Reluctant to Sign the Clothing Optional Access Petition?
The petition asking policy makers to designate more federally-owned wilderness areas, forests and beaches for clothing optional access has been posted at WH.gov for several days now. At last check the petition has 330 signatures. I personally am acquainted with several hundred nudists and naturists. There is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 AANR members and some 20,000+ members of TNS. The point is, it's an obvious conclusion to arrive at that there are lots and lots of nudists and naturists who are now aware of the petition but for different reasons haven't signed it.
I decided to start this thread to discuss some concerns some have shared with me for why they feel reluctant to sign the petition. Frankly, if any of the same reasons apply to you I hope to change your mind. But regardless, I will respect your decision either way. To hopefully keep things interesting I'll discuss a new objection each day until I run out of topics or until the window closes on the petition on February 12. If you have a concern that isn't addressed please feel free to post it and I'll do my best to address it. What I really hope to do beyond giving people a reason to sign the petition is to eliminate some of the concerns people have that keep them from signing. Here is the first concern to get things started.
I haven't signed because neither AANR or TNS is officially supporting the petition.
It is true that neither of the national organizations have lent official support to this initiative but that shouldn't be surprising for a couple of reasons. First, this has been by intention from the start a grassroots effort where the narrative is driven by individuals like you and me speaking in a collective voice asking for positive change. Neither AANR or TNS was asked for support before the decision was made to go forward with this effort. Certainly if either or both should decide at some point to officially put their official weight behind the initiative they would be more than welcome to do so. But even if that should happen, individuals not organizations are going to continue driving the narrative.
One of the most important responsibilities of AANR and TNS is representing and protecting nudist and naturists rights from the government. Personally, I believe both organizations do a much better job of that than many rank and file nudists and naturists give them credit for. But they have their own protocols, strategies and operating procedures. They look at things from a national macro view rather than the micro view that I have as an individual nudist at the local level. Whether everyone might agree with it, I think it is fair to say that both national organizations do their best to avoid controversy by following a don't rock the boat, don't get anybody mad at us philosophy. Quite obviously petitioning the Obama administration to designate portions of federally-managed park lands, forested back country and national seashores for clothing optional access could be considered a bit confrontational. It might rock a few boats and might make a few people angry who aren't supporters of nude recreation. So you should be able to see that it might not be such an easy decision on the part of the national organizations to lend support to this initiative.
Also, not to be critical of either organization, but no one wants a deck chair aboard the Titanic. From my perspective as an individual I'm not really risking much by backing this petition. If it fails I don't really stand to lose anything. If the petition is successful I might actually gain more freedom to enjoy my lifestyle. If it fails I am not going to be any worse off. So why not take the chance? But from the perspective of AANR and TNS, they may be unwilling to risk at this point buying into this sort of effort because they worry that if it tanks it may hurt their credibility and lower their prestige. I have no doubt they will wait to see whether this effort gains any real traction before they will decide to support it officially, if they ever do. I'll be frank here and tell you that AANR and TNS do not believe that any significant number of nudists and naturists will sign a petition for change. I've actually had people tell me as much. They don't think we will as individuals stand up and act collectively for the common good which is one reason they don't use petitions as a strategy. I would wager that they are likely surprised to see even 300 plus have signed the petition so far. Well, here is your chance to prove them wrong. A chance to say I'm tired of being ridiculed, slandered, demonized and criticized by the prudish majority because I enjoy going nude while pursuing normal, everyday outdoor recreational activities.
In the final analysis, every person has to decide for himself or herself how important it is to them whether AANR and TNS supports this effort in order for them to feel comfortable signing the petition. Maybe it is just time that we all stood up for ourselves and did something as individuals that might give us a little more freedom to live in a way that we find meaningful and enjoyable. This petition is about far more than an attempt to gain a little more clothing optional access, it is about normalizing nude. Nudism is never going to go mainstream until that happens. It doesn't ask much from a person to sign a petition about something that they should care about and that affects them. A petition is what activists call an "easy lift" -- with just a little bit of effort, you can generate attention and momentum around an issue, grow a community of advocates and pressure policy makers to act. An initiative like this can help raise the visibility of this culture and potentially we could gain new members. Isn't that worth just a few minutes of your time?
Please consider standing with the 330 nudists and naturists that have already done their part. Please go to the website and sign the petition ----] https://wh.gov/lIUyG
I think the national organizations ought to be ashamed of themselves for not backing this effort. Instead of ignoring it lest their reputations suffer if it fails, they ought to be backing it in every way possible in order for it to succeed. I often criticize nudists who hide their identities and never reveal that they participate in nude recreation, because it is detrimental to our culture. With the approach AANR and TNS are taking to this petition drive they are doing exactly the same thing. They don't want to admit any association with those crazy naked people who had the nerve to post a petition on the whitehouse.gov website. The term paper tiger comes to mind.
Since when does petitioning the government threaten or jeopardize your reputation? These organizations which receive a great deal of money through our dues seem pretty impotent when it comes to obtaining, or even just preserving, public lands for nude recreation, but they have lots of great conventions. And now it would seem that they want to divorce themselves from those of us who are willing to try to make things better for all nudists. Maybe while we're gathering signatures for this petition we ought to be signing up members in a new organization. It seems to me that there are many potential paths to more acceptance of our lifestyle and none should be ignored. This petition has the potential to lead to more public lands being designated for nude recreational activities. How could any organization that claims to be an advocate of social nudism decide that it is not worthy of support? Neither organization even had the courtesy to reply to my email when I asked them to support this issue. That shows how much attention the pay to their members' concerns. What a revoltin development this is. (That is a line that was often used in 1950s TV program "the Life of Riley" by its star William Bendix. Most of you folks may be too young to have heard it before.)
Click on the link at the bottom of the first post above.
Or you can go to petitions.whitehouse.gov click on View Petitions and scroll down to find it listed among about 19 others.
Don't be too easily discouraged. This is important. Please try again.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/designate-portions-public-lands-under-management-federal-government-clothing-optional-recreational/15TLkVMJYou can click and sign the link above. The alternative is to sit on your bare butt and wait for the national organizations to save the lastfew clothingoptional areas.Good luck with that!!!!
can't sign it if you can't find it !!!!
Here is the link --] https://wh.gov/lIUyG or you can always just go to the website https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/ and click on the "Open Petitions" tab at the top of the page.
More Free beaches/areas will hurt established nudist resorts where members are screened.Remember anything you get free is worth what you pay for it.
That isn't actually true. Nudist landed clubs and resorts have always been and will always be important to our culture. I'm actually addressing a very similar point in today's post but suffice to say there are many nudists who prefer clubs over clothing optional beaches and areas for obvious reasons. Clubs and resorts have rules, etiquette, screening, etc. which give many people peace of mind because they know they won't have to deal with voyeurs, predators and those who engage in lewd behavior. Also, there are many folks like me. There are no national parks, national forests or beaches near Dallas. Local landed clubs are always my only option for nude outdoor recreation except when I am traveling. The same is true for many others. Those who live near clothing optional beaches and prefer them over clubs already spend the majority of their time there so there is no impact on clubs and resorts. One last thing -- not everyone, especially young adults can afford the fees and costs of visiting landed clubs and resorts. It isn't just day fees. Most clubs only allow a few visits before people are expected to join and pay membership dues. Should those folks be excluded from our lifestyle because they can't afford it? They need and deserve lower-cost places to enjoy outdoor recreation too. Thank you for bringing up the concern. I appreciate it.
I think the national organizations ought to be ashamed of themselves for not backing this effort. Instead of ignoring it lest their reputations suffer if it fails, they ought to be backing it in every way possible in order for it to succeed. I often criticize nudists who hide their identities and never reveal that they participate in nude recreation, because it is detrimental to our culture. With the approach AANR and TNS are taking to this petition drive they are doing exactly the same thing. They don't want to admit any association with those crazy naked people who had the nerve to post a petition on the whitehouse.gov website. The term paper tiger comes to mind.Since when does petitioning the government threaten or jeopardize your reputation? These organizations which receive a great deal of money through our dues seem pretty impotent when it comes to obtaining, or even just preserving, public lands for nude recreation, but they have lots of great conventions. And now it would seem that they want to divorce themselves from those of us who are willing to try to make things better for all nudists. Maybe while we're gathering signatures for this petition we ought to be signing up members in a new organization. It seems to me that there are many potential paths to more acceptance of our lifestyle and none should be ignored. This petition has the potential to lead to more public lands being designated for nude recreational activities. How could any organization that claims to be an advocate of social nudism decide that it is not worthy of support? Neither organization even had the courtesy to reply to my email when I asked them to support this issue. That shows how much attention the pay to their members' concerns. What a revoltin development this is. (That is a line that was often used in 1950s TV program "the Life of Riley" by its star William Bendix. Most of you folks may be too young to have heard it before.)
Thank you for bringing up this point. I have been getting so many emails about this I have addressed it with an open memo to all supporters which you can find at the communications hub page at the petition website: https://clothing-optional-access.weebly.com/communications-hub.html. The memo briefly explains our position on this issue and it also provides resources for those who feel strongly that AANR and TNS support is needed. It provides the names and email addresses of decision makers at both national organizations.
More Free beaches/areas will hurt established nudist resorts where members are screened.Remember anything you get free is worth what you pay for it.
Tom, Even Jim Hadley was a supporter of free beaches. People have to start some where; beaches and/or non-landed clubs are a start. Not everyone can afford to visit a resort let alone a nudist park.
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