Grassroots naturism, Part 2

Introduction to the story
Previous installment

Mark: OK, gang, I think everyone who we were expecting is here now, and you’ve all had a chance to sample the snacks that people have brought and – if you came early enough – enjoy a dip in our pool. So it’s time to get down to business. I promise I won’t make this last too long. After it’s over with we can go back to enjoying the afternoon and evening nakedly.

Julie: Of course, you’ll probably want to stick around, since we’ll be grilling stuff on the patio. So I think you won’t want to leave too soon, or you’ll miss the food and the chance to spend more time socializing, getting to know each other better, and probably splashing in the pool.

Mark: So find a place to sit, and we can get right down to business. There are two main things I hope to accomplish today. Unless you just got here you’ve probably already started on the first thing – which is for everyone to get acquainted with each other. People you meet here today for the first time may become good friends for many years to come. The second thing is to discuss ideas for interesting and exciting things we can plan for our group in the future. The sorts of things I’m talking about are of roughly two kinds. The first kind is events that are just for fun and good times, such as parties, outdoor activities, and trips to nudist and naturist clubs and resorts.

Julie: The second kind is more serious but – I hope – no less enjoyable. That is organized efforts of various kinds to recruit new members of our group who share our interest in promoting social nudity. This doesn’t necessarily mean trying to “convert” people to become social nudists. I believe people first need to have a basic curiosity about and interest in this kind of activity. We shouldn’t try to proselytize. Rather we just need to spread the word that our group exists, to explain why we enjoy social nudity, and to help others become involved with our group if what we do appeals to them.

Mark: But it doesn’t stop there. Once we have a good core group of active members, I think we should reach out to make contact with similar groups in our general area to establish ongoing exchanges of information. We should encourage members of other groups to participate in our activities – and vice versa – when that’s convenient. And we should search for individuals who are enthusiastic about social nudity to start their own groups like ours if they don’t live close enough to an existing group for convenient participation.

Julie: Mark and I think activities like these are all important. Our whole family have been happily naked as much of the time as possible since before our kids were born, but we’ve generally found it difficult to meet other people like us who share this enthusiasm for nudity. We’ve fairly recently accomplished one of our long-term goals, which was to make a home for ourselves in surroundings that are ideal for full-time nudity. So now we’re ready to tackle our second long-term goal, which is to reach out to other people who are also enthusiastic about social nudity and – eventually – to establish a network of people and groups in diverse locations who share our enthusiasm.

Mark: I think most of you we’ve already talked with about our passion for nudity and our related goals have a good idea of where we’re coming from. We’re quite aware that this enthusiasm, this passion, that we hope most of you share with us – or might eventually share with us – seems strange and bizarre to most people in our society. We hope to see that situation change for the better – some day. But in the meantime we have to realize that many people think that social nudity is weird, kooky, eccentric, or sort of crazy. As a result, we need to be patient and prepared to be regarded, at times, as oddball nonconformists, whose motives might be vague, or even a bit suspicious.

Julie: That is exactly why we all need to build networks with others who share at least some of our enthusiasm for social nudity. Mark and I think that’s the only way people like us will ever gain the respect we deserve from the rest of our society. We think we must work actively toward this goal because, sadly, the existing “nudist” and “naturist” organizations in this country and most other parts of the world have not done well enough in promoting social nudity. We think that an alternative approach – grassroots networking – can eventually have more success than existing top-down organizations.

Mark: In any case, it should be fun to make the effort. So with those thoughts in mind, I want to go around the room, have everyone introduce themselves, tell us briefly what experience you’ve had with social nudity, tell us what sort of fun activities you think we should plan, and finally, suggest what we might do together to spread our enthusiasm for nudity to other people. We’ll start with Eric, since he’s sitting closest to me. And then let’s go around to the nearest person on the right.

Eric: I’m Eric Shaw. Sometimes I think I’ll never forgive my parents for naming me like that, but it is what it is, so I deal with it. My day job is managing a sporting goods store. I don’t particularly care for the managing aspect of it, but I love the sporting part – almost any sort of outdoor sports – hiking, camping, rock climbing, spelunking, surfing, hang gliding, white-water kayaking. You name it, I’ve probably tried it. I’ve never thought of myself as a “nudist” or “naturist”, but I have developed a taste for getting naked when possible. That started when I was surfing with a wacky group of guys in Hawaii who liked to surf naked. I tried that and really loved it. So I’ve tried to find other things to do outdoors that can be done naked.

Mark: I met Eric when I was in his store recently looking for camping equipment. As soon as he mentioned, a bit shyly, that he enjoyed being naked outdoors, I told him about this gathering I’d planned and invited him to come.

Eric: I accepted the invitation immediately, since I think naked outdoor activities are an excellent way to have a great time with other like-minded people. I believe there are a variety of really fun things to do with people who share that interest. Also, I think my position in the store will be an excellent way to identify other people who could enjoy outdoor naturism. I like to talk with customers, so I can mention the nudity aspect. If there seems to be any interest, I can pass along information on what this group or similar nearby groups are doing. That’s enough from me, so it’s your turn, Sally.

Sally: I’m Sally Yeager. Eric persuaded me to come here with him. But he didn’t have to twist my arm too hard. In case you’re wondering, I’m a relatively distant cousin of Chuck Yeager, if you know who that is. However, I’ve never actually met him. Eric and I are living together now, though we don’t actually consider ourselves a couple – just “good friends”. I suppose you could say our relationship is “interesting”. Draw your own conclusions. We do date other people sometimes. Anyhow, Eric and I met when I was in his store looking for some extra rock climbing equipment, because that’s my specialty. My actual job is waitress in a chain restaurant. Not very exciting, I know, but it pays the bills. I’m an experienced climber and do give lessons, but not enough to help much with the bills. Soon after we met I told Eric about a fairly difficult climb I was planning, and invited him to come along.

Eric: I accepted that invitation immediately too. I didn’t have any idea how Sally might feel about nudity, but I decided to take a chance and suggest we do the climb naked.

Sally: Unsurprisingly, that suggestion caught me off guard. I had no real experience with social nudity, but I’d visited nude beaches occasionally. I’m a backpacker too, and there’s not much privacy on the trail, so we see each other naked at times. Consequently, the idea of being naked with a casual acquaintance like Eric didn’t especially bother me, so agreeing to his idea would have been easy enough if it had been just the two of us. It actually sounded like a cool challenge. However, one of my roommates at the time, Katie, who’s also a climber, was coming along too. Nevertheless, I decided to go with Eric’s suggestion. Katie thought that was pretty weird, had no intention of getting naked herself, but agreed to go anyhow. As a result of this experience I found I rather enjoyed the nudity, so I started being naked much of the time in the house I shared with Katie and another young woman. That made them both somewhat uncomfortable… so I moved in with Eric. Since there was no longer any need for either of us to wear anything at home, we mostly didn’t. As far as what I’d like to see this group do, it’s much like what Eric wants. Plus maybe I can encourage some of those to whom I give climbing lessons to try it naked! OK, guess that’s enough from me. Next?

Dave: I’m Dave Stuart. My wife, Jan, and my kids, Danielle and Sean, are here with me, but I’ll speak for all of us. Although this is a pretty recent development, we’re all confirmed naturists now, and naked most of the time at home. I’m a free-lance computer programmer, so I can work mostly at home, and I’ve been interested in naturism for a while. However, I told Jan about that only this year. She was skeptical about it, but willing to let me experiment with going naked at home when nobody except herself was there. She was worried about how our kids might be affected by seeing me naked. But after she found out that her own mother had grown up in a home where nudity wasn’t uncommon, she agreed I could be naked when our kids were home and I could explain naturism to them. At first they weren’t terribly interested themselves, but they thought it was OK for me. As it happened, Danielle knew another girl on her swimming team was a naturist. That was Julie and Mark’s daughter, Shelley. Things sort of snowballed from there after we met Julie and Mark. Eventually Jan came around and became a naturist too. So here we are.

Jan: Mark told us about his plans to start a naturist group, and this gathering is the first step. I don’t have much to add to what Mark has said about his plans, except our whole family agrees with them. Sean and Danielle want me to say that they’re very interested in having other young folks around their age get involved also, so that there can be activities planned especially for their age group – such as “birthday suit parties” for anyone having a birthday. Along with Mark and Julie’s kids, Shelley and Terry, as well as a few others here now, it seems like they’ll have a nice core group. Looks like Sara is next.

Sara: I’m Sara Holmes. As the only “senior citizen” here today, as well as not being much of a practicing nudist or naturist, I’m sort of wondering what the heck I’m doing here. What happened is that an old friend of mine, Sharlene, who’s a neighbor of the Stuart family, mentioned to me that their family had recently all become nudists. She thought I’d be interested in that, since she knew my late husband and I had occasionally visited nude beaches and a nudist resort or two, a few years before Albert passed away. We’d started experimenting with that after our own kids had grown up and moved out, but we never really got into it. Although most of the people we met at such places were close to our age and seemed nice enough, we never felt much connection with them. Perhaps that was because Albert and I enjoyed intellectual and philosophical sorts of conversations – I used to be a junior college philosophy teacher. We just didn’t meet other nudists with similar interests. Sharlene told me the Stuarts were planning to get together with others who wanted to start their own local nudist group.

Mark: It’s quite fortunate that Sara learned about us, since she was willing and able to help with an issue we were thinking about – finding a place that the group could meet for indoor parties and other activities, especially during the colder months of the year. We’d planned our home so it would be large enough to use it for that if the group wasn’t too large. But having an alternative would be nice, for certain types of activities.

Sara: I’m the head of the board of directors of a tiny Unitarian Universalist Fellowship near here. It’s not much of a group anymore – only two dozen or so individuals or couples still attend services. We’re all fairly old and don’t seem to have much to attract younger folks. Although we have a secretary and a treasurer on the board, I actually do most of the work. However, what we do have is a modest but decent fellowship hall. It’s belonged to the group for many decades, and it’s too big for our needs now. I have no idea what will happen to it when most of our remaining members pass on. But it’s still a fine place for the purposes of a group like this. I doubt that anyone in our group would object if I choose to make it available occasionally, for a nominal fee, to be used by this group. So that’s basically why I’m here, although I wholeheartedly agree with your goals and objectives. As you can see, I am properly free of clothing myself just now. I even hope to be able to participate in your group and help out in other little ways if I can.

Mark: I really appreciate Sara’s generous offer, and I look forward to being able to make good use of her fellowship’s meeting place. I’m not a U. U. myself, but their beliefs and values are not too unlike those of many naturists. We’re all just a trifle outside of the “mainstream” of our society. Perhaps some of us will be interested in becoming involved in their fellowship. Moving on, it appears that you’re next, Joyce.

Joyce: Hi, everyone. I’m Joyce Coburn. I have an apartment I don’t share with anyone else, and I’ve occasionally been naked there when the spirit moved me, especially on hot days. But after a good recent experience, I’m now naked most of the time there. That’s the only thing about me that might be considered “naturist”. However, I’m looking forward to becoming more involved in social nudity. I work as a receptionist in a local insurance agency. Of course, that’s only how I pay the rent. It has little to do with who I am. The job, however, is indirectly responsible for how I happen to be here. The agency is owned by the father of someone else who’s here today – Skye Berglund. Skye’s a very successful professional photographer, even though she’s just in her mid-20s.

Jan: Sorry to interrupt, Joyce, but I have to mention that our family also knows Skye, since she made a very nice portrait of our whole family – naked – that we’re now proud to display in our living room.

Joyce: Yes, I’ve seen that portrait, and it’s as great as Jan says. Anyhow, Skye doesn’t live especially nearby, but I met her recently when she was visiting her parents and she stopped by the office. For some reason I don’t quite understand she found my face “interesting”, so she asked if I’d model for her. I agreed because, well, why not? Towards sunset that evening we went for the shoot to a nice spot on a small farm her parents own just outside town. The light was very warm and a little mist added a slightly surreal touch, so Skye got some excellent pictures. Then she asked whether I’d model nude for her. I wasn’t expecting that, but I agreed, since I wasn’t uncomfortable with nudity. That’s because I’d been a drama major in college and occasionally had roles that involved some partial or full nudity. Besides, Skye offered to remove her own clothes to take the shots. She said she often worked naked while doing nudes of others, because she’d worked as a nude model herself and felt her own nudity helped put her models more at ease. I’d already signed a model release that specified it would be completely up to me how the pictures would be used. We just added that the pictures would include some nudes of me..

Skye Berglund: If I may also interrupt for a moment, I have to say that I was tremendously pleased with how all the shots turned out. Joyce may be too unassuming to admit this, but the nudes of her were very flattering.

Joyce: Well, obviously my naked body isn’t as perfect as most nude model’s. But I was really pleased that someone thought my body was good enough to photograph nude. So the whole experience was very satisfying. Skye and I stayed naked the rest of the evening, even when we had dinner with her parents on their farm. I don’t know whether I’ll ever do much nude modeling, but I have other artistic interests that might involve nudity. I’m active in a local amateur theater group. It’s the only way I’ve been able to use my college drama experience. I doubt the group as a whole will do much that involves nudity, but there might be some who’d be interested in working on a few one-act plays that feature nudity in some way. I’m also an amateur violinist – not especially talented, I admit. But I do play with a local string quartet just for fun. Probably none of the others are interested in nudity. However, they – and some of the theater group – might be willing to perform for naturist groups like this one, and I could perform naked. The Fellowship hall that Sara has offered to make available could be a good place for that. Oh, gosh, I’ve been taking up way too much time now. But I hope it’s clear that I’d really love being part of this group!

Mark: You certainly needn’t apologize for your remarks, Joyce. I think you’ll be a tremendous addition to our group. I have thought occasional amateur musical or theatrical performances that include nudity would be excellent special events for naturist groups like ours. There might be opportunities for group members to participate too. Maybe you know some suitable one-act plays or a few scenes from Shakespeare that would be perfect for both naked actors and the audience. Perhaps something from one of the Bard’s comedies, like Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Joyce: That would be fantastic! If some group members want to participate, but have no acting experience, I could use what I learned from majoring in drama to coach them. You know, it’s not really all that hard as long as people can at least remember their lines. The rehearsals would also be lots of fun!

Mark: Yes, and putting on such plays as this could also be a great recruiting tool for our group. I’m sure some people could overcome their fears of nudity for this sort of thing. Let’s discuss this later, OK? We need to move on now. You’re next, Skye.

Skye: Well, you all know now that I’m a professional photographer. Nudity is one of my favorite subjects, and I’ve done some nude modeling myself. I’ve done a fair number of typical naturist things too – nude beaches, nude camping, nude parties, and so on. I heard about this meeting from Dave and Jan Stuart, when I made a family portrait for them, as Jan already mentioned. They were very happy with it. I’d be happy to do something similar for anyone else here – individuals, couples, or a whole family – for just the cost of my materials. In the interest of brevity, I don’t think I need to say much more. Personally, I’ll try to use my photography skills to document activities and events that this group organizes. Hopefully, photos resulting from that can be used in various ways to promote both the group and naturism itself. Don’t worry, though. I wouldn’t think of distributing photos of anyone involved without appropriate model releases! That’s enough from me. It looks like Erin, Drew, and their son Kyle are up next.

Erin: I’m Erin Fitzpatrick. Drew says I’m the better speaker, so I can speak for him too. Yes, as you can see, Drew and I aren’t nudists… not yet anyhow. Fortunately – for all of us – I’m not uncomfortable being outnumbered by all the naked people here, but it sure is a novel experience! I’m a hospital nurse, so I do see nudity often enough – but usually only one person at a time. Kyle seems to be the only one in our family who wants to be a nudist right now. So I’ll just let him explain.

Kyle: I’m really glad my parents were willing to bring me here. So, what made me want to be a nudist? It’s indirectly because I’ve imagined being a great pianist ever since I became curious about the piano in our home when I was only in fifth grade. The piano was there because Mom liked to play it.

Erin: But I’m a complete amateur. It’s fun to play simple tunes, but I don’t have any real musical talent, so I never got very good at it. Kyle, on the other hand, does seem to have considerable natural talent. Once I showed him the basics and taught him how to read music he was quickly able to play better than I could. So I eventually decided he needed a very good teacher. Fortunately, we found Jan Stuart.

Kyle: I’ve been taking lessons from Mrs. Stuart for about four years now. She’s made me play pretty difficult stuff, like Chopin, Mozart, Bach, and so on.

Jan: He’s easily my most accomplished student now. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.

Kyle: Whatever. Pretty recently I noticed this new framed photograph the Stuarts had in their living room. When I looked at it closely, I saw it was their whole family – completely naked. It was sort of what you might see in a photo gallery, only it wasn’t just random people – it was my piano teacher and the rest of her family. I was sort of afraid to ask them about the picture, but Danielle saw me gawking at it, and she asked me how I liked it. I said it looked pretty cool, so she told me that her whole family had recently become nudists. She asked whether I might like to be a nudist, and I said I’d never thought about it – but based on the picture it looked like the whole family was happy to be naked. That was a very surprising idea to me. I asked Danielle why I’d never seen any of them naked when I was there for a lesson.

Danielle: I told him it was because my mom didn’t think it was a good idea for us to be naked when she had students around. But I said we could be naked when he was there if he told his parents we were nudists who might be naked and they had no objections. I also suggested he could be naked too, if he wanted and his parents approved. I said my brother, Sean, and two of my friends – Shelley and Kimberly – also enjoyed being naked. And that we really hoped to find other kids close to our age who also enjoyed being naked, so he should seriously consider it.

Erin: The rest is history. When I picked Kyle up after his lesson he was clearly quite excited about what he’d learned – and that he might like to be a nudist too. We had a long discussion on the subject at the dinner table than night. Finally Kyle’s older brother, Devin, said something like “Look Kyle, just take your clothes off, go naked for awhile, and see how you like it.” The rest of us agreed that’s what what Kyle should do… so that’s why we’re here now. I don’t know whether any of the rest of us are interested in being nudists, but if it’s what Kyle wants, it’s fine with us.

Kyle: I’ve been naked much of the time at home since then – and at my piano lessons too – so I’m already pretty comfortable without any clothes on. I’ve told some of my friends I’m becoming a nudist, and most seem OK with that, though they do think it’s rather weird. When Danielle told me about this meeting I especially wanted to be here, so I can talk with others here near my age about possibly interesting more friends in nudism. There’d be so many neat things we could do together, like pool parties, camping, and enjoying other interests we have in common, such as chess – something else I’m really into. That’s about all I have to say now.

Mark: Kyle, I think we may have a very good prospect to help you and others around your age find more like yourselves who’re interested in nudism. Monika Hamilton’s turn is next.

Monika: Thank you, Mark. It’s my son, Corey, that Mark is referring to. Like Kyle’s family, ours is supportive of Corey’s interest in nudism, although we’re still unsure about sharing that interest with him. I’ll let Corey speak for himself, but I have a few words to add when he’s done.

Corey: As Mom said, I’m definitely interested in being a nudist. That’s because of my best friend, Sean Stuart. His parents, Jan and Dave, have already talked about their whole family being nudists. Since Sean and I visit each other often, I learned about what was happening in his family pretty soon after he started going naked at home. At first I thought that was a rather crazy idea, but I could see clearly that Sean enjoyed it. I told my parents about Sean becoming a nudist and asked whether it was OK for him to be naked at our place.

Monika: My husband, Steve, and I didn’t have any objection. That’s because we already knew a little about naturism. My family had moved to Germany when I was 10, so my father could work in the German office of his company. As most of you probably know, Germans in general are considerably more sensible about nudity than people in the U. S. That’s true in many other places in Western Europe too. So I acquired a similarly relaxed attitude about nudity as a youngster. Our family didn’t consider ourselves nudists, but we sometimes visited places like nude beaches, spas, saunas, and even some public swimming pools where nudity was common, and we often went nude there too. Eventually we moved back to this country. I regretted that naturism was less well accepted here, but couldn’t do much about it. When I married Steve I told him about all of this, and he agreed with my feelings. But that’s as far as it went, since we knew of no convenient opportunities for social nudity.

Corey: Since my parents didn’t object to Sean being naked at our house, when I planned to have a computer game party with some friends, I told Sean he could be naked then too. Nobody else was naked at that party, but Sean seemed very comfortable that way, so the rest quickly decided it wasn’t any big deal. When I visited Sean a few days later, he suggested I get naked too. I was pretty nervous the first time I took my clothes off, but since the rest of Sean’s family was also naked I got used to it fairly soon. I was nervous again a little later when Danielle’s friend Kimberly dropped in and immediately stripped off herself. But we all had a good time using their pool that afternoon, so I decided I should seriously try going naked at my own home. The rest of my family was OK with that… so now I’m a dedicated nudist too.

Monika: Corey’s decision to become a nudist made me think again about my own experiences in Germany. Although I didn’t feel the same need as Corey to be naked much of the time, occasionally I thought I’d feel good dispensing with clothes. For example, on a warm, sunny day I might wish I could work naked in my garden. It’s visible from the street, but since we live on a cul-de-sac, not many people go by who might see me naked there. And it wouldn’t especially bother me if I were seen naked. However, there is one problem. In our society, unfortunately, there’s a very close association in most people’s minds between nudity and sex. It would be great if most people who saw me working naked in the garden simply thought how good it was that I could be carefree doing that on a beautiful day. But we know that’s not realistic. Instead they’d much more likely think I was either an exhibitionist who got a kick out of showing off her naked body, or else my nudity would make some people – men especially – think I was inviting sexual attention from them. Even wearing skimpy clothing causes that reaction from too many men.

Mark: But what about simply being naked inside if you felt like it?

Monika: There are problems with that, too. I do that a little now, especially since Corey’s likely to be naked himself. But ideally I’d like the freedom to be naked with a group of friends – most of whom might never be naked themselves – and not have them wondering and talking behind my back about my “real” motives for being naked.

Julie: I enjoy that freedom all the time. However, I’ve been a nudist so long that all my current friends just take my nudity for granted.

Monika: Sure, but I probably have many friends who wouldn’t be so understanding.

Jan: But in this group I doubt there are any who have serious problems with nudity.

Monika: Yes, because we’re already at least a little used to being around naked people – otherwise we wouldn’t be here. I’m thinking about something slightly different. I’d like to find some women – just women – who could enjoy nudity with a group of friends in which everyone else is also naked. Yet they might be uncomfortable being naked in mixed company, or even with their own families. The group could get together regularly, just to socialize, say for lunch a few times a month, at the homes of different members. Certainly many or most women here might be interested in that. But I’d like to interest some of my current friends, even neighbors I see often, in that sort of thing. I’m wondering whether that would work, as long as the group is for women only. It might, if nothing else, help some women become comfortable with social nudity more generally.

Mark: That sounds like a great idea to me, Monika. I’d encourage you to put an initial group like that together later today with any woman here who’s interested. Now let’s finish up with introductions, since we’re almost done. Just one more left. Go ahead, Brice.

Brice: I’m Brice Kennedy – just a single guy who’s interested in naturism, although I haven’t gone very far with it. Various articles on the Internet about it got me interested, so I thought I should give it a try. I discovered there was a place on a small lake near where I lived that a lot of locals used without swimming suits. It seemed like a good place to start. At the time I was dating a girl named Cecily, but I couldn’t guess how she’d feel about skinny-dipping around strangers. So I went by myself to check out that lake. I really enjoyed skinny-dipping there, even though there were mostly guys around. The few women there all seemed to be with male partners or friends. I told Cecily about my visit there, and eventually persuaded her to go there with me, although she was dubious about how she’d like it. She didn’t get naked there along with me, but she didn’t find the experience as unpleasant as she’d feared. We discussed the subject a few more times, but she finally said she didn’t expect she’d ever get comfortable with social nudity. Eventually we mutually decided to stop dating each other for that and other reasons, though we’re still friends. But I still want to become involved in naturism myself. I’m here now because Eric Shaw’s a friend of mine. When I mentioned my interest in naturism to him, he told me about this meeting and said I should attend. I got in touch with Mark, who wholeheartedly urged me to come.

Mark: In fact, I suggested that this group would be a good place to start looking for friends – female or otherwise – who’d be more favorable towards naturism than Cecily. The right person might not be here today – but we’re just getting started.

Brice: Mark was very encouraging. As far as what I might contribute to this group, there’s maybe one thing I could offer. I’m a software developer at a small company that develops smart phone apps. I’m pretty good at that, and I had an idea that might be useful. That would be an app like a lot of other messaging apps already out there, except it could have features useful for a naturist group. Most importantly, in order to use the app a person would have to apply to an administrator of a naturist group like this to join the group, preferably on the basis of a recommendation from an existing member. So naturism would be the focus of the app’s users. It would be a small-scale version of Facebook, where people could post status information, hold discussions, make announcements of activities and events, and provide useful information, such as about that skinny-dipping place I mentioned. For instance, if you were planning to do something naturisty you could broadcast a message to group members about it, and say you’d welcome anyone who wanted to join you.

Mark: I asked why naturist groups couldn’t just use a private group on Facebook for this sort of thing.

Brice: Well, I pointed out several problems. A big one is that Facebook doesn’t allow pictures of “explicit” nudity, even in private groups. Many people don’t want to post on Facebook about their interest in nudism, even in “closed” groups, since they don’t know who might see the post. Some people just don’t like Facebook – usually for good reasons – and don’t want to use it. It doesn’t provide good ways to organize different topics and types of discussions. I think I can make something that’s much better for a naturist group like this. So that’s about it for me.

Mark: Thank you very much, Brice. We should definitely spend time later today talking more about your idea. It sounds very useful to me. Right now, let’s all take a break, stretch our legs, enjoy some snacks for – let’s say – half an hour. And then come back and discuss where we can go from here.

To be continued.