sexiest dress up

When I first started researching the subject I had the idea that the reason was because women would feel threatened or become the focus of unwanted attention, but direct experience shows that naturist venues feel safe and welcoming to women. It seems the real reason that women may not join is that many fear they are not "up to standard". This is an enormous shame, a symptom of the damage done by the relentless selling of the elusive image of the perfect body. The experience of millions of naturists has shown that it helps to free people from a poor body image. If nothing else, experiencing social nudity shows that most people have a body far from perfect and that it does not matter a jot. A great deal of advertising in the Western world is concerned with the quest for beauty and this is mostly aimed at women. The implication is that if you do not spend on beauty products, you will be a lesser person. This leads many women to undervalue themselves as people. Looks have nothing to do with naturism, people do not do it to be seen nor indeed to see others, they do it because it feels good. Fashion and the hunt for the perfect body only leads to dissatisfaction, this perfection is not achievable. Sadly, many women seem to feel that if they went nude, their long sought "look" will vanish.
Fear of sex related crime has been cited by a few as a reason they would not go naked in a social setting, but it comes as a surprise to them that there are much lower rates of sex related crime in naturist communities. Their prejudice tells them nudity "must" cause sexual stimulation and will therefore lead to all sorts of lewd behaviour. The experience of millions shows it doesn't. When the naturist centre at le Cap d'Agde first opened, the local police took a close interest but experience over the years has shown this to be unnecessary. They are better employed elsewhere.

There is no fundamental human reason to stay dressed at all times, there is nothing "in your biology" that makes people desire to be covered at all times. There is the clear need to be warm, to be protected from the environment and to decorate the body for various reasons but none of these provide a compelling reason to hide specific body parts in public. Societies both ancient and modern have treated nudity as normal without any detrimental effect. In the West, seeing a live nude body in public would at the very least cause comment and at the worst, cause legal action to be taken, but this attitude is learned, not innate.

There are several reasons cited for always staying dressed in a social setting, perhaps the most compelling is because everyone else does. When confronted with the possibility of going nude, perhaps on a holiday beach far from home, many people will find reasons to stay dressed even if they are attracted to the idea.

The most common would be embarrassment. This can be powerful reason to stay dressed, but embarrassment is learnt, it is not innate. Most people are not embarrassed about body parts such as hands, feet, arms etc., so this begs the question, why are people embarrassed about their penis or their breasts? What particular aspect of these parts should lead to this feeling? Study of human behaviour shows there is no fundamental, biological reason for this, many go naked in a social setting without detriment. Embarrassment is learned and can be unlearned. Having once encountered a social nude environment, most people are amazed to find that embarrassment disappears.

Western religions do not generally have direct prohibition of social nudity as a core belief. Protestations against nudity have been made by a few of the religious hierarchy and sadly followed by the many. There is often a huge difference in the core beliefs of a religion and what is taught by those who feel they should teach it. It is quite easy to find a given religious text and then to find a range of mutually opposing interpretations of that same text. A good example is the use of the word “shame” in the Christian story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Some Christian teachers will take it to mean that nakedness is shameful, others will take it to mean that nakedness is good, at least that is the position taken by the Christian naturist movement. In their view, how could their God have made something shameful? Would you dare suggest that the handiwork of their God is so flawed it must be covered all the time? Did He make very a serious mistake? As I do not believe in a God, things are much easier, to me, the good or bad about nudity is what is in your heart, your intentions, the reasons you go naked, not the nudity itself.

Not for me the tight embrace,
unyielding suits, false marks of grace,
nor yet the stifling, grasping hold
of fashions when in one's youth were old.

Not for me the tailor's chalk,
The cloth, the weave, the mindless talk
of benefits the work may bring
or other worthless, weary thing.

No, for me the gentle caress of air,
the tender, tousled, tussled hair
of one who feels the Joys of Spring,
the sheer delight that bluebells bring.

The bliss, the thrill of air on skin,
the happiness and peace within,
and in this list, I must include
the simple joy, of being nude.

Copyright Howard Anderson, May 2010

Some may not go naked as a result of the opinions or reactions of others, they may be attracted to the idea but be persuaded against it. Those intent on preventing a nude lifestyle still insist that naturism is about sex although they will not have any evidence to support their view. No doubt a few people, intent on sexual gratification, will go to a naturist environment, but the sight of many less than perfect bodies does not provide their hoped for excitement. Some naturist beaches open to the public have occasional trouble from a voyeur lurking in the dunes behind the beach, but the great majority enjoy the beach in peace and for non-sexual reasons. There is plenty of evidence to support this view, the best way to collect it is to visit a large naturist resort and see for yourself. You will see people sunbathing, doing sport, walking, shopping, sailing etc, all the normal activities of holiday makers. You will not see a "sex romp" or any other imagined activity as would be reported in the gutter press or by religious extremists. Naturists have sex, they are no different in that respect from anyone else, but like at any holiday resort, sex is something done in private. Sadly companies in the porn industry have used the words nudist and naturist to sell their products. Those who feel the need for porn are nothing to do with naturism.

Another reason some may not consider a naturist lifestyle is worry over children. Observation shows that children are not concerned about nudity, adults are troubled in their name. Anyone who has brought up a child will know their complete freedom of "nudity awareness" when they are little. Teaching a child to be obsessive about covering will not help them to have a healthy attitude to their body and to become a sensible well balanced adult. Perhaps this is a good place to reiterate one aim of work such as this, it is not to promote universal nudity, it is simply to promote the idea that nudity is as acceptable is being dressed. Bringing up children is hard enough but teaching them an unnecessary layer of guilt will not be beneficial.

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." Bertrand Russell wrote this in his Marriage and Morals. He makes the point very well, just because always being dressed is widespread does not mean it is a Good Thing.

The most prosaic reason to stay dressed is because others do. But as Bertrand Russell wrote in his work The Conquest of Happiness, "Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves."

Albert Einstein followed the same idea, he wrote, "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfils the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form."