Is it any wonder that people have developed a negative view of naturism? It is nearly impossible to find any authentic positive information on naturist culture without seeing the overwhelming amount of trashy pornography on the web. The pornography industry intentionally creates a linkage between nudity and sex to make money and it is virtually impossible for naturists to overcome that label Even mainstream media helps to promote the false premise. Rarely are articles written in the UK that portray nudity in a positive way. Instead local readers receive a steady diet of naked people involved in outlandish, outrageous or seedy acts. The fact is that there is a great deal more about naturism than nakedness.
With so many factors at work that promote the belief that nudity and sex go hand in hand, naturists continue to face an uphill battle in convincing the general public that traditional naturism is about non-sexual nudity. ” The fears that the nudity equals sex belief ” – The average non-naturist resists the advancement of naturist rights and equal access to public recreational facilities primarily because of the belief that all nudity is sexual. For the most part, society fears that relaxing prohibitions against public nudity, including top freedom for women would precipitate nude people appearing in local towns and people having sex in public.
Many simply refuse to accept the facts that within naturist culture, aside from a few extremists, no naturist advocates the right to be nude at any time or any place of their choosing and that most naturists would find being exposed to public sexual acts just as offensive as any non-naturist would.Misinformation has created an environment where it is difficult to imagine a time when clothing restrictive society will ever exhibit more tolerance for the naturist lifestyle.
” Nudity as a taboo ” – It is quite easy to draw the conclusion that if nudity ceased to be such a taboo, there would be less of a market for pornographers and strip club owners. These business models thrive and prosper primarily as a result of the unnatural curiosity engendered by the unhealthy conditioning most people receive during childhood to view nudity as something dirty and exposure of certain body parts as inherently wrong and shameful.
The reason so many people find pornography and strippers so enticing is because viewing other people naked is such a rarity for most people. Until society discontinues the practice of raising its children with unhealthy beliefs about nudity and relaxes the prohibitions against nudity, Naturists will largely be confined to practicing their lifestyle at home or private naturist clubs.
(Adapted from a post by Larry Darter ©2010 )