Reality check

The reality of ‘the nudist’.

I think that most people who do their best to promote nudism or naturism should consider what they are doing. Don’t get me wrong. They probably think they’re doing something good, for which I applaud them, but is this what you’d expect to be a typical nudist?

A fit girl on a bike? I’ve been a naturist for quite a while and I still have to encounter one of those. Maybe I live in the wrong place although the Netherlands is a country where bicycles are very prominent.

We are the real thing.

And with the real thing I mean ordinary people who don’t all look slim and fit. Who have some excess skin-filling, scars, and in general less than perfect bodies. (Present readers excluded of course.😉 )

This is more likely. Normal people, like you can encounter at a World Naked Bike Ride.

Good humoured people with their flaws, and not caring a damn about that.

Posting pictures of naked people that look like anyone would present a more honest picture of nudism. It also strikes me that most nude images show women, while the nudist ‘world’ mainly seems to consist of men. That’s at least my experience, but please correct me when I’m wrong.

Posting images of picture-perfect people is attractive. I understand. You want to lure people into something new, and showing them the nicest of the prettiest is the best advertising, but won’t that work against us? How would you feel if you see a shiny new car in a dealer showroom and once you go inside you’re shown a used, beaten up, battered old car with the odd dent and paint chipping off in places?

Honesty.

I really think that honesty will take the nudist movement (if we can speak of that) furthest. Also slowest, but at least people will know what they will get into.

They will see real people, doing real things. Eating, talking, watching television or playing games. Or just being outside having a good time.

There’s no need for us to pretend to be the prettiest around. We’re us. People. Let’s tell the world but most of all also show the world what we’re about.

Incorporate nudity in your everyday life as much as you can; at home, at nude beaches, at resorts etc. And don’t be afraid to talk about it if the subject comes up. Treat it like the normal thing it is. Educate people by giving the good example.