Lmst

Today on my blog, the first of a series of posts thinking about Nudity and Society.

https://zenmischief.com/2025/11/nudity-society-i/

#beliefs #FreetheNipple #nudism #sexuality #thoughts #zenmischief

Nudity & Society I : What’s the Big Deal about Nudity?

This is the first of four articles addressing nudity and society. Although a series, the first three will stand alone; the fourth article will be a selection of useful supporting links. Consequently there will be overlap of material between the articles. The articles are not fully referenced (hence Article IV), although a Google search on “nudity society body acceptance” (or similar) will find many articles (academic and otherwise) relevant to the whole series, starting perhaps with British Naturism’s 2020 Submission to Parliament.

Every one of us has a body, but the simple act of showing it – or even talking about it – can set off a storm of reactions. In some parts of the world, a bare shoulder or a topless photo will cause moral panic, outrage, or even legal trouble.

So why is nudity such a big deal? Because it hasn’t always been. Homo sapiens has been wearing clothes for only the last few thousand years, or an estimated 1-2% of the species existence.

As recently as the Ancient Greeks the human form was celebrated as a thing of strength and beauty. Their statues and athletes were unapologetically nude, and there was nothing inherently scandalous about it.

However as religion and moral codes evolved – particularly through the Abrahamic religions – the idea of nakedness became entangled with sin and shame; and over time we came to see our skin as something to be hidden, controlled, or covered. And the mindset stuck.

Most of us are taught as children being naked is something to be embarrassed about, and we’re conditioned to see nudity as dangerous; it instantly crosses some invisible moral line.

Such conditioning confuses the natural with the sexual. The human body can, of course, be sensual, but it’s still human. It eats, breathes, moves, and ages! – although it’s rarely represented that way in mainstream media. Instead it’s airbrushed, idealized, and used to sell everything from perfume and lingerie to cars and kitchen refits.

Not everyone experiences these double standards the same way. Women’s bodies, in particular, have been both glorified and policed for centuries. For example there’s the current-ish debate around #freethenipple: men can go shirtless in public without a second thought, but when women do the same, it’s indecent or provocative. It’s a small example of a much larger issue – the use of modesty to enforce social control, especially over women.

Cultural differences play a huge part in this. In some communities – especially indigenous or equatorial societies – nudity isn’t shocking or taboo; it’s practical; even ordinary. By contrast in most of the West, it’s still wrapped in moral judgment. Religion, tradition, and colonial history all shape how we decide what’s “appropriate”, even if the rules no longer make much sense. The
taboo is supposedly to protect children from seeing anything not “age appropriate” – which means essentially anything the child’s parents/guardian may be uncomfortable with.

Art, however, provides an interesting contradiction as restrictions mostly don’t apply in public museums or art galleries. Nude art has been celebrated for centuries; it’s beautiful and pure: as long as it’s in a museum. But when similar images appear in the media, they’re labelled obscene. The line between “artistic” and “inappropriate” shifts continually, thus revealing our that discomfort isn’t really the body itself but about context and control. Only half jokingly, I often say that a B&W nude photograph is art; but in colour it’s pornography.

The recent rise of the body positivity and naturism movements has tried pushing back against all this. The message is simple: seeing real, unfiltered bodies makes us more accepting of ourselves and others. If we stop treating nudity as shameful and inappropriate, we’ll stop treating our bodies as problems to be fixed. But old habits die hard, and society’s obsession with modesty and image continues to dominate.

So why is nudity such a big deal? The answer is essentially because it sits at the crossroads of morality, power and identity. Our discomfort with the naked body says less about the body and more about the cultural stories told about it. Questioning those narratives can lead to a healthier and more honest relationship with ourselves and others.

Although they seldom realise it, what really makes people uncomfortable isn’t the naked body itself, but the vulnerability and honesty that come with it.

#beliefs #freethenipple #nudism #sexuality #thoughts #zenmischief

...I began pulling off my shirt to change when he quickly stopped me.. www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/... #Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #BodyFreedom #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen

The End of Naked Locker Rooms

Not long ago, after a day of work, a colleague and I met for a friendly game of racquetball at our university gym. In the newly designed locker room,I began pulling off my shirt to change when he quickly stopped me:..

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/11/naked-locker-room-end/684907/

#Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #Nudity #Nudist #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #BodyFreedom #TeamNaturist #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen #ClothingOptional #BeBareBeProud

Das Bild zeigt einen Innenraum, der einem Umkleideraum ähnelt, mit mehreren Personen, die sich darin befinden. Der Raum besteht aus einer Reihe von Schließfächern, die an einer Wand angeordnet sind. Drei Personen stehen im Raum und bedecken ihre Körper mit weißen Handtüchern. Eine weitere Person sitzt auf einer Bank und trägt ein rotfarbenes Outfit. Über dem Raum befindet sich der Text „The End of Naked Locker Rooms“ und darunter „What we lose when casual nudity disappears“.

Some interesting thoughts and a good read I found on the net:

**The End of Naked Locker Rooms**
What we lose when casual nudity disappears
By Jacob Beckert, November 13, 2025
Not long ago, after a day of work, a colleague and I met for a friendly game of racquetball at our university gym. In the newly designed locker room, I began pulling off my shirt to change when he quickly stopped me: “You can’t do that here.” Undressing, it turned out, was now permitted only in small private stalls—which struck me as odd. This was a gym with a pool, where someone could go directly from a shirts-on locker room to a shirtless swim. But the logic was clear enough: The space had been redesigned as “universal,” for people of all genders. The locker room, once a place for casual and normative nudity, had quietly become a place where modesty was expected.
My Seattle gym is far from the only one to adopt the practice. Though public nakedness isn’t completely gone, many of the everyday spots where Americans once encountered unclothed bodies—locker rooms, school showers, public pools, bathhouses—have either vanished or shifted away from collective nudity. In 2017, Athletic Business, a trade publication for sports-facility design and management, reported that communal showers without curtains or dividers had virtually disappeared from new construction. This year, a different trade publication noted that one of the prevailing trends in locker-room design is privacy, a way to make “a diverse user base” feel comfortable.
It’s a striking reversal. For more than a century, the cultural norm in the United States was that nudity was acceptable—at least within same-sex environments...

Continue to the source:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/11/naked-locker-room-end/684907/

#Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #Nudity #Nudist #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #Bodyfreedom #TeamNaturist #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #HikeNaked #Nacktwandern #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen #ClothingOptional #BeBareBeProud #Mastodon #BodyAcceptance #Nacktbaden #Skinnydip #BodyPositive #Diversity #TopFreedom #FreeTheNipple #ClothesFree #ClothesFreeLife

A new Sunday Nudist:

https://zjuzdme.org/sunday-nudist-135.html

#naturism #nudism

Man who considered WNBR cyclist a "pervert",punched him off bike... road.cc/content/news... #Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #Nudist #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #BodyFreedom #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen #WNBR

Man who considered World Naked...

Man who considered #WNBR cyclist a "pervert",punched him off bike+attacked police officers spared prison sentence
A police officer also needed their ear glued back together following the assault. L.Turnage was given a suspended sentence due to his"previous good character"..
https://road.cc/content/news/motorcyclist-punched-world-naked-bike-rider-avoids-jail-316805

#Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #Nudist #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #BodyFreedom #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen

Eine Gruppe von Menschen steht auf Fahrrädern in einer Straße, wobei die meisten keine Kleidung am Oberkörper tragen. Sie stehen in einer Reihe, wobei die Fahrräder in Fahrtrichtung zeigen. Im Hintergrund sind Autos, Bäume und Verkehrsschilder zu sehen. Der Boden der Straße ist asphaltiert, und der Himmel ist bewölkt. Der Text im Bild lautet: "Man who considered World Naked Bike Ride cyclist a 'pervert,' punched him off bike and attacked police officers spared prison sentence".

Some interesting thoughts and a good read I found on the net:

**Man who considered World Naked Bike Ride cyclist a "pervert", punched him off bike and attacked police officers spared prison sentence**
A police officer also needed their ear glued back together following the assault. Lee Turnage was given a suspended sentence due to his "previous good character"...
By Callum Devereux, Nov 12, 2025
A motorcyclist who punched a cyclist taking part in a World Naked Bike Ride, causing him to crash, before assaulting two police officers, has avoided a prison sentence.
Lee Turnage, a 46-year-old binman, was riding his motorbike through Colchester during the city's annual naked bike ride event on Saturday 9th August, held in conjunction with several other events around the world.
The prosecution told the court that Turnage was first spotted making indecent gestures and “shaping his fist” as he rode his motorcycle past the group on Hythe Hill.
The cyclist then reported he heard Turnage’s engine revving before seeing the motorcyclist perform a U-turn to head back up the hill. 46-year-old Turnage then punched the cyclist in the head, causing him to crash. The court later heard he believed the cyclists to be "sexual predators" and "perverts". The cyclist suffered grazing to his hands, arms and legs and his e-bike was broken beyond repair by the crash...

Continue to the source:
https://road.cc/content/news/motorcyclist-punched-world-naked-bike-rider-avoids-jail-316805

#Nudity2025 #FKK #Freikörperkultur #Naturism #Nudism #Nudity #Nudist #ProudNudist #GetNakedGermany #Bodyfreedom #TeamNaturist #NaturistSymbol #IamTheFaceOfNaturism #NormalisingNaturism #HikeNaked #Nacktwandern #NaturismusNeuErleben #EinfachMachen #ClothingOptional #BeBareBeProud #Mastodon #BodyAcceptance #Nacktbaden #Skinnydip #BodyPositive #Diversity #TopFreedom #FreeTheNipple #ClothesFree #ClothesFreeLife