|
departments :: |
|
culture :: Nudist Colonies - Taking It All Off... by Zoe Davis |
|
Recently there’s been a lot of hype about social nudity. Nudist
youth leadership camps in Florida have been questioned on the moral sanctity
of adolescents running around naked, meanwhile the press reported that
nudist recreation is now a 400 million dollar industry complete with flights,
cruises, train rides and resorts. Why all the talk? Were we not born to
this world in our natural form, bodily quirks and all? Easy questions
to ask, but when it comes to taking it all off, I certainly approached
it with caution. I wanted to see for myself what this was all about. With my partner along
to provide a male perspective, we explored two San Diego nudist resorts,
one more family-oriented, the other more geared toward the single popultion.
According to the International Naturists Association (www.clothesfree.com),
“Good nudity is about body acceptance, age acceptance, freedom, breaking
shame, increasing self confidence and celebrating God’s greatest
creation.” Is that really what nudity is about? What about tales
of voyeurism and swingers? What if a man has an erection? Does public
sex take place on the grounds? With questions in hand about the lifestyle,
the history, and the people, along with my own reservations, off we went.
The Roper Organization reports that 40 million Americans have skinny-dipped
in mixed company, then certainly, I could try this… Leaving around noon on a Wednesday was more of a late start than I had
originally planned but our first stop was out on the border of El Cajon
and Alpine – a little over a half an hour from San Diego, not too
far away. The Swallows Sun Island Club (www.swallowssunisland.com),
located in Harbison Canyon, is a family friendly nudist resort where we
met with owner, manager, and nudist Ruth Shafer. We were all still wearing
our clothes at this juncture. Ruth and her husband Jim used to live in
a cul-de-sac in Escondido before they moved out to the canyon ten years
ago. Introduced to nudism in their late thirties, they would spend time
with their “textile friends” during the winter months and their
“nudist friends” throughout the summer. Living two alternate
lifestyles at the time was difficult for Shafer, who would constantly
pat herself down when opening the garage door to ensure that she was appropriately
clothed for the neighbors. “The outside world has a hard time accepting that nudist resorts
are safe environments,” says Shafer. “In actuality, the outsider
would probably be disappointed. There’s not much going on.”
And there wasn’t. Sure, there were people living and vacationing
there, washing their cars, getting something to eat, hanging out at the
pool, sitting in the hot tub playing basketball or tennis (support clothing
optional). The only difference was that they were all naked. There was
every body type, the long lean and athletic, the slightly overweight as
well as those over 250 pounds – it was the American physical spectrum.
Young and the old indulged together; we saw children running around and
grandparents watching over them just like any other picnic ground. I wanted
to look, but didn’t want to stare – I had never before seen
so many naked bodies in one place. Over the years the resort has hosted primarily families and couples,
but singles are welcome as well. In fact, they have all types of people
there ranging from retired military officers to young schoolteachers.
People aren’t cliquey but instead incredibly friendly and nice. Shafer
notes that men are a little less timid about public nudity than women.
“If we were a singles club, we would probably be a men’s club.”
For $18 a day, you can have all the amenities of a resort. With fifty
permanent sites, the resort also serves a residential purpose to some;
those individuals have a daily work routine off-site and come back to
their nudist lifestyle for dinner and nighttime television. You could
be sitting next to a nudist right now, and never know. What I learned and found is that it’s difficult to make assumptions
and categorize people in humanistic ways at a nudist resort. Our guide
pointed out that the person standing next to you could be a pauper or
a multi-millionaire – you just wouldn’t be able to tell. As
for wearing jewelry and make-up, that’s not a problem, even tattoos,
a longstanding worldwide tradition is tolerated. However, those with genital
piercing are not welcome. Mothers who are trying to raise their children
to appreciate the beauty of the natural body find it difficult to explain
to their young why there’s a barbell through a man’s penis. For the most part, no deliberate attraction is brought upon sexuality
at a nudist resort. “Generally there is no public display of affection,
and for that matter no place to be alone and make love on the grass,”
says Shafer. If you want to be alone, you can rent a room. Gays and lesbians
are welcome with the same rules applying. Once disrobed, Ruth led us over to the pool and introduced us around
to the others. There were about 15 other people laying beside the sparkling
chlorinated water, their bodies tanned evenly all around. We were obviously
first-timers. I felt like a young child being introduced to a new group
of friends, both timid and full of hope. I was worried that they might
be looking at me – noticing that space between my thighs - not entirely
toned from my lack of gym time. I didn’t need to worry; Swallows
puts their visitors through a screening process and isn’t tolerant
of voyeurs. From the male perspective, my counterpart definitely felt
the fear of measuring up to the other gentlemen. “Sure I looked,
and I felt confident. Most men though, look more similar than you think.
I was more surprised by the variation in ‘ball size.’”
We were told that nudist resorts are much more talkative than clothed
beaches – and it was! People were engaging us in conversation about
all sorts of things, it was hard for me to forget that I was naked, but
after about twenty minutes all the fear was gone. As for hygiene, the
nudists stand by one rule, “Always use your towel – it is your
best friend.” In other words, wherever you sit, the towel goes first.
It’s also the towel that Shafer advises men to use on the verge of
excitement. When I asked Shafer to comment on the social nudity movement she quickly
responded that social nudity is not a movement but rather has been an
accepted lifestyle in Europe for generations. In fact, according to the
International Naturists Association website, nude recreation and social
nudism started in Ancient Egypt around 1385 B.C. At that time, students
in Greece were exercising and receiving their education naked, as well
as competing in the buff at the Olympic Games. When the Games were banned
because they were thought to be Pagan, nudism too, received censorship.
Throughout the years, societal structure brought on by the Puritans inhibited
clothing-free recreation. During the Renaissance, nudity was accepted
as an art form, but organized social nudity didn’t come about until
the 20th Century in Germany. “Free Body Culture,” as it was
known, is the foundation for modern social nudists. With the birth of
the Internet – nudist resorts are no longer “in the closet”
and are getting widespread attention and advertising. With the afternoon drawing to evening, it was time to leave Swallows
and head out to the DeAnza Springs Resort (www.deanzasprings.com).
Located 70 miles from San Diego on over 500 acres in the high desert,
DeAnza bills itself “California’s newest and largest clothing
optional resort.” Complete with an indoor and outdoor pool, spa,
tennis courts, hiking trails, a restaurant, a clear star-studded sky and
bar, this is where we spent the night, naked. We first spoke with Kimberly, the onsite manager, and daughter of owners
Dave and Helen Landman. “A whole range of people come to DeAnza,
but primarily the younger crowd, especially on the weekends.” The
policies are similar to Swallows, inappropriate behavior is not accepted,
they are family friendly, and a form of identification is required to
check in. They also have events; their outdoor patio/bar area is open
on the weekends with bands and DJs featured almost every week, sometimes
the performers get in on the bare action. DeAnza is bigger than Swallows:
more people, more land, more naked bodies. Home to 150 people, DeAnza usually doubles in size on weekends. If you’re
visiting you can rent a room in their new motel or choose the more luxurious
park model RV for only $65 a night as we did. That’s right, we rented
an RV in the middle of the desert at a nudist resort, and it had Direct
TV. When I asked Kimberly, in her early thirties and raised a nudist, about how sexuality is affected by nudism, she responded, “There’s actually less sexuality. All of your inhibitions are
gone. What you see is what you get; there isn’t any mystery to it.
In fact, you’re open to everything. You have a higher esteem of yourself
in a mass mediated world with billboard women as sexual icons. You have
no hang-ups and you don’t look at life in a sexual way. Everything
is free and natural.” Free and natural? All I could think of was
hippies. Her sister is a doctor, also raised a nudist, but no longer practicing
due to her profession. Some professionals thrive in this environment where
Kimberly says, “When the clothes come off, all of the stress goes
away.” Her husband, raised non-nudist, actually became one, with
an open attitude from her in-laws. When she was growing up she had to
tell her friends to wait outside while she ran inside and made sure her
parents had their clothes on. This, while the rest of us were concerned
our parents were home period. Kimberly gave us the tour after which I had a chance to sit down and
talk with some of the residents. Rod Davis and George Neiman had much
to say about the nudist lifestyle. “Everybody here treats everyone
with 100% total acceptance and respect. When you leave the gate, it all
changes – people judge you,” says George, originally from the
Amish country of Pennsylvania. “You can’t get the sound of moving
water and the wind in the trees in society. It is the most comfortable,
serene, human experience being in the country away from the textile world,”
adds Rod, who’s had nudism in his soul all his life, growing up skinny-
dipping in the Midwest. Both men agree clothes and accessories we use
to adorn ourselves have symbolism attached to them. By removing those
symbolisms you are getting rid of pretenses that you have or others might
have about you. I look over at my partner wearing three necklaces, and
realize that if clothed we would both have more style, I’m wondering
what affect that would have on our interaction. Any advice for newcomers
I ask, “Don’t wait!” George took us on a walk up into the desert. Hiking naked, with shoes on (it’s prickly in the desert!), was exhilarating. Being outside in nature, feeling the wind and the sun on my derrière was nothing like what I expected it to be. Up until this point, I was still dealing with my own insecurities; it was then that I realized my natural element and became unashamed. I was told that off the trails pictographs nearly 300 years old are in the caves nearby, remnants from Native Americans living on the land. I wonder what they were wearing? We took advantage of the facilities after our hike. We went for a swim
underneath a perfect starry sky and sat in the hot tub relaxing. We met
an older couple, also “first-timers” from Laguna who were determined
to stay an entire week to really experience being socially nude. Ben had
always wanted to try it but his wife was inhibited about her weight. DeAnza
is a clothing-optional resort for that reason, so that if one person wants
to try it the other is not left out. We returned to our RV and woke up early the next morning to enjoy the
pool. At this point, we had forgotten our inhibitions and in our newfound
naked glory we continued on. We gathered our things around 10:30 and headed
back to San Diego, putting our clothes on first of course. For the first
time, this felt limiting. Truly this experience had been eye opening.
The warm welcome of the people we met, the personal stories and most important,
the exchange between us textiles and them nudists was certainly worth
the time. “I found the cultural phenomenon that we experienced which
might seem twisted and strange, to be an uplifting spiritual and inspiring
experience. I feel like we transcended a barrier to us knowing our true
selves and knowing others for who they are,” said my partner. As
we joined the freeway and the noise of the cars, we realized that there
was a small part of heaven at DeAnza. I left this experience with answers as well as a looming question. Why
is there a cloud of fear surrounding social nudity? 24 hours before, I
had been victim to that fear. I had misconceptions of nudists and expectations
of lifestyles. Instead of public orgies, what we found were people living
their daily lives and choosing to be nude when in their home environment.
The American Association for Nude Recreation (www.aanr.com)
states, “Experience the nudist lifestyle and you liberate your mind
and body, you rediscover the joy you knew as a child…the spirit deep
inside you.” Had I liberated my mind and my body? Had I connected
with the spirit deep inside of me? On a Wednesday in July the answer is
yes. My story though, is just another amongst the million stories in the
naked city. 
2003 1-42 Online |
I’m
naked, standing in the parking lot. My car has more security than the
hat I’m grasping around my chest and lower extremities, moving to
alternate positions based on my mood. Usually the red sandals I’m
wearing make me stand out in a crowd, but with the other nude individuals
around me, shoes aren’t going to cut it. Breathing deeply, I notice
the wind on my body, I feel a release and step forward. I’m still
worried about the insecurities I have with being publicly exposed, but
damn it if I’m not going to try this…