Nudism and sex

Nudism and sex. Yes! Let’s talk about nudism and sex!

Nudism and sex. Yep. We know. It’s a dangerous subject. A lot of (mostly) men out there Google the word ‘nudism’ and ‘sex’ and are looking for porn. They don’t realize that for all of the real nudists in the world this query imposes a real threat. Their need gives (unjust) ammunition for all those against this unclothed ‘hobby’. And if we nudists and naturists want to do something about that we ourselves really have to talk about nudism and sex.

Because it is also a symptom of the time we live in. Look at Instagram and advertising: a lot of sexiness is used to get our attention. Sex has been made very important. Mucho mas important. And we naturists feel this pressuring on the way we look at ourselves. It influences the way we communicate with the outside world. We tell them that sex doesn’t exist in our world. Nonsense of course. We can do it anytime we want. But not anywhere we want.

nudism and sex
nudism and sex

A lot of teenaged boys are inspired by the porn they find on the web. And girls are living up to that image and sometimes even use sex as a currency. That must worry us all! It becomes more and more difficult to look back and recognize that sex and nudity used to be a sincere and profound inspiration for writers, painters and musicians etc for centuries. But now it’s a suspicious subject.

Where has the natural phenomenon gone? What if our parents stopped having sex? Well, we would not have been here today. It is an important part of a relationship and it can be a wonderful and inspiring activity. It should be like that anyway.

Sex has become something that is omnipresent as a currency, but is ignored on an everyday level at the same time. And that is why the word ‘nudist’ can be used in one sentence with ‘sex’ and the majority of people don’t bother whether or not this is correct. And pornsites use their online marketing skills and budget to monetize on nudism and sex. And since it is very profitable: we will get overthrown by them.

Intensive sex training

Compared to animals we seem to have made our lives rather difficult. Animals walk around naked 24/7. But are not having sex all day. We humans have made almost everything sexual. It is in the way we dress. It is in the way we present ourselves on social media. Nudity is almost always (say 99.9%) shown in an erotic or at least highly sophisticated way. The underlying thought has a sexual content. Not always deliberately. But our brains are just in that setting by intensive training from day 1.

We all know that a large part of our society strongly believe that it is shameful and dangerous to expose certain parts of the body. Of course we are not of that opinion. Because there is nothing indecent about it at all. But if you have been brought up with this convention it makes it difficult to look at a statue or painting of a nude body. Like David by Michelangelo. Now that is what we find a real unhealthy situation.

nudism and sex
nudism and sex

Where does such a conviction lead? It makes showering after a sports game or after a fitness workout a great endeavour. For  younger teams it may become a ‘suspicious activity’ in the eyes of their parents. And if you are somewhere between 15 and 35 social media makes it even more difficult. Nobody has a perfect body. But we have been brainwashed with perfect (photoshopped) bodies.

And we, as a consequence, are almost desperately avoiding the subject of nudism and sex. And maybe it is the best strategy at the moment. But we believe that such an attitude comes with consequences. Maybe we need to educate those immature minds a bit more. Be more self-confident. Because by ignoring it we may lead them to the suggestion that they are actually right: we nudists are people with a sexual disorder.

That’s why a nudist resort is such a great thing. You are the suspicious one, if you wear clothes. For children there is no sexual context. The grown-ups just enjoy their freedom. They cannot accentuate their sexuality with that perfect dress or jeans or shirt, etc. Nudity fully exposes ones character. The ‘thrill’ of nudity has vanished with their clothes. Sexual thoughts have been disarmed. And it is highly inappropriate to behave in a sexual manner.

With all the prejudice towards nudism in mind: collective nudity is a great cure to any hypersensitivity towards sex. If it was really a sexual thing to gather around the Sunday morning coffee table at the nudist resort, then there would be no club left in the world. It is not a night club. The women are not prostitutes.

nudism and sex
nudism and sex

Having said that: one of the great things about life is that there are people you can fall in love with. Whether it is one of the same or opposite sex: you can meet them anywhere. At work. At the theatre. At the book club. And at a nudist club. It is a perfectly natural desire to be in the company of the opposite sex. Love or lust has nothing to do with that.

Many great friendships have started at many different places. And yes: also at nudist clubs. But if you combine this with the fact that around 75% of the visitors of a naturist campsite are actually couples, then you’ll see what kind of friendships we are talking about.

We hope that the #metoo discussion (and the many lawsuits that followed) will influence advertising agencies, moviemakers and social media influencers (and others). We hope they will be more aware of what the side effects of their choices really are.

And on the other side: we should stop with not talking about sex. It is there. Outsiders ‘know’ what we are doing. If we don’t change our attitude then they won’t change their attitude. Not that we now have to talk about it every day. No. That’s not a good idea. But we have a real positive way of looking at life. And what part we play in this world. And maybe we were already on the right track anyway. We are more aware of our sexuality by not continuously being led by sexual thoughts. And yes: we understand that (for outsiders) this is a rather difficult thing to get. But nudism and sex is a great combination.

You (if you are a non-nudist reader) can only probably get it if you have practiced nudism for real. Or, if you have friends who are nudists, talk to them about it. Just ask them if they have an undesirable sex drive at a nudist resort. The answer will not be a big surprise.

Naked: A Cultural History of American Nudism