Bianca's antics 3 - Is Nudism a Religion?

Post #1 FloraTTextile

by FloraT Textile

I forgot that I had promised three parts to my topic about Bianca Censori's (almost) nude antics. Of course, Bianca and Kanye were a pretext; if you haven't noticed it, I used them as a prop to present my system of thinking in terms of probability (which make me often reach conclusions which are opposed to what is presented as facts by the media and politicians); in the second installment I was describing my own experience with being nude in public. And in this third and last one I am trying to give my answer to the question: is provocative public nudity like Bianca's good and bad for nudism?

But I can't really try to answer this question before I think of other three: Is nudism a religion? Is it Messianic? Are we nudists its priests or missionaries?

Now I have the feeling that this is gonna be a long and boring post... So please stop reading here.

Af for the first question I'll take Harari's definition of what is a religion. Not because I like Harari (for a historian he knows preciously little about European history, I caught him several times parroting official propaganda which he must have read in governmental rags like NYT) but because he has a certain talent to crystallise complex ideas in simple words and short sentences. Maybe because he writes in English which is not his mother tongue?

So he defines a religion as a set of beliefs which (1) state the existence of a set of principles, rules or values which are independent of human will and (2) they dictate norms of behaviour for us humans. Ok, this is a bit of a simplification, I am using my memory, not Dr. Google here. He also argues that everything which ends in ism is a religion.

Clearly, old-fashioned naturism was a religion. It established a set of universal principles which are not human made: getting close to nature is a value in itself; nudity is not related to sexuality; naturists are somewhat better people, more open, more friendly, more sincere, more equal; physical activities and more useful for humans than when done in the nude etc. And of course, these principles impose some behavioural norms on the members if this church: be close to nature; be nude whenever possible; don't mix sex and nudity; be nice to fellow naturists etc.

Now nudism is less well defined, but most self-identified nudists will recognise themselves in the above-mentioned principles norms. Although, when you scratch a bit the surface like I do in this group, you realise that well... those principles are not as universal as they look. Nudists are not alone in the pleasure of getting close to nature and many are very fine with in-door social nudity; the nudity of a nice specimen of your preferred gender does have some sexual appeal (especially, for obvious evolutionary reasons which I mentioned several times, for males, although we ladies are not entirely exempt from feeling sexually attracted towards nice gents...); too much sun exposure is anything but good for your health; if anything, nudists are as sincere as textiles, and in respect of issues like link too sexuality, even less sincere...

But do you think all Muslims or Christians behave as their religion requires to do? Do Christians turn the other cheek? If you believe so I can show you a few dozens million post-WWII victims of organised violence committed by self-declared Christians... In fact this religion, as practiced today should rather be named Judeo-Paulianism. But this is another story...

So yes, I think it is fair to say that nudism is a sort of loose religion, practiced differently by different people... And yes, there are probably as many self-declared nudists as textiles who are rude, egotistic or attracted by sexy ladies, just as there as many Chistians as atheists who are war criminals... And I would even guess that the percentage of nudists who share more than nudity (aka swingers) is higher than the same percentage among textiles...

Let's make some simple litmus tests. Are your eyes more attracted by nudists of your preferred gender who display excellent reproductive fitness (aka, for most members of this group, by young sexy chicks)? Do you look with the same amount of interest at my elbow as at my boobs, at my butt as at my shoulder, at my knee as at my pussy? 'Nough said.

So yes, I believe that Harari is right on this one, everything which ends in ism is a religion and nudism is no exception to this rule. A wide, poorly defined and very poorly implemented religion. Just like Christianism.

This is also why I am not defining myself as a nudist but as a person who engages in social nudity. Why is it that I do (and more often than not, like) this? First, because being nude when bathing or sunbathing, or just moving around (not running though!) feels so good. I am sure that there are people who would be wearing a swimsuit even when alone on a private beach or by their pool... But those are the exception and if you ask me they should see a good psy to figure some things out about themselves.

What about the social aspect of nudity? I think this is a plus. First, I do like to see other people in the nude around, I think people, regardless of their age and body type look better nude than strapped into swimsuits. And yes, nudism being such marginal activity, largely frown upon, when nude among other nude people you do have a feeling of belonging to a club, to a group of like-minded individuals, almost friends... Did I say a to a religion? A sort of mysterious, hidden and somewhat immoral sect? Well, I can't really say that I feel that deep inside, I'm too rational I guess, but I do understand why people feel like that.

Third reason is that I do like to look at sexy individuals. Now I don't really have erotic feelings or thoughts about them but I do know where this comes from. People who advertise their reproductive fitness are supposed to attract our attention because they represent good mating potential. And this is somewhat amplified by the exposure, aka availability of their sexual bits and pieces. So while consciously I say "that's beautiful" with no hidden sexual intention I do know that yes, that beauty is actually sexual attraction working at a level closer to our brain stem than to our prefrontal cortex.

There is also that scarcity creates value. So all those boobs and cocks are nice to look at because you don't see them all the time. Of course, if you do see them all the time they will become all but invisible, such is our adaptation power.

But this is the interesting thing. I define myself as your average woman, 75% hererosexual and 25% gay but my eyes are mostly attracted by the sight of nice-looking ladies. Their gate, silhouette, eyes, hair, legs, boobs... Yes, boobs in particular... There are good evolutionary reasons why women are more beautiful than men (I wrote about it several times) just as there are good evolutionary reasons why children look so cute - well, mammalian cubs in general, we share lots of things among mammals, the little offspring of today's dinosaurs, aka birds, don't look so compelling to us as they look to their parents...

On the other hand, I do look more at men's rather than women's genitalia. So much more happening down there, such a large diversity of shapes and sizes! So yes dear gents, I do like to admire your family jewells. But don't send me dick pics please. I don't know why, but I'd find that ugly and offensive. It's likely a question of size and context. From close up, they don't look nice. All those wrinkles and loose hair? I'm not saying that we ladies are so much better when you zoom in on our best bits. Zoom in enough and our nipples look wrinkled and unpleasant like a sort of cancer and our most intimate part looks like the result of some surgery gone wrong. Add to this the context. A cock can look absolutely adorable from less than one inch away when attached to a nice person and when I have been brought to the right mood, but this is unlikely to happen if you send me your pics.

As usual, I got carried away and only dealt with the first question: is nudism a religion? Yes. Is it a messianic one and are we nudists supposed to be its missionaries? Maybe for another time...