I have said it in various ways over the years - but basically - if children are brought up to fear nudity, then they grow up fearing their own bodies - and how in the world are they expected to deal with that? 

An example - (I am not really a drinker of alcohol and see that its abuse causes great social problems - but that is not in debate here). During prohibition - alcohol became a serious part of organised crime and encouraged those who drank to resort to hard alcohol. Alcoholics still drank, but those that wanted a little tipple had to consider themselves as law breakers and take all the guilt that comes with that, associate with criminals to either buy the alcohol for home or while drinking it out and about, and possibly be arrested. For some alcohol was evil for others it took them into a criminal world and for the average person a choice was needed - there was no middle ground. 

To society nudity is like that. For some it is evil, for others it is a happy movement into a perverse world with organised porn or abuse - and there is no happy middle ground apparently offered for the majority. A troublesome set up. Particularly as 99% of people would be happy in that middle ground - with only the extremely troubled finding their way to hating or exploiting nudity. But society won't own up to it. A "prohibition" on nudity means that people feel the need to choose "fully comprehensive cover" or "perverse."  As most inquisitive people - and of course children will want to reject the complete cover idea they then feel the only option is perverse. So an innocent and natural curiosity is replaced with guilt, perversion and confusion. Which can also come with a need to lie - to pretend they are not interested and/or a path that through guilt association and methods of finding nudity will lead them to "hard nudity" (to use the similar term to hard alcohol). The taboo associated to innocent nudity can lead people into a world  of porn, stripping, and abuse and bad learning choices, secrecy, guilt, underage sex, pregnancy and confusion. 

In short - I feel that it is the very people that are fearful and hateful of nudity that actually cause the things that they fear to grow and prove their fears were justified. Basically if no one feared nudity then we would find there would be very little cause to fear it. 

It is simplistic but I feel it makes sense. I feel once we start to fear or hate something - then we make it more fearful and hateful in return. Child abuse may have always existed but societies constant fear of it and need to hide children is helping feed a trend, creating a want and causing hate, mistrust and confusion which in turn helps society to break down. If we are unable to believe in each other then how do we function and work together?  The more we make innocent nudity a "perverse" act the more we encourage perversion and the more we will create perverts.

I see naturism as an important part of combatting such confusion and helping to get people back on track - and that very much includes families.

Anna your prohibition analogy really does apply very well to this topic. 

There is no doubt that porn has contributed to a lot of confusion with the young. The biggest problem is that it is now the go to for all young people and due to the failure of the education system, it has become the primary vehicle for sex and body education in the young. 

There are two main issues with this, the first being, it is free. Sunscription based porn is harder to access for the young as it involves payment, but the majority of porn viewed is free as it is usually illegally uploaded and the young have open access to it. The largest problem with that, which is the second biggest aspect of the problems faced today by the young, is that when you log into a free site, it displays the most viewed first, which is usually the most abusive, and that is what the young are using to learn from.

A good few generations now, have grown up watching sexually explicit content that shows especially the female body in a bad light, as it shows that naked females can be abused in any way by a male, and our young are seeing this. Men think naked women can treated without respect, and young women have become accepting of that, allowing men to treat them in any way they please.

The naked body as a result is seen as something to be abused for titilation by the young. From the work I have done with clients over the years, I think it is safe to say from a personal perspective that most people aged 35 and under today, have what I see as an abusive mind set when it comes to the naked body, and this has bred into relationships, and although it is only my own personal opinion based on work I have done, I believe the education system is a complete failure as it has focused far too much on sexuality, and less on respectful interactions and self awareness skills, that lead to a body positive mind set. The young have no middle ground to walk and understand anymore.

In regard to the moral stance taken by many, as has been stated in many other forums, we see it as combination of religions misinterpritation combined with the aggressive tatctics used by big business in order to sell products. Nudity has for generations been sensationalised and used to coerce people into spending money, which again sensationalises the naked form into something sexual, almost the forbidden fruit, with the message of take a bite and learn everything, which when selling a product, paints the picture of a utopian ideal. This has played very well into society, and has been reinforced by the use of bluring and pixilation, which has the message of "Oh you should see this, but we cannot let you." 

It is a powerful message of if you could see this, you will be set free, which makes the viewer want to, but also holds the message of "You are not good enough to see it." It is the perfect combination of Religious and Corporate immorality, saying, we will protect you from this evil. From the religious context, the soul is saved, and from the corporate context withholding it drives the desire to see it. 

The negative of all of this we see today in society, the naked body is shamed with religious zeleots, and is the driving desire of sales. Combined with the derogartory messages of porn, all three work away at the mind and have created what has become the tabo of the naked body with the messages of its sinful, bad for you, should be abused, and never seen.

Body negative feelings today as a result of this, are now on an all time high, fuleing mental illness's such as deprestion, body dysmorphia and self hatred, and simply the act of pixilation, is driving this message from the media, into the populous. The cure is self acceptance, which as we know, is the most positive experience for any human, but the forces working against that are mighty. 


 

Totally agree with you RnR. One of the solutions it seems is dialogue, particularly within families. My wife and I have talked openly to our kids about sexuality, what porn is and what real lovemaking should be, with a central focus on respect. To me the notion of respect is something we have lost.Look at how politicians behave, listen to the violence surrounding us, watch at hatred against others depicted daily, lack of respect if patent in all corners of society. I spent some time in Nepal and had the privilege to talk to budhist monks and rinpoches (masters), although I'm atheist, I really believe the budhist philosophy is wonderful when it comes to a peaceful and respectful view of the world. This is what I'm doing my best to follow. Respecting all points of view, as long as, they show respect and peace. Naturism is one of the most agnostic respectful lifestyles on many levels. Yes, we are still a minority, but as the Dalai Lama once said "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." 

I think there are two different things which are often a source of confusion: attractiveness and sexual predisposition. I find many people quite attractive, either physically or intellectually. Sometimes the two collide and that's what I call "being in love". I have no sexual predisposition for anyone else, regardless of how attractive they are. I'm commited to my wife and that's the way I prefer. That doesn't mean that she and she and she aren't attractive. They are! I think sex is too intimate to rely solely on attractiveness. I need to take my leap of faith in order to feel comfortable with someone seeing in me in a ridiculous situation, like all sexual things are. Therefor, I only want to do it with someone I feel comfortable to get mad with, someone I feel comfortable to cry with, etc etc.

Yes, there are lots of naked and clothed people who look quite attractive, but I must say I'm less prone to find them at nude beaches because I'm not automatically looking for that physical factor. I strongly believe that in a context where lots of people are naked we actually see less breasts than if they were wearing bikini tops. The little piece of cloth draws attention to itself, whereas skin, in the proper context, doesn't. I mean, it isn't the nipple itself that becomes sexual, it's your preconception of how that nipple is hidden behind the cloth that makes it sexual. This is the reason why we appear naked here and not on Twitter: we believe people here aren't interested in seeing naked people for the purpose of a meat market, just seeing others like them, to connect, to feel equal whereas in society we are a bit... mad, at least to their eyes.

So, it's perfectly possible and even desirable, I think, to realise that someone's body looks very nice without it meaning anything sexual. I mean, we sort of are compatible sexually with half the world if sex isn't to be nothing more than mechanics. But I don't think it is, I think it's a deeper connection, a bit ridiculous, a bit "we are all silly", and something that I want to do with someone that I can trust, which won't happen if I just see a naked person at the beach. I mean, it's OK to be pretty, it's OK to be thin, it's OK to be fat... it's OK to be, and it's OK for others to consider us attractive or unattractive. If we're not "shopping around", it doesn't matter.

I really can't understand the whole pornography thing. It seems based in mistreating women. It's degrading and, in a way, somekind of an acrobatics performance which becomes easily something of a freak show. Exhibitionism is horrendous, because it involves unwilling participants (I mean, unless you consider exhibitionism something that you do alone with your partner, like inviting him/her to peek while you shower, which isn't exhibitionism at all). But there's a caveat here: I tend to consider all naturist women sexier than non naturists for solely one reason: they understand my joy of being naked.

The comment I dislike the most about naturists is something that some people ought to stay clothed, that only the least attractive ones do take off their clothes. This is a comment from a very immature person who will either grow up or will become miserable in his (it's mostly men) later years. Naturism is sexy because it shows a person not afraid of his/her body, someone not concerned with being a slave to a publicitary-perfect body, therefor someone willing to accept that the perfection of life relies on how imperfect we all are.

Let me add one more thing.

Yesterday, I was at a concert in which one of the well known songs is about two kids and nudity. I mean, I can't really translate as it would lose all nuance, but it's about a girl who promised to remove her dress if the boy would climb up a tree. And the story goes wrong as he did climb and scratched his hands and knees but she chickened out and didn't kept her promise. He, completely outraged with her behavior, wants his comics books back.

There was a time in which this story would be a sweet one. A great example of growing pains and learning about the opposite sex. Nowadays it seems a grim story for some folks. They are the ones in the wrong. It's about sex, but it's about the pretty version of it, not about that acrobatic stuff which fills the internet with quiet desperation.