The point of naturism/nudism isn't to seer other people nude, but rather to experience more freedom and move away from feeling guilt, shame and/or fear concerning onw's own body.

We have been conditioned (taught) to see nudity as a negative, I do not think it is healthy to abhor our natural state. Many,if not most, naive trival cultures saw nudity as natural and normal. This changed aroudn the world due to the spread of Western religious dogmas. In Australia, the Aborigines say the greatest evil (or curse) Europeans brought to them was clothing.

I have been to several nudist clubs, and without clothing to denote status, everyone treats each other a lot more equally

It would not be a mandatory thing. I just think the choice should be available, rather than someone else making choices for us.

"Inappropriate"? Only by the church's definition.

What is "inappropriate", really? Society needs to get a grip on the whole "can't bear to even think about sexual reality". If society didn't have all the repressed sexuality issues, you wouldn't pop a boner when you saw a naked woman.

I think my 'popping a boner' may be due to evoloution or biology but I'm quite happy to blame the church for it, if it gets me out of trouble

I find the idea of gettign sexually excited by table legs to be pretty funny. Studies have shown that persons who have no outlets for sexual desire pretty develop neurotic and irrational behaviors.

I have often thought that a lot of religious persons are adamantly against sex just to get the that extra excitement and thrill out of doing the forbidden.

In ancient Greece or Rome, I doubt anyone ever got turned on sexually by a table leg.

It is sad tht we live in a society where less than 10% of ht eopulation can fit into wha tis generally seen as "attractive", and we also tend to feel shamed if we dont' meet the unrealistic expectations advertisers have promoted as the ideal.

You will find in naturalist/nudist literature that there is a lot said about overcoming "body shame" and "body shaming". This is because a part of nudist/naturist philosophy is to learn to accept ourselves for who we are and also to accept others for who they are, rather than putting so much focus on where we all fall short of societal expectations..

Personally, I think it is a better way to live, to be comfortable in your own skin, instead of having constant worry and shame about how you don't live up to an unrealistic ideal promoted by advertisers, who use models with eating disorders and Photoshop all the imperfections out their ads

Average people usually have a least a few extra pounds on them. That is what normal people actually look like. Not the eating disordered Photo shopped models. The sooner people who are just average realize that they are "normal", the sooner average peopel will feel good about themselves.

The public transit scenario seems to come up a lot.

Generally, nudists/naturist tend to try to behave in such a way as not to offend others. That is just a part of the culture and etiquette.

As an example, most people who ride in the World naked Bike Ride in Portland Oregon, will ride naked to the starting point of he ride (Starts at a different place each year). Those who take public transit to get to the starting point of the ride, won't get naked until they get off of the last public transit vehicle. Legally, a person who is on the way to a protest in Oregon, can be naked all the way there, including on public transit, but people simply do nto choose to do so out of courtesy for others. (The World Naked Bike Ride(s) are protest(s) against the world's continuing dependence on fossil fuels.)

Ironically, your examples of Italy and Greece have had not probloems with things gettign out of hand, as you suggest they night if nudity were no big deal here.

Neither has there been problems in France or Germany, where nudity is generally mroe accepted, or any other country where nudity is less of a big deal than it is here.

Wait, what are you talking about? Naked women can't freely just hang out and walk down the street in public in any of those countries. Women everywhere are freaking out about being just catcalled. Explain how everyone getting naked is the answer there.

Seeing him nude would be no big deal to me, but I'd be really upset by he'd he behave if he were nude. He has no sense of propriety (doing what is proper and acceptable). Trump has the mentality of a sexual predator.

At AANR nudist clubs, they are on the bigilent lookout for sexual predators and promptly remove them.

The whole point (of nudism/naturism) is to be completely comfortable in your skin no matter how you look to others.

Studies have shown that kids raised in nudist families, have higher self esteem, more confidence and fewer prejudices, and score "healthier" in terms of mental health tests.

The reasons beign that not beign taught to be ashamed of your body and the way you look has muc more positive influences on children.

As for people walking around naked surrounded by clothed persons... they are not "exhibitionists" unless they derive some kind of sexual excitement or satisfaction by doing so. Not feeling shaem about your body is not the same thing as exhibitionism. Exhibitionist make it a point to be seen and nake a point to draw attention to themselves, which is quite different for a nudist who simply would not care if they were seen naked because they are not ashamed of their bodies and don't care one way or the other if they are seen.

That beign said, most nudists do make a point not to be seen, not because they fear beign seen, but because they generally try to avoid doing things that might offend others. Also, they would try to avoid situations that provoke persons with sexual agendas.

It isn't about being seen. It is more aobut having the self confidence and aelf assurance enough to not care if you are seen, and just enjoying the freedom in movement without clothes and experience the sun wind and/or rain as nature intended.

Beautiful nakedness is in the eye of the beholder.

The states of Vermont and Oregon have pretty nude friendly laws. In Oregon, you can legally be nude anywhere if you are protesting. The oregon State Supreme Court ruled that nudity is protected under the State's constitution. The wording of the decision is clear about protests, but vague about other situations.

The thing about contracts,even social cottracts, is that they can be modified, changed or even broken.

What is or isn't attractive is learned and has changed over time. In the middle ages plumpness was considered ideal. In Samoa, to this day, fat is considered to be attractive. ideals of beauty are cultural and learned. They can be unlearned too, where peopel just accept each other for who they are instead of an unrealistic ideal driven by advertising.

To me not feeling ashamed of one's own body is an ideal worth fighting for. It goes a logn way towards good self esteem to accept oneself as is.

@snytiger6 , ppl accepting their bodies the way they are is destroying your health care system.
the # of obese, & morbidly obese ppl in the US is astonishing. a high % of ppl with C19 are obese & die. they end up on ventilators & the hospitals charge obsene amounts of money to keep them alive but many don't make it.

@callmedubious Ironically, it is often the lack of self acceptance that leads people to eat to the point of obesity. Because they don't accept themselves, they eat to get some emotional satisfaction.

If you look at a country like Germany, were nudity is a lto mroe accepted, peopel there dont' over eat so mcuh.

Also, a good part of obasity in America is the lack of nutrition in the goods they eat. When a food is poor in nutrients but high in calories, a person eats more of it because the body doesn't stop being constantly hungry until its nutritional needs are met, and you can't get nutrition form junk food.

@snytiger6 , i was stationed in germany for 3/12 yrs & while there were many hefty deutchers at that time (early 1980s) i didn't really notice many that would be considered obese.
i think a lot of that has to do with the German's love of the outdoors. they have trails everywhere & love to get out & "wander" as they refer to it.
you're right about the poor nutrition.

I enjoy being nude, and do so as often as is practical, but I don't do it outside. Scotlands climate seldom allows conditions conducive for the activity. Midges would just kill you too.

At nudist clubs those dont' seem to be problems, as nudists are generally bery courteous and considerate of each other.

In society at large it could be a problem as not everyone would be considerate enough huygeniocally for there not to be some laws, such as carrying placing a towel on a seat tht is for general public use. before sitting if one is nude and wish to make use of public seating. For every problem there are multiple solutions.

The World Nake dBike Ride is a protest against our continued use of fossil fuels. It is fun, an dyes, it can be silly at times, but a clothed bike ride would not gain the same publicity about the issue. It is a veyr low bost way to gain publicity for protests in oruj society.

@snytiger6 That's for a good cause.

How do you nude bikers deal with the bugs? Its bad enough with a shirt and shorts. But dealing with them down yonder whilst pedaling?

Although, it may not seem logical, that is true. In both cases those against nudity and those against the Buraq are mostly (often fanatical) Christians tryign ti impose their religious belifs and/or values onto others.