Naturist or Nudist?

Naturist or Nudist? What is the difference? The answer appears to depend on who you are and where you live. We get the history of the terms from Mark Storey. Then Michel Vaïs gives us the current European perspective. Finally, Nicky Hoffman of the Naturist Society (TNS) explains her preference while Bob Dixon, vice-president of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) defends the term nudist.

Episode III

Photo: Statue in St. George’s Square, downtown Guelph, Ontario by Lone Primate.

Nudist Films

A discussion with Mark Storey the author of “Cinema au naturel, a history of nudist film.” (We apologize for the poor sound quality of Mark’s voice. Due to a technical problem, the recording is difficult to understand.) In this episode, we explore the frequent conflict between naturists who wanted to promote the values of the movement against the commercial film producers who wanted to exploit the nudity of naturism for salacious reasons. In the early to mid-twentieth century in particular, many movies were made under the guise of nudism documentaries because of tough censorship laws.

The film soundtrack clip is from from the 1961 movie Have Figure Will Travel which was partially filmed at Sun Valley Gardens in Ontario, Canada.

Episode II

An Introduction

This is the introductory episode for the Naturist Living Show.

It is a brief introduction to the show and its purpose and objectives.

Naturism is more than just taking your clothes off. It is a life philosophy with physical, psychological, environmental, social and moral benefits. The basic tenets of naturist are respect for self, for others and for the environment. Future episodes of this podcast will deal with topics that touch on these themes.

At the end of the show, we play “Nature is” by Brian Madison.

Episode I

Nature Is
©2003 Brian Madison

When winter gets me feeling low
There’s just one place I want to go
Can’t wait to see something live and green
Shed these layers, follow me dear
Shake of this grey winter right here
The trees and us with nothing in between

Unconstrained by cold conventions
Losing all our old pretensions
Lord knows baby, we have paid our dues
If we abandon all these modest schemes
And ratify some better memes
We’ve got nothing to lose but our blues

Naturally you, naturally me, naturally we
Naturally you, naturally me, naturally we

Barefoot beginnings that’s a start
To liberate our gentle hearts
The grass between our toes no shoes or socks
Release the threads that keep us bound
Just leave them lying on the ground
In a little pile beside those rocks

Far away from preconceptions
No intentions, no deceptions
Nothing left to hide, just like we planned
Gymnasts, Sophists, dancers we
Have never ever felt so free
As running in this meadow, hand-in-hand

Natural you, natural we, natural me
Natural you, natural we, natural me

To civ’lization we return soon
But it’s only quarter past noon
There’s still time to roam these acres fair
Let’s go see how that river flows
We’ll have no need for fancy clothes
No uniforms or fig leaves if we dare

Taking off out in the woods
No strings attaached, no shame, no shoulds
We can just accept us as we are
No other way we’d rather be
Wearing smiles of joy we see
From social constructs we have come so far

The springtime breeze we’ll welcome in
Like a birtyday, born again
Finding peace for life in our true skin
Let’s have a picnic in the sun
We’ll be like children, free and fun
The sun and air; that’s what nature is

Nature is you, nature is we, nature is me
Nature is you, nature is we, nature is me
Nature is you, nature is we, nature is me
Nature is you, nature is we, nature is me