That's all a bit disappointing. Whatever happened to the theory of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" ? I tend to do what others do in Saunas in the places I have been. Here in Oz, Saunas used to be part of the male change rooms so nudity was normal, but that was a long time ago. Now it seems here in Oz spa's & saunas are in open areas, are unisex so people wear swimsuits.
In China when we travelled there 6 years ago, the saunas etc. were separate, I saw other guys naked so I went with the flow, it's stranger to not do what they are doing in my opinion.
I definitely think these kind of celebrity ventures into the world of nudism/naturism come over much better when the host shows respect for the environment (s)he is in and sheds their clothes. Plenty of ways to keep their 'bits' out of the picture if they wish (let's face it almost everything gets pixelated anyway!), but how can they stand in judgement over other people's lifestyles if they don't make some attempt to join in the spirit of the thing. Most who do seem to come away quite positively impressed, maybe even saying they'd do it again.
I remember a great scene from a recent documentary on the Duchess of Northumberland, where they followed a group of naturists taking part in the BN open evening at Alnwick Castle Gardens. The head gardener was scheduled to give a welcome talk about the development of the garden and decided it was only fair to do so naked. At the end, he confessed he was far more nervous and self-conscious about the talk than about being seen naked - and that he would definitely do it again.
Not exactly the same but similar. Someone on another board went to an all male college in the 60s. It had an intramural program run by upperclassmen. He was the swimming coordinator. There was a presentation session to encourage students to participate. Coordinators were encouraged to dress as you would for their activities. He and the gymnastics coordinator were nude for theirs.
Many poster on this thread seem to be conflating nudism and Swedish sauna culture.
Just because the Scandinavian cultural preference to use the sauna nude it does not automatically follow that they are all nudists.
A tv show about nudity in Swedish saunas is exactly that and should be viewed in that context. Just because some people are naked does not make it relevant in any way to nudism.
The nudist movement would be in a much healthier state if people understood the difference.
Many poster on this thread seem to be conflating nudism and Swedish sauna culture.
Just because the Scandinavian cultural preference to use the sauna nude it does not automatically follow that they are all nudists.
A tv show about nudity in Swedish saunas is exactly that and should be viewed in that context. Just because some people are naked does not make it relevant in any way to nudism.
The nudist movement would be in a much healthier state if people understood the difference.
Many poster on this thread seem to be conflating nudism and Swedish sauna culture.Just because the Scandinavian cultural preference to use the sauna nude it does not automatically follow that they are all nudists.A tv show about nudity in Swedish saunas is exactly that and should be viewed in that context. Just because some people are naked does not make it relevant in any way to nudism.The nudist movement would be in a much healthier state if people understood the difference.
Yes, I see that there are some people who do not see the difference between the "Baby nudism" and nudist philosophy or "Naturism."
The "baby nudism" followers pretty much conflate the two, when really, it is not a lot of similarity other than the state of undress.
For reference, I consider myself a Naturist philosophically and mentally, nudist as a part of it, and I try to do it whenever possible. I, however, also am a pragmatist when going about it mentally and philosophically and in practice.
Most people on here either dont or wont acknowledge a nudist or naturist philosophy. Nudism is just a state of dress for many people on here. There is no philosophy attached or associated.Yes, I see that there are some people who do not see the difference between the "Baby nudism" and nudist philosophy or "Naturism."The "baby nudism" followers pretty much conflate the two, when really, it is not a lot of similarity other than the state of undress.For reference, I consider myself a Naturist philosophically and mentally, nudist as a part of it, and I try to do it whenever possible. I, however, also am a pragmatist when going about it mentally and philosophically and in practice.
Yes. Most people on here usually don't know as much about philosophical naturism. And I am alright with that right now since naturism is smaller demographically than much of the world's countries. If the number of people that learn about it eventually grow into the philosophy, there will likely be more naturists in the world.
Anyway, I have seen some more professional-appearing web pages over the years online about naturism the philosophy and practice.
I need to get some good books about old naturist philosophy, but I know they exist since Wikipedia has had the articles listing real bibliography of European and American naturists from the 1890s in Europe to the 1960s and 1970s or 1980s in America and Europe. I might do some personal hidden research on my own to research Lee Baxendall.
I don't know all the details but I have read on Wikipedia he founded an association with members in the Northeast and Wisconsin and other areas of the USA. His group was named by him and his co-founders as "The Naturist Society" in the United States in the 1980s. The Naturist Society still exists, but the group I hear still is the second largest group of "nudists and/or naturists" after AANR. According to Wikipedia, AANR is older and was founded in the Northeast. AANR was founded in the 1920s and Baxendall founded "The Naturist Society" in the 1980s decade.
I am probably going to buy some books from the original publishers/distributor's websites when possible. I will be looking at Wikipedia's various naturism internal pages at the end of the calendar year for the bibliographies, so that way I can find sources and published works behind the naturist philosophy.
In the past I have stumbled across a variety of sources about naturism. I have listened to a group of podcasts about the philosophy of naturism. I also discovered the existence of naturist associations earlier in my life when reading about them on their websites. I stumbled across a travel book earlier. I also found Lee Baxendall's bibliography through Wikipedia. He was an actual activist about the practice and philosophy from what I have read about him.
The point is well made not to conflate nudism with Swedish sauna culture. It's very true that the Scandinavian cultural preference to use the sauna nude does not automatically make them comfortable with nudism or naturism. Nudism is relatively uncommon in Sweden. Summers are short and offer limited (if any) time to be naked in nature. Swedes tend to be socially shy around people they don't know, having no qualms to be seen naked but avoiding having any unnecessary conversation with them. In addition, due to to the heavy moral hand that Lutheranism used to have on the culture, Swedes tend to dismiss rigid, doctrinaire and judging people claiming that only they can define what is "true" as cultish. It's natural for Swedes to take a distance to the hypocrisy of a movement which started in Germany in the late 1800s as part of "Life Reform" espousing exercise and vegetarianism as having little to do with "true nudism" today.