A lot of ideas from modern society came from Ancient Greece which idealized the nude body. In the ancient Olympics athletes competed in the nude. In ancient Greece and Rome clothign was more for warmth and protection than it was a sign of "beign civilized".In many cultures, although they wore clothing, thee was no shame associated with nudity. Shame for the nude body is a learned trait.

@snytiger6 clothing is actually being associated with civilised society, don't be panic,if ur daughter or sister roam arround u being naked what would u do? Will u support ? Or support them to be naked,clothing must be decent not be vulgar. Beleive or not but nudity seems good for others when a chance comes to apply it on ourseleves then tenets become change.

Technically, in some states, but not all, just beign naked can put you on a sex offenders list. In Washington State is specifically beign naked in front of children. Evidently the law makers of various states ,made the presumption, in their small perverted minds, that if you are naked then you must be wanting to do something sexual.

As many people only get naked for either bathing or sex, for many it is hard to imagine beign naked outside of one of those two contexts. Feeling ashmaed of nudity and of your body is a learned behavior, which seems to go unquestioned as to whether or not it is healthy or reasonable. Many states in the U.S. reflect the nonthinking, and blind acceptance of presumptions which are rooted in religion and religious ideas.

In the U.S. a lot of our culture still carries the religious idea that authority is nto to be questioned, especially with conservatives, and religion teaches or rather demands that people do not question their authority.

So, people are taught to feel shame about nudity and to be ashamed of their bodies, and they seldom question whether or not they actually should feel ashamed.

It's a form of cultural dysfunction.

Not strictly true these days - although it was more tolerated 40 years ago, at the end of the Franco era. Nowadays, certain beaches are designated OK for nudity, but there must be signs informing the public of the fact. That way one can choose whether to rush on to the beach or shun it.

Of course there wold have to be some regulation for hygienic purposes.

It really isn't about "seeing" people, so much as it is about personal freedom.

@snytiger6 No, it is definitely about seeing people.

Good for you! Feeling positive about one's own body is a good thing. In Oregon, I have seen transgender persons go fully nude at the beach, even though they were in mid transition (breasts up top, penis down below).

I think most of our cultural taboos regarding nudity are rooted in religion, which has used fear, guilt and shame to try to manipulate us and maintain power and control over us.

I look at it as religion attempts to control us by instilling feelings of fear, guilt and shame, as a way of manipulating us. Cults do the same thing, only to a much greater extent.

Naturism/Nudism helps people get over feeling shame about their bodies and their appearance. Children raised i Naturist/Nudist homes have a great deal more self confidence and self esteem, because they were nto taught to be ashamed of their bodies and who they are.

The rest of us have to "recover" from a body shaming cultural poractice3 rooted in religion. Even many here, on this site, who have given up religious beliefs still unknowingly have kept a lot of dogma rooted in religion, such as the fear, guilt and shame regarding nudity.

Nudity is legal in USA....full nudity.

@DUCHESSA Anywhere, any time? Strewth!

@Petter There are hundred of Nudist resorts and beaches allover USA...I have been to several of them.

@DUCHESSA I don't mean in resorts - I mean in areas completely open (unrestricted access) to the general public, such as beaches, sports grounds, streets, etc. Here in Spain nudist beaches have unrestricted access, but must have signs to inform those who do not wish to see others naked about it. Most nudist beaches in Spain have a mix of clothed and unclothed (textile and non-textile) users.

@Petter Until Katrina did away with the dunes....you had Gunnisson Beach (Long Island), field # 5 as a "Clothes optional beach". In New Jersey you have Sandy Hook....and I don't remember the names of other beaches in the country that are, also, nudists.

The signs are to inform the people just in case they don't want to be in a nude area. I was in Costa Natura.

@DUCHESSA Much like Spain, then. Did you know that the beach, and the area immediately inland from it, are state property, and cannot be fenced off, except for reasons of national importance? I love that law!
I've just seen from your profile that you came from Argentina. That's a country my wife and I have often said we would love to visit, as it appears to have areas similar to Kenya. (We're both Kenya bred.) ...and nowadays we could even communicate easily!

@Petter Well, are you talking about the jungle in the north of the country? The south of Argentina is cold, with mountain lakes, glaciers and a chain of mountains that runs north-south and is eternally snowed. Later I tell you about "la Pampa".

@DUCHESSA Kenya has a small amount of Jungle, but most of it is pretty arid and ideal ranching country. My grandmother owned a cattle ranch that had 1.2 miles of river running through the bottom, right hand corner of it,

@Petter Argentina is not arid at all...See "the Pampa"

@DUCHESSA I shall.

I think the reasons probably vary greatly, but the majority have probably been taught to be ashamed of their own bodies, and also taught to shame other people's bodies as well, as a way of trying to make themselves feel superior.

@snytiger6 No. LOL

Do a Google search for World Naked Bike Ride and your nearest major city and chances are you will find one. In Portland Oregon, they have over 10,000 participants each year, but I am told that Portland has one of the worlds largest. London's first ride had between two and three hundred.

Anyway, The World Naked Bike Rides are protests about the continuing dependence on fossil fuels. That message usually gets lost in the news coverage though, but that is the original purpose of the rides.

In the U.S. the largest nudist organization is AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation). However, there should be similar national organization in Canada, the UK, Australia, etc... tht organize and promote platonic nude recreational activities.

They changed the laws in San Francisco a few years ago. Except for special events nudity is now illegal in most parts of San Francisco. Still legal at the nude beaches though.

I can understand why they changed the laws. A few guys were walking around with genital piercings and/or cock rings, which kind of draws attention to the genitals, and in my view, that crossed the line where instead of just the freedom to be nude, and moved towards serializing their nudity by specifically drawing attention to the genitalia.

I think I get your point there.

As another respondent pointed out, each person should be free to choose. Laws agains tnudity are mor eaobut controlling people than they are abbout providing any actual benefit to society.

One of my favorite T-Shirts reads "If we were meant to be naked, we'd have been born that way."

Yes, the key here is in the freedom to choose.

Sounds like some fond memories there.

One of my best vacations was at a nudist retreat where I never had to bother getting dressed for nine days and nights.

@SpikeTalon

@snytiger6 in the US?

@crazycurlz Yes, a nudist group rented a campground from a Jewish organization for a kidn of retreat in the Malibu (CA) hills.

@snytiger6 I honestly don't know whether you'd find me out there this days. My life took unexpected turns after those days on the dunes. If there a certain type of person, (demographic) that does nudist groups in the US? white, educated? just suggestions...I have no idea...

@crazycurlz I remember visiting Squaw Mountain Ranch, which is the oldest nudist club West of the Mississippi,. Anyway, I found it interesting that many members there were nudists when young, then they got married, moved to middle class neighborhoods and raised kids and after the kids were grown and moved out they went back to beign nudists again.

My impulse was to feel sorry for the kids who weren't raised as nudists. However, the areas where they lived and worked while raising their kids may nto have been the best circumstances to be nudists.