The Great Outdoors

Calling it "REI" nudism may be a stretch, but conveys the general idea. Some of us look at a camping/hiking gear catalog the way some men view naked ladies--with great enthusiasm. In truth, overnighting in the outdoors with a woman or group of mixed company often means the rules of engagement are changed, and often for the better. Decorum takes a backseat to practicality. Privacy isn't paramount at a campsite, and everyone makes allowances. You get the idea. It may be more meaningfully described as casual nudity, and not nudism per se. Who cares?

My first experiences with nudity while spending a weekend outdoors hiking was surprising due to the prim nature of the group I was with, several fellow employees of mixed gender and age, including a married couple and a bunch of singles. To our surprise there were some hot springs along our trail, and weary from a day of steep hiking, one in the party said, "I'm going in." "But we didn't bring suits!" Undaunted, the eager bather said "So what?" and promptly stripped down to get in. Giggles of course ensued, then the predicable choruses of "Should we?" "I will if you will!" followed until we were all naked and up to necks in hot springs. It was a lovely, wholesome experience, and not without titilating overtones. I've been back many times with different groups, and nearly everyone I've taken to the springs partakes, willingly giving up their REI coordinated outfits for nudity.

Needless to say, my pictures say it best.

TomB for The Nude Review "Nudism In The Great Outdoors"

See: Teen Nudism On The Nudist Bare Blog

Increasingly, America's beaches begin to resemble the European model of liberal nudity, particularly in California, on Cape Cod and elsewhere. It's only natural that trends would support a new permissive attitude with general nudism, and frankly, what better way is there to enjoy the water and sun? (Pic: Californian surfer Meg hits Blacks Beach, August 15, 2011. Nudist Pictures Galleries .)

Tags: American Nudists, Teen Nudists, Black's Beach, Cape Cod Nudism, General Nudism

Why It's Stunning To See American Teen Nudists

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I see an American girl going topless or nudist it strikes me in a way a French or Swedish teen doesn't provoke. I grew up knowing that Europeans enjoyed communal nudist recreation, all ages and genders happily mixing it up naked, but it was certainly not the norm in America. Imagine knowing that that girl in seventh grade who sat alluringly next to you in geography would that afternoon be at the public lake wearing nothing more than hairclips. It just wasn't a possibility for my generation.

Much later in my life near Red Rock on Stinson Beach in California I saw my first "teen nudist," a girl of perhaps fifteen frolicking in the chilly surf with her boyfriend, also nude. I was mesmerized. Walking around the low cliffs at low tide I found the designated nude beach (from which they'd apparently wandered) and was struck by the vision of about a hundred nudists, all seemingly young, engaged in every natural way one associates with teens, but they were all naked. You could see the cliques and cabals, the posteuring boys, the frisbee tossers and sunbathers, like a beach anywhere except no one wore anything. I mustered the courage to join them. There was an immediate psychic transformation--being absolutely naked in front of that many people had a tingling effect. It was highly arousing, though I didn't get an erection but rather a nice sustained "fullness." It felt a little naughty, and extremely exciting, though I'm sure I'm not what one would call an exhibitionist. Maybe it's just a sensual experience.

While it didn't happen in seventh grade, I now know what it means to be able to fully appreciate the female form without the hindrance of courtship (after all, that is what happens here). Instead of it being unimaginable, it's fully realizable, and on most any nudist beach anywhere. That girl from seventh grade moved on long ago and no doubt substantially changed shape and form. But her echo lives on in all those young girls filling nudist beaches around the world, the only price of your admission to the spectable being a willingness to free yourself from the shackles of textiles. If I see a French girl on a nudist beach in Europe it doesn't have quite the same effect, though it's no less exciting. Let's just say it's different.

JerryP for The Nude Review  "American Teens & Nudism"

Teen Nudist Galleries

Nudist women in contrast, then and now

Examining nudist subjects over the course of the last fifty years provides interesting contrasts. In the fifties women still managed to "dress-up" their nudity with formal jewelry, pompadours and a June Cleaver correctness. In the sixties with hippies came the "liberated" female, rejoicing unabashed in her new freedom, but still, the wild stack of hair, and of course, wontonly mismanaged pubic hair. But the images are inspiringly quaint and mildly erotic. It was naughtier then, to be nude, in mixed company.

In the seventies came the polyester years and a reconsidered feminity. Curves began to subside. The new woman was trimmer, her hair less fixed, natural but obediant. The aura of "swinger" entered the cultural lexicon. Men began to blow dry their hair, carefully. Instead of in nature, "nudism" moved to the suburbs, to the deck and hot tub. It was wild, man.

With the eighties came a more sensible naturalness, as more visited the nudist and topless beaches of Europe. To be nude in mixed company was sophisticated. It wasn't a big deal. Women still styled their hair for a nude day at the beach. Somehow the Farah Fawcett look sitting atop a nude female still evoked a "dressed but undressed" aura, but it soon passed in the nineties.

Along with the internet came porn. The ubiquity of nudity, and lewd nudity at that, soon softened even the most agitated sensibility against bodily function and naked presentations. Now a monkey could stumple upon the pornographic Web page with a few wild punches at the keyword. Nothing was sacred anymore.

The new century re-idealized the female form. Gone absolutely were curves, wild coiffures and pubic hair. Everyone got in on the act. Nudist sites sprouted to take advantage of the discovery that nudism offered one of the best perspectives on "natural nudity" (our site began in 1996). Then of course nudism morphed, for a while, as web entreprenuers decided nudism needed some pornification (we never went there).

We now sense, as submissions foretell, a resumption of a more placcid return to "normal" nudism. We no longer receive in great quantity the horridly pornographic depictions of men of women (never published by us). Fewer are shaving their genitals. More are simply enjoying being nude, on beaches, at home, in nudist clubs, wherever it enhances the experience of living. As our galleries reveal, the past fifty years have been interesting, to say the least.

JamesB for The Nude Review

Nudism With Attitude

The French are known for their savoir faire, fine cuisine and, of course, Brigitte Bardot, who got the ball rolling on topless sunbathing across Europe. Today nudism is barely a movement in that public nudity is treated in a rather "ho-hum" fashion, with few even bothering to turn their heads. (The ones that do are probably American.) Marc Brunel adds to growing collection of French teen nudists with some fine photography (as recent as this morning). ("French Nudism: Nudity With Style" Rebo