Liberating America
We have a lot more evolution to go before that's viable
Why is nudism in apparent decline in the U.S.? That was the discussion about Grassroots Naturism in Charles Daney’s Substack newsletter, Revitalizing Naturism. I had a lengthy response, and he suggested I re-post it here as its own piece. Here it is with a few thoughts expanded.
In the past, nudist parents often did not raise nudist — or even nude-tolerant — children. That’s still evident today. I meet many nudists who keep their nudism a secret from their kids, never mind including them in the fun. Or conveniently wait until the kids have left home to get involved.
For a long time, young people really weren't welcomed in nudism because resorts were (and some still are) dominated by people hostile to "youth" culture, i.e. free love and smoking dope, loud parties and death metal music, and all that. Combined, it eventually created a huge deficit in the proportion of young nudists to the point where TNS couldn't even keep a Young Naturists group alive.
Consider the population/age distribution of a club. If almost all of the people are middle age or older, you won’t attract a lot of young people.
And there are few attempts at public persuasion. Ninety+ percent of the U.S. nudist population is living in a closet. Most blogs advocating for nudism are only read by fellow nudists. The U.S. has not evolved to the state where being open as a nudist to one's friends and family is a low enough risk for many people. We have a lot more evolution to go before that's viable.
People who promote "the only enemy is your own fear" line of thinking don't get what it is like to live in a place where being a social nudist can cost you your job, get your kids ridiculed, and put you at risk of getting a visit from the local children's welfare investigators.
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The best way to promote nudism is to be a good person who just happens to be a nudist and neither hide the fact nor be evangelical about it. Social conditions in many areas still make this a risky enterprise. My first suggestion is to be somewhere that is at least moderately nude-tolerant. By concentrating in a few urban centers, gay people created enclaves where they were safer. Nudists need to do the same.
The people one needs to promote nudism to aren't nudists. It is people NOT into nudism who might be curious about it. Or at least tolerant enough to hear your piece without screaming "But what about the children!" It occurs to me that the best possible place for organized outreach would be college campuses.
I saw a video about a BN guy whose sole job was to go around campuses during their recruitment week. BN is pretty successful, so I figure it can't be a bad idea. When I was a student at Cal State, Northridge, there was a nudist club on campus called "Au Naturel." (It disappeared when the faculty advisor left.) I also note that every college in a beach town in California seems to have a nearby informal nude beach. That cannot be a coincidence.
Young nudists might be far more interested in naked parties, trips to a nude beach or nude hiking than any landed club. By young, I mean people who are not yet tied down to family or career. The 30s may seem young, but they are usually mired in adulthood's responsibilities. Most cannot take chances.
We need to raise awareness in places with open-minded people. (You could probably pick the places that accept large, fully nude WNBRs.) Victory isn't a convert to nudism but just someone saying, "Okay. That's cool." They move from curiosity, ignorance or confusion to tolerance or acceptance. Do that, and the people naturally interested in nudism will join. But you'll never win over the naysayers.
If a blog readership is already nudist or nudist-friendly, then it is impossible to promote nudism there. That is preaching to the choir. I have three blogs. This Substack newsletter is the only one I post to that is specifically dedicated to naturism and nudism. My Medium and WordPress blogs have very few nudist followers. Medium is just stuff about my life in general. WordPress started out as an anime blog and expanded into life in general. Maybe one in 10 posts is specifically nudist in nature.
I don't shy away from nude images, but there is usually an NSFW warning somewhere. It is more likely to be a story of a trip I took — and I happened to be nude. The trip is front and center; the nudity is incidental. And I try to make the nudes well-composed shots of a nude in a larger environment. Not the nude from a selfie stick angled carefully to get a penis in the corner of the shot I see so much of. Nobody complains, and I get positive comments from textiles.
I am not presenting myself as a paragon of blogging virtue but just showing that one doesn't have to have a nudist audience to deliver a nudist message.
I think landed clubs are only going to become less common. The cost of real estate prevents new ones from forming. Old ones will continue to disappear. You will always be able to make more money by going textile than staying nude.
Travel clubs and at-home nudism are the future.
Some interesting points, Fred, and yes- I do live in a place where nudity is tolerated or even embraced far more than in America. But while I'm one of those who often suggest that many naturists' fear of causing offence is a perceived fear rather than one that is borne out of actual experience, I'm also mindful of the fact that some have careers and other factors to consider. I suspect, however, that they would be valid concerns to a much greater proportion of naturists in America than to those here in New Zealand.
Another point you raised is that young nudists might be far more interested in naked parties, trips to a nude beach or nude hiking than any landed club. I would go even further than that by saying that young people are not even interested in the labels "naturist" or "nudist". A week ago I returned from six days at Kiwiburn - New Zealand's regional Burning Man festival. On the Saturday night over 1,000 people ran and danced naked around the dying embers of the effigy - mostly young folks who never consider themselves as naturists. Skinny-dipping in New Zealand has always been acceptable at beaches and rivers and there would be few folks here who have never done that.
So, yes, I agree that landed clubs will likely fade away over time. New Zealand is a Common Law country, and it is becoming very rare now for anyone to be arrested for simply being naked in an appropriate public place, due to ongoing court precedents being set. There is becoming less need for landed clubs to exist - especially for younger folks.
For these reasons I'm less inclined these days to promote naturism as a philosophy or even to wear the label. Rather, I'm more than happy to advocate for nudity to become more and more acceptable in society as just another dress code for appropriate activities. You don't need a label for that, any more than you need a label for wearing a T-shirt.
Over the years I’ve been hot and cold over the naturism/nudism movement but have never lost my appetite for nude recreation.
As I’ve commented elsewhere, the NN narrative hasn’t really changed over the last 15++ years. Nor has it seemed to have visibly moved the needle in terms of acceptance and adoption.
I reckon what the NN crowd probably don’t get is a lot people don’t mind nudity, but don’t, nor want to identify as a NN for all sorts of reasons.
I myself shy away from that tag more often than not because it always felt like a badly tailored wrap that never really fit me right.
Maybe what younger people can relate to far more readily is the concept of body liberation. This concept is something they can probably shape and own the way they want to own it. You only need look at gender identity to see how quickly a grass roots concept can catch on and rapidly become mainstream. To the point corporations feel obligated to recognise and support it.
Part of the problem is something Fred has eluded to. You look at the NN demographic and it’s dominated by a lot of older people. Quite often grumbling about how marginalised NN is.
Contrast that to what’s happening in other circles and the philosophies and ideas might not suit that well with the NN crowd, but arguably, has a much greater ground swell that can relate and join in on terms they’re comfortable with.