Jessie Beale
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Nudity is normal, right?
🕑 Added 2023-02-02 01:51:56 +0000 UTCWith the rise of social media, naturism is far more talked about than it ever has been before. Some laugh it off thinking it's just a big ol' orgy while others feel as though they have finally found their community. But as this topic becomes a hot discussion, so does the statement "nudity is normal"
When I first discovered naturism, I jumped straight into the deep end. I was my community's biggest advocate, yelling those exact words from the rooftop... NUDITY IS NORMAL! Because if nudity in intimacy is normal, why can't it be socially normal too?
After years of being nothing but an advocate for naturism, I was met with anger, words of disgust, and concern. I started to question why the world didn't see nudity the same way I did.
And the conclusion I came to was... This is the society we live in.
Yes, we could dive into religion and culture, talking about how sex is viewed as a million-volt topic. Shamed if you indulge in pre-marital sex, depraved if you enjoy it, and asking to be raped if you wear any clothing that shows skin. But I feel as though their views on the naked body speaks for itself.
So I'm keeping my focus on the countries and cultures that are lenient towards social nudity. So if the law allows it, why are we still being shamed for it?
Unless you were raised in a nudist family, many people will need time and likely exposure to help deconstruct this narrative. Parents shield nudity from their children as they themselves were taught. If that's to keep their child's mind innocent or for safety, in the mind of a parent, nudity is something to be kept private. So this is what they teach their children, and so the cycle begins. When we are taught something as sacred as our bodies is meant to be kept private and then are confronted with nudity outside of a sexual setting, it can be triggering. And when humans are triggered, they get angry, creating a narrative to suit their emotions and validate these feelings.
But it's not until a person makes a conscious decision to change this narrative of a naked body being offensive, that they will begin to accept even their own body. Because a naked body is just a naked body, not the sexual manifestation of a human being.
Next week I'm going to dive into 'coming out' as a naturist (I use that term very lightly) and how to shift peoples perspective.
Comments
Jessie
There is a lot to be said about America but interestingly enough I have found myself in very progressive conversations about nudity and the way it's treated over there. Obviously, this is dependent on States and people but I was surprised!
Jessie
What you're saying about challenging beliefs is very true and going off-topic I have actually spoken to my therapist with this same language about anxiety! So it really does come down to our minds and patterns of engrained behavior as humans.
Layton Carr
I know what you mean. There is still that stigma with nudity. In America, it is very much like that. I know Americans are prudish, although other countries have issues with too. I am looking forward to see what you say on coming out.
R
The other day I was wondering, why some people from X place who normally eat Y food, find it that difficult to try something new, there was a lot of information mostly about neuroscience the amygdala an so but in short we have deep into our mind some beliefs that are hard to challenge, to change, specially when the source for those beliefs is a global scale. Everybody in my town, city, state, country, continent and globe uses clothes, so that put an idea in our mind that we are safe with clothes, in the same way as some people people the food they always eat keep them safe and try to get out of that zone might be dangerous, but those ideas are so deep we won't even think we just react. Is Nudity normal? Of course But there is only a small group of people that are able to go out of those deep ideas and try the new "dangerous" thing. For the rest that normalization reminds me of a quote: "Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it turns." A change might be happening, it is slow and the normalization that we want might happen in 2 generations (my calculation and opinion alone)). Until then I will be happy to be naked when possible, next time in Playa Chihuahua Uruguay.
