Monika Hamilton: Well, looks like everyone’s found a place to sit and start eating. This is the biggest turnout we’ve had so far, and that’s wonderful. Fortunately, our rec room is big enough for everyone, but unfortunately we don’t have quite enough things to sit on. So I hope that those of you who have to make do with some cushions on the floor will be OK.
Katryna Hamilton: I think it’s fine, Mom. I like to sprawl on the floor anyhow.
Danielle Stuart: I’m fine too. You don’t need to worry about us.
Monika: As those of you who’ve been to one of these lunch meetings before know, they’re especially for women of all ages who may already be naturists or are simply curious about it. We can talk about anything here, even if it’s not directly related to naturism. However, learning from each other about naturism and how to explain it to your friends and family is the main purpose.
Jan Stuart: It took me some time to understand why others in my family were so enthusiastic about naturism. I’m sure I’d have figured that out much sooner if meetings like this were already going on.
Monika: I’m glad to see that everyone’s naked already. This is the first time we haven’t had anybody who’s still a little shy. Being naked here isn’t an absolute requirement. However, simply not wearing clothes is the best way to start to really understand what naturism is all about.
Sally Yeager: It’s not surprising that people who’re already somewhat comfortable with nudity catch on sooner to what naturism’s about – but there’s much more to it than just being naked. However, that’s certainly the best place to start.
Monika: Yes, absolutely. We have a few new faces today, and it’s great they’re naked too. I’ve already met the new people, but for the benefit of everyone else, why don’t we go around the room and just say a few words about ourselves, and especially about any new ways we’ve found to enjoy nudity.
Katryna: Can I go first, Mom?
Monika: Sure, Katryna, but just let me start off very briefly for those who are new. I got into this naturist stuff just a few months ago. It was because my son Corey had started going naked after his friend Sean, who’s Jan’s son and Danielle’s brother, did. I was born in Germany and met my husband there. Steve’s American, but he was working in Germany at the time. We never considered ourselves to be naturists. But like many Germans we did enjoy getting naked when we went to spas or swimming places where nudity was common. When Steve and I moved back to this country we pretty much gave up on that. We had young kids to raise and not nearly as many places to be naked as in Germany. OK, Katryna, go ahead.
Katryna: At first I was embarrassed when Corey and some of his friends were naked at our house. But Mom assured me there wasn’t anything to be worried about. She told me how in Germany nudity wasn’t a big deal for people she knew, and that people who didn’t get naked were usually OK if some of their family or friends did. Still, for some time I kept all my clothes on, as usual. But that changed when I started helping Mom in our garden. Working naked in the garden was the first time since leaving Germany that non-family people might see her naked. I continued to stay dressed at first, and Mom’s nudity embarrassed me a bit.
Monika: Which is understandable, since even though we live on a cul de sac, most of our garden’s visible from the street and some of the neighbors.
Katryna. But Mom’s nudity there didn’t see to bother anyone, which surprised me. If they acknowledged her nudity at all it was to say something like what a great tan she was getting. However, these are all people who’ve known our family for quite a while. Since I could see how well it was going and how much Mom enjoyed working naked outside, I eventually figured I should try it too.
Monika: Katryna has just decided to be naked a lot more of the time.
Katryna: Yeah, well, I just decided that about a week ago. I’d told a few good friends that Corey was usually naked, Mom and I had been working naked outside, Mom had gotten involved in this local naturist group, and both of us were gradually spending more time at home with no clothes on – sometimes even when girlfriends were visiting. So a couple of those friends said it would be OK for me to be naked when visiting them. That idea scared me at first, since it meant people I didn’t know very well would see me naked. But I thought I should try it as an experiment. There were a number of awkward moments. For instance, someone’s mother might say, “Katryna, a friend of mine is stopping by. I’m sure she won’t mind if you’re naked, but I thought I should let you know.” I wondered whether that was a signal to put something on, but I never did. Anyhow, nothing terrible happened, and I enjoyed being naked at friends’ homes.
Kimberly Schmidt: I bet most of us have felt that way when we start going naked more often than not. I certainly did. But once you get casual about nudity, you often don’t bother keeping clothes handy. Strangely, you’re happy realizing you may be miles away from any of your clothes. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but if I had to leave where I was, I’d need to be naked unless I was lent something to wear.
Katryna: Yeah. It’s like “Oh, it’ll just be a little while, I won’t even bring clothes with me.” Fortunately, people seem to be careful about my feelings while naked. They avoid appearing to notice my nudity. Corey, who was usually naked most of the time at that point, kept daring me to wear clothes as seldom as he did. So I eventually decided, fuck, why not at least try that too. Mom wouldn’t try to discourage that any more than she did with Corey.
Danielle: I too don’t usually bother bringing clothes when I’m visiting a friend. Then if he or she says, “hey, let’s go to Jodie’s place” and I don’t know who Jodie is, or even whether Jodie is a guy or a girl, I have an excuse to stay naked. I don’t worry about it, since I assume my friend thinks my nudity will be OK. I have some interesting stories about situations like that. But I bet you’ve found you soon stop being embarrassed about being naked?
Katryna: Um, I’m not quite there yet. Unfortunately, sometimes I am a little embarrassed about being naked, but not very strongly. Actually, even the embarrassment feels kind of good, because I’m quite aware of my nudity, yet I’m able to be brave about it. I try hard to suppress any thought of putting any clothes on. I try to appear totally comfortable and self-assured being naked, so nobody will think otherwise.
Kimberly: I’m getting better doing that too. Just pretending to be carefree about my nudity seems to boost my self-confidence. I guess we become what we pretend to be. That may not always be good, but in this case I think it is.
Katryna: I know what you mean. I’m usually fine being naked visiting girlfriends, assuming it’s OK with their families. But it’s harder for me if there’ll be boys around I don’t know pretty well. I’m optimistic I’ll eventually be OK with that. We’ll see.
Erin Fitzpatrick: I think that’s wonderful for you, Katryna. I’m not nearly so far along as you are in being naked around other people. Perhaps I’ll never be. But time will tell. Anyhow, I’m very glad there’s a women’s group like this where I can learn to feel relaxed without clothes on. My family’s a lot like yours. My son Kyle was taking piano lessons from Jan before she got into naturism herself, although the rest of her family was usually naked. So Kyle decided to try nudity too. He quickly gave up wearing clothes most of the time at home. However, nobody else in our family has done likewise.
Katryna: But you’re obviously interested in nudity now yourself.
Erin: Yeah, but I’m just starting to dip my toes in the water. Maybe it’s intellectual curiosity for me. Today’s my first time attending this group. I feel safe enough being naked here, with just women. I hope this will help me better understand Kyle’s enthusiasm for nudity. But perhaps – except sometimes in my family – I’ll never go much beyond this. Still, I’m just testing the waters. I don’t need to say any more about myself just now. But I did want to ask Monika to say more about how she apparently found it wasn’t too hard to start working naked in her garden, knowing that a number of people would see her.
Monika: That’s a very good question. Remember, I wasn’t completely inexperienced being naked with others who weren’t necessarily naked themselves. All of our neighbors knew our family pretty well, and they wouldn’t think that working naked in the garden meant I was some sort of exhibitionist. At least, their first response wouldn’t be to call the cops. I still had fond memories of how things were in Germany. Even before I met Steve, my own family had occasionally done naturist things while I was young. Since Corey was now often naked, the time seemed right to be naked more myself. So working naked outside was as good a way as any. That made sense for several other reasons too. I’d get a nice, even tan. I could wash up easily, and not get any clothes dirty. And it was a fine way to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. The chores of gardening became an opportunity instead of a burden.
Erin: Did you find that any of your neighbors – especially those who were males – made you feel uncomfortable if they seemed to be passing by more often while you were in the garden?
Monika: No, not really. I did notice that some of the men did seem to be outside a bit more often while I was. Before long, some would even stop by to chat as they walked by. But they were always courteous and pleasant about it, and hardly even mentioned my nudity, except perhaps to say something about my nice tan. Polite people generally don’t acknowledge noticing nudity, even though it’s plainly visible. I have to admit I rather enjoyed their attention. It was like, sure, they enjoy seeing me naked. But why should I begrudge them that, since being naked is pleasurable for me too? It’s a win-win situation. But Katryna found the attention she drew when working naked in the garden was initially a bit more stressful than it was for me.
Katryna: Yes, it was rather somewhat stressful at first. But like Mom, I consciously chose to be naked and increasingly enjoyed the experience. It was pleasurable for us as well as passersby. Some guys did chat with me more about this and that than I can recall them doing before, if at all. However, they seldom said anything about nudity, unless I mentioned it myself. I was glad of that. Mom told me something like, “Look, honey, we both know men enjoy seeing us naked. It’s normal. But none of our neighbors want to cause embarrassment or are at all likely to do anything improper. So let’s just go with the flow until there’s any reason to believe otherwise.”
Monika: Initially I was more worried about whether any of our female neighbors would be concerned about what we were doing. Were we consciously or otherwise using nudity to attract attention? Was it a problem if their husband paid any particular attention to us? But I didn’t see evidence of female apprehension. If anything, everyone in the family was invited more often for casual socializing. Either explicitly or implicitly it was understood that we needn’t bother wearing anything if we didn’t care to. I was actually surprised at how little difference our nudity seemed to make.
Erin: What you say is very encouraging. You certainly seem to live in a very civilized neighborhood.
Monika: Yes, that’s probably true. However, the rest of you shouldn’t rely on our experience to decide what’s may be best for you and your families. We can go into this subject more later. Now let’s continue having others say a little more about themselves. How about starting with newcomers Celeste and Kimberly?
Naturist Philosopher 