Kimberly Schmidt: This is the first time my Mom and I have attended this group. Maybe she should say something about our family, since her feelings are probably like Erin’s.
Celeste Schmidt: I agree. Our family consists of my husband Kent and my son Roy, besides Kimberly and me. Kimberly loves being naked as much as possible. But Kent and Roy don’t seem to be interested in nudity at all, and seem to understand Kimberly’s fascination with nudity even less than I do.
Kimberly: It’s fine with me that Dad and Roy are mostly indifferent about nudity. At first they kind of made fun of me for having any interest in it. You know, jokes about whether I hope to take up stripping as a career. But at least now they accept that loving nudity is just me being me. They don’t even pay much attention when I have naked friends around. My friends are glad about that. As long as others accept my own interest in nudity, I don’t care whether they share it.
Celeste: Kimberly basically sums up the situation in our family. Probably I’m much like Erin, since currently I’m just trying to understand why Kimberly is so crazy about nudity. I expect she’ll talk about that, and how it happened, when it’s her turn. Her enthusiasm does mean nudity’s something I should at least take seriously, so that’s why I’m here. I don’t know about Erin, but I’ve never been naked in something like this before. I’m a bit nervous about getting involved right now. But Kimberly’s been pestering me to check out this group, so I’m here with an open mind. I’ve certainly had lots of misgiving about being here naked. But my impression so far is that I needn’t be too worried. It’s not like I can hardly wait for this experience to be over.
Kimberly: I appreciate how Mom’s being such a good sport about this. I don’t need her to become a total nudist like me. All I care about is being understood and accepted for what I am. How I got interested in nudity initially is fairly simple. Danielle, as well as another girl, Shelley, are both best friends of mine. We’re on the same swim team, so we’ve been used to seeing each other naked in the locker rooms. Shelley’s been a nudist all her life, since her parents were, so she and her brother were raised as nudists.
Danielle: It wasn’t Shelley who first got me interested in naturism. My Dad had been thinking about it awhile, though he didn’t discuss it with the rest of us until this year. But my brother picked up Dad’s interest as soon as he learned about it. Although I never felt that nudity was dirty or disgusting or anything like that, I was a little slower to get interested. I knew vaguely that Shelley was a confirmed nudist, but she didn’t really discuss it with others on our team. Her family moved here only recently, so he hadn’t been a member of the team for long. My family got to meet Shelley’s family at a swim meet, and they invited us to visit them at their home. That really opened my eyes about nudity, and I knew immediately it was something I needed to try. Mom took much longer to get interested in naturism, but at least she didn’t try to interfere with the enthusiasm for nudity the rest of us had.
Jan: Everyone here except newcomers knows about our family’s history with nudity, but I’ll say a little more about it when it’s my turn.
Danielle: I think I’ve said enough about myself, so you can just go ahead.
Jan: I had some difficulty getting into naturism, but I’m OK with it now. When I first learned about my husband Dave’s interest in naturism, I reacted somewhat negatively. It just didn’t make much sense to me. I’d worn clothes all my life, yet naturism seems to contend that’s just unnecessary. Was it only a waste of my time to ensure that my kids and I always had decent clothes to wear? However, Dave wasn’t asking me to go naked, only that I agree it was OK for him at home – and therefore in front of our kids. I was still cool to that idea.
Danielle: Sean and I weren’t aware initially that Mom and Dad were having this discussion. If we had been we’d probably have agreed with Mom that going around naked seemed like a crazy idea. Fortunately, when Mom’s mother came for a visit with us the subject of nudity came up. I don’t remember exactly how, but when it did Gram explained that nudity was common in her family when she was young.
Jan: I was rather surprised to learn that. I’d never heard about that before. However, my mother said nudity became increasingly less common as she and her siblings got older, and she had little experience with nudity after a fairly early age. My mother and her siblings seemed not to have been harmed by their early experiences with nudity. So it was then difficult for me to argue that seeing Dave frequently naked would be bad for our kids. Especially after we met Shelley’s naturist family things just sort of snowballed. Dave started going naked at home most of the time after I consented. The kids did too fairly soon after that. I remained the sole holdout for quite awhile. But I finally surrendered and become a naturist too as a result of some rather uncalled-for and unpleasant behavior on the part of my father, who was – and remains – very hostile to naturism.
Kelli Ward: That’s exactly where my daughter Alyssa and I came into the picture. Jan and her family were staying at a cabin belonging to her sister Reese and Reese’s husband. Alyssa and I were there too, since I was Reese’s cousin. Reese and her husband aren’t naturists, but they had no objection to Jan’s husband and kids being naked – which they were the whole time. Even Jan experimented with nudity a little, with Reese’s encouragement. Alyssa was delighted to go naked too, and that was OK with me, but I refrained. The tipping point for Jan was when her father and mother showed up at the cabin unexpectedly, and as Jan just mentioned, her father made a rather ugly scene about all the nudity. Jan’s having to defend her family’s penchant for nudity helped her accept becoming a full-fledged naturist herself.
Alyssa: It was so neat that my mom let me go naked there! I was surprised how happy most of Jan’s family were without any clothes on, since I always thought that people just always wore clothes, except for very young kids. I wanted to be happy like that too! This was a really super place to be naked. A nice little brook behind the cabin was a great place to play in, because the water was pleasantly cool, even though most days were pretty hot. So whenever we wanted to cool off we could just get in the water to splash around. The best part was we didn’t have to take any clothes off and put on swimsuits, then put clothes back on when we were done. Nobody else lived nearby, so my mom was glad nobody would come along and think we were weird for being naked.
Kelli: I won’t bore you all with the details, but life for me and Alyssa hadn’t been so great up to that point. I’d just needed to leave an apartment because I didn’t have a job and couldn’t afford the rent. So not only were we lucky we could spend a couple of weeks at Reese’s cabin, but Jan and her family insisted that we move in with them, since they had a spare room. Plus they lived somewhere I might find a decent job. They didn’t expect me to pay any rent, so I could also enroll in nursing school, and eventually get an even better job.
Alyssa: And I could be naked all the time at home, and nobody would care! I didn’t really like the clothes I’d been wearing anyway, because they were mostly pretty worn out, and not really big enough for me anymore. I liked wearing no clothes at all much better.
Kelli: Yeah, Alyssa really took to nudity. In part, I think, it was because for the first time in her life she found a few good friends. Since Jan’s family already knew a few other naturist families, Alyssa was happy to make friends with the kids in those families, because they didn’t wear any clothes either. Some of the other friends she made who weren’t in naturist families let her feel special, since she was allowed to be naked.
Erin: Was it difficult for you to start living naked a lot of the time?
Kelli: Yeah, but not for too long. It’s obviously daunting for a young woman with no experience being naked to switch quickly from always wearing clothes to usually being naked when not out in public. But I’d feel guilty taking advantage of Jan’s family’s generosity if I were the only one wearing clothes. Becoming a full-time naturist was the only real option, since everyone there would be naked as much as possible – even my own daughter. That was pretty scary at first.
Alyssa: I told my mom it would just be silly for her to wear any clothes when none of the rest of us did.
Jan: That’s pretty much what my family kept telling me too.
Kelli: Right. Unsurprisingly, however, if everyone you live with is usually naked, there’s little reason to be embarrassed about being naked too. I thought I’d be uncomfortable when there were non-naturist visitors. But I soon realized that visitors fully expected everyone in Jan’s home to be naked, so it would be more awkward if I did wear anything. Also, people would wonder why I let Alyssa be naked if I didn’t prefer nudity too. Fortunately, I’m all over those fears now! As an extra bonus, I can save money by not buying any more clothes than we already have. Or at least, not until Alyssa outgrows the clothes she has to wear away from home.
Erin: You know, Kelli, thinking about what you’ve been saying is making me a little nervous. Right now Kyle is the only one in my family who seems interested in full-time nudity. His older brother Devin and my husband Drew find that rather amusing. However, they’re willing to indulge his interest in nudity. They haven’t indicated what they think of naturism, but they don’t make fun of it either. If they happened to get interested in naturism I could find myself living with three naked guys. And I don’t know whether that would be scarier than facing the alternative to give up wearing clothes also!
Jan: But you don’t mind being naked now, do you?
Erin: No, I guess not. I was worried about it before I came here, but I’m OK with it now. But there’s no one here except females now.
Monika: Kelli, your story’s quite a heartwarming. So let’s hear next what Alana and Kathya, other newcomers to the group, have to say.
Alana Williams: Well, Kathya and her brother Carson are probably the most likely members of our family to become naturists. Carson’s the more enthusiastic of the two about nudity, but he’s not quite yet at the always-need-to-be-naked stage that some of the rest of you are. Kathya says she’s a little less sure about nudity than Carson is, but it seems to me that she’s naked at home now as often as not. Isn’t that about right, Kathya?
Kathya: Mom, you know I like being naked. It’s just I’m afraid of what my friends will think if they find out.
Alana: I guess the best way to sum things up is that Kathya and I are here because we’re definitely curious about naturism, but we haven’t really decided how far we might want to go with it. As with some others here – apparently Erin and Celeste among those who we’ve heard so far – potential naturists in my family are still on the fence about it, but we’re definitely interested in learning more about going naked from the avid naturists here.
Erin: Alana, how did you become aware of naturism in the first place – and this group in particular? Did Kathya or Carson take an interest in nudity on their own? Also, was your own curiosity or your kids’ interest in nudity more influential in prompting you and Kathya to join this group today?
Alana: I can answer all those questions at the same time. You know, nudists and naturists and their activities occasionally get mentioned in the news. While that was sometimes interesting or amusing, I never thought I really needed to know more about the subject. So it was just by chance – really just an oversight on my part – that led to my whole family learning about naturism first hand. What happened is that we’ve gone to the U. U. bake sales from time to time, because they usually have very tasty things for sale that we all enjoy. None of us have any connection with the U. U. group except for that, but I get their newsletter so I’ll know when the sales are scheduled. Somehow I managed to miss their last newsletter, which had the information that along with the bake sale there’d also be a group they approved of putting on a Bare Fair. In other words, there would be naked people there inviting others to get naked too, or at least to learn something about naturism. Our whole family showed up there on the planned date, but only then did we find out about this Bare Fair.
Erin: Yes, I think we’ve all heard about that event. I’m sorry we missed it, because I know Kyle would have loved to be there. But probably most people weren’t even aware of the regular bake sales. I gather that many of the people here now were associated with the naturist group doing the Bare Fair, so naturally they knew of it and were probably there and helping out with the event. However, your family obviously didn’t just turn around and leave when you did learn about the Fair.
Alana: Well, when my kids heard about some of the activities – like the bounce house and the body painting – they really wanted to go ahead. My husband Brock thought the idea was rather crazy, so he wanted to leave. But I was curious to meet some real naturist and understand why they enjoy being naked with other people. And besides, we needed some of the baked goodies for a party we were going to have. You can ask me or anyone else who was there for more details, so I’ll just say that Kathya and Carson were fascinated with the event. They knew even less about nudists and naturists than I did. But they wanted to get naked almost immediately, and it seemed safe enough to me. After all, this was being held at a place owned by a religious group. Brock was rather dubious about letting the kids take all their clothes off, but I overruled him. I did keep my own clothes on, however.
Kathya: It was so much fun! I had no idea that people – both kids and grown-ups – got together without any clothes on to have fun at what was like a small county fair. And since I was naked it was even better! I first met Alyssa at the Fair, and we had a great time in the jump house. We’ve visited each other a few times since then, either at our house or her apartment.
Alyssa: We’re best friends now. Mom and I started going naked most of the time before the Fair. Kathya was naked at the Fair when I met her, and she’s always been naked for visits, so we’ve never even seen each other with any clothes on.
Erin: Kathya, at that Fair were you embarrassed at all that other people could see you naked?
Kathya: Nope. Mom says that when Carson and I were only two or three we often wore few if any clothes, but I don’t really remember. After that time we didn’t wonder why Mom usually expected us to wear clothes. Sometimes we didn’t get dressed right after a shower or bath, although eventually Mom or Dad would remind us to put something on. But they never taught us that being naked was anything to be embarrassed about. Maybe I did ask some time why people always wear clothes, and the response was probably that “it’s just a custom”. So that was that. I simply accepted that explanation without thinking more about it.
Alana: Although I didn’t take any clothes off at the Fair, I really learned a lot about naturism there. Everyone definitely seemed to be having a good time, entirely oblivious of the nudity. I met Kelli there, too, since her role was to answer questions visitors had about naturism or the Fair itself. She’s the one who told me about this group and invited me to attend.
Erin: Has your husband Brock come around to a more positive opinion about naturism since then?
Alana: Yes, a little bit. He still thinks it’s kind of crazy, but he can see how much our kids enjoy being naked at home, at least if they’re in the mood for it. And he knows I support that. So mostly he just doesn’t talk about it, and lets the kids do their thing. Of course, he’s usually the first to remind them to put something on if we’re having visitors. They’re still not too comfortable being naked when there are visitors other than certain of their friends.
Naturist Philosopher 