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MarriedNudist94's avatar

I understand the difference, in fact I always thought of Body Positivity as what WebMD called Body Neutrality. But I never really looked or felt about my body the way most people who embrace Body Positivity do. It was more Body Acceptance. This is me, this is my body. Oh well. Sure I could attempt to change it, spend countless hours and dollars trying to improve it, in fact did for many years of my life, with little to nothing to show for it. I'd lived with an overwhelming desire to be a nudist, to live clothes free whenever I could. But because of my body, what I and the rest of the world thought of it, there was no way I could ever realize that dream.

Then I learned of the "Nudist Mindset" when it came to Body Positivity, Body Acceptance or Body Neutrality. Nudists see but don't judge. They look at you for the person you are, not the way you "look". Once I fully understood this, I became my dream. A nudist. Did my body change? No. Did the way I felt about my body change? No. I'm still the same skinny tall frame person I was 50 years ago. What changed was how I cared what you or anyone else about my body. I've been Body Shamed pretty much my entire life. And it continues to this very day, the double looks, the smirks, the whispered comments and pointing. In the last decade or so, Body Shaming became taboo. You can't do that anymore. But this forbidden "act", only applied to those who are overweight.

For years I did everything I could to hide my body. Today, I don't care what others may say or think of it. That's their problem, not mine. So I guess I'm Body Neutral, I really don't care what anyone calls it, I'm me and I'm a nudist, no longer afraid or worried about what anyone thinks. Because when I'm with fellow nudists, We're all the same.

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Charles Daney's avatar

Walt Whitman: "Human bodies are words, myriads of words, (In the best poems re-appears the body, man’s or woman’s, well-shaped, natural, gay, Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame.)" There are photos of Walt at an advanced age - naked. He wasn't ashamed.

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