NUDISM AND SEXUAL REPRESSION

"...To permit nudity yet not allow ANY form of sexual expression, not even an erection, seems like an impossibility at best and a cruel tease at worst."

NUDISM AND SEXUAL REPRESSION
By Daniel D. Ziegler

I realize now, some years after writing my book NAKED BEFORE GOD, that my claim that participating in organized nudism can increase body awareness and self-acceptance, may not as true as I once thought. While social nudity itself--that is being nude in the presence of others--can certainly increase body acceptance, organized nudism as we know it in this country has major flaws that I now think may actually have a negative effect on self-esteem. This article is an attempt to explain this idea.

By not permitting any open display or expression of sexuality, the nudism movement merely reinforces our society's already negative attitude toward our sexuality, and therefore toward our overall self-image. In this respect, the organized movement is actually counter-productive to its claims. They need to quit making that claim or change the rules.

A while back, I received a phone call from a man whom, with his wife, had visited a nudist park for the first time. There, he had met a friend of mine with whom he got into a discussion about nudism. Being new to it, he had a lot of questions and was making a lot of observations about the nudist life style as he was seeing it, and about peoples' behavior under these, up-until-now, unusual conditions. Wanting to be as helpful as possible in explaining the lifestyle, my friend mentioned my name and that I had written a book about nudism. His call was to see how he could acquire the book and to ask me a few questions concerning him and his experience.

Basically what he expressed to me was that he had been very uncomfortable at the park. He had gone through the normal orientation that they required for newcomers in which he was told a number of things, including how comfortable and relaxing nudism is, and that it is not sexual and that, in fact, no outward form of sexual expression would be tolerated. To further explain this, nudist park owners usually tell men that "if you should become 'aroused', cover yourself with your towel or put on a pair of shorts, or you will be asked to leave."

He found the park and surroundings very beautiful and the naked people generally friendly, and, in fact, all this is what contributed to his being uncomfortable. He found the whole situation--the sights, the sounds, the smells--so stimulating that he had an erection most of the time he was there and, therefore, was forced to wear a pair of shorts the whole weekend. "It was awful," he said to me, "I could not be myself. I never want to go through another weekend like that again."

I had very little to offer him at that point except my usual pitch that I had used when I was the one giving the orientations at that very same park. I told him not to give up on nudism, that he would get used to the nudity and that soon he would not find it overly stimulating and arousing. "You won't even get a hard-on," I said.

That phone call prompted me to begin to examine my own personal experience with "organized" nudism and to ultimately change my views about it--hence this article. What I told him was, in fact, what I had done to myself. In my attempt to set an example for others and to not feel guilty for feeling sexual myself, I had repressed my own sexual urges at the park to the extent that I was lying to myself about what I was feeling. What I really wanted to do was to be myself and let everyone know that I was a healthy sexual person--and that is what he wanted and I believe what most everyone wants.

To permit nudity yet not allow ANY form of sexual expression, not even an erection, seems like an impossibility at best and a cruel tease at worst. Either way, it is a form or sexual repression. The nudists' claim that nudism is not about sex, and that nudist parks are in no way sexual, is hypocritical. The very nature of nudity in an otherwise clothed society is certainly going to increase sexual awareness; and to not be able to express that in any way, not even in touching ourselves or getting aroused, is simply unrealistic AND cruel. And so, when we fail at this, even if just in our thoughts, we consciously or unconsciously feel increased guilt, shame and embarrassment over our sexuality, which merely adds to our already societally-induced poor self-image problem in general.

We are sexual beings and our sexual energy will manifest itself one way or another no matter how hard we try to discourage it. If we can't express it in an open and positive manner, it will cause us to act out in unhealthy ways, such as aggression or substance abuse. The nudists--the unsuspecting victims of this sexual repression--seem to have various ways displaying their behavior and of coping with the dilemma of being torn between the freedom that they know they could feel and the repression that they actually do feel. Many do what the rest of society does--they either numb themselves with substances such as nicotine and alcohol or they act on their sexual feelings and lie about it. Some, to the dismay of the owners of the so-called 'family nudist parks', no longer even lie about it. They are known as swingers and they are out there in numbers; but in spite of how we might characterize or judge their lifestyle, they are the honest ones.

The nudist organizations themselves are not to be too heavily blamed for their contribution to sexual repression, however. They, after all, are simply extensions of our Western society that for centuries has repressed human sexuality, and they have had to conform to present standards in order to survive at all. We at least need to give them credit for attempting to defy some of the rules of society and break free from the pack.

But if we are to ever become the enlightened society we are capable of being, we need to further free ourselves from the social restrictions and religious taboos that have forced our sexual energy to manifest itself in destructive ways. We need to learn to trust our sexuality and to fully express it; and learn that to be free with it does not mean we are going destroy ourselves. In fact, by repressing it we are destroying ourselves. Rather, being free with it means that we can channel it into creative expressions such as helping each other and saving the planet. Only when we fully accept and respect ourselves as sexual beings, will we truly see ourselves as more than that--as spiritual beings; and seeing ourselves as spiritual beings having a full human experience--including our sexually--is the highest form of self-acceptance there is.

I now have nudist friends who are not only comfortable with their bodies but with their sexuality as well. We associated outside the park, in our homes, etc. We feel comfortable to be ourselves and do not hide our sexuality from each other. In fact, we honor and celebrate it. The tension and discomfort that the gentleman referred to in his phone call are not there. IT IS RELAXING because it is self-acceptance. * * *

To receive a free e-copy (PDF file) of NAKED BEFORE GOD: A Look At Healing, Self-discovery and Spiritual Growth Through Social Nudism, go to http://less-onsfortruth.com/ or email me ddziegler44@yahoo.com