of the younger posters have had a much more enlightened upbringing than was the standard in my day as regards nudity. Hopefully the day when http://fairpost.net becomes more acceptable is drawing nearer! My first experiences being naked were in the 60’s, the personal freedom advocated by the “counter culture” was like a challenge to the institution at a time when there was a considerably more oppressive moral “code” as to what was socially acceptable.
Always being one to challenge the establishment I viewed nudity as an extension of the political and societal approaches I held. More folks were prepared to be bare in public as a form of protest and I increasingly came to think of clothes as another form of oppression. (At the time clothes was likewise a signifier of class.) I first began going bare “in secret” during vacations when no one was around, I assume I still believed there was something “perverse” about it, however there was likewise an elation of feeling more in tune with nature without clothing about it than just teenage rebellion.
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties I ran into societal nudity. I stumbled across a naturist beach one day and it was a kind of life altering moment. It took seconds to get out of my clothing, but this was quite different to any fabric shore I’d ever been to – instead of getting your own little space and no intereaction with anyone else this was extremely friendly, folks would come and chat and there was no feeling of discomfort about it. There was also no distinction of class, there were folks from many different backgrounds but no societal barriers. There were men and women, singles and couples, gay and straight, and you believed you can speak to anyone.
The one apparent lost group was younger people. Although there were families with young kids there were no teenagers or 20’s, all the adults were pretty much middle aged or older. Since then I spend as much time as possible nude, have become a regular beach goer, went near the seashore and organize my work so I can be on the beach as frequently as possible (not as frequently as I Had like thanks to our climate). I’ve likewise shaved all body hair as it feels so much pleasanter and affords a more even tan. My best friends are naturists and I’ve met some great folks at various beaches as well as on the net.
There are some favorable changes from my early days, there are more younger people from the missing age group at beaches nowadays. More non naturists appear more tolerant of naturists, and also the web has become a great forum to erotic beach .
Regrettably however it is apparently taking ages for attitudes to change, there are still too many who see us as perverts or link nudity with sex.
Our media still views naturism with the same form of “naughty postcard” image and marketing still uses nudity to sell products. Things are slowly changing though and it’s nice to see websites like this helping to change attitudes. Keep up the great work. Any opinions are welcome.