Reading the blog I had a similar journey as you did. I ultimately come to the conclusion of a slower approach to making the general public comfortable with the concept of social nudity. This may be influenced by the current environment of my home country (the US). In many cases, with many topics small, vocal groups quickly go after opin…
Reading the blog I had a similar journey as you did. I ultimately come to the conclusion of a slower approach to making the general public comfortable with the concept of social nudity. This may be influenced by the current environment of my home country (the US). In many cases, with many topics small, vocal groups quickly go after opinions or ideas that do not fit within their current world. Nudity in the US is tied to many feelings - religion, “family values” morality. I feel education of family friendly, non-sexual nude recreation is important. I hike nude with groups and solo and am always very concerned when solo that I may come across a single woman or a group with children. Yes - I am quite fearful, but that is the environment I live in, but, I do continue to hike on, so maybe I am doing what the NZ blogger is advocating in a small way.
Sorry for the long comment, thank you for your blog
I am cautious, or is it empathetic, towards who I may encounter on a naked hike. Lone females, who may have experienced sexual assault when younger, may find it to be quite traumatic to encounter a naked guy.
My view is that it the greater powers that need to change their minds. Search Engines which identify nudity as porn. Governments which allow only tiny beach space to legally bathe nude.
Today I observed clothed persons on the nudist legal beach, and debated (with myself) why they can be legally clothed on OUR little patch of sand, when we cannot be legally unclothed on their broad expanses of sand😲
I'm not sure if the little individual nudists changing their minds will help, because they are forced into that corner of thinking by society's non-acceptance of public nudity as normal behaviour.
Thank you for your thoughts. I agree, search engines and online moderators could treat simple nudity as a totally separate issue from pornography, but my fear is that the distinction is either too difficult for their algorithms, or too much bother for people to worry about. I also think that more important than the opinions of search engine giants, is the opinions of the advertisers that generate their revenue. The search engines don't want to spook the horses, so to speak. They will have seen the consequences of public backlash when a celebrity steps out of line and how it affects revenue streams. Upsetting advertisers or risking upsetting them may be a bigger driver of what they perceive to be acceptable content.
Also I am happy to share my part of the beach with a textile... perhaps they will learn something. I know I learned a lot from their section of the beach. Specifically hypocrisy, intolerance, and bigotry.
Here in New Zealand there are no designated nudist areas, and it is not illegal to be naked in public, so technically all beaches are nudist beaches, although it is true some are more recognised as such. I have to remind myself that the rest of the world doesn't treat public nudity in the same way.
Keeping clothed people off public nude beaches simply perpetuates an "Us & Them" mentality which does no one any favours. Yes there is an injustice, but how about we take the opportunity to highlight the injustice and explain our position, rather than exclude people due to their attitudes around clothing?
Don't get me wrong, I really don't care if they are clothed on the nudist beach. It feels like a broader societal hypocrisy. But as there are sooo many beaches where swimsuits have to be worn, I do wonder why these people choose to swim at a nudist beach. I guess they are comfortable with public nudity, and it may just be a step on their journey into a nudist lifestyle.
Reading the blog I had a similar journey as you did. I ultimately come to the conclusion of a slower approach to making the general public comfortable with the concept of social nudity. This may be influenced by the current environment of my home country (the US). In many cases, with many topics small, vocal groups quickly go after opinions or ideas that do not fit within their current world. Nudity in the US is tied to many feelings - religion, “family values” morality. I feel education of family friendly, non-sexual nude recreation is important. I hike nude with groups and solo and am always very concerned when solo that I may come across a single woman or a group with children. Yes - I am quite fearful, but that is the environment I live in, but, I do continue to hike on, so maybe I am doing what the NZ blogger is advocating in a small way.
Sorry for the long comment, thank you for your blog
I am cautious, or is it empathetic, towards who I may encounter on a naked hike. Lone females, who may have experienced sexual assault when younger, may find it to be quite traumatic to encounter a naked guy.
My view is that it the greater powers that need to change their minds. Search Engines which identify nudity as porn. Governments which allow only tiny beach space to legally bathe nude.
Today I observed clothed persons on the nudist legal beach, and debated (with myself) why they can be legally clothed on OUR little patch of sand, when we cannot be legally unclothed on their broad expanses of sand😲
I'm not sure if the little individual nudists changing their minds will help, because they are forced into that corner of thinking by society's non-acceptance of public nudity as normal behaviour.
Thank you for your thoughts. I agree, search engines and online moderators could treat simple nudity as a totally separate issue from pornography, but my fear is that the distinction is either too difficult for their algorithms, or too much bother for people to worry about. I also think that more important than the opinions of search engine giants, is the opinions of the advertisers that generate their revenue. The search engines don't want to spook the horses, so to speak. They will have seen the consequences of public backlash when a celebrity steps out of line and how it affects revenue streams. Upsetting advertisers or risking upsetting them may be a bigger driver of what they perceive to be acceptable content.
Also I am happy to share my part of the beach with a textile... perhaps they will learn something. I know I learned a lot from their section of the beach. Specifically hypocrisy, intolerance, and bigotry.
Here in New Zealand there are no designated nudist areas, and it is not illegal to be naked in public, so technically all beaches are nudist beaches, although it is true some are more recognised as such. I have to remind myself that the rest of the world doesn't treat public nudity in the same way.
Keeping clothed people off public nude beaches simply perpetuates an "Us & Them" mentality which does no one any favours. Yes there is an injustice, but how about we take the opportunity to highlight the injustice and explain our position, rather than exclude people due to their attitudes around clothing?
Don't get me wrong, I really don't care if they are clothed on the nudist beach. It feels like a broader societal hypocrisy. But as there are sooo many beaches where swimsuits have to be worn, I do wonder why these people choose to swim at a nudist beach. I guess they are comfortable with public nudity, and it may just be a step on their journey into a nudist lifestyle.
Please don't apologise for your comment. I appreciate the feedback.