Cover Up For The Children

Andrea Simoneau as many of you know, is a student and topfree activist in Farmington, Maine. She will be rallying with others on April 30, 2010 in an effort to get people exercising their rights and to try to make topfreedom a little more normal. I support her efforts but I'm going to leave those comments to all the other nudist blogs out there. I want to comment on what others have said about her.

Andrea was live on Coast 93.1fm this morning talking about her rally, and she spoke of the reactions she has received from others. And here's what pissed me off: She says the most negative reactions were from people who consider her actions morally wrong, and those who think her behaviour is bad for the children. As I write this my blood is beginning to boil so let's hope I can stay on track here.


Let me say that I am a Christian and while I don't follow a lot of traditional stuff, I still have faith and believe that we should do good as the big guy wants us to. Well my faith is where I turn for the moral grounds on which I practice nudism. And wouldn't you know it, there's nowhere in the Bible that mentions the human body should be covered, and nowhere in the Bible that mentions the human body is morally wrong to show off. Instead the Bible refers to human bodies as beautiful and wonderful and nothing to be ashamed of. I mention the Bible because I don't know where else these people are getting their 'morals' from. Yes there's what your parents teach you, but are you really going to tell me that your parents told you your body is shameful and you should hide it? Did they tell you that the child they created is ugly and should be hidden? I think the confusion lies between morals and societal expectations. If you're telling me that a woman exposing her breasts is morally wrong, I think what you really mean to say is that it's societally wrong, and that is a very different thing. Yes that behaviour is societally wrong, but it should not be morally wrong and that's why people like Andrea are out there trying to change our perceptions and fight for equality. Heck, it's not even about equality, it's about people calling human bodies shameful and that societal expectation needs to change.


And that leads me into the comment about exposing children to toplessness. Are these people seriously going to tell me that seeing a woman's breasts is going to scar a child emotionally? Really are you going to condemn the human breast to that degree? It's a part of your body, for crying out loud, it's like you think you were born with two evil demons on your chest and making reference to them makes them angry. You know what that does to kids? Deep down inside it tells them that their bodies must be hidden, nobody wants to see them, and they should be afraid and ashamed to have people see their bodies. Then comes the negative body concept and then comes another generation of people who hate themselves and their bodies and that leads to a whole host of other problems. Sad. I talk about this time and time again, and I will continue to push this. We are continuing to cater to negative body concepts because we are ashamed of ourselves.

If Catherine Zeta-Jones Says It's Normal...

I've come to a bit of a realization about our culture; we love our celebrities. I guess that's not really a revelation but I think it's an important realization for the advance of naturism into mainstream society.

Lately there has been a whole host of celebrities confessing to the press about how much they love to be nude. Headlines such as these are popping up everywhere:

Celebrities back plans to expand naturism on Hampstead Heath

Naked celebrities: Why we'd all rather go nude

Zeta-Jones misses nude lifestyle


I've read these before and didn't give it much thought; either because I don't really care about celebrities or maybe I just thought it was all for publicity. My thoughts on this changed yesterday however, when I realized just how much impact these articles can have on people. Here I am playing roller hockey with my friends, including my buddy K who is probably one of my most prudish friends and doesn't even give me the time of day to talk about my nudist experiences. Well he rolls up beside me and says something about what a gorgeous sunny day it was and then he says, "it's a great day to get naked". I almost fell over backwards in amazement! I agreed, then asked him to elaborate. He told me how he had read about some celebrity who had mentioned that she always liked to be nude at home, and how K thought that was a great idea.

Right there I realized that no matter what I said about nudism, it meant nothing to him, but if some celebrity he respects promoted nudism, then that's all he needed to make it acceptable in his mind. And I can only imagine just how much impact that celebrity had on him in order for K to come up to me and suggest enjoying the day in the nude. That's a complete 180 degree change from his thinking only a few days prior.

So what's the deal with nudist celebrities? Well as much as I don't want to admit it, our society is in love with famous people. We want to hear every juicy piece of gossip and we want real-time Twitter updates to keep us informed about every detail of their days. Most of it is trash and I surely don't follow it, but I think it's a little different when we're talking about nudism. It's not written the same way as typical tabloid trash, and I think this is why celebrities can do a lot for naturism. Most articles I've read involving a celebrity who confesses to enjoying the nude lifestyle is written in a positive way. The articles don't condemn nudity or the lifestyle, and more often than not, it makes naturism sound good. And clearly this is a good thing for the promotion of naturism, and this is apparent with my friend K, who has obviously gone through a complete change of opinion thanks to a celebrity who says that nudity is healthy and natural. I think celebrities have a powerful ability to change a lot of minds about simple nudity.

You know there's some irony in that. Celebrities are constantly blamed for inflicting negative body concepts upon people; especially young women. The fashion, the unrealistic bodies, etc. Well since nudism promotes a positive self body concept, these celebrities are perhaps helping the body concept movement for once.

So to all the nudist celebrities out there, I hope they keep on telling the world about nudism because apparently in our society, the word of the celebrity is supreme.

Body Concept at the Beach

When people ask me about my experiences with yoga, swimming, or going to the beach, all while I'm nude, they often say the same thing, "I could never do that, I'm too [fat][skinny][hairy][small]etc..." And I can never get it through to them that an environment in which everyone is nude is probably one of the most positive places you'll ever find for your body self concept. It's a tough image for people to understand until they've been there. I know for me it wasn't the allure of being naked that brought me back to Wreck Beach, it was the amazing feeling of acceptance among an entire shoreline of people, who were all different yet all the same in their nakedness.



I don't go to clothed beaches much anymore now that I've found Wreck Beach, but my friend M was telling me about how she ended up at one of the local beaches last year with some of her friends. She doesn't usually go to regular beaches either, but I guess her textile friends forced that visit upon her. Anyway, she told me about how she felt so much more aware of her body and her image, and how she felt like everyone was judging her there. She was constantly checking her bathing suit to check for coverage. Feeling the critical eyes of those around her, she began to worry about her image. I know what she's talking about; textile beaches are uber-critical places. You're supposed to be fit, have the right balance between revealing your body while staying legal, and your outfit must adhere to society's fashion standards for the season. Are polka dots in this season, stripes, etc? Seriously I take my favorite beach for granted sometimes until I'm reminded by M that we have it so good when we are among other nudists.



So in response to all those people out there that say "I could never be nude in front of others because I'm too [insert negative self concept adjective here]." I say you're wrong!! I know it's going to be like pulling teeth to get you to try the lifestyle, but I promise you'll notice it's much more positive and healthy for your self image. Those crazy nudists are open and accepting of all, so give it a go. I'm thankful to live next to one of the most famous nude beaches in the world and I vow to not take it for granted and enjoy it as much as I can, while trying to show others what a gem we have available to us; not just the beach, but the whole concept of nudism is available to all of us to enjoy ourselves and our bodies naturally without criticism. We are all beautiful just the way we were made, and we all need to realize that and believe it.

Live Clothes-Free, Help the Earth

I don't like to repost things I find as I would rather share my own perceptions and impressions, but I really enjoyed this article and have to share it. It's all about how much energy you can save by living naked, and the article has a real nice positive view. You don't even have to be a nudist, just reduce the amount of clothing you wear when you don't need to, and it will help out. Words of wisdom for all of us!

What does "being green" mean?