Hello, y’all! So, I’ve recently shared my journal on being naked here on this blog, and I was wondering if I could from time to time share some of my thoughts on naturism here as well – maybe as an autistic my view may differ from what most people know about naturism.
According to the International Naturist Federation (INF), naturism is: a way of life in harmony with nature characterized by the practice of communal nudity with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for others and for the environment.
To be honest, as broad as this looks, I love it!
Respect for others
I was just talking about an interesting conclusion I’ve reached in a telegram group: when we get used to nudity, we stop noticing some stuff; like, if you ask me if my wolfriend whom I’ve been naked with was slim, of chubby, or hairy, or if he got any birthmarks, or if he got da booty, I wouldn’t even remember, or, at least, it’d take me a long while to remember.
My wolfriend, and nobody else, has to have a certain look, to fit a certain standard to be my friend; and even if I were so critical, you don’t gotta prove to me you have the right to be who you are. No-one, myself included, is entitled of criticizing how someone’s own cage made of flesh should be or look like.
And I, in my experience, extend that to other layers: I don’t think one should complain about someone else’s body smell, or speech patterns, for example. All those characteristics are part of that individual’s very existence; they’re all as essential as anything else they can’t get rid off. For me, it’s like saying “you gotta ‘cover’ your smell because I don’t like it“, for example – hygiene is important; this is not what this example is about, but someone who’s in the same bus as you and who is sweaty due to their hard work got more stuff to do than to please you.
You might think I like the way nudity isn’t such a taboo in Europe – for I have lived in Romania -, but no. Europe’s got many nudist beaches and maybe some clothing optional regulations – such as topless during summer. But I’ve been there and I didn’t feel like I learnt anything regarding nudity and body acceptance. The nude body, especially the standard cis female (i.e. what people are taught to expect a woman to look like), is still regularly oversexualized and used as a marketing tool. The nude body, and pretty much everything, believe me, can be viewed as sexual, but the european scenario, to me, seems like someone’s trying to hard to make it sexual for their own good (marketing, fashion).
Self-respect
Another thing I was commenting on that same telegram group was that when people complain about going to the beach/countryside (bugs, sand, sunburns, etc.) it seems like they’re looking for a reason to be unhappy, and that I get the same feelings when they complain about their own/someone else’s body.
Those are things that make the experience authentic; a long trail in the woods to reach an isolated beach, the sounds of nature in the countryside. The same way, whatever birthmarks you got, your baldness or your bushiness, they all make you look more like you. In my own experience – again, this is what I subjectively feel -, I feel worse when people look too much alike; nowadays, most people got the same effing hairstyle, and most of my classmates look the same to me, which is a mess when we got group projects, for example.
I mentioned in the last topic that the way nudity is not a complete taboo in Europe doesn’t mean it’s perfect – it is, indeed, far from that. This ‘use’ of the naked body for marketing and oversexualization makes you conclude nudity is for your pleasure, and not the person’s; it leads to many types of body-shaming (for people who are chubby, colored, ‘too white’, i.e. not tanned in the summer, ‘too hairy’, etc.). In Europe, this way to deal with nudity doesn’t make people feel more free of who they are, but it’s just another way to dictate what to look like, and there for, what to consume – movies, magazines, clothes, gyms, food, etc.
Environment
For me, this is probably the best part of the INF‘s definition of naturism. Since I was a kid, I was always the annoying one who’d ramble about stupid people throwing trash in the wrong can (or worse, on the floor), pollution, overuse and misuse or fossile fuels and other materials, climate issues, etc.
One of the main effects I seek and I get from social nudity is that we’re animals and we belong to Earth, and not the opposite. Taking care of our homeplanet is the same thing as taking care of our societies, or our own lives. Any positive or negative point in one of the three pillars or sustainability (social, economic, ecologic) reflects on the other two, because they all belong to the same system, and none can be isolated from it.
It’d be silly to say that’s it, go nude and save the planet. All of these solutions are much more complex (self-respect, respect for others and for the environment), but, for me, it’s still a valid point.
Raw Almond 
Reblogged this on MathMonkey.
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