When I was in college, I took a PE class in swimming. I made a friend in class, and we were having a nice conversation in the locker room, completely nude. I wasnt a nudist at the time, and given prior shame related to nudity, it was a personal victory that I could hang out with a friend in the nude like this. In fact, I found that it helped male bonding and was actually enjoying this time with my new buddy.

So we were content to chat totally nude while we were changing, when out of the blue we clearly heard female voices. This does not usually occur in the mens locker room. We looked toward the source, and to our horror, saw that someone had propped the door to our locker room open. A group of girls was exiting their door, that faced ours. We happened to be standing right in front of the door, so they had a clear line of site to us, completely nude.

I use this example with my kids to explain the difference between being nude and being naked. Being nude is electing not to wear clothes when one does not prefer them. On the other hand, being naked is to be deprived of clothes when one prefers to wear them.

In an instant we went from being happily nude to nervously naked.

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