New Year, New Adgenda - Youth & Activities

Post #1 jrnokesTextile"What do you MEAN, I HAVE to put CLOTHES ON?!?!?!?!?!"

by jrnokes Textile

Hello all.

Well it is finally 2009 and the days seem to fly and the years even more so. A lot of you have read the "Recuit Younger Members" thread that bounced around here for a while, and if you did you probably noticed that we never really came to any conclusions. Not that there wasn't a lot of good ideas, but we never really said "this looks like it will work, lets try it and see what happens".

So, for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that I want to preserve my way of life and as the median age of nudists in the US is approaching expiration, I don't want to be the last one at the nudist resort when the owner says they have to close because no one else shares my lifestyle....
Thus, I have been sorting through the younger nudists on this site and specifically writing to them. I have targeted a lot of european young nudists to see what it is that draws them, as they are a larger base than here in the US.

I have thought about starting a group to discuss this, but it seems as though the major discussions only take place in the main forums. I am open to ideas as to how to best discuss this and get some dialog going. I don't mean to continue the beating of the same dead horse, but with the last discussion, as I said, I really didn't come up with something tangible to take away.

I hope that the previous discussion participants will continue here. Please be welcome.

Ok, so lets open this thread with the idea, that we want to come up with some ideas that can be tested, or at least given to people who can test them. We talked about the waterpark in England that is nude one day a year, and that sounds great, but it's a little out of reach. England is a smaller country by far, thus travel is not as much of an issue. Also, Europe does not share the puritanical vision that the US does. Thus, I submit that getting a waterpark here in the US to offer a nudist day would be virtually impossible. However, I offer it up to anyone who is willing to try that I would be interested in supporting the attempt and visiting the park.

There are nudist venues that have been successful here in the states, like the Clothing Optional Dinners in NY. (You can join the yahoo group CODinners to get more information) and there has been nude bowling. Now, with all that in mind, I can't see that there are so many more nudist venues in Europe. I think it is more of the mindframe that the people have. However, this is where the rubber hits the road:

Would Young European nudists be interested in a Clothing Optional Dinner?
Would they be interested in a nude bowling?

What does the average young nudist in Europe do as nudist activities?

What could we repicate here in the US?

Ok, so the floor is open, lets hear the discussion!

Thanks
Jerry

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Post #2 tcottaUndies Only

Nudists new year - new Agenda

by tcottaTextile

Hi,
Owning a nudist resort for 14 years and having gone to my first nuderesort when I was 23 years oldgives mesome perspective on this issue.
First, nudists have ALWAYS said"where are the younger nudists?" Werarely met other nudists our age in the USuntil we hit ourearly 30's. That is just how it has always been in the US. I think there are a number of reasons for this.
First, the advertising industry works very hard to make women feel insecure about their bodies. They want them to feel thatunless they buy certain clothes, make up, fashion magazines, follow popular diets, and maybe get plastic surgery, they will grow up unattractive and never find a man. This negativity works on most youngwomenas even many actresses and professional models feel insecure about their bodies and showing them. Thus, women don't feel comfortable being nude around others until their 30's, 40's, or 50's when they stop paying attention to the "women's" magazines. And sometimes womennever feel comfortable with their bodies their whole lives.
In Europe, they have had legal topless beaches since the mid 60's and legal nude beaches since the 70's. So young people were brought up with the idea that it is OK to be topless or nude on the beach. To them it is then no big deal to vacation at a nudist resort. A recent survey showed 1 in 7 Germans vacation at a nudist resort EVERY YEAR!
Next, lots of Americanyoung people are into the partying mode, not the relaxation, socializing mode of nudist resorts. Go to Las Vegas and you will see lots of young people drinking it up, having a wild time on weekends. Most nudist resorts are not geared for this kind of behavior. Once most people reach their 30's or so, they start settling down and aren't so wild. The average age for a first marriage in the US is now 27 for men and 25 for women according to US census data.
Many people with kids, normally don't want to take their kids to nudist resorts or clubs. They want it to be quality time for themselves. Many guests tell us they would love to spend more time here, but can't get the grandparents to babysit as much. Once kids hit college, parents have more free time to themselveswhich is normally when they are in their40's and 50's.
Next, Americans have less vacation time than ever. The US has the least amount of paidvacation time of all industrializedcountries. Younger employee averages 8.1paid vacationdays a year. And 25% of ALL Americans get no vacation days.
Next, the nudist industry is still a very small industry. As a whole industry, we do not have the advertising dollars of other industries. I bet 1 bigLas Vegas hotel has a bigger advertising budget than the whole nudist industry. Thus, we have to rely a lot on free PR.Nudism gets some really good hits like the 3 pages article in the New York Times travel section last year(we were 1 of 5 nudist resorts recommended in that article). Or when tripadvisor.com did a survey showing 15% of Americans want to go on a nude vacation. But, nudism gets some pretty bad hits like whenthe mediaprofile 70+ year old nudists. It makes our industry appear ancient.
The biggest problem I see is manypeople are afraid to "come out of the closet" and admit they like being nude. We are pretty unique, we get all ages from 20's - 70's at our resort,because we are a vacation resort and draw from around the world. We arenot a club for locals like most nudist places. But even our resort is more 40's, 50's and 60's as they have the time and money to book vacation.I rarely am able to get guests (especially younger guests) to let me use their photos to show how much fun nudism is in advertisements. They all say they are afraid their employers, parents, kids, etc will find out they are nudists.
With this pervasive fear of coming out, we can't show that young people enjoy nudism too. Now AANR has done a great job with their youth ambassadors programs. Finally we have some young people who are proud to say they are nudists. And most of the time it is no big deal saying you are a nudist. Tom was elected president of the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce with over 1000 local businesses voting and owning a nudist resort was not an issue.
Finally, American nudists need to support the US nudist industry this year more than ever. I am always amazed by people who spend $5000-$7500 for a week longnude vacation in the Caribbean or Mexico at a place not owned by nudists and then say, "why aren't there more nudist resorts in the US?" Most American nudist resorts like ours are great values. We had our annual Christmas party this December 20th. We had a couple from Glen Eden, a nudist club over by Los Angeles come by for a tour. They were staying at the local Marriott that weekend. They said they booked the Marriott (and spent an additional $100/night compared to our resort) because they were in Palm Springs to be Christmas shopping not nude sunbathing. When we pointed out that we were cheaper, closer to the stores, they could be nude in the jacuzzi in the evening at our resort compared to the Marriott, they said,they would only stayat a nudist resortifthey could nude sunbathe. The nudist industry needs the money to invest in nudismmore than Marriott. Yet, somenudist club members spend more to stay at textile resorts when nicer nudist resorts are available.
As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Look in the forums section here to see all the nudist clubs and resorts that have closed or become swinger places in the last few years due to lack of support. If you want to see nudism grow support the AANR and American nudist clubs and resorts especially this year. With more advertising and PR dollars, nudism in the US can grow.
Mary Clare, Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California
https://sunnyfun.com
https://terracottainn.blogspot.com

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Post #3 SteveAzimuthUndies OnlyWhat spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble...

RE: Nudists new year - new Agenda

by SteveAzimuthTextile

That place is about pictures and videos and has nothing to do with social netowrking.....

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Post #4 jrnokesButt Naked"What do you MEAN, I HAVE to put CLOTHES ON?!?!?!?!?!"