Coming Out of Her Shell

Columnist Laura Leyrer overcomes her phobias and spends a day at Turtle Lake Nudist Resort in Michigan.

What I did experience at this nudist resort was the most incredible sense of acceptance and freedom than I'd found anywhere else. At a nudist resort, people don't care if you're wealthy or beautiful or powerful. Ironically, nudists care more about the person within your skin than the skin itself. Maybe it's because you see so much of it that, in a very short period of time, it just doesn't matter anymore. In my experience, the people at nudist resorts have been universally kind and thoughtful, considerate and welcoming. The people at Turtle Lake were happy to provide directions and advice. Within the first twenty minutes of my stay, I was invited to a community dinner and a water volleyball game. Both men and women seemed delighted to meet me and were easy to laugh and enjoy relaxed conversation.

This is exactly the sort of terrific PR that nudism needs. I encourage all of you reading this post to go and post a comment on Laura's article to show your support.

The Daily Newds 2/11/09

• The Leeds City Museum is offering "Designer Body", a piece of performance theatre which celebrates the beauty of the human body.

  Over the course of 50 minutes the seven dancers will slowly disrobe until they each end up completely naked.
  
  Christine Grimwood, company manager, said: "The piece consists of dancers revolving on plinths that go in different directions and at different speeds.
  
  They start off in quite elaborate costumes and over the course of the performance they strip away layers until they end up like sculptural nudes."

• Strippers in Michigan are being targeted with special work permits and excise fees.

  An attorney who has advised the Michigan chapter of the club association expressed concerns about the constitutionality of both aspects of the legislation.
  
  "In regard to the head tax, everyone that has pursued one of these has had it overturned," said Brad Shafer, based in Lansing.
  
  "There are all kinds of constitutional issues - freedom of speech, freedom of association, Fourth Amendment, privacy issues. For it to be lawful, it has to comply with all those constitutional requirements," he said adding that he has played a role in overturning similar licensing laws in other cities, including Louisville, Ky.

• Nudists and naturists are always saying that total nudity is less sexy than the presence of some clothing, and a theatre blogger agrees.

  The best – and most erotic – sex scenes in the theatre are often suggestive rather than explicit; they frequently come fully clothed. In Phil Willmott's canny production of Fucking Men, the sex has always just taken place or is about to take place. We never actually see it. In Akhe's Faust at the ICA a couple of weeks ago, Faust's sexual conquest was brilliantly indicated by a tiny spinning top.

• The controversy over an artist who paints nude portraits of his 23 year-old daughter is representative of the confusion in China brought about by the sexual revolution of the past three decades.
• Hugh Jackman declares that he is planning on doing his stint as Oscar host in the nude.
• New Zealanders gathered to celebrate National Naturists' Week.
• A photo of a nude man was projected onto a museum building in Britain to break the taboo of showing the male form.
• After their request for a nude beach was rejected, the Nambucca Valley Nudist Group is continuing their search for a clothing-optional area.
• Backpacker magazine is inviting comments from readers who have hiked in the nude, or would consider doing so.
• Columnist Mark Patinkin doesn't seem to have a problem with all the violence at The Super Bowl, but he's really upset about all the sexy ads.
• Cynthia Manning has been posing as a nude artists' model since 1998.

  Everybody has character in their body. There was a model here, she weighed 350 pounds. People clamored for her. You have to figure out where the skeleton is, what the body is doing under the flesh, body type-wise. That’s what you go for, to teach you how to understand human anatomy. Foreshortening is critical. You have to understand a bent leg.

• A blogger attends his first nudist event.

  I had the feeling that I was doing something illicit, that I was part of a small group gathering in secret to do something that society tells us not to do. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but exhilarating at the same time. I couldn’t wait to get inside and meet these new people...I had a chance to talk with several members, and they all were friendly and approachable. I wonder if being naked with all these strangers forced me to be more social?

• Meet the best nudism writer in Canada.

  After a couple lengths of easy breast stroke, I screw up my courage to talk to some nudists. Dog-paddling naked is one thing, but doing interviews? I had no idea journalism would present such personal challenges.
  
  I survey the pool area. Lee was right, everyone is doing ordinary things. Talking. Swimming. Hugging. Wait -- hugging? Naked?
  
  "Body contact is not a big deal," says Jill, who has asked not to use her real name. "It's not sexual. It's like hugging someone at an office party. 'Hey, Merry Christmas, how have you been?' It's the same."
  
  I begin to worry Jill is going to hug me. She doesn't, but takes a few minutes to tell me why she is a nudist.
  
  "Swimming naked is absolutely wonderful," she says. "It's a bit of who I am and I'm not worried about my body. And it's fun.
  
  "We're not showing off, we're swimming."

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Daily Newds 12/8/08

• MSNBC lists the best places to get naked.
• One of Britain's first nudist beaches is in danger because of coastal erosion.
• Pinup icon Bettie Page is reported to be in a coma due to suffering a heart attack. Page is 85. Click here for the official Bettie Page web site.
• A letter to the editor in Flint Michigan says that the 14 year-old girl who took a topless photo of herself with her cellphone is "immoral and disgraceful" and deserves her suspension and other consequences.
• Eat naked...eat green? Click here for uncensored video.
• Kate Beckinsale had to beat up a bunch of friends when she was 10 because of taunting over her mother's televised striptease.
• Kate Winslet believes in realism when it comes to her on-screen nude scenes. "It was important to me to look real. I really don't believe in this notion that actors and actresses should look untouchably perfect."
• Parents of a Wisconsin teen are furious that their 16 year-old daughter was kicked off the cheerleading squad over a nude photo. "And to me, it's outrageous that a government would come in and attempt to punish my daughter or myself for activities -- legal activities -- that we do in our own home," said (the girl's father Ed) Nielsen.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Sunday Newds 11/30/08

• Women in Manchester, England, are getting breast enhancements at twice the rate as women in London.

  "Oh, women have massive boobs in Manchester," my 22-year-old law student cousin, Sarah, who lives just outside the city, tells me breezily. "There’s a lot of money around and it’s that Manchester look, isn’t it? Low cut tops, perma-tans, hair extensions. If you go out in town on a Saturday to places like Tiger Tiger or Circle Bar everyone is dolled up. Big breasts are just part of the look."

• Thanksgiving is celebrated at the Riverside Ranch the same as everywhere else, with the exception of clothing.
• British rugby teams are rivals on the field, as well as with their competing nude calendars.

  (Flanker Andy) Hazell said his team mates did not need much convincing to take their clothes off for charity.
  
  "It's just a bit of fun and we thought it would be good to do something like this," he said.
  
  "The boys are always willing to take their clothes off and pose around, so it seemed a logical thing to do really."

• When Suzanne G. Fullam proposed a nude calendar project to benefit a local library, she was told that it would be impossible to get a group of men to pose naked.

  A few months later, a contingent of firefighters pulled up for a photo shoot, jumped out of the truck and stripped down. Mr. (Cortland A.) Gariepy was stunned and told them to put their clothes back on until he’d set up the shot. “They were definitely the most comfortable. I saw a lot of things I didn’t want to see,” he said. Now, an image of several firefighters, including Chief Joseph Rogowski, with strategically positioned axes and hydrants graces one of the months in the newly released calendar.

• A German caregiver at a day care center allowed a small group of children to play naked in a separate room after they had repeatedly removed their clothing on their own.

  The nude frolicking of some of the children first began after the summer holidays. The fact that other children were disturbed by the lack of clothing did not put an end to the practice. Staff decided to put the nude kids in a separate room, where they could play, under supervision, in all of nature's glory. While the parents of the kids playing au naturel were informed, other parents were not. And when word got out, parents were incensed, talking about "pornography" at the day care centre.

• Parents of a Michigan teen suspended for sending a topless photo of herself to classmates are considering a lawsuit for gender discrimination because male students take photos of themselves topless all the time and are not suspended.
• The Watford Naturist Swimming Club in Great Britain is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
• Artist Melissa Sharplin has been painting nudes since she was 15 years old, and drew her inspiration from a stack of old Playboy magazines.

  "I went to fashion school and always loved fashion advertising and women's figures and trying on clothes. I have always loved the female nude", she says.
  
  "In the 70s it was about free love. It was about beauty and natural beauty."

• AP reporter Hugh Mulligan has died.

  Competing with AP colleagues in New York for choice feature assignments, Mulligan drew the short straw — a weekend in a Pennsylvania nudist colony.
  
  Oh, great," his hostess-to-be said by phone. "You'll be here in time for the square dance."
  
  Mulligan later described her as "5-feet-2 in any direction and barefoot all the way up to her harlequin sunglasses" and said the July 4 barbecue was "about the same as any other place except that people tend to stand a little further away from the fire."

• Seven students were suspended from a Michigan high school for nude cell phone photos, but any potential criminal charges are uncertain.

  Since the girl who took and sent the picture is under 18 the picture is considered child pornography, a felony, and anyone involved in having or sending the picture could face penalties that (Grand Blanc police Det. Robert) McFadden said range from seven to 20 years in prison. "Honestly I don't think we're going to send any kids to prison for 20 years, or even seven," McFadden said.

• I've said time and time again on this blog that if nudism can actually become a thriving capitalist profit cash cow, it will gain more widespread acceptance. Richard Mason, the president of the Florida Naturist Association says it's time for the state of Florida to "grow up" and create more nude beaches, which would create revenue from parking fees and help with state revenue problems. "Naturists like to be around the ocean," he said. "You put one of those beaches in Palm Beach County and it will draw a lot of people."
• Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls band ended up topless on stage after challenging the audience to donate some money to charity.

  "i made a joke from stage the other night during the collection for the danger ensemble (because steven pointed out that i looked like i was about to take my bra off). i joked that i would take my top off if someone donated $500 to the danger ensemble. and [expletive], some generously crazy person went to the club ATM and gave steven five $100 bills. so i had psycho crank up the painful techno remix of coin-operated boy and we had a topless rave (well, it wasn't much of a rave, and i was the only topless one, but we definitely all danced to flashing lights and bad techno) to end the show. i'd say the offer stands, but i think i'll tack on an extra hundred-dollar donation bounty for anyone who wants to see the topless rave again."

• Rosario Dawson is proud of her body, in part because her mother took her to nude beaches when she was young. "She'd say, 'I hate tan lines,' and off our bathing suits would go."

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

A Nudist With His Clothes On

A freelance writer in Cheboygan, Michigan, visited his son and daughter-in-law at their nudist trailer park in Florida, but could not bring himself to join the naked masses.

At the park, I would be among people also naked but, still, it does not appeal to me. At my stage of life, I am pudgy and wrinkled. But that isn't it. Even when I was young and fit, I shouldn't have wanted to be nude around people. In those days, I was underweight and scrawny and I had no waist.

It's interesting that this writer does not seem to have a moral problem with nudism, it's all about his own body image, something that has plagued him for life. He undoubtedly grew up reading comic books with ads for Charles Atlas bodybuilding courses and became ashamed of his own "98-pound weakling" status.

He also has a paranoia about looking at other people who are nude.

At the nudist camp, I kept trying to remember where I looked at people when I met them at a cocktail party or in somebody's home. I couldn't for the life of me remember. I thought I must have looked at their eyes and I tried to do that with the naked people but it didn't seem right. It felt unnatural to keep looking at somebody's face and pretending that nothing existed below their shoulders.

Any nudist will tell you that it's OK to look, it's just not OK to stare. Just as it's perfectly normal to notice someone's suit, dress or shoes, it's normal to notice their body parts. What is not OK is trying to give compliments. Saying "nice breasts" is not quite the same as saying "nice sweater". Human beings are visual in nature, and there is nothing wrong with looking around, just avoid the leering.

Then there's the risk-of-injury argument.

I do a lot of woodwork and, as I may have mentioned, tend to be accident prone. I rarely finish a project without getting a little blood on it or into it. As long as I have enough Band Aids on hand, I can function. But most of my injuries are confined to my hands. I hate to think what kind of trouble I might get into if I were undressed in the workshop.

Nudists are not stupid people. When it gets chilly, they put on clothes. When they are doing woodwork, they put on the appropriate protective attire.

But there is hope for the writer.

One thing about being nude is that I wouldn't mind sitting around and chatting in that condition. But I am not sure I would want to engage in other activities. The thought of playing badminton in the raw or pitching horse shoes does not appeal to me.

I think the real problem here is that the writer and his wife are visiting family at the nudist resort in Florida. While nudism is definitely family-friendly, it's difficult to set aside the societal taboo of being nude in front of your children. It's much easier when the kids are young, but getting naked for the first time with adult children is definitely more difficult. My wife and I easily visit nudist parks and mingle with strangers, but I don't think I would feel comfortable if we were accompanied by our college-age daughter, and vice-versa.

I have to give the writer a lot of credit for trying to understand his son's chosen lifestyle. Many people would not be nearly as understanding, and would never undertake an actual visit. So in some ways he has become a nudist with his clothes on, and that at least is a step in the right direction.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

The Daily Newds 10/21/08

• Naked parties at Yale feature body painting and dancing under black lights.
• Another Illinois bartender has been arrested for serving drinks in the nude.
• PG Porn is sex without the nudity, but with twice the violence.
• James Franco says that he was "uncomfortable" during the shooting of his nude scene in the new Gus Van Sant film about Harvey Milk.
• Two children were "removed from the home and placed in protective custody" after a nude photo of the 3 year-old showed up at a film processing store.
• An Australian school has suspended the entire senior class after many of them ran around the campus wearing only g-strings and school ties.
• Several Bakersfield College students demonstrated topfree in support of gay marriage in California.
• An agreement has been reached in Newark, Ohio, so a 15 year-old girl will not have to register as a sex offender for sending nude photos of herself by cell phone to some classmates. In a related story, 10 students have been suspended and more action could be on the way over a similar nude photo incident at a Michigan school.
• "Perfectly Aged" is the title given to a nude calendar featuring seniors to raise money for the Council on Aging in Pensacola, Florida.
• Guess which body part "Pricasso" uses as a paint brush.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked