A couple of well-written and fair-minded recent articles in the Montreal Gazette have brought renewed attention to the intersections between nudism and exhibitionism. The latter term, most of the time, has a negative connotation except for people who enjoy it. But I think there is also a “benevolent exhibitionism” of the kind in which manyContinue reading “Benevolent Exhibitionism”
Tag Archives: anatomy
The Fig Leaf Fetish
Someone told me recently that naturism kills eroticism; in other words, that so much constant nudity eliminates the thrill of sexual anticipation. I don’t always agree–context is everything–but I know that this point of view is widely sustained at different times and for different reasons. Naturists – always having to defend that we’re not generallyContinue reading “The Fig Leaf Fetish”
Exposed to Learning
Those of us who are educators as well as naturists / social nudists often ask ourselves how to bridge the two: What are good ideas for structuring a naturist education? What would be the practical constraints of establishing a school where people could be nude? Nude Classroom I While it’s possible to learn about socialism,Continue reading “Exposed to Learning”
No Real Nudity
Want to practice your life drawing skills? Here’s what the ad says: “Bare Talent. Come hone yours at the Museum, Thursday January 3 at the Life Drawing Studio.” Sounds fine, perfectly normal. Life drawing means rendering sketches of nude models, after all, hence the catchy phrase “Bare Talent.” But here’s the kicker. The ad, fromContinue reading “No Real Nudity”
The Birds and the Bees
Birds and bees, flowers and trees: about as natural as you can get. I find it very interesting that “the birds and the bees” works as a euphemism for explaining sex, because it hides the idea of copulation even as it broadcasts that sex, too, is perfectly natural, and that all you have to doContinue reading “The Birds and the Bees”
Mammals
Feeling mammalian lately? Basic zoology texts tell us that we mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates that possess hair, mammary glands, three middle-ear bones, and a characteristically developed neocortex. Humans, like many mammal species, have sweat glands, specialized teeth, placental births, and dual-fluid penises (yep, you read that right). Page from an early 1970s children’s book on animalsContinue reading “Mammals”
Exuberance!
Exuberance! It’s a perfect word for describing naturism. Do you know the bodily origin of this joyful word? “Exuberance” comes from the verb “exuberate,” which meant to abound, to overflow, to make fruitful or fertile. The Indo-European root, according to my good old American Heritage Dictionary, is eu@-dh-r, and the only modern word derived fromContinue reading “Exuberance!”
The Body Poetic
The body poetic is greater than the sum of its infinite parts. Have you felt? The body_poetic palpitates and alliterates abundantly and shines, when wet and lustrous, Continue reading “The Body Poetic”
The Body Politic
It’s an ancient and common allegory used by the apostle Paul among many others: the body politic. The various sectors or classes of a society are likened to the organs and systems of the human body. Just as we need all the body parts to function in harmony–from the heart and liver and fingers allContinue reading “The Body Politic”
Carefully Taught
“You’ve got to be carefully taught” is a line from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific. The sense of this satirical song is that prejudice is not natural but learned. The first verse spells it out: “You’ve got to be taught To hate and fear, You’ve got to be taught From year to year,Continue reading “Carefully Taught”