Freedom of Dress

Today is a day to celebrate freedoms here in the United States, freedoms such as those depicted by the celebrated mid-20th-century American realist painter Norman Rockwell in his series called the Four Freedoms (clockwise from top left, below): Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. These 1943 paintings, if not exclusively propaganda,Continue reading “Freedom of Dress”

The Naked Eye

One of the big attractions of naturism and social nudism is the exhilaration of moving naked through space. It’s all that “frolicking” that nudists seem to be universally known for. One of my earliest memories as a toddler was shimmying my clothes off to run naked around my room, jumping on and off the bed. But just aContinue reading “The Naked Eye”

Abricó Beach, Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro’s Praia do Abricó nude beach lies far away from the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain, but it is well worth the effort to get there. Abricó is located just to the east of Grumarí beach, a favorite surfing spot in the extreme southwest of the Rio metro area, aContinue reading “Abricó Beach, Rio de Janeiro”

Nude Physics 4: Vibrations

I believe that our bodies interact with the space around them in ways that are more complex than simply “taking up space.” I don’t think these interactions are mysterious, necessarily, just little known or poorly understood. One of these spatial interactions, for example, would be the release of pheromones or other hormones that send amorousContinue reading “Nude Physics 4: Vibrations”

Nude Physics 3: Luminosity

I’m neither physicist nor physician, so it’s only with a bit of creative license that I’m exploring, in this series of posts, certain physical properties of our bodies when nude. The first two posts in the series have featured concepts from physics that are perhaps more obviously applicable to our bodies: surface area to volumeContinue reading “Nude Physics 3: Luminosity”

Nude Physics 1: Surface Area to Volume Ratio

Naturism and social nudism involve the exposure of voluminous parts of our bodies that are obsessively covered by the norms of Western society. No matter what size your breasts, genitals, or buttocks, you are uncovering some expansive corporeal real estate when you undress, and this is one of the most celebrated aspects of naturism, thatContinue reading “Nude Physics 1: Surface Area to Volume Ratio”

Benevolent Exhibitionism

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”

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”