I recently wrote in an article about the media reporting on nudist events that perhaps the editorial decision to trivialise or make light of such events may be to appease the moral majority, and I used the following phrase: “many of whom are yet to understand that social nudity is about as sexual as a church picnic in the bible belt.”
In a perfect world, everything you write is correct. But it only takes a few people to ruin it for all of us. In Wisconsin, I can note a few exceptions to the rule, all related. Mazo Beach was closed about 8 years ago due to overt sexual activity and drug usage. At Sun Ray Hills in Burlington, now closed, several visitors one weekend were kicked out due to sexual activity and was well known about. More recently at Toadally Natural in Hartford, the owners have significantly restricted single males due to married men using their property as a place to hook up with each other. These problems are caused by those who think they are naturists.
Now I agree naturism itself, for me and 99% of others, is as sexual as a church picnic (I highly recommend them, they are more fun than you think!) But it takes only a few to destroy what we have built and reinforce the stigma of naturists being a bunch of pervs. How we rid ourselves of the blight is still a mystery to me.
As a church going naturist, I can't imagine being offended by your comments. Personally, I don't really get offended by anything. I think offense is overblown in our society. Usually when people take offense, they are seeking to dominate a conversation and control a narrative. There's no need to apologize for one's opinions.
We didn't find your comment out of context at all. The reality of some church socials is it one place some let their hair down a little. However there is always supervision so it's rare that anything physically sexual happens. That not to say that mental tensions may rise considerably at times.
This is the best article I read in a long time. Often I thought how the nudist organisations lament that their membership is aging and they have no appeal to younger people. If these organisations would behave normally like all other parts of the society (save of MEEEEETO crowd) they would have more members. Humans are beside the great apes the most sexual organisms this side of the Sun. How many centuries it will take before we discard our archaic ways of thinking? Sex is nothing less, nothing more then other necessities we need to live. Intake of energy, eliminating waste. Did anyone thought about the true pleasure we experience is when we put something into our body or take something out?
I had a very religious mom. She made me to be an altar boy. One boy I got friendly with told me that his penis is holy. I do not know how old we were. I tried to recreate our vacations, stays with grandparent, but everyone is dead. My guess is 10 or 11. Of course I wanted to hear more and get also my friend to be holy. My mom was so happy how eagerly I wanted to go to church. I shared my "knowledge" with a best friend in school and he was also interested to become an altar boy. Unfortunately he told his mom why. She told my mother and it was the end of my religiousness. I could not forgive mother for a long time that she was so mean to me to deprive me of pleasure and friendship of a guy that was genuinely interested in me. When I read how society made people so crazy that they have to feel bad and have weekly session with a shrink for some pleasures they enjoyed I feel like being dropped to a strange planet. My pleasure experience surely did not make me to be gay and even if it would; who cares? We are on this planet for a short time, it should be only the good time. Jerry
I grew up Catholic, in the South. Church picnics, in my youth, were certainly a place to flirt with the other sex. In case you don't know, Catholic girls know how to have a good time.
So, reading your thoughts brought back many memories. My experience confirms many of your thoughts.
The Catholic Church located in the beach town where I spent my summers had a relaxed dress code ("come as you are"). Many teenagers would show up in swimwear (bikinis) with a shirt or coverup. It made Sunday mornings much more "exciting".
I understood the parallel that you were endeavouring to describe ; no problems from me at all. Sadly, in today's society, ' some people ' will be too easily offended by ' any comment ', except their own. Perhaps another way to draw the parallel could be to say " it's as likely as a gang bang at a supermarket checkout ! " As to your " leads me to think that we have a long way to go to correct these misguided perceptions. " - I believe that the problem and difficulty with main stream society in not accepting naturists and naturism lies totally with the naturists themselves . . . . . . . the issue is between the ears of the naturists, with so many people, events, etc being held ' behind closed doors ' etc. Anyway, this was to have been a brief reply to your blog - not an entire blog by myself . . . . Well Done.
In a perfect world, everything you write is correct. But it only takes a few people to ruin it for all of us. In Wisconsin, I can note a few exceptions to the rule, all related. Mazo Beach was closed about 8 years ago due to overt sexual activity and drug usage. At Sun Ray Hills in Burlington, now closed, several visitors one weekend were kicked out due to sexual activity and was well known about. More recently at Toadally Natural in Hartford, the owners have significantly restricted single males due to married men using their property as a place to hook up with each other. These problems are caused by those who think they are naturists.
Now I agree naturism itself, for me and 99% of others, is as sexual as a church picnic (I highly recommend them, they are more fun than you think!) But it takes only a few to destroy what we have built and reinforce the stigma of naturists being a bunch of pervs. How we rid ourselves of the blight is still a mystery to me.
As a church going naturist, I can't imagine being offended by your comments. Personally, I don't really get offended by anything. I think offense is overblown in our society. Usually when people take offense, they are seeking to dominate a conversation and control a narrative. There's no need to apologize for one's opinions.
Love the blog. (My opinion.)
We didn't find your comment out of context at all. The reality of some church socials is it one place some let their hair down a little. However there is always supervision so it's rare that anything physically sexual happens. That not to say that mental tensions may rise considerably at times.
This is the best article I read in a long time. Often I thought how the nudist organisations lament that their membership is aging and they have no appeal to younger people. If these organisations would behave normally like all other parts of the society (save of MEEEEETO crowd) they would have more members. Humans are beside the great apes the most sexual organisms this side of the Sun. How many centuries it will take before we discard our archaic ways of thinking? Sex is nothing less, nothing more then other necessities we need to live. Intake of energy, eliminating waste. Did anyone thought about the true pleasure we experience is when we put something into our body or take something out?
I had a very religious mom. She made me to be an altar boy. One boy I got friendly with told me that his penis is holy. I do not know how old we were. I tried to recreate our vacations, stays with grandparent, but everyone is dead. My guess is 10 or 11. Of course I wanted to hear more and get also my friend to be holy. My mom was so happy how eagerly I wanted to go to church. I shared my "knowledge" with a best friend in school and he was also interested to become an altar boy. Unfortunately he told his mom why. She told my mother and it was the end of my religiousness. I could not forgive mother for a long time that she was so mean to me to deprive me of pleasure and friendship of a guy that was genuinely interested in me. When I read how society made people so crazy that they have to feel bad and have weekly session with a shrink for some pleasures they enjoyed I feel like being dropped to a strange planet. My pleasure experience surely did not make me to be gay and even if it would; who cares? We are on this planet for a short time, it should be only the good time. Jerry
I grew up Catholic, in the South. Church picnics, in my youth, were certainly a place to flirt with the other sex. In case you don't know, Catholic girls know how to have a good time.
So, reading your thoughts brought back many memories. My experience confirms many of your thoughts.
The Catholic Church located in the beach town where I spent my summers had a relaxed dress code ("come as you are"). Many teenagers would show up in swimwear (bikinis) with a shirt or coverup. It made Sunday mornings much more "exciting".
~Safebare
I understood the parallel that you were endeavouring to describe ; no problems from me at all. Sadly, in today's society, ' some people ' will be too easily offended by ' any comment ', except their own. Perhaps another way to draw the parallel could be to say " it's as likely as a gang bang at a supermarket checkout ! " As to your " leads me to think that we have a long way to go to correct these misguided perceptions. " - I believe that the problem and difficulty with main stream society in not accepting naturists and naturism lies totally with the naturists themselves . . . . . . . the issue is between the ears of the naturists, with so many people, events, etc being held ' behind closed doors ' etc. Anyway, this was to have been a brief reply to your blog - not an entire blog by myself . . . . Well Done.