pvl@houxh.UUCP (08/02/83)
An article from mit-eddy!hammy posed a few more questions concerning
nude recreation. I thought I'd provide my answers to those questions
and trust that others will add *their* answers.
The comraderie of nude recreations is probably not as close as
that on a soccer team since you don't spend as much time with any
one group of people and you don't have such a clearly-defined goal
(winning) as you do in competition. It *is* the same general effect,
however. The interesting thing is that it occurs between strangers
rather than having to "be on the team" for awhile.
I think people really *are* more open when nude, but I'm not sure
about whether it affects the facade that people construct. There's
more of a tendency to be friendly, but I guess that there's also a
tendency to remain somewhat "anonymous" since social nudity is still
somewhat of a "no-no." I would guess that you wouldn't want a stranger
to pour their life story on you when you first met anyway.
Whether or not social nudity benefits children is a subject of real
interest to me since my wife is expecting in December. I have a book
called "The Naked Child" which explores the effects of social nudity
on growing children. More studies are desirable to support or refute
the findings, but it statistically indicates that nudists are more
comfortable with themselves and their bodies. There isn't any
indication of increased sexual promiscuity, but there *is* a slight
increase in incidence of incest. I'd be interested in more studies
and comments from any parents on the net.
I really haven't formed a "general category" of people who indulge
in nude recreation so I can't say if I feel that nudists are less
constrained by society. I suppose that they would have a leaning toward
being unorthodox or they wouldn't participate in the first place.
I'm fairly conservative, but I *am* unorthodox in behavior.
More discussion would be interesting here, too.
I'm glad to see the newsgroup coming alive. Thanks to those
who have (re)responded.
Pete LaMaster