Let’s start this blog post with a question we’ve asked many times before… Why do so many nudist resorts fail to attract new members? Especially younger members?
For the resorts it’s a big frustration because much of their income and their future are based on that. But also their members like to see a new face now and then and would love their naturist club to regain the vitality it had decades ago when there were weekly volleyball tournaments, kids running around and and young couples enjoying life without clothes.
For the resorts it’s a big frustration because much of their income and their future are based on that. But also their members like to see a new face now and then and would love their naturist club to regain the vitality it had decades ago when there were weekly volleyball tournaments, kids running around and and young couples enjoying life without clothes.
Human as we are, we blame others for this. Youth has become prude, our resort doesn’t advertise enough, our naturist federation is a failure, it’s all because of social media and the smartphone… We’ve been through this a million times already.
An obvious question could be: If you want more members, why don’t YOU bring them?
You have family, friends, neighbours, schoolmates, Facebook connections, colleagues, a postman (or postlady) and a doctor.
Why don’t you bring them?
Silence.
An obvious question could be: If you want more members, why don’t YOU bring them?
You have family, friends, neighbours, schoolmates, Facebook connections, colleagues, a postman (or postlady) and a doctor.
Why don’t you bring them?
Silence.
Our nudist friends
It had never occurred to us to bring our textile friends, family members or our postman to a nudist resort. Nudists are friendly people and we always managed to make some new friends at every nude spot we went. Somehow we lived in two different worlds: Our clothed world with the people we’ve known for a long time and the nudist world with completely other people, most of them we’ve just met. And that’s fine. It’s comfortable. We just create a new group of friends.
Isn’t that how it happens all the time? We have our friends at the sport club, our colleagues, our friends from school. People with complete different backgrounds with whom we just happen to share a certain interest or passion. Just like we do with our naked friends. A big difference though is that we might invite our school friends for a drink at the bar of our gym. We introduce our colleagues to our family at this or that party. When we’re having a chat with our postman we might even introduce him to aunt Lilly who happens to pass by.
Aunt Lilly is rarely introduced to our nudist friends though and neither have we ever invited our neighbour for a drink at the naturist club.
Aunt Lilly is rarely introduced to our nudist friends though and neither have we ever invited our neighbour for a drink at the naturist club.
The last taboo
We’ve been through a number of large steps out of our comfort zone during our “naturist career”. We had to learn to feel comfortable among a bunch of naked people and to be naked ourselves among others. Both didn’t take more than about half an hour but nevertheless this first step was huge.
Then we had to adjust to the idea that we now had become naturists. Or nudists. We even had to find out what we had become. And then we started telling people about our newly found lifestyle. We had to answer the questions and try to explain that we just did every day things like all other people do at a campground or a beach. Except that we do them naked.
None of our friends ever asked if they could come with us. And it never occurred to us to invite them either.
Then we had to adjust to the idea that we now had become naturists. Or nudists. We even had to find out what we had become. And then we started telling people about our newly found lifestyle. We had to answer the questions and try to explain that we just did every day things like all other people do at a campground or a beach. Except that we do them naked.
None of our friends ever asked if they could come with us. And it never occurred to us to invite them either.
Bring a friend to the nudist club
In fact, we’re not so sure how we would have felt if some had said that they wanted to come with us. We feel 100% comfortable among our naked friends because we’ve met them naked and have already spent a lot of nude time with them. When someone is about to leave the nudist resort we make the lame joke “Hey, I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on”.
But now we’re talking about our clothed friends. People we’ve known for years but who we’ve never seen naked. And who have never seen us naked. How do we cope with that?
The idea came when we saw the “bring a friend” campaigns organised by several naturist federations. At first it did seem a bit awkward but pretty soon we started to see the brilliance of it.
But now we’re talking about our clothed friends. People we’ve known for years but who we’ve never seen naked. And who have never seen us naked. How do we cope with that?
The idea came when we saw the “bring a friend” campaigns organised by several naturist federations. At first it did seem a bit awkward but pretty soon we started to see the brilliance of it.
How can we attract more people into naturism? By bringing them. By holding their hand during the first steps. But then we have to get over the idea that it might be weird. Another step out of our comfort zone but maybe an important step for naturism.
Because let’s face it, we introduce people to new stuff all the time. We take them to the movies or to a bar we just discovered. We invite them to a restaurant we love, we talk them into starting to run or picking up a new sport. We have them over to meet our friends and family. Why wouldn’t we take them to our favourite nudist spot?
Because let’s face it, we introduce people to new stuff all the time. We take them to the movies or to a bar we just discovered. We invite them to a restaurant we love, we talk them into starting to run or picking up a new sport. We have them over to meet our friends and family. Why wouldn’t we take them to our favourite nudist spot?
Homework
For us it’s difficult at the moment to figure out if this strategy really works. To see if it’s fun to introduce friends to naturism and whether they have any benefits from it. Maybe our relation could benefit as well from being together in such an open and honest environment. We do see the advantages but unfortunately few of our friends and family is currently where we are. In Brazil. And neither is our postman.
We rarely ask something from you but now we want to give you some homework. You probably already guessed it… We want you to try to introduce a friend to naturism. We want to learn from your experiences.
If you’ve already done so, lucky you! No homework!
Just let us know in the comments section of this post how it went.If it has been a while, you may also tell us whether it changed anything to your relationship. A partner also counts as a friend by the way and so does family, neighbours, schoolmates, facebook connections, colleagues, your postman and your doctor.
Give it a try and let us know in the comments!
We’re very curious.
If you’ve already done so, lucky you! No homework!
Just let us know in the comments section of this post how it went.If it has been a while, you may also tell us whether it changed anything to your relationship. A partner also counts as a friend by the way and so does family, neighbours, schoolmates, facebook connections, colleagues, your postman and your doctor.
Give it a try and let us know in the comments!
We’re very curious.
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It took me a number of years to finally get my little sister to venture to a resort with me for a weekend trip. She didn’t become a full on nudist/naturist, but she has come on a weekend get away almost once a year with me. We always have a blast and meet amazing people that we both still talk to often. Our relationship is still the same, we just don’t need clothes when one visits the other. I have since started to invite others to come spend a day or a weekend with me. Many want to, or so it seems, but none just come. Portland has it’s world naked bike ride in June and I have invited many to come along. The desire is there, we shall see how many make it.
Thanks a lot for sharing this story!
By introducing your sister to naturism you didn’t only give her the chance to experience it for herself (no matter in which frequency she decides to continue with it), but you’ve probably also changed her idea about the lifestyle and about nudity in general.
Hey, I introduced many friends to nudism. Some of them went with me a couple of times over the years, Some still enjoy nudism as I do.
I’m from Germany though, where a lot of people already had some nude beach experience in the past since it’s pretty common over here.
Whenever I’m about to go to the beach I’ll ask friends to join me. Sometimes friends ask me if they can join me, then I’ll tell them that I’m going to a nude beach and some of them actually join me.
Thanks for sharing Chris!
For many it seems like a huge step to tell others that they’re nudists and an even bigger on to invite them. Your story shows us how easy it can go as well. If you just talk about it.
Being a German might has something to do with it, but we believe that this could be the same for many other countries where nudism is getting more and more accepted in general.
We have tried, unsuccessful, to make local online or in real life contact with like minded individuals who live or have an interest in the non-sexual, social nudist lifestyle. My wife & I have told four close friends, one experimented with us & has since decided nudism is not for her – the friendship has cooled quite a bit & she has apparently found religion. Another friend confided in us, after we confided in her, that she was a home nudist & really has no interest outside of that – she also lives 14 hours away in another Province. The other two were non-judgmental but had no interest in the lifestyle.
My wife & I are members of a local nudist park but it only operates as a campground during the summer months. The members of the Park are content to (to the best of my knowledge) keep their nudist activities confined to the park & have no interest in nudist activities outside of the park &/or over the winter months.
We were hoping that we would be able to learn of local nudist groups online/through social media but, our locale seems to be very bare in regards to nudist groups & activities.
Frustrating how my wife & I can find multiple opportunities to joining swinging groups in our area but nudism is taboo.
Too bad you had such unfortunate experiences. But hey, you’ve tried! Whether people will actually enjoy the nudism is not in your hands, but you did introduce it to them
Hi,we have a nudist resort close to Dinokeng Game reserve in the Pretoria area in South Africa. Once every six months they have a textile weekend where textiles are shown the naturist/ nudist lifestyle.
Great! We’ve heard about several other resorts having a “textile day” or weekend and often it’s a success. We’re fans!
I’m introducing my lady friend to nudist swim on Saaturday Feb 2 .. I WILL guide her through that nervous first half hour .
Great! Let us know how it went!
Interesting post.
I think that in this day and age, alots of ppl have heard of nudism by now, regardless of age or if they are intersted or not in it.
Its hard to “make one” be one, its more of a i wanna do it by my self thing.
I think that today, eventho ppl are less shy of the nude,they are more then ever commited to having nice clotes that makes them feel good, or that are nice to wear or look at, so eventho ppl dont mind nude stuff that much, they still prefer some nice clothing ,its just makes one look cool/er.
Not every nudist doesn’t care about clothes. We know plenty who enjoy nice clothes as well.
The first step is something way out of your comfort zone and that just works better if you’re not alone. We’ve met lots of people who tried skydiving. Not a single one went to the skydive centre by him/herself…
Originally I was a closeted nudist, like so many. When I realised that I shouldn’t act like I was doing something wrong, I found out that it is more easy than you think to enjoy social nudity with friends.
I found out that a co-worker was also a nudist and spent some lazy day nude on the beach together that Summer.
Another time, we were on vacation with my wife when we got an SMS that some friends would come over to the beach. We decided not to get dressed and ended up enjoying the beach nude with them.
Exactly! We often make a much bigger deal of it than it actually is
Over time, I have introduced a number of friends and family to nudism. The first one that comes to mind, is my sister. She had enjoyed our hot tub. After she visited Haulover Beach in FL, she was a confirmed nudist. She married a nudist, which lasted for only 8 years. She is not as overt as me. Most of the people in my religious congregation know, I have been on TV, and in print. I have told just about every one with whom I became friends including one lady who had a mastectomy; her mother told her she was deformed. Pat and I became spent many days together and she even visited my nudist retreat with members in attendance while having a chemo port in her chest. I made more time for her as it was known that she did not have much time left on this earth. She was definitely a confirmed nudist who visited us quite often until her final days. In fact one Yom Kippur service she wanted to come over to soak. We had parts during that service and she had trouble getting clothed again which meant, we were late.
Although this is a very sad story, it’s also another great example of how welcoming and non-judgemental nudism is.
I haven’t had any success. None of my friends have tried nudism. Half of them I’ve mentioned it to were completely opposed.
One friend didn’t try it to my knowledge but understood why I liked it. I haven’t tried family yet.
I haven’t had any luck in convincing my friends to try nudism.
One friend understood why I liked it. Most of them had negative views. One of them told me to stop messaging them. One hasn’t spoken to me since. One says that The Bible doesn’t support living a nudist lifestyle.
I haven’t attempted discussing it with family.
I haven’t had any luck in convincing my friends to try nudism.
One friend understood why I liked it. Most of them had negative views. One of them told me to stop messaging them. One hasn’t spoken to me since. One says that The Bible doesn’t support living a nudist lifestyle.
I haven’t attempted discussing it with family.
There is NOTHING in either the Old or New Testament that says it is something wrong. Even Pope John Paul II said there is nothing wrong with simple nakedness. People can often change the meaning of the written word.
Nudism is about non-sexual nudity, it’s about respect for others, it’s about respect for nature and it’s a social thing. Contact us at 803.695-1937 or email me at [email protected]. You may have heard that you’re asked to leave your clothes at the entrance.This is not true. We understand it may take you a few minutes or even a few days to be comfortable with yourself. The body is just the shell of a person; scars are the road map of who we are.
I agree with you 100%. Being naked is natural. I just wish more people were accepting.
What do you say to a significant other who is afraid to invite our close friends because they’re attractive and said significant other is afraid that if we see them naked we won’t be able to stop thinking about them? She afraid of inviting those kinds of thoughts to the relationship. We’re both new and spent our first nakation in the mountains last week.
Feeling attracted to someone has very little to do with clothes. If you can stop thinking about them now, you’ll also be able to stop thinking about them when you’ve seen them naked.
My wife really isn’t into it. So I don’t know see any point in promoting this lifestyle or continuing in it.
Everyone likes something or doesnt, sometimes or most times , theres isnt even a reason for it … id never be a nudie.. im not saying id never go to a c/o beach but id never be nude .. i dont have the need for it nor i buy the story about the “freedom” and openmidness it brings ,its just sweet talk and excuse.
some things you can’t understand until you’ve tried it 😉
Ya but thats the thing, i dont wanna try it.. that was my point.
Iceman,
If you are not interested in nudism, why do you keep visiting the site?
Cause im visiting it for almost 2 years, besides , if ur not interested in playing football, why do u watch it? If ur not interested in killing someone, why do u have a gun?..
Exactly my point, iceman. Why keep visiting a site with a subject matter you aren’t interested in. You must have some unless you are a vouyer and just visit for the photos of naked people.
Honestly, we don’t think that there’s anyone who would keep following Naked Wanderings for 2 years just for the nude pictures. There are much “better” (mind the quotes) websites for that.
And we also believe that people can be interested in a certain lifestyle without being interested in actually participating in it.
For us it’s also good to get the views from an “outsider” now and then. Because we spend so much time (online and offline) among nudists, we tend to create a bubble. The Meandering Naturist has written an excellent blog post about this: https://meanderingnaturist.com/2018/11/03/barricaded-in-my-naturist-cyber-fortress/
And people like iceman (although he likes to pick a fight with us or our readers from time to time) give us the opportunity to see things from a different angle. Which can be interesting for everyone.
Well my point was that even when one isnt intersted in playing foortball that dont mean they dont like it ,and will attend games?
Do u have to be a football player to be allowed to watch football?
Actually, that’s not the best thing to say to nudists 🙂
It makes you sound like a voyeur… But we do understand what you mean
Im an outlander! like in the children of the corn lol.
But na, i dont call it fighting ,but more like stating out some things, like those we talked about lots of times, freedom… being equal and such… and it doesnt even have much to do with nudism, but its like that in general life, its only that the nudies are the ones pointing those things out as one of their main attributes, and some other things.
As far as the voyeur thing, hm to me that word has also only a sexual conotation.. a person that likes to watch others do it.
Cause again with the last ex. im a voyeur cause i watch football players even tho i dont participate in the game? ..arent ppl that watch fashion shows voyeurs? Or miss universe?
My interest in nudism is purely on how and what kind of ppl do that, how they think, and similar stuff, and eventho after few years i sure do have it down, i mostly did that just for me, not to lay it out, even tho i did lay out some things , tho maybe someday, ill do a blog ,and it will be one of the articles ,who knows.
I’ve told and invited a few of my open-minded friends. You will usually have an idea of which friends may be open to trying it, but there are also those that are a complete surprise. I got my wife to try it at Haulover. She hasn’t done it since and is simply just not interested. She said it was more comfortable for a beach situation, but doesn’t understand why anyone would be interested in doing it in other scenarios. This makes it very difficult for me to continue in the lifestyle because I have to visit places on my own. This also makes it even harder for me to invite others because I know that she will not be comfortable with me asking our friends to hang out naked while she’s not included. It sucks because it’s not like I can just go to the local nudist resort every weekend if she won’t come with me. Also, some places don’t allow single men, and some don’t allow married men to come alone (you should do a post on this topic!). And many of the places that do allow single men have cliques of couples that single men don’t fit into.
Hi Phil, sorry to hear that. Although the large majority of people we met who tried nudism eventually got stuck to it, there are some who remain uninterested. It’s even more unfortunate of course if that happens to be your partner.
Maybe you could meet in the middle and frequent more clothing optional places? We don’t know if there’s any clothing optional scene near you and how it is.
Several times before we’ve started writing a blog post about the single male issue and every time we’ve thrown it in the garbage. It’s just such a complicated problem which can be seen from so many sides that until now we haven’t succeeded to produce our complete opinion on paper (or screen). But one day it’ll get there!
I see your point Nick and Lins. I’m glad you are open minded. Maybe you can do a blog on how to address nudism with religious people.
That’s another one of the really hard topics… Mostly because religion is interpreted in so many different ways. We’ve met quite a lot of religious nudists along the way, Christians, Muslims and Hindus. They felt like their nudist lifestyle was completely in line with their beliefs.
On the other hand when we walked the streets of San Francisco naked during Bay To Breakers there were some religious people shouting that we would go to hell. We don’t think that we would ever be able to have a decent conversation with those guys…
We think that religion is a way of life and its adaptable. It’s open for interpretation.B ut many just use it as an excuse to cover their fears…
There is a good reason for congregating with others of like mind. Humans are social animals, and there-fore visit places where others might be.
Single marrieds do visit my Retreat, I just need to know that the other half realizes exactly what we are. Some of our single marrieds are the best members as well as just singles.
Phil I definitely understand where you are coming from. My wife isn’t interested either.
She’s ok with me being nude as long as we don’t have company. I wonder if saw how natural it is, she would be more open to it.
I am open Naturist!and I don’t have a problem when someone in my family or friends see me naked!I only was with my Dad to naked swimm!with my sister and brother I didn’t have a chance to do that!we live to far away!and I have a few friends were I want to nude beach,and sauna!one of them was a working college!went a servile time!and now we are weary good friends!
Iceman, the definition of a voyeur is someone who gains sexual pleasure by watching someone while they naked or engaging in sexual activity.
So someone that watches football but doesn’t play is not a voyeur. Same with people who watch fashion shows or Miss Universe.
I get it. You can be interested in an activity without participating.
That’s indeed the official definition but we think it goes a bit further than that. We believe a voyeur is someone who gains sexual pleasure by watching people do whatever they do without them knowing. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with nudity. Football players and Miss universe know that people are watching so they are indeed not included.
Sad to see that your Instagram account has been shut down. Was that you guys or did the evil overseers do it? Will you be moving elsewhere?
We would never do that! We love our Instagram probably even more than most of our followers do 🙂
For some reason IG decided to shut us down from one moment to another. Without any notification whatsoever. Now we’re spending a lot of time filling out forms and sending e-mails with the hope to get it back soon.
For a few years while living in Virginia, USA, I worked on a farm part-time during the summers (my other job was in academia) as a handyman. Part-way through the first season I revealed myself as a naturist to my fellow worker, and he agreed that my working nude on the farm was acceptable (the owner also approved). I encouraged my co-worker to join me there, but he always declined. However, he did tell me that one evening, he decided to roam his yard nude, since he was out of sight of the road, and he found the experience pleasant. So, perhaps it is a long jump for him between enjoying nudity and being open to social nudity, but you have to start somewhere, right?!
We once invited a friend to the house we had here in France, before we moved here permanently. We all three lived in Britain, which involved an overnight ferry. Lynn knew we’d sunbathe naked and neither of us hesitated to strip naked in the cabin. Lynn bared her upper half to wash but made a silly excuse about having to keep her knickers on overnight. And in the morning she changed them with her knees clamped together.
On the first day in France, she kept her bikini bottoms on. We teased her but she said she wanted a white patch to show her boyfriend how tanned she was. We retorted that she could do that far more convincingly by wearing her watch. Then, when she took it off, there’d be a white band she couldn’t show in everyday life if it was her bum that was white.
She wasn’t convinced. But she’d obviously thought about it because that evenung, in her room just off the kitchen where I was tidying up for the night, she found a trick that we’d left for her.
“You bastard!”, she shouted with a laugh. I opened her door and she was standing with her back to me, but naked. Since she normally slept in a T-shirt and would have had it on to get into bed, she’d obviously taken it off again but didn’t yet have the confidence to face me front-on.
When I opened the door, though, she had to turn, as she must have known, and from that moment on she went nude in and out of the house. She’d been converted and, even when we lost touch, she went on holiday anywhere she could be naked.
I felt proud to have made a conversion.
Thanks for sharing your story and for bringing people to naturism!
I had written ablog post about this same topic….https://fatunclecheapo.wordpress.com/introduce-a-friend-to-nudism/
Hi there N Wanders. Been having a blast reading your posts. Thank you for the insights.
I’ve read my problem already some posts above “Phil” was the poster.
I have the “same” issue… My wife says she doesn’t feel the need to (even) try.
I’ve done some naturist before was married. Always tried from time to time to bring her on-board but without success.
The thing is… I sense that I’m really missing the holiday time but naked and don’t want to much her more.
The question or opinion that I want from you guys is should I really ask a friend (of both) to join me on camping and introduce her to the Nature life? The Taboo is something real between friends. I know that I’m open minded enough, but how do you think it should be the approach for this kind of invitation?
People react differently to naturism and because we don’t know your friend it’s quite impossible to us to tell you how things will go.
A good tip is to start a conversation about naturism to see how your friend reacts. Is he/she disgusted? Does he/she have all the wrong ideas about naturism? Is he/she curious about it?
Based on this reaction you can already get an idea whether it’s worth talking more about it or not.
Or you could tell him/her that you’ve found a really cool website called NakedWanderings.com and see what the reaction is to that 😉
Probably the best article I have EVER read on the first trip to a CO beach. Beach is located at Lake Tahoe.
http://www.thetahoejournal.com/adventure/nude-beach/
Thank you Nick & Lins , I am glad I found your website. Keep up the good work.
I live on a main highway in the country in New Zealand. When the weather’s warm, I remain nude all the time that I’m home – inside and outside. I got “snapped” a couple of times by strangers turning up at my door unexpectedly
, and although on neither Occassion did they seem to bat an eyelid, I decided to hang a sign on my gate warning people of my nudity and suggesting they honk and wait for me to cover up, or, if they were comfortable, to just come on in and shut the gate behind them. Here are the results of that experiment.
Number of people who honked – 0
Number of people who just came on in – 4 (all still come on in regardless of my nudity and 1 has also got naked)
Number of visitors who have read the sign and just driven off – at least 3 – though, unless I couldn’t hear them, I wouldn’t actually know how many.
The exercise has actually taught me that, to me, nudity is my natural state, and I have no obligation to conform with others’ insecurities when I’m in my own place. I feel that more people are accepting on nudism than when I first became a nudist in the 1970s, though fewer are willing to actually try it.
It’s certainly interesting to observe reactions!
I love your blogs!
I started with nudism in 2019. Had to venture it alone, as I’m single. 2020 has been the year I’ve met many people at the campground I now frequent, and I can’t get enough of it.
I have friends that I never thought would even consider trying it with me, but as I talk about my fun times in the sun and pool and volleyball court, a few have become interested. The way things sound, 2021 could be the year I finally bring people to try it.
Please say a prayer it happens!
Some friends we take them to a public sauna. Most of them keep going… And they are very positive about the atmosphere. They understand more why we go to a naturist campsite.
One of these couples we talked a lot about the naturist campsite we visit in summer, and they were positive about it. When they’ve got married we offered them a week on the camping as a gift… they loved it. She had no experience at all, he a little bit when he was very young.
That’s an excellent example!