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Why I Don’t Call Myself a Nudist

May 7, 2022 /

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CAPTION FOR THE VIDEO ABOVE:

Hi. Okay. This video will be a little more serious. And yeah, let’s dive in. Okay, I have had a bunch of people call me a nudist, and I have never personally used that label for myself. And this video is going to be about why I don’t use nudist as a label for myself, personally. I don’t have anything against nudists. I’ve just noticed a familiar pattern with a lot of them. That I think is kind of not so great. And yeah, so let’s talk about it.

So the first reason I don’t call myself a nudist is because people have forced that label on me enough that I’m just kind of refusing to use it because people just assume that I am and it makes me really annoyed. And I want to push back against it and say I’m not. So non-consensual labeling of me as a nudist is one of the reasons that I don’t call myself a nudist. 

Also, there’s kind of an assumption with nudist that they are always naked and never want to wear clothes, or like hate clothes. Clothes are useful and helpful sometimes so, like, I don’t hate them. Also, they’re fun for expression and stuff. So, yeah, I don’t hate clothes and I also wear them sometimes. One of the big reasons why I don’t call myself a nudist is because the nudist community seems to be pretty exclusionary and gatekeeping if I’m honest. Most of the nudist people that I’ve met or know about are cishet white men, that are usually older than me. A lot of them are like maybe Boomer age and they have money, and they have a lot of the same ideas about what nudity should be and like, how nudists should be, and it seems like a lot of them kind of hate on tattoos and body modifications and say that it’s like “violating the sanctity of the skin” or whatever, but that that doesn’t fly with me. 

A lot of the nudist spaces like nude retreats and nude resorts and stuff, a lot of them you have to have money to be able to be there. So that automatically excludes like a fuck ton of people. Obviously, like everyone has bills to pay and sometimes doing something for free is not the best idea, but if nudism is about including everyone and everyone being equal and just naked. Why is it that most nudist places are full of cishet white men that have money? That’s my question. Something about those nude spaces makes it so that people that are not cishet white men don’t feel comfortable there or don’t have access to those places.

So yeah, I am not a nudist. I don’t expect other people to be naked around me. I don’t hate clothes. I’m not always naked and I just I don’t want to be associated with a community of people that have been pretty gatekeepy from my experience. So yeah, that’s why I don’t call myself a nudist. I’m just me and I’m just naked a lot. I’d say that my nudity is more a part of my ecosexuality and like neurodivergence than anything else. I just, being naked as comfortable. I like it. There’s not that much else to it. Like it can have a lot of meaning and depth behind it. But like honestly it doesn’t have to. I can just like being naked and not be a nudist. That’s how I feel.

Okay. Yeah, if you have any questions about nudity or anything that I’ve posted in the last few years like anything I’ve talked about. If you have any questions for me, please comment below or answer my survey. I’ll put the link below, or send me an email. I would love to hear from you. I’m making these videos based on what people have been asking me. So I would love to hear your thoughts because then maybe I can make a video about what you’re wondering about. Okay. Thank you for being here. I love you so much, and I will see you soon!

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5 Comments

  • Dojo

    July 4, 2022 at 10:46 am

    I’m so glad I saw this! Specifically right now as my journey with nudity is about to cross a threshold into nudist space. I come from a background of being a cis white male. After many years of retooling oh I consider myself Demi sexual, bi- curious, polyamorous and a relationship anarchist. That’s even too much for me to put into letters. Ha ha. My exploration of nudity began with a beautiful affair. My roommate was a nude figure model… It was attractive how she integrated nudity into her life as a muse. I had no separation between nudity and sexuality due to my conservative Christian enslavement. It blew my mind that there was a loophole in Polite society where a beautiful young woman could be naked in front of a crowd and it not be sexual. It was even more revealing… (pun!) to realize that naked bodies were less objectified in a safe accepting space than bodies wearing spandex in public. I began modeling with her and this exposed me… to an entirely new perspective of how I viewed myself. Exhibitionism perhaps? We went on from there to creating a safe space at our home for roommates and visitors to be clothing optional. It helps to have a private river behind our property to skinny dip! To be completely honest, it has taken years of blunt force exposure to nudity in person and online to disconnect my mind from sexuality. For the first time, I am going to a nudist retreat with Lior to see what difference it may bring to my experience. I appreciate your pushback to the nudist community. I want to be very sensitive and non-threatening as an older white male. My own discomfort is my belief that a nudist community may just be a front for a bunch of swingers. I don’t want to judge, but I also don’t feel a desire to participate in emotionally disconnected sex. I hope I’m wrong. I also hope that we can reclaim the value of all bodies with or without decoration and window covering. Thank you for being a voice bringing freedom and hope!

  • bunnyluna

    July 4, 2022 at 11:43 am

    Thank you for sharing some of your journey and story! Sadly a lot of people have grown up with nudity being connected with sex and being taught that our naked bodies are shameful. I’m happy to hear that you’re starting to release a lot of the societal bullshit and learning what nudity really means to you personally! I hope you have an excellent time at the nudist retreat with Lior! I understand your concern about nudists being a front for swingers, but from my experience people enjoy nudity for a wide variety of reasons. Some of them may be swingers, simply because a lot of people have varying things that they’re into and a lot of things can overlap or be true at the same time. Just as you are a cis white male who is demi, polyam etc and you have varying interests (figure modeling, skinny dipping), there are billions of other people in the world who are uniquely themselves with varying interests. There is a vast array of people who enjoy being nude for a variety of reasons, so there are likely some swingers who are also nudists. Those communities can overlap. I believe they’re a smaller number than you’re thinking, and even the ones who are swinging nudists… that doesn’t mean they’re bad or inappropriate. What would be bad or inappropriate is if they non consensually forced people into things. Luckily people are more aware of consent and having better communication, so I think you’ll have a great time at the retreat despite your concerns. Nudity is for everybody!

  • Bri Leonard

    July 6, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    Thank you for this! America has 2 large organizations that in the past took up the majority of the oxygen in “the movement” or simply assumed they were “the movement” while ignoring these other fantastic and critical offshoots. Their premise typically rely on pre-judging you to see if your motives are acceptably “wholesome” – like WTF does that mean and their #1 concern is that you are not polyamorous or a swinger (2 choices that involve adult social and sexual consent). The 2 organizations wasted decades fighting over where a person should sunbathe nude. AANR responses recreational nudity on private lands and TNS espouses nude sunbathing on public lands (typically beaches)…Y A W N. It’s nice that both groups share early history of nudity and try to help and maintain beaches and campgrounds BUT they’ve become sadly pedestrian and outdated. They have missed a chance to include a wealth of ways that can lead to embodiment. They missed the Body Neutrality movement, they’ve missed anti-diet culture, HAES, a shit ton of authors and online activists (like Bunny Luna), they skipped eating disorders, fat Activism, consent Advocacy, body modification, the joy of textile expression, Somatic Sexuality Education, marginalized bodies and censorship!!!! And the list goes on! It is also glorious that none of the aforementioned trailblazers above DO NOT identify as Nudists or Naturists!!! The future looks brighter than ever!!!

  • bunnyluna

    July 14, 2022 at 11:58 am

    Yes! Thank you for sharing so much in your comment! I don’t think all nudist/naturist organizations are inherently “bad”, they just need to be more open minded about who is “allowed” to be nude or a part of their events/spaces and not be so narrow in their thinking of what is acceptable. All bodies are good bodies! I understand their concern for nonsexual nude spaces becoming sexual (bc I don’t want that either), but to gatekeep polyam and swinger people from participating in nude events is detrimental to their organization and to those who would be excluded. Good boundaries and community agreements are what’s needed, not kicking out or preventing people from coming just because they’re polyam or swingers. There’s space for EVERYONE who wants to be nude, not just a select few.