Naturists, more commonly known as nudists are people that go nude in both private and public settings. Nudists are organized deviant groups with many people regarding nudism as a lifestyle. Nudism carries a social and moral stigma in the United States and worldwide. At both the individual and population levels, nudism has changed from a way to pressure society to be as attractive as possible into a movement to accept all body types. (Woodall, 2002). Maurice Parmalee published Nudism in Modern Life in 1927 in which he advocated nudism for the purpose of beautifying the population stating that nudists “have every incentive to avoid deformations of the body, and to strive by means of a healthy and natural life for a well-developed form, because deformities and malformations are all too apparent in a state of nudity.” He believed that if people saw one each other in the nude, only the beautiful people would breed which would eventually weed out all deformities and less attractive people.
74 years later, the AANR or American Association for Nude Recreation said that, “Nudists respect each other’s individuality. Our own self-esteem is enhanced by our ability to accept ourselves as we really are. We find it easy to accept others regardless of physical size, shape, or body condition.” The nudists of today promote a positive self image and a boost of self esteem with nudism, stating that being comfortable with nakedness in other’s and ourselves will make a happier more connected world, free from social status and negative feelings toward appearance.
In a very short amount of time nudists have dramatically changed their central values. Nudists are described as a deviant group frequently slandered by the press, having hazy morals and constantly the source of jokes. The majority of society wears clothes in their everyday lives and by not wearing clothes nudists are deviating from the norm. (Bekiempis, 2012). Victoria Bekiempis explains that nudists are often perceived as people who are hippies in a commune who don’t understand other people’s discomfort with nudity, or pressure people into being nude with them. Nudism is considered a deviant behavior because the majority of society is clothed both at home and in public, while nudists ignore this norm and expose their bodies to other people and the elements. A nudist is someone that is using their naked bodies to separate him or herself from the rest of society.
Nudism is generally thought of as an almost comical activity, with negative moral connotations. Society has trouble separating nudity and sex, and sex is usually regarded as immoral, bring nudism down with it. (Morris, 2009). Our culture is loaded with sex, but at the same time sex is demonized. (Bekiempis, 2012).
Nudism has strong links to subcultures, which attracts people. When someone participates in nudism they give the allusion that they are resisting the larger values of society. This kind of deviance is usually associated with the intelligent. In modern culture, derision from the norm is appealing. In western culture nudist resorts have become symbols of enlightened individuals where people can represent their disdain for society without risk. The nudist movement is slowly becoming an activist one, with naturists fighting for their deviant behavior to become a right. Instead of nudists believing that what they are doing is deviant from society, they instead believe that society is morally wrong, unintelligent and that the rest of society are actually the deviant ones. (Woodall, 2002). Nudists also make the rest of society out to be immoral in that they do associate nudity with sexuality and are unable to stop staring at other people’s naked bodies. Within the deviant group of nudism there is actually a deviant group.
Young single males are treated as sexual predators and have the burden of proof put on them to prove otherwise. Some nudist settings do not allow single males at all, but have no problem with single females. (Bekiempis, 2002).
A study on how people view their bodies that compared social nudists and non-nudists explains that the body self-concept of nudists was higher. (Story, 1984). When people are comfortable being nude that directly translates into being comfortable and happy with their own bodies.
