Word: nudists
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...growth? One reason may be that at a time of crushing global uncertainty, nudism thrusts its devotees back to basics. In surveys, the No. 1 reason nudists offer for going around without clothes is relaxation: as confining garments fall away, so do the worldly responsibilities that they signify. Many nudists--especially women--also argue that the nudist subculture prizes body acceptance, meaning they don't have to stop eating carbs or fat; there is little Botox here...
...contrary to what you might think, American nudism is not rooted in the hippie '60s. A 1988 history, Family Naturism in America, credits German immigrant Kurt Barthel with organizing the first nudist outing in the U.S. in 1929. Barthel trumpeted the presumed hygienic benefits of light and air on the body. Within a decade, the American Sunbathing Association--which later became A.A.N.R.--was founded. It was run by Baptist minister Ilsley Boone, who for decades enforced a family atmosphere by refusing membership to clubs that sold alcohol...
...Nudists have long been preoccupied with whether the lifestyle is healthy for their children. In 1959 naturist author Donald Johnson wrote a pop sociology called The Nudists. It extolled, in common naturist refrain, "the nudist child's freedom from sexual curiosities ... The unsatisfied desire to see that which is customarily forbidden incites many children to unwise or immoral acts ... Nudist children spend much of their free time at the park with their families; they are therefore less likely to join motorcycle clubs." One still hears such quaint sentiments today. It's common for nudists to claim, without evidence, that nudist...
...nudist press published the results of a five-year study of children raised by nudists. Growing Up Without Shame concluded, rather expansively, that "the viewing of the unclothed human body, far from being destructive to the psyche, seems to be either benign or to actually provide benefits"--typically indifference to such inevitabilities as puberty, sags and wrinkles. Dr. David Fassler, a fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, says such claims haven't been validated by independent psychiatric researchers. But a visit to the camp yielded anecdotal support. An 11-year-old girl described--in disarming detail...
...kids in the throes of puberty can see their developing bodies as horribly inelegant. At the camp, pubescent children covered themselves more often than older boys and girls--though even the pubescent children were nude most of the time. The campers were never required to be naked, but most nudist resorts mandate nudity in pool areas. That can be difficult for some kids. A 15-year-old girl from Texas who has been a nudist since age 3 says she only rarely felt awkward during puberty. But when she did, she didn't always want to be naked--even though...