- I remember one of my first times going to the beach,
I had accidentally checked in on my Facebook
and that's kind of how I came out to my family
about being a nudist. (laughs)
(60s style pop music)
- I have been a nudist for a little over eight years.
- I've always been interested in it,
and I just, you know fell in love with it,
the sun and the wind is just great free feeling.
- For me, the joy of nudism is comfort
and is people feeling welcome.
- What was my first experience like?
My first experience was fun. I didn't get naked.
I was there with a friend's band
that was the entertainment and I was going to be nosy.
It wasn't instantaneous with me.
I didn't have enough positive body image
to just get naked right away.
- I found out through an online search
that there was actually a nude beach near me.
So upon a little bit of looking around online,
I actually found someone on Craigslist. (laughs)
She was from out of state,
just looking for someone to hang out, with someone local,
so I went.
- My first nudist experience publicly was
actually a nude beach, Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
I went with two of my friends and actually,
they surprised me, and then once I already was there,
I had all my stuff, they were like,
"Oh yeah, it's a nude beach."
So I remember having a moment of thinking like,
"Do I want to do this? Can I do this?"
And so I like, I was like, "Yeah, I do want to do this.
And I'm like, I'm ready."
So I kind of emotionally prepared myself for that.
- Do people ever get excited?
I would say this is probably my most common question
that I am asked from guys.
- Yes, there are situations where that happens.
If that happens, at my particular camp,
we would go find a board member or men
that we consider security
and those guys go address the issue.
- First of all, I think people are afraid.
They have more self-control than they realize.
So I think the fear is that,
"Oh, I'll totally lose control."
And then when they're in the situation, they're like,
"Oh, I don't feel like this is sexually charged."
- A lot of guys who were curious about, you know,
going to the nude beach or something like that,
they seem to be terrified of this happening.
I'd say 99% of the time, it's not gonna happen.
- We're never in a situation where us
as women are ever fearful or afraid.
- Are nudists mostly old men?
I have gotten this question a lot.
I would say that there are loads of nudist old men.
Yes, but that said,
that's not everybody that's interested in it
- From my personal experience, kind of 50/50
if you spread it out between the different types of places,
I'd say.
- Nudists are not mostly old men, that's definitely not it.
People of color?
There are not a ton of us, but there are a lot.
- I'm actually a member of a few organizations.
The first one I got into is called
the Florida Young Naturists,
specifically tailored to the young adults.
We don't have anything against the older crowd,
just trying to make the younger people feel
more comfortable.
- If you are looking at clubs with memberships,
you're going to see a lot of the old men.
But if you're going to nude beaches,
if you're going to events, if you're plugged into
some more social media, you know, people are active.
People are doing it.
- Are children invited?
Are they welcomed to the events or the different venues?
Yes.
- Nudism's roots was a family recreational activity
where you engage with nature.
You can be in a lake, you can be hiking, you can be camping,
and you can do those things with your family.
- My camp that I belong to is a family resort.
- The pure essence of nudity, nudism,
is family-friendly nudism.
- I have friends whose daughter was born
into being a nudist.
She knows nothing else.
There are lots of adult nude resorts
but there are tons of family resorts all over the U.S.
- So children are definitely welcome.
- Have you become more confident after becoming a nudist?
Definitely.
- I don't think I ever really had a huge body issue
or anything like that, but this definitely opens your eyes
into, you know, meeting people for actually the people
that they are.
- I actually had wanted to do a publicly naked thing
for a while, but I was feeling like, nervous,
like I wasn't ready at the right spot with my body.
I know a lot of people say, "Oh, I'll do it,
you know, when I, when I go to the gym
or when I lose the weight," and then year after year,
like, I felt like I never lost the weight
and I never got to the perfect body.
So I was like, you know what?
I'm just going to do it with the body that I have right now.
- There were so many people of so many races
and so many sizes and they were happier than me,
and I wanted that.
- What is the grooming situation like?
There's all of it.
There's manscaping, there's no manscaping.
- I think that's very individual.
- There are people out there
who just want to go full natural,
as you came, as you're born, but there are plenty
of people nowadays just completely shaved.
- That was something that I had worried about my first time,
and I remember like wanting
to make sure I shaved everything 'cause I just thought
that that was the default, and then I realized like,
you actually don't have to do that.
- I know a lot of guys that are completely like,
they shave it, they wax it.
I know a lot of ladies that shave everything
and wax everything.
I also know a lot of people that are hairy like bears.
- Am I desensitized to nudity?
I'd say so, yeah.
Not necessarily like it's a bad thing.
- I think in a weird way, I'm actually more sensitized
to nudity and that I have a positive reaction.
- What happened for me is you learn
to appreciate everybody's flaws,
just like you appreciate yours.
- America is very hyper-sexualized,
so being desensitized to that is a good thing, if anything.
(laughs)
- I feel welcome, I feel happy,
I feel like if I see nudity
I'm like, this person is my new friend.
- The only thing we notice on each other now is
if somebody gets a new tattoo or a new piercing
or changes their hair, because that's all we got.
- Once you get into the regularness of it,
it's not a big deal anymore at all.
- Do I tell people I'm a nudist?
I tell everyone.
- I do, and I am so glad that I get to be able to.
- My family knows.
I talk to my friends about it.
We've had discussions about it, disagreements.
Yeah, I think I'm pretty open about it, no issues there.
- I wear it proudly.
I encourage people that don't have positive body image
to take a chance and try it out.
- I have had some weird questions put on me,
you know like, "How could you do that?
What's wrong with you?
Are you a deviant?"
- People react mind-blown at first.
I have a daughter who's 31 who was not supportive
in the beginning, but by the end of year three,
loved the mother that I've become.
- I would say that most of my nudist friends are,
I would say, in the closet, as far as nudism.
They don't publicly acknowledge that they do it,
and some of them are super passionate
about it, have been doing it for years.
- How has being a nudist impacted my dating life?
Well, I wasn't really dating to begin with.
- I mean, getting candid, haven't really had that much luck
in that personally, but you know,
getting on the dating apps and stuff like that,
I include it in my bio.
- I would say that being a nudist has impacted
my dating life.
I mean, I would say in a good way.
- I think it's definitely more of a struggle now,
not because I can't find someone to date,
but being a nudist is not something I'm going to bend on.
- It's better to be upfront about it
than to just kind of slip it in there afterwards.
- I have gone on nudist first dates before, which are fun.
I think the biggest impact is like, you know, I feel like
since becoming a nudist, I would want to date somebody
that is a nudist also, or at least wants to do it with me.
- Is it easier to date a nudist?
I think it's easier only because when you meet people
that aren't nudists, men assume
because I like to take my clothes off
and play volleyball all the time
that I just want to take my clothes off for sexual purposes
and it's so far from the truth.
- What's the best thing about being a nudist?
Oh, there's so many.
I actually would say the people.
Like, it's fun to be naked by myself
but I would say it's actually the community.
It's something that I never expected.
- I would say, you know,
the freedom, body acceptance that comes along with it.
- Honestly, it's how they made me love me.
I didn't love all of myself before that.
- When I first got out there, I was worried it was going
to be so embarrassing.
People are going to be staring at you,
watching me and all that.
Not even close to being the case.
No one's paying attention to you
because everybody's naked. (laughs)
- I've done nudist travel.
I've had so many fun nudist adventures, great stories.
There's a lot of just like warmth and acceptance,
and I think that's been the most exciting thing.
- I didn't have positive body image prior
to becoming a nudist.
I thought I did.
It's my joy.
I love all of me.
- You know, there's nothing to worry about.
There's no reason to be apprehensive about it.
There's just, try it out if you're thinking about it.
(upbeat dance music)