We naturists who deplore the apparent existential threat to our way of life posed by the disappearing youth, those who abandon naturism at puberty and never return, have a variety of usual suspects to blame: more tempting options in a world increasingly based on technologically sophisticated entertainment, a fantastical but growing phobia of paedophiles (as if nudity was ever a prerequisite for them), and a more realistic fear the rest of share of the ubiquity of camera phones and the unlimited and lingering reach of the internet and social networks (though arguably, the dyed-in-the-wool naturist from birth has the least reason to be concerned about anything as inconsequential as naked photos).

I believe, however, there is a more fundamental obstacle to the once dreamed of permanent naturist society (whether universally practiced or universally tolerated) that survives across successive generations. It is that the experience of naturism is intrinsically different for those who discover it post-puberty and those who have been lucky enough to have been raised among naturists from earliest age.

For the former, the converts, the resounding chorus of enthusiasm is ‘freedom.’ To shed one’s clothing among others is to shed a burden, to discover a new experience – of physical comfort, of psychological [clarification], of the neutralisation of discrimination based on sex, physical appearance or social class, the honesty of relating to others without the absurd artifice that what is not seen does not exist. The scales fall from their eyes to reveal for most an Adamite purity or for some, it must sadly be admitted, a prurient stimulation at the unveiling of the unseen taboo. All converts to naturism have felt these things. They have perhaps been struck by some more than others, but they have all been exhilarated by something if they have stuck with it.

The latter, the naturists from birth, may benefit as well from the absence of artificial and arbitrary distinctions, and it is every naturist’s hope and expectation that their youth will thrive without the prejudices and fetishes of the textile world. The native naturist may very well benefit from this upbringing, may grow up more balanced and uncorrupted, but what the native can never feel, can never experience at first hand, is the joy of unburdening, and it is by nature difficult or impossible to value the absence of a burden one has never felt. Nor do they have the thrill of discovery. In fact, for many of them, the mainstream world of the textiles is full of wonders to discover and irresistible compared to the naturist paradise they take for granted.

A close parallel may be seen in the trend (analysed so eloquently in another thread recently), that of young women on French beaches choosing to retain their bikini tops. For their mothers and grandmothers from the 1960s onwards, casting off those tops (or, as was popular in my younger days, simply rolling down their one-piece maillots) was a liberation from repression. Their daughters and granddaughters today naturally have a very different perspective, but it is worth noting that there is no repression where a young woman chooses to cover her breasts where she remains free to choose the opposite. Perhaps we can take comfort in the hope that even lapsed naturists benefit from or even appreciate their freedom to return to it in more and more places.

There are exceptions, of course. I have met a number of second or third generation naturists who, as adults at least, continue to appreciate and observe our values, but they seem the exception rather than the rule.

This does not mean, however, that naturism is doomed. There will always be new and zealous converts, and even if we haemorrhage too many of our native youth, their growing presence among the native textiles can only tend toward more acceptance for the rest of us. The textile world may give little thought to us naturists, but it is far more accepting of nudity in a variety of contexts, not all of them sexual. This will in the long run, I believe, mean fewer and fewer are shocked or surprised by us naturists in more places and contexts. The effects of the intrinsic difference between zealous converts and blasé natives may make inherently unlikely the dream of some early naturists that naturism would come to be practiced by all and everywhere, but perhaps we can still dream of a world not far off where it can be practiced by any and anywhere.

We're having unusually warm weather at the lakefront cottage this weekend. One of the female freshmen who started coming after being invited by friends noticed the "Something Encouraged" thread. I was disappointed nobody replied about how ending showers after PE affected body image for young people, which might affect their willingness to consider social nudity.

She asked about restarting it.

I decided Dino's comments about disappearing youth and the freedom newcomers to nudism discover were better for discussion than the original thread.

Also over on a different thread about the "Original Olympic Spirit," Ramblinman wrote this on Sept. 15 to VeryGary:

He's right about it being "imperative" to be comfortable in their skin and accept the bodies of classmates.

On comfort with nudity, it seems we're moving in the wrong direction in so many ways compared to just a few generations ago.

I'm not talking about men and women showering together, or even about men swimming nude as used to be common. Until a generation ago, most young men and women had to shower after PE class. It wasn't optional. Today, except for swimming classes where pool hygiene makes showers essential, showering rarely happens in general high school PE, and that's if PE classes are still required in schools. Often they are not. Even high school athletes usually go home dirty after practice and shower at home, and that continues at college except for the more elite athletes and the more physical sports.

I realize mandatory showers stopped because parents and students wanted them stopped. Bullying happened. Even when teachers or coaches monitored showers, they could be accused of harassment.

I can't say anymore I'm a recent college grad, but it wasn't THAT long ago. I work with lots of recent college graduates and interns, and I know the way people my age and younger think about being nude is not how older nudists think. It's less an age thing than lack of prior experience with nudity as a non-nudist. People from my parents' generation, and for a long time before that, were used to non-sexual nudity in ways that young people today just aren't.

Just a generation ago, shy and overly modest young women were routinely required to take off their clothes and shower together after PE under the supervision of a teacher or coach. Two or three generations ago, many young men were expected or even required to swim completely nude. Today, I know women and even some men who are afraid to swim without a T-shirt over their swimsuit. Showers are required at swimming pools, but when people walk around the locker room nude rather than wrapping a towel around themselves as they walk into the shower, or spend more than the minimum possible time in the shower, or don't face the wall when showering, some people think there's something wrong with them.

What happened?

I've talked to people my parents' age about their experiences with mandatory showers after PE. For lots of people transitioning from elementary school to junior high or high school, showers were scary, but they didn't have a choice, so the clothes came off and they went into the showers.

I've asked some of my ultra-traditional older friends what it was like, as young women whose parents required them to wear long skirts to school, allowed slacks only when it was really cold, and made them wear loose-fitting blouses that didn't show anything of their figure, to be told by their school to put on shorts and school-issued T-shirts for mixed-gender high school PE classes, and afterward to shower with the other girls. The school-issued T-shirts weren't tight by the standards of their public school, but showed their developing figures, and guys noticed. Women said it was difficult at first, especially since guys were starting to get interested in girls and many liked seeing the more traditional girls wearing shorts and T-shirts since they never got to see their legs or their upper bodies except in PE.

Apparently it was common for male students back then to make comments to other male students about how much they'd love to see this or that female student in the shower, and to comment about female PE teachers or female coaches who were cute. It wasn't uncommon for more attractive female students to make cutting and nasty comments in the shower about the bodies of the less attractive female students. Listening to those stories told me a lot about why mandatory showers ended.

(CONTINUED)

Thanks, BeachBunny, for continuing the thread. I was hoping there would be more comments or reactions.

My impression from what I read on blogs of enthusiastic naturists is that they are predominantly converts (like me). I was lucky enough to discover naturism at 17, but that is still a world away from growing up with it from birth. I still recall vividly my first time (and many other naked firsts since then), and it was like a weight being lifted from my shoulders. Surely it is different if you have never felt that weight. Might that not be a strong contributing factor to the loss of many who grew up in naturist households. People always blame camera phones, pubertal body shame and the desire to fit into the mainstream, but surely born and bred naturists are less susceptible than others to embarrassment by the first two, at least. It seems paradoxical to those of us who wish we had never had to go through the shame, inhibition or repression we eventually cast off with our clothes, but surely it is relevant that those who never felt them also never felt the weight being lifted, so it is easier to undervalue the freedom they take for granted.

Thoughts? I would especially like to hear from the point of view of the born and bred.

It's a tough one; because - to my knowledge - there aren't any statistics available for us to answer that questions with "facts."

I've discussed my daughter a few times here before. I started normalizing nudity for her from birth. By the time she was 2, her Mom started seeing the value of clothesfreedom at home; and came "on board" with making clothing optional in the house. Shortly after that, we saw that there wasn't any real reason for wearing clothes at home at all; and we transitioned to full-time home nudity. Maybe a year later, we decided to include her on our nudist resort outings; as her comfort with nudity was clear enough that to give us some confidence that she was be ready to meet and engage with other nudist children. And for the following few years, we basically split our time between nudity at home and the nudist resort.
So when I say my daughter grew up nudist, I am not being hyperbolic; she really did spend the majority of her pre-teen years nude with both her Mom and I.

I'm saying all this to preface my great surprise when I realized it did not lessen the impact of puberty and the desire to fit into the mainstream; and the disconcertment I felt when she decided to quit nudism. I've often questioned where we might have "gone wrong"; but I've had time to make my peace with it. I do think social media also played a part in her quitting nudism. Family nudity is often either derided or outright condemned on social media; and I'm sure this has had some impact on my daughter's feelings about it.
Social media can be a great resource for non-nudists to find information on nudism. Not so much for young nudists struggling to find "representation" on FB or IG.

As I mentioned earlier, this is "anecdotal evidence"; and I'm not sure to what degree my daughter's "turning away" from nudism is representative of the nudist Gen Zers and Millenial demographic. But yes, I did assume that my daughter's high degree of participation in social and family nudism would "shield her" from the impact of the factors mentioned. And I was wrong.

Nudony,

I know that peer influence can diminish or reinforce the example parents set in regard to the practice of family nudity.

Falling away may be temporary or it may be permanent.

I was not raised nudist at all, but I would say that my childhood consisted of a relaxed attitude about nudity and clothing in the privacy of our home.

I had no nudist peers at all that I knew of. In actual fact, one of my classmates was a nudist, but it was a well-kept secret. There was something different about her and I felt drawn to her.

Repeating a story from my essay on Sunny's web site, our family was in a private swim club and one of the girls swam without a top and only the briefest of bottoms. It was not too much of a contrast from her peers at first, but over a year or two, she began to develop and remained without a top when she swam at our club. Our family dropped their membership and I never saw how far she took this as time went along, but American society will only tolerate so much, even in a private pool with a privacy fence.

Although, I had little of the worries about my body that girls typically experience, I went through my early teen years with self-criticism of my body. I was fit and reasonably good-looking, but the body hair started early and became abundant well before my peers. Regrettably, it mattered to me that I looked different and yet I was.
As I entered my late teens, however, I embraced every aspect of my developing body and no longer worried about nudity when on scouting trips or in the school locker room after workouts. My friends had my back and even those who weren't my friends didn't mess with me.

Peers can play a big role in self-esteem, but ultimately confidence must be self-generated and that doesn't happen overnight.

AANR has a Youth Leadership Camp and a Kids Camp. I am sure that helps, but it would be hard to maintain those mountaintop experiences without them also having a large number of body-positive peers at the nudist venue where one attends and with the proviso that one's children attend very regularly.

Kids raised in our culture can endure a very toxic environment of body shaming and excessive sexual interest without a tremendous push-back from one's own nudist community. Social media is quite new; Facebook started in earnest in 2004, just yesterday from my perspective, yet it and the other platforms are enormously powerful today.

I am not saying that you did something wrong. I just wish that your daughter had more and better role models (and how can you have much control over that?) I also wish that you had even more times at nudist camp than you did, but we sometimes live miles away and we have jobs to go to and our kids have competing activities during our summer nude season.

I know it is a huge challenge!
Thanks for sharing your struggles and successes!

Thanks, Nudony and Ramblinman, for your comments. I wasn't expecting anything more than anecdotal evidence.

Of course there are multiple reasons why teenagers often go their separate ways and why nudity raises particular issues for adolescents (self-consciousness, wanting to fit in with the mainstream, etc.), but I still wonder how much of a factor it is that those born and bred in naturism (or any number of other environments for that matter) never experienced the joy of discovering it for the first time.

I am glad to say I have met a few adult naturists-from-birth over the years, but they seem to be vastly outnumbered by the enthusiastic converts. Of course, the difficulty with my question is that those who have abandoned naturism will not be commenting on naturist websites, but I hope there will be more like Nudony who will know of examples among family and friends.

Dino,
I'll give you one anecdote:
I mentioned a friend whose family went to a nudist camp from her earliest childhood. It did have a positive impact on her at first.
The campground was about 3 hours from home and they probably went a couple of times a year.
She, her two brothers and her parents were frequently naked in the privacy of her home.
But they were isolated from other nudists except for their annual or twice annual visits.
Her parents got into swinging. Did that poison her understanding of good nudity?
All I know is that she was very pretty and as she got to be about 12 years old, she experienced discomfort from men watching her at the campground.
She refused to join her parents at camp when she was 15 or 16. She stayed home while the rest of the family continued to go to camp.
Were they really that fixated on her or was her view of nudity beginning to be sexualized through a lack of positive role models?
Simply speculation on my part.
I met her when she was a grown woman (thanks to the Internet, old friends could look one another up). She told me that she didn't go to camp anymore, but she said that she still believes in good nudity and that her children, both son and daughter are comfortable nude at home when they are coming in and out of the shower.
Frankly I am surprised that she retained as much nudist philosophy as she did.
I think that somehow, the innocent nudist years of preadolescence outweighed the poor example her parents set and the only sporadic connection to camp her family had.

I have met people who have been nudists their whole lives, from childhood to middle age and are still firmly involved, active and even outspoken.

But since we were discussing why some nudists don't stay with it, I thought I would share the story of a very imperfect nudist family and how my friend still shares our values, even though her perception of camp was tarnished and thus her lack of participation socially.

Here's an anecdote that corroborates that point.

Many years ago I was at Bell Acres with my family, during a "family-oriented" day with many activities for kids. All the youths were naked and playing, with the exception of an "older" teen (maybe 14-15), who did not partake in the activities; and sat by her parents in the back of the pool area, wearing an oversized T-shirt. Every so often she's slip off her T to go for a quick swim, but immediately put it back on afterwards. It was clear she didn't want to be seen openly naked.
A couple of hours later, another teen - about the same age - arrived with her parents. She was nude with them. When she saw the "T-shirt teen", she immediately waved at her. And when the "T-shirt teen" saw her, her face lit up, and she immediately tossed off her T-shirt. The two naked girls then went off to hang out together, and came back later to participate in some of the activities. The "T-shirt teen" now seemed completely comfortable being openly nude; and as a matter of fact she was having a blast being "silly" with her friend.

I would later get to interact and meet them both - through my daughter whom they befriended; and it turned out they were childhood freinds whose parents were longtime resort members. The "T-shirt teen" was struggling a bit with nudity as she got older; but her friend wasn't. Which served as a motivation for her to "stay naked."

Unfortunately, my daughter did not have the benefit of having a close nudist friend. She certainly socialized with other nudist kids at the resort; but never really developed a friendship that extended beyond the confines of a nudist setting. Did that make a difference? I would say there's a high likelihood. When kids have the benefit of frequency and familiarity, there are more likely to remain nudist as they get older.