Now I've mentioned on this site before that I am into the nudist lifestyle, but I'd like to see what everyone thinks about the whole concept of it.

Basically my own journey began before I can even remember. I've always joked around with friends that everyone knows of little kids who undress and run around naked all of the time; well I guess that I never got over that phase. I've always been more comfortable when nude and never thought of it as dirty or sexual. Some years ago, when I got on the internet I started reading about the nudist philosophy and it was like a huge revelation. I found out that there is a whole sub-culture of people who feel the same way about it as I do.

For those of you who don't know the basic idea of the nudist philosophy is that nudity is comfortable, fun and not the kind of dirty forbidden fruit that our society has turned it into. While most people know that nudists exists and do what we do most people are surprised to learn that we consider our activities family friendly. In fact we actually consider the nudist lifestyle to be a healthier way to raise kids than the 'textile' lifestyle. Textile or 'clothes compulsive' is how we often refer to the people who feel that covering up is the only way to be.

Basically the reason that we consider nudity to be a healthier way to be is because we feel that covering certain body parts (epically in skin-tight cloths) just makes they into an object of fetish, the forbidden fruit. Their have not been a whole lot of studies into the effect that being raised a nudist will have on a person but what we do have is positive. Kids who are raised as nudists tend to wait longer before loosing their virginity, a low teen pregnancy rate and general more positive attitude about their own bodies.

I'll be posting more later on, but until than those of you who are curious can follow these links to find out what nudism is about, straight from the horses mouth.

NOTE: Some non-sexual nudity on the linked page but it's a small pic where you can't really see much of anyhing.
The FAQ from the Naturist Society: It's an FAQ for people about nudism in general

I originally had 3 links to other websites but the software for this board only allows one link per post. Next time........

BTW I'm really curious about how people will respond to this. Luigi knows about my nudism, cause I remember talking to him a long time ago about it. Back when Rona posted she thought it was the worst thing ever to be nude on a beach.

To each his own. Then again, even I was surprised when you made a nude photo of yourself your new default pic on your MySpace profile.

The picture may have been small, but I don't think the owner of this site would appreciate links to pages that show bare female breasts & male genitalia, so I deleted the link. Sorry.

Saves on laundry detergent.

Watch out for snakes! ;-)

Well, check this out. It's a "Dear Abby" colum that seems to relate to nudism. Don't worry everyone, no pictures after the link.

TEEN BOY'S CASUAL NUDITY PERPLEXES LONGTIME NEIGHBOR

Several of Abby's readers weigh in

My question is, why is this neighbor looking on on the "Smiths"?

Or is the person wishing they had a pair a binoculars to get a better view?

I'd have to side with the neighbors in those letters. Seems to me that standing in front of a window is no different than standing outside of the house, especially nowadays when all of the new houses are built about two feet away from each other.

John has a point, though. If I were the parent of that kid, I'd set limits on the behavior at the very least to protect him from neighbors with wandering eyes.

In the second link someone tells a version of a joke that's been floating around nudist circles forever. A woman calls the cops because a neighbor has been exposing himself to her. When the cop gets there he says that he can't see anything; the woman tells him that he has to either stand on a step stool or use a telescope in order to see the "indecently exposed exhibitionist."

The neighbor in the origional question sounds quite a bit like a Gladys Kravitz (the nosy neighbor from "Bewitched") in that she knows the naked teen's routine; that in the morning he's eating breakfast and watching TV while nude in front of his parents and sister without any hint of arousal or them thinking anything of it. She seems more concerned that he's nude with his clothed family and no one thinks anything of it than worried about anyone in her house seeing it.

Of course, I have to side with the family in this one. I'm a nudist male who used to live with two semi-nudist female roommates; semi-nudist meaning they did sometimes attend nudist events, didn't mind anyone's nudity and were sometimes nude but not nearly as often as me. If someone was peeping in the window of our apt it would not be uncommon to see me fully nude while the girls could be anywhere from fully nude, topless, bottomless, underwear, fully clothed or any combination of those options while we ate meals, watched TV, surfed the net or whatever. They didn't mind my nudity nor was I embarrassed in front of them or mind whatever amount of clothing they chose to wear or not to wear. And if someone were to think that immoral than stop looking into my dang window, which would not be that hard as we had a ground floor apt where the living room had 2 windows that backed up to some trees where only the neighbors walking their dogs could see anything if they chose to stop and take a look.

What I was wondering is how did the responders know that the original writer was female?

"Absolutely no evidence of arousal" - okayyyy...I think someone is looking way too closely. I'm surprised Abby didn't comment on that.

I think the neighbor is blaming the boy for his/her own problems or tendencies.

Nove, you may have a point on that. The original post gave no indication that it was a female. I, and most of the responders, just assumed it was a woman. Probably because stereotypes of someone who writes to Dear Abby or a noisy neighbor.

It's worth noting that the responders comments that the original writer was female were not edited or corrected by Abby. That leads me to believe that "Abby" already knew that the writer was female or agreed that this was a reasonable assumption.

PARENTS are refusing to let their children swim in Levenshulme baths – because it’s being hired for naked male swimming sessions.

Check this one out. It's a public pool that's being rented out by a gay male nudist group once a week, just like any other group might rent out the pool for a private party, except they are naked. These moms are raising hell about it because they say it's unhygienic for their kids to swim in a pool where others had skinny dipped. Do these women really thing that swimming suites are waterproof? They aren't, water hits the same "naughty bits" weather you are wearing a suit or nude.

I don't think that's the real problem. I think the moms are bigoted against the gays.

John, did you you see this story from a couple of months ago? It was discovered that pictures of teenage water polo players were being posted on gay porn sites. I'm not suggesting that the group in this story is involved in something like that, but the parents can be cautious without being bigoted.

Hold on, I misread the story. I thought that the gay group owned the pool. In that case, my above post would only apply if they were using the facility at the same time.

They aren't using it at the same time. The gay nudist group is renting out the pool one night a week for their get together, just like any group would rent it out, except they happen to be naked. The Moms are raising hell because other days of the week their kids have swimming lessons in the same pool. They claim it's not because of the men's homosexuality just the fact they are naked in the pool. As if swimsuits are water tight. When you're in a pool the water touches your "private areas" no matter if you have a swimsuit or are nude.

Florida condo banking on clothing-optional pool to increase sales

Interesting a Tampa, Florida condo conversion is designating one of the complex's two pools clothing optional in hopes of attracting new residents. Tampa would be a logical location as Land O' Lakes, Florida (a suburb of Tampa) is known as the Nudist capital of the world with 7 nudist or clothing optional resorts.

I'm not exactly sure that the developers "get" exactly what nudists who they are marketing to are all about. They say that the clothing optional pool will be for only those aged 18 and up. Mainstream nudism is about the idea that nudity is a healthy non-sexual activity for the whole family and kids are often found at AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) affiliated resorts. Making it "adults only" could both send the wrong kind of message about what kind of place it is and also deter nudist families from moving in there.

The developers do have a very appropriate name though, Eden Condominiums.