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”
Tag Archives: clothing
The Empire’s New Clothes
Of 2012’s Events reviewed, a rhyming Tale of Royals Nude. There lies an Isle across the Sea that hosts a Royal Family: a Queen, her Son, two Princes – Heirs and Scions of Celebrity. The Family’s known in World Affairs, their Lives attracting many Cares since Princes’ Mum died fleeing Fame: a Fairy Tale that’sContinue reading “The Empire’s New Clothes”
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”
Freedom
One encouraging result of the Fall Arts Festival at Oaklake Trails is that one of the artists who attended has decided to make naturism the topic of her research paper in a sociology course. She asked to interview me, so we did, but the tape recorder wasn’t working properly and so I wrote a summaryContinue reading “Freedom”
Threadbare
(A short story, based very-loosely-not-too-tightly on Acts 9:34-42) In the city of Joplin there lived a widow named Dory, who was always doing kind things for others, especially the poor. She was a skilled seamstress, and since the time of her husband’s death, several rooms of her home had been overtaken by bolts of cloth, andContinue reading “Threadbare”
Bare-abouts
The woods that day were fairly wet; thick fog hung in the air. She’d left before we’d eaten yet; we did not know her whereabouts… Although her coat lay on the rail, her boots upon the stair, we guessed she must have walked the trail down to the lake, or thereabouts. We grabbed her coat,Continue reading “Bare-abouts”
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”
A Clothing Conundrum
Dear reader, I offer a clothing conundrum:When standing in front of the washing machine drum,how do you determine the ins and the outsidesof textiles that seem to have too many cloth sides? I’ll help with the laundry. I’ll get the clothes gladly.I’ll wrangle with hangers and fold the clothes badly.But sometimes I can’t tell what’s whatContinue reading “A Clothing Conundrum”
Customs & Costumes
Bathing costume: there’s a phrase hardly anyone uses anymore. Yet the different textile objects to which the phrase can refer are still so widely used that the costume has become a custom. According to my trusty old American Heritage Dictionary, costume and custom have a common etymological root, “seu,” meaning “of oneself.” Think of oldContinue reading “Customs & Costumes”
Cheek
Definitions of “cheek“: (1) the fleshy part of the face on either side of the mouth (2) a buttock (3) a frank, daring attitude (4) the way some people pronounce that French word for “cool” All of these definitions apply to one of naturism’s newest, cheekiest, and most dynamic web presences. Nurba: Urban Naturism andContinue reading “Cheek”
