Innocent attitude towards nudity?
Do you think society will return to a more liberal or innocent attitude towards nudity, like the YMCAs in the 60s and 70s for example? Or are we doomed to have lost that freedom forever?
I would hope that freedom may return. Social and cultural trends always change and the current level of modesty and prudery is bound to change and loosen at some point. But when is anyones guess !
I find it interesting how modest men have become in the gym dressing room (where I am a member), when changing into or out of their workout clothes or swim suits, or undressing to head to the showers. Many hold a towel around themselves as they are changing. Me... I do like I have always done and strip down, grab my towel and walk to the showers... I'm not a show off by any means, but this change in modesty has me curious.
It is a shame that it has come down to how it is now with nudity. I do recall back in the early 80's going to the community pool and going in to the men's locker room and seeing men and boys of all ages nude and openly changing and showering in the gang style showers. No one was trying to cover up with a towel or doing that stupid thing of putting on their shorts with a towel around them. Myself and my friends would all undress and shower together and no one made a fuss. Now when I have gone to the gym I do see that most men will not get nude and most don't even use the showers that are now open but have frosted glass partitions between each shower. So you can't see the person next to you clearly only the ones across from you. I don't think that things are getting better only worse because we have such paranoid people now that think being nude is a sin. They look at it as being nasty and ugly and that's a shame. I blame their parents and how they were raised. I don't think it will ever go back to how it was back in the 70's and 80's people are just too afraid of being seen nude or even in their underwear for that matter. It's sad.
You need look no further than here True Nudist's Chat Page for evidence of how attitudes to shared public nudity has changed. Look at the rules for using a Cam camera on the Chat Page here - full head and shoulder shots etc Secondly both on True Nudist and True Swingers' Chat Pages especially since the current chat page version was introduced fewer and fewer people on the two Chat Pages have their computer cam camera's on because if they do everyone can see them.
I also think this is a valuable and well-expressed post. It struck me at the end of my previous post that, although I tried to end on a positive note, someone at, say, 21 years of age reading all of this could find it all rather depressing. It's good to remember the theme of this group (old advising young and vice versa). Looking back just over 50 years to when I was 21 it's obvious to me that as far as gay stuff is concerned, we're a lot further, even though there's a long way to go, and if you're a member of this group (i.e. this TN Group) you're probably lucky enough to be reading all of this in one of the few countries in the world where it's not that big a problem. Let's be thankful for the advances there have been and to the brave souls who catalyzed them. So it's not all doom and gloom.
There are many parallels between being gay and being a naturist. 'Coming out' as gay and 'coming out' as a naturist is one good example. My idea is that being a naturist (nudist) is just as intrinsic to who we are as is being gay. Somehow in our genes, but how this works through in daily life will keep researchers busy the rest of this century. As far as this present topic is concerned, there is also hope. There are many organizations fighting for our right to be naked (while indeed being sensitive to the problems of those who find this difficult, for whatever reason) and progress is being made. It's also the experience of many that as soon as someone is open and honest about being happy naked, then many around him/her will 'admit' to this, too (stop a second and think about the implications of the word 'admit'). They just needed this 'push' to be open too. Coming out as gay can take some courage, but those who've achieved this do experience all the advantages of having done it and usually none of the disadvantages they feared. So it is with naturism. So let those of us who've "been there, done it and bought the T-shirt" (with the T-shirt bit deleted!) encourage those who still want to take this step. There are the universal changes in society that others have highlighted, but it's still a positive era with much to strive for. 'News' tends to be negative and masks the experiences of everyday life that can be so positive. Let's go for it! Get that pendulum swinging back.