.

Perhaps the sentiments contained in this article and others I have written are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure general favor among naturists and nudists. I have no illusions that every naturists and nudist will see the urgency of organization. It is a simple fact that within any human organization there is a linear relationship with extremists occupying the far left, conservatives occupying the far right and moderates somewhere in the middle. There are many naturists and nudists who are simply by personality non-confrontational and are never going to be drawn into a confrontation. But convincing all naturists and nudists to join in a proactive organization isn’t a requirement for success as we need only an effective number to do so. History shows us that when it comes to a catalyst for social change, sometimes a vocal minority accomplishes a good deal more than a silent majority. A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But I think often, time makes more converts than reason. We have endured a long winter of discontent as naturists and nudists and I simply think the time is now to enter into the bright sunlight of spring. For almost 80 years the life of the naturist and nudist has been crippled by the manacles of prohibition and the chains of discrimination. The naturist and the nudist live on a lonely island of private clubs and slivers of remote public lands in the midst of a vast ocean of public lands prosperity, languishing in the corners of American society and finding themselves exiles in their own land. I do not think it overly dramatic to state that it would be fatal for our cause to overlook the urgency of the moment. This is no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to explore a synthesis of thought, innovative ideas and strategies to achieve the advances required in order to ensure the sustainability of our culture. Inaction by the naturist and nudist community as a policy is no longer acceptable.

From the Mailbag

Recently, it has been more than gratifying that readers have taken the time to post comments to a few of my recent posts. One of my primary goals in beginning this blog was to stimulate dialogue and the exchange of ideas so each and every comment received is deeply appreciated. In spite of healthy hit counts, I would feel this whole endeavor was likely a colossal waste of time if nothing I wrote was found worthy of comment. It occurred to me as I read the comment below, that I have been remiss in responding as evidence of the fact that I do value and appreciate comments being posted. So I will try to remedy that today, by examining this one.

Anonymous said...

Dealing with dead links is, indeed, frustrating. When I became a nudist, I had an activist mindset, as well. All I got from it was a lot of frustration over the fact that our society is a bunch of "six-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts" (quote from Real Time with Bill Maher-On France). As for your call to organize, it appears as though you're trying to turn nudism into another avenue for herd conformity. I'm a nudist, not a sheep. Adopt a live-and-let-live mindset and save your sanity.

First, I can appreciate the perspective of this commenter and do get it when it comes to the advice offered. It is in fact a common response from many of the naturists and nudists that I have been privileged to talk with. Naturism and nudism are to a great extent about personal freedoms and so I understand what was meant by the objection registered, “…it appears as though you're trying to turn nudism into another avenue for herd conformity. I'm a nudist, not a sheep.” Still, this comment and similar comments I have received during conversations with other nudists smacks of “accept the status quo.” At this point, I just find myself resistant to that idea because I happen to believe change can occur when there are enough people who are dissatisfied with the status quo and want change. It is certainly far easier to take the path of least resistance and continue with business as usual, but that is such an unpalatable concept for me.

Yes, I do promote the idea of organizing naturists and nudists for the purpose of creating a unified group to oppose anti-nudism but far from trying to create a flock of “sheep”, my intent is to empower nudists everywhere to seize the day and as an identifiable, cohesive group, to become the catalyst for needed change. Becoming a unified group who possesses a degree of political power and the ability to impact our own destinies, doesn’t make us “sheep” anymore than a group of Infantry soldiers who together are organized and trained to become a cohesive, effective small combat unit are sheep. They become an efficient, mutually supportive group of individuals, fit to resist threats to their common mission and goals. The same concept could be achieved by melding the individuals involved in naturism and nudism into a cohesive, effective and mutually supporting group.

I am not big on labeling, but given that we are saddled with the terms, I tend to identify more with the concept of “naturist” than “nudist” because at least to me there are important differences between the two terms. If I ever come to the place that I accept that naturists and nudists simply are unwilling to organize and present a unified front and that the majority wants to accept the status quo and are unwilling to do what needs to be done to effect change, then I’m quite certain that I will retire from organized social nudity and return to individual pursuits like free-hiking and the enjoyment of natural hot springs in remote backcountry areas as I once did, rather than allow the “moral” majority to dictate to me that I must restrict my expression of my naturists beliefs and practices to remote slivers of beaches that clothed society has no interest in utilizing and to expensive private gated resorts so that I don’t risk “offending” anyone who might object to being exposed to the nude human body. I would do so in the belief that those who refuse to make any effort to change their lot don’t deserve to have their rights respected and protected.

A big part of me can’t help but exult over the fact that the founding fathers of our nation weren’t path of least resistance types and that they rejected any notion of accepting the status quo. Thankfully, they, to borrow the immortal words of JFK during his inaugural address, were willing to, “…pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” It isn’t organizing as a group that makes sheep of people; it is refusing to take a stand, enduring the dictates of the self-appointed, dictatorial “moral compasses” in our society that are intolerant of social nudity and accepting the status quo that makes sheep of us. A minority community of sheep begets a majority community of wolves and sheep deserve to be sheared. No, accepting the status quo isn’t individualism…it’s just plain old mutton!

Dead Links: What is it with Nudist Sites?

As an amateur writer on nudist topics I do a good bit of research, primarily on the Internet. Actually I had noticed this problem early on but it seems to be getting more pronounced. The problem? Dead links to listed nudist sites. Just this morning I entered a search term on a topic I wanted to research for a future article and links on the Nudist Explorer site were at the top of the list. I went to the site and clicked on the link for the article I was looking to read and the result was “Sorry the page you requested was not found.” I clicked on another link to an article in the same category. The result, “Sorry, the page you were looking for could not be found.” Attempt number three with another link under the same category yielded “There isn't a web page at the address you typed or it may be temporarily unavailable.” Clicking on a fourth link took me not to the article the link advertised but to a totally unrelated commercial search page with links primarily to hardcore pornography, not the article I wanted on family friendly naturism. I won’t continue to beat a dead horse here but will conclude with the results produced with the fifth link I tried, “Sorry, the page you requested was not found.” Before moving on from Nudist Explorer, I began to just randomly click on links to see if any of them worked and beyond a few links to well established sites like: Beachfront USA, Naturist Action Committee, Clothes Free International, and the like, I estimated that at least ninety percent of the links on the Nudist Explorer page were either dead, went to sites other than what the links advertised to be about or were otherwise faulty.

The Clothes Free international site also boasts a comprehensive nudist links page and so I tried that one next. While the results weren’t quite as abysmal, still there were way too many dead, non-working links there as well. What is my point in all of this? While for me as a nudist topics researcher, all of these dead, non-functioning links may just be a minor irritation, but the thought occurred to me that if I was someone curious about learning more on the subject of naturism and nudism and found so many dead ends while searching for authoritative information, I might very well have just given up. This situation also begs another question. What does it say about the people who originally put up nudist sites and then apparently abandoned them in droves so that the sites were taken down by the hosting agencies? Are there really so many naturists and nudists out there who care so little about the lifestyle that they are unwilling to remain committed to keeping a nudists informational site they once put up operational? And what does it say about people who operate nudist link sites and the fact that they obviously don’t give much if any attention to removing dead, non-functioning links?

I sometimes wonder if my personality type is really suited to naturism and nudism. I tend to be the driven type. A border-line activist if you will who seems bound to move further and further across the line. Yet now having had the opportunity to meet a good number of my fellow naturists and nudists and talk with them, I am finding that with a few notable exceptions, by and large they tend to be the most laid-back, live and let live types that I have ever met and rarely do I find anyone who has a similar mind-set to mine. I’m beginning to have serious doubts about the realistic prospects of such a group being successfully organized into a cohesive group to move naturism and nudism from being a fringe element into mainstream culture. I’m not confident that a collective will can be found to do the hard work that would be required to accomplish such a goal. This leaves me feeling a bit melancholy today as I am certain that organization and development of such a collective will is the only way any real change could ever be realized. I simply detest the idea of the naturist and nudist community remaining the backwater, fringe community element that it is perceived to be by general society. As long as present conditions exist, we will continue to languish in an environment where our rights are either denied outright or subjected to severe restrictions. How long will be content to practice our lifestyle behind the walls of expensive resorts and on the barest slivers of public lands that have been doled out to us primarily because they are areas no one else is interested in using anyway?

No Vagina, No Partner, No Service

This is yet another update pertaining to the club I have helped to establish, North Texas Naturists. I handle all the inquires we receive via our web site and an email I received from a member of another non-landed club in our area is what prompted me to write this article. I won’t quote the email verbatim as I think that would be unethical, nor will I name the club, but suffice to say the thrust of the email was that the writer was more than a little critical of North Texas Naturists for establishing a new non-landed club in “his” area that the writer considered “competition” to his club. He went on to say that since it seemed that North Texas Naturists was the “same” as his club, he didn’t understand why we didn’t just join his club instead of becoming a competitor.

In my reply, I politely reminded him that his club followed a “couples-only” policy while North Texas Naturists was an authentically singles-friendly club that welcomed all nudists and did not exclude people on the basis that they didn’t happen to be married or otherwise be partnered up with someone who shared their interest in social nudity. I also mentioned that we didn’t form our club with the intent of competing with his club or any other club, but simply to provide another option to the nudists in our area. I informed him that I myself had been in contact with the president of his club before deciding to help organize North Texas Naturists and had been flatly told that his club does not accept single males for membership as their orientation was couples-only. So actually, our club was not the same as his club in any material respect, and that we had markedly different philosophies.

The singles-friendly policy of North Texas Naturists goes against the conventional wisdom of those who believe they know what it takes to operate a viable, successful nudist club. Conventional wisdom says that you must have some way of regulating the ratio of men and women so that there is a balance between the sexes. A sort of “one woman for each man concept.” I happen to disagree with this idea on a number of different levels.

First, naturists clubs who follow the traditional naturist philosophy of wholesome social nudity are not sexually oriented. So if the intent is simply to socialize and enjoy the company of others in a communal, non-sexualized, social nudity setting, why would it matter how many were male and how many were female? No one is looking to hook up with a partner for sex. Everyone treats others in a polite and respectful way. So why would anyone feel uncomfortable in that kind of environment even if there happened to be more single men present than unattached women or couples?

Another problem I have with enforcing policies that discriminate against singles is that naturists and nudists hold themselves out as one of the most accepting groups of people in society. We claim to accept others as they are and for whom they are regardless of race, ethnicity, color, creed, orientation, body type, etc. It just seems more than a little hypocritical to me that a social group claiming to be so enlightened, open and accepting would discriminate against people and exclude them from participation simply because they happened to be unmarried or not in a relationship. Personally I just wouldn’t feel comfortable joining a group who espoused that kind of policy. In my opinion, the days of discrimination are over and any kind of –ism to me, to put it bluntly is nothing less than ignorance. Naturists should be the last people who would every think discriminatory policies were acceptable. Every traditional naturist club should have policies to exclude those looking for recreational sex or voyeuristic or exhibitionist opportunities to take advantage of and harass those who simply want to get together to enjoy mere nudity with like minded people. I think that is more than sufficient to provide an environment where people, both males and females can relax, have an enjoyable time and feel comfortable.

Personally, I am involved in a long term relationship with a woman who is really dear to me and great fun to share time with. It just happens to be the case that she does not share my interest in social nudity and I respect that. I wouldn’t think of discarding the perfectly good and meaningful relationship I have with her simply to find someone to partner up with that enjoys social nudity. Certainly not just so I could gain acceptance from a couples-only club like the one the writer of the email belongs to.

So maybe we are naïve. Maybe we don’t grasp the conventional wisdom and understand what it takes to operate a viable, successful naturist club. But you may be certain that as long as North Texas Naturists exists, we will remain firmly committed to our policy: No vagina, no partner, no problem.

Bare Necessities Tour & Travel: The Natural Choice

Not many travel agencies have a real claim to fame, but Bare Necessities Tour & Travel, an Austin, Texas based company and the recipient of national coverage by a number of mainstay and widely known publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angles Times and Chicago Tribune might very well lay claim to such a distinction. Known far and wide as the premiere operator in the emerging travel industry niche market, nude recreation, Bare Necessities is a company whose specialty is providing upscale vacations for the discriminating clothing-optional traveler. Since 1990 BNNT has produced fine clothing-optional resort vacations and luxury nude cruises for those who enjoy leaving their clothes behind and taking pleasure in experiencing vacation destinations featuring wholesome, social nudity.

From a modest beginning with a thirty-six passenger chartered dive boat offering in 1991, BNTT has since compiled an impressive record of major nude cruise offerings aboard some of the largest luxury liners available such as the Carnival Legend with 12 decks, 1,062 staterooms and a passenger capacity of 2,124. Truly, Bare Necessities has done an impressive job over the past 20 years in helping to build acceptance for nude recreation and vacationing and in dispelling the notion that social nudity is about sexual activity; demonstrating with their quality offerings that combining vacationing with social nudity allows vacationers to discover an atmosphere that is relaxing, healthful, wholesome and just plain fun.

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Nancy Tiemann, owner of Bare Necessities Tour & Travel and she agreed to talk to The Emerging Nudist about her company, BNTT travel offerings and services and the nude recreation market in general. Nancy, an Austin resident for more than 35 years was a delight to speak with. Her passion for nude recreation was very evident and she very graciously answered EN’s most probing questions with complete candor, discussing at length the Bare Necessities program offerings and services. I was interested to learn that when she isn’t busy running BNTT, Nancy enjoys organic gardening, teaches Yoga and is the president of her local area Farmer’s Market. If you have ever been curious about what a Bare Necessities vacation is like, sit back and enjoy my conversation with Nancy.

[EN]: My introduction to Bare Necessities Tour & Travel was a past article I read on the Internet that you were interviewed for. The article made a passing reference to the fact that one of the circumstances that planted the seed of the idea that later blossomed into your clothing-optional travel agency was that you and your husband “accidentally stumbled” onto a nude beach one day? True story? Can you share the story with me?

[NT]: Yes! It happened on a beach in St. Martin while we were traveling. We went to the beach to see the sunrise and as the sun came up, we began to notice people coming out and they were completely naked!

[EN]: How did that then lead you to the idea for actually starting a company specializing in producing clothing-optional getaways?

[NT]: Not long after the experience at St. Martin, we went on a dive boat excursion chartered by a small nudist vacation company. It started me thinking as we talked with the others in our group of thirty-four people how great it would be if there were mainstream cruises available that catered to nudists. This was in 1989 and there just wasn’t anything like that available. Later we talked with others in the nudist community like resort owners and asked whether they thought that there might be a large enough niche market for nude cruises to make it a viable idea and whether they would support such an idea. The rest is history.

[EN]: Did you have any previous experience with the travel industry or was this a totally new direction for you?

[NT]: No, I didn’t have any previous experience with the travel industry other than we liked to travel. I was a bank officer at the time and my husband was an attorney.

[EN]: Was Bare Necessities Tour and Travel the first travel agency to offer upscale travel opportunities that catered to those interested in clothes-free vacationing?

[NT]: Yes.

[EN]: As far as the demographics of your past clients, are most of them seasoned nudists or would you say that more are drawn to clothing-optional vacations just out of curiosity because of the novelty of it?

[NT]: I really don’t think we get many people who try it simply out of curiosity because a cruise is a large ticket item. Most of our customers have been on nude cruises before and for the most part they don’t necessarily consider themselves nudists, they just consider clothing-optional vacations a choice. I estimate that at least fifty percent are AANR members or former members. We do have those who contact us who have never been on a nude cruise or experienced clothing-optional and we always suggest that they first visit a local resort to try out the experience first and we even help them find a resort in their local area.

[EN]: I know that people can choose to deal directly with some resorts and book their own vacations. What are some of the advantages of booking through an agency like Bare Necessities rather than trying to do it yourself?

[NT]: People are traveling more these days and many are travel savvy and can shop for there own trips. For those who don’t want to shop for travel on their own, we provide a service at no additional fee to help. When you call us you get to talk to a real person and really there is a relationship that is formed where people can feel comfortable giving someone their credit card information. Also we can often provide better deals because resorts offer specials to us that aren’t otherwise available.

[EN]: I think it would be hard to argue with the fact that Bare Necessities Tour and Travel is the undisputed leader in producing clothing-optional cruise vacations. As I understand it, the cruise lines don’t directly offer clothes-free cruises but that your agency contracts with the lines to provide the ships which are then booked exclusively for nude cruising, is that correct?

[NT]: Yes, we negotiate for the ships under a full charter contract at what the cruise lines refer to as rack rates. We then offer them for sale and book the cruises.

[EN]: Just how difficult was it back in the beginning to sell the first major cruise line on the idea of providing a ship for a nude cruise?

[NT]: It wasn’t easy! When we first started calling cruise lines some would actually hang up on us thinking it was a phony call or some kind of joke. But eventually we were able to contract for our first mainstream cruise with a Florida based line. It was a brand new ship with a 600 passenger capacity, a size we were comfortable with and actually that cruise sold out after only five months.

[EN]: A question that has occurred to me is this; why have cruise lines not opted to offer nude cruises directly on their own after seeing how wildly successful your firm has been in putting them together?

I think it is primarily because they don’t know the market the way we do. It is similar to why we don’t offer gay and lesbian cruises. We just don’t have the insight into that market to know how to approach it. We have actually created this brand and know how to produce this kind of cruise. When we contract for the ship, the cruise line still gets all of the ship revenue from things like the onboard sales, gambling and shore excursions so they really get the same revenue, the same money by allowing us to fill the ship for them.

[EN]: As I understand it, the cruise industry standard for pricing cruise cabins are rates based on double occupancy. So if a single person decided to book a cruise and go alone, wouldn’t they actually have to pay a price equal to that of two passengers since the rates are based on double occupancy?

[NT]: Unfortunately, yes. Under the terms of our contracts with the cruise lines we are required to sell 85 – 90 percent of the cabins that way because that is the equation used by the cruise lines that they believe makes it profitable for them. We do sell some cabins to singles but we are restricted in the number because if we don’t meet the criteria set by the cruise lines, we would have to pay some substantial added costs.

[EN]: Are there any options available for singles that would like to take a clothing-optional cruise but just can’t afford the cost involved in occupying a cabin alone but that don’t know anyone willing to go along and share a cabin?

[NT]: Absolutely! As a free service we maintain a list for single men and women and help introduce them and put them together to share cabins which helps make it more affordable.

[EN]: After perusing the informational rates presented on your web site and making some comparisons between “textile” cruises, it seems that when comparing cruises on comparable ships visiting comparable ports, that the rates are significantly higher for booking a nude cruise than a conventional cruise. Is that accurate?

[NT]: Yes, very accurate. We have to enter into the charter contracts based on the cruise lines brochure rates, well in advance between 18 – 24 months out. So for the cruises coming up, many of the contracts were made before the bottom fell out of the economy. Since we are under contract, we don’t have the flexibility that the cruise lines have themselves for lowering rates in response to current economic conditions. But as we contract for future cruises, the prices will better reflect the current economy and should be more comparable.

[EN]: Okay, the reason I was asking was curiosity about whether nude cruises might be more expensive just because of the old “law of supply and demand”, the fact that there are simply fewer nude cruises available than conventional cruises or whether people actually are paying a bit of a premium for the novelty of the nude cruise experience.

[NT]: Well as I explained, the difference is mostly due to when contracts are signed and the changes in the economy but yes, there are many more conventional cruises than nude cruises offered so I guess we could charge even more. There is also added value in our cruises. We provide special speakers on topics of interest to nudists, Yoga classes, personal enrichment classes and the like.

[EN]: On your web site I saw a reference to an auction in connection with booking cabins for the cruises you produce. Can you tell me a little about that and how it works?

[NT]: Yes, it works pretty much like any auction. Some of them require a minimum bid but not all. Bidders can place bids similarly to how it is done in other auctions, like eBay and they are open to the general public. We send out advertisements by email every first and third Friday and that is how people become aware of them.

[EN]: All of these questions about cruises have really made me wish I was on one right now! So let’s take a “virtual” cruise here, go aboard and see what they experience might be like from the perspective of a knowledgably person like you. Can you tell me if there are major differences between a nude cruise and a conventional cruise or are the experiences pretty similar beyond the obvious difference in “attire”?

[NT]: The experiences are quite similar with the exception of attire but this is really what enhances the experience.

[EN]: Given that the same ships contracted for nude cruises are also used for conventional cruises, what is the interaction between passengers and crew like in comparison? Is the crew comfortable with all the nudity?

[NT]: We have been doing this for a while now so very often we find ourselves bumping into crew members who have sailed with our cruises before and already know our groups are a whole lot of fun. This is a real advantage because cruise ship crew members come from many different countries and have different moral standards and beliefs. Those who have been on our cruises before are very helpful in explaining it to cruise members experiencing it for the first time and helping them to feel at ease. Crew members really look forward to our cruises because they have learned that we are a whole lot of fun to work with.

[EN]: In our correspondence you mentioned that you have been quite busy with several cruises on the horizon. What offering are you currently working on now and how has the demand been for them?

[NT]: In 3 or 4 weeks, we have a 14 day cruise leaving from Rome which is already sold out. We have one leaving soon from Key West, “Fantasy Fest” which is about 90 percent sold out and in March 2010 we will be having a Hawaii cruise.

[EN]: Recently I read that world-wide, travel accounts for about seven trillion dollars in sales annually, making it the largest single global industry. In 2007, published figures reported nude recreation as a four hundred million dollar slice of that total travel industry pie. In 2006 both Forbes and the Wall Street Journal characterized nude recreation as the fastest growing niche in the travel industry. Given all that, and looking into your crystal ball, how do you see the future of nude recreation shaping up? Will it continue to grow?

[NT]: If history repeats itself it will. Nude recreation has been growing exponentially. I think we are far more open-minded than twenty years ago so I do expect the growth to continue.

[EN]: Is there anything else that we haven’t covered that you would like to share about Bare Necessities Tour and Travel, nude recreation or anything you think might be good information for my readers to be aware of when considering booking a clothing-optional vacation?

[NT]: For those who might ask what makes our cruises so special, it’s the people. I mean that sincerely and it’s the absolute truth. The people who take our cruises is the reason I’m in the business. They are really the driving force and very special.

Have you been dreaming of taking a clothing-optional vacation? Then contact Bare Necessities Tour & Travel. They specialize in transforming clothing-optional travel dreams into a reality. For more information:

Reservations and Questions: (Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

1-800-743-0405 (Toll Free)
512-499-0405 (Austin, Texas area/International)
512-469-0179 (FAX)

Website: Bare Necessities Tour & Travel

Email contacts:

Clothing-optional cruise related inquiries webmaster@bare-necessities.com
Clothing-optional resort related inquires steve@bare-necessities.com
To request a clothing-optional vacation brochure alina@bare-necessities.com

Photo credits: Courtesy of Bare Necessities Tour & Travel

Actionable Intelligence

On May 13, 2009, I came across this article City resolves to ask state parks to enforce nudity laws published in the Auburn Journal, local news outlet for Auburn, California.The Auburn City Council recently unanimously approved a resolution presented by Councilman Kevin Hanley which demands that the state park superintendent and rangers for the Auburn State Recreation Area (pictured at left), responsible for the supervision of a stretch of beach along the American River step up enforcement of Section 4322 of Title 14 of the California Administrative Code regarding nudity in the state parks at a local river beach area at issue, named in the resolution. According to Hanley the area is frequented by nude sunbathers and more recently, those who use the area for “open-air sexual encounters.” With words smacking of prudery, Hanley testily reminded state park officials that he “knows the law” and that the Auburn City Council expects them to vigorously enforce the anti-nudity law for the benefit of Auburn residents who enjoy using the recreation area for clothed pursuits.

Based on the article referenced as well as on some additional research I found utilizing The Nude Beach Alliance web site, it seems that the area in question has a long history of use by naturists, nudists and others who simply enjoy being able to sunbathe in the buff. The current issue apparently stems from the fact that while this particular section of the river was once very remote, the likely reason it was chosen for nude sunbathing in the first place, it has been opened up since last year as the result of a water pump construction project by the Placer County Water Agency.

Mike Lynch, sector superintendent for the Auburn State Recreation Area, said state parks rangers do respond to any type of illegal activity, including illicit sexual acts in their jurisdiction, but that it has been a long-standing department policy to make response to complaints of nude sunbathing, when practiced in remote areas not readily available to the public, a low priority and that rangers only act when they receive citizen complaints. He also noted that authorities have not experienced any increase in the number of complaints received concerning the area in question despite the increased more-public access.

While Councilman Hanley was quick to throw in the allegation that the area is used for “lewd” purposes, the only citizen quoted in the article was Weimar resident Andrea Rose who said she would like to see more enforcement in the area because she likes to go hiking in the area with her 10 and 11 year-old sons and their redbone coonhound. “It’s a beautiful site and I would love to take my two kids there without having to worry about what they might see,” Rose said. I interpret her statement to mean that it isn’t lewdness that Ms. Rose is concerned about but more the fact that she simply doesn’t want her two sons exposed to nudity. Given that the Auburn State Recreation Area encompasses some 35,000 acres along 40 miles of the North and Middle Forks of the American River, I would think that Ms. Rose could find another part of it to hike with her children and dog if she is so concerned about her children being exposed to nudity.

This is just another example of textiles who believe their rights and opinions are superior to those of naturists and nudists just because they have outdated and antiquated laws on their side to enforce their own prudish standards of morality. I do agree that any real complaints about lewdness are justified and should be acted on by the state park law enforcement officials, but this whole story simply smelled of anti-nudity to me. Out of the seventeen comments posted by readers to the on-line version of the Auburn Journal story, the majority were either decidedly opposed to the city council resolution or considered nudity in this particular beach area a non-issue altogether, pointing out that the city had a lot more pressing issues that the council should be addressing instead of worrying about nude sunbathers on the American River. The article is still available for comments. I urge all naturists and nudists, whether you live in the Auburn, California or not, to register your opinions on this article. The article itself is still available for comments or you could also write to City Councilman Kevin Hanley directly at hanleykh@jps.net and make your thoughts known. One other recommended action is writing to California State Parks Department at info@parks.ca.gov to tell Auburn State Recreation Area Superintendent Mike Lynch, that you feel his agency already addresses the issue in a fair and balanced way and to urge him not to give in to pressure from special interests like the Auburn City Council. Here is an example of the “actionable intelligence” I spoke about in my previous series, “Shock and Awe”. While you may not live in California at all, much less this particular area, it is important that all naturists and nudists begin standing together to oppose anti-nude legislation and governmental actions. Make your voice and your opinions heard!