History UsefulNotes / Nudism

* RealityEnsues: Terri Sue Webb and Andrew Martinez both tried to pull the Hollywood, "naked everywhere" style [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl nudist trope]] as a form of protest. The result? Andrew Martinez was expelled from school, his town gained a draconian anti-nudity law, and he later committed suicide in jail (his presence in there to begin with being unrelated). Terri Sue Webb was jailed multiple times, her jail sentences extended multiple times due to her refusal to dress during her jail sentences, and later put in a mental institution by the Judge, who used a legal loophole to keep her there despite her being perfectly sane. She's now much more mellow about her clothesfreedom activism, mostly at the behest of the AANR, who rightfully pointed out that she was actually causing more harm than good.

Nowadays, the American Sunbathing Association (renamed the American Association for Nude Recreation) represents almost 300 clubs and is the United States' member association of the International Naturism Federation. It is, however, important to note that the United States is one of two nations in the world (the other being China) that lacks any legally protected clothing-optional beaches — any "nude beaches" in the United States are either exclusively illegal but ignored by the authorities, or private property that is being donated to the cause. (If you're wondering why they might ignore skinny dippers on the beach — [[MoneyDearBoy tourism]]. Naked tourists, particularly those from Europe, bring in a ''lot'' of money.)

* PantyShot: Averted. Some people, on their first trip to a nudist camp, think "I'm nervous, so I'll just strip to my underwear, that's halfway - right?" Then they look at the rules and see that walking around in your underwear is prohibited - which doesn't make sense to a first-timer. Firstly it's a ''Nudist'' camp, so you ought to go all the way or not at all; and secondly when you think about it partly-clothed is generally considered kinkier than stark-naked. Think about all the lingerie porn out there.

* Nudists are not necessarily swingers or hippies — although swingers and hippies are frequently nudists. Nudist events, generally speaking, make an effort to desexualise the nudity. The average nudist has a college education and is in the upper middle income bracket.

* PantyShot: Averted. Some people, on their first trip to a nudist camp, think "I'm nervous, so I'll just strip to my underwear, that's halfway - right?" Then they look at the rules and see that walking around in your underwear is prohibited - which doesn't make sense to a first-timer. Firstly it's a ''Nudist'' camp, so you ought to go all the way or not at all; and secondly when you think about it partly-clothed is kinkier than stark-naked. Think about all the lingerie porn out there.

** InnocentFanserviceGirl: Nudists of the "what's clothes" variety.
** ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Nudists of the "who cares" variety
* DidNotDoTheResearch: See above. Nudists aren't swingers, hippies, perverts or religious health nuts just because they are Nudists(whether any given individual is is another matter). They don't live in colonies and aren't nearly so breathtakingly beautiful (or hilariously ugly, when used for a gag) as Hollywood wishes.

** ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Nudists of the "who cares" variety.
** Neither are particularly realistic portrayals of actual nudism -- very few real life nudists actually do not understand the nudity taboo (precluding the InnocentFanserviceGirl), nor are there many that would force others to accept their nudity (precluding the ShamelessFanserviceGirl). Variants of both -- nudists who don't really "get" what the big deal about nudity is, and nudists who outright ''reject'' clothing (''when appropriate''), are closer to actual modern nudism.

** Neither are particularly realistic portrayals of actual nudism -- very few real life nudists actually do not understand the nudity taboo (precluding the InnocentFanserviceGirl), nor are there many that would force others to accept their nudity (precluding the ShamelessFanserviceGirl). Variants of both -- nudists who don't ''understand'' the nudity taboo, and nudists who ''reject'' the nudity taboo, ''when appropriate'', are closer to actual modern nudism.

'''Tropes generally associated with Nudism:

'''Tropes'''

* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Completely averted by both sexes. Nudists know about the nudity taboo — they just don't believe in it. However, Nudists ''do'' (usually) respect other people's beliefs. Exceptions (to the respect, not to the understanding) include certain topfreedom advocates and the "Naked Hiker" of Britain.

*** To this end, stag films would bring in not-so-average women to be recorded on nudist club grounds rather than film the actual members.

* RealityEnsues: Terri Sue Webb and Andrew Martinez both tried to pull the Hollywood, "naked everywhere" style [[InnocentFanserviceGirl nudist trope]] as a form of protest. The result? Andrew Martinez was expelled from school, his town gained a draconian anti-nudity law, and he later committed suicide in jail(his presence in there to begin with being unrelated). Terri Sue Webb was jailed multiple times, her jail sentences extended multiple times due to her refusal to dress during her jail sentences, and later put in a mental institution by the Judge, who used a legal loophole to keep her there despite her being perfectly sane. She's now much more mellow about her clothesfreedom activism, mostly at the behest of the AANR, who rightfully pointed out that she was actually causing more harm than good.
* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: As stated above nudists avert being [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fansevice Girl's]] and play this trope straight.

* ShamelessFanseviceGirl: As stated above nudists avert being [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fansevice Girl's]] and play this trope straight.

* ShamelessFanseviceGirl: As stated above nudists avert being [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fansevice Girl's]] and play this trope straight.

* ShamelessFanseviceGirl: As stated above nudists avert being [[InnocentFanseviceGirl Innocent Fansevice Girl's]] and play this trope straight.

Generally speaking, all nudists believe in the following:

* Nudists are not swingers or hippies — although swingers and hippies are frequently nudists. There is no sex at nudist events, and the nudity is completely desexualized. The average nudist has a college education and is in the upper middle income bracket.

* RealityEnsues: Terri Sue Webb and Andrew Martinez both tried to pull the Hollywood, "naked everywhere" style [[InnocentFanserviceGirl nudist trope]]. The result? Andrew Martinez was expelled from school, his town gained a draconian anti-nudity law, and he later committed suicide in jail. Terri Sue Webb was jailed multiple times, her jail sentences extended multiple times due to her refusal to dress during her jail sentences, and later put in a mental institution by the Judge, who used a legal loophole to keep her there despite her being perfectly sane. She's now much more mellow about her clothesfreedom activism, mostly at the behest of the AANR, who rightfully pointed out that she was actually causing more harm than good.

* OlderThanTheyThink: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamites Adamites]] were a Christian sect in the 2nd through 4th centuries AD who believed in returning to the innocence of the GardenOfEden, including the shedding of all clothes. Modern Christian Naturists occasionally cite the Adamites as inspiration for their beliefs.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: See above. Nudists aren't swingers, hippies, perverts or religious health nuts. They don't live in colonies and aren't nearly so breathtakingly beautiful (or hilariously ugly, when used for a gag) as Hollywood wishes.

Nowadays, the American Sunbathing Association (renamed the American Association for Nude Recreation) represents almost 300 clubs and is the United States' member association of the International Naturism Federation. It is, however, important to note that the United States is one of two nations in the world (the other being China) that lacks even a single legally protected clothing-optional beach — the "nude beaches" in the United States are exclusively illegal but ignored by the authorities, or private property that is being donated to the cause. (If you're wondering why they might ignore skinny dippers on the beach — [[MoneyDearBoy tourism]]. Naked tourists, particularly those from Europe, bring in a ''lot'' of money.)

* Children at Nudist colonies are not "free game" for pedophiles or any such nonsense, despite what [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley certain former members of Congress]] (who would later be caught out as pedophiles themselves) would suggest. In fact, because anyone can, ahem, see whether anyone else is having bad thoughts, nudist children might be safer at a nudist youth camp than a normal one.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: See above. Nudists aren't swingers, hippies, perverts or religious health nuts. They don't live in colonies and aren't nearly so breathtakingly beautiful as Hollywood wishes.