WE LIVED NUDE

My sister, Susan, and I were raised from birth in a full time nudist home. Our parents, Benson and Marion, had found the positive values and benefits of family and social nudism and our entire family have been practicing nudists since the 1950s. They felt that the social nudist lifestyle would teach us self confidence, not to be judgmental, and to respect others for who they are and not for what they have.

My mother, Marion, was first introduced nudism in the 1940s, before she married my dad, Benson. Together they championed the wholesome nudist lifestyle, and after moving to the San Diego area were able to practice nude living nearly year long. Marion was an accountant for the telephone company and Benson was an aerospace engineer. Together they dreamed of having a home in the country where we could all live a completely clothes-free lifestyle.

After Benson sold his aerospace patent, they built our country dream home and he was able to transition into becoming a high school science teacher, a career that he truly loved. In the meantime Marion was promoted to a supervisory accounting position and received training as a motivational speaker. She worked from home Mondays and Fridays, but during the midweek would visit the various company facilities to council and speak to the various employee groups. Their new roles allowed them to take an active role in our upbringing and development. They were both usually home well before 5 PM and free most weekends.

OUR FAMILY FRIENDS

On our weekly visits to the nudist camps Benson and Marion would meet other nudist families with kids our age so we could find and make new friends. Eventually we became friends one special family that shared many of our nudist philosophy and values. Over time we developed a deep bond, acting as a unified two family unit with aligned full time, wholesome nudist lifestyle goals.

This was the family of my wife to be, Julie, and her older sister, Becky. Their parents, Bill and Mabel, believed that living in a nudist environment would promote self-confidence and decisiveness while being accepting of diverse perspectives. Social nudism would provide them with an empowering environment where they could develop the confidence needed to learn from their actions, ultimately nurturing resilience and trust in their own judgment.

Bill and Mabel were both college English professors, he at San Diego State College and she at Grossmont College, a local community college. Their similar working hours allowed them to commute together, allowing them to discuss family issues during their drive. They were both usually home by 4 PM and free on weekends.

Minor differences aside, Mabel and my mom hit it off right away and eventually became very close family friends. They were both were strong proponents of family and social nudism. They organized many events for us and we visited each other’s homes many times, had countless parties, desert camping weekends, and visits to many nudist camps in California and Arizona over the years.

During our curious pubescent teenage years Julie and Becky, and Susan and I developed a close enduring friendship that has carried into adulthood. During the summer if our families weren’t at the local nudist camps we would be at one anther’s house, often on overnight sleepovers. Those experiences helped us develop self confidence and an appreciation and acceptance of people’s differences. We were always nude together and would normally hang out in the back by the pool swimming, playing lawn games, dancing, or just laying out and talking and playing board games.

Over the years our two families participated many memorable nude gatherings at each other’s homes, including Birthday parties, graduation parties, wedding receptions, Super Bowl parties, dinners, anniversaries, etc. Our parties were known their fun and entertaining activities and became popular among our circle of nudist friends. They were usually attended by between 20 to 30 people and no one ever arrived late. These gatherings were conducted like any other, and though not always mandatory, with very few exceptions everyone was nude.

SHARED PRINCIPALS

Both sets of parents were dedicated champions and passionate proponents of social and family home nudism. Earlier, they had both independently decided that their family would be full time nudists, both socially and especially at home. They would continue to attend the typical work and other textile related social functions, but when possible any new social friends would be other nudists.

Our parents were very dedicated to our upbringing and were always there for us even though they were both working on their professional careers. Because their top priority was to instill in us wholesome nudist family values, both households were inseparable, sharing many activities and experiences, operating almost as a single integrated unit.

Each family had their own meeting where they explained to their children what it meant to be a nudist and how each was expected to behave, at home, at camp, at school and in public, especially entering young adulthood. We were cautioned to not be too forthcoming when textile people asked about our family life, not because our parents wanted to hide our family nudist lifestyle, but because societal attitudes towards family nudity were not positive and often misunderstood.

Our two families shared many other strong similarities with only a few minor differences. No one in either family ever smoked or used tobacco. At both homes nudity was highly encouraged for all everyday tasks and was everyone’s normal state of dress. We would undress as soon as we arrived home from school or work, even if alone, and remain nude the remainder of the day while performing our everyday activities like chores, homework or just relaxing. We were confident, secure and never self-conscious about being nude, even during our early teen puberty years.

At our home there was no mandatory nudity rule, but Benson and Marion made it clear that they would be nude whenever possible. Technically, ours was a clothing optional home but nudity was strongly preferred and highly encouraged. Even though we would be nude, visitors were invited to join in our nudity but could choose to remain clothed.

By contrast at Bill & Mabel’s home nudity was mandatory, unless absolutely not practical. Two large air conditioning and heating systems allowed their family to practice home nudity year round. With rare exceptions, visitors were required to undress and be nude for even short duration visits.

MALE CONSIDERATIONS

Being nude together all of the time from childhood none of us ever learned to associate nudity with sexuality. We performed our normal everyday activities with the same level of discretion and decency as they would be dressed, or in the textile world. Except for the fact that we were all nude, the home behavior and dynamic for both families was no different than that of any textile families.

For both families, the four of us, as teens and young adults, have never considered the presence of a nude person to be some form of implied sexual overture or invitation for sexual behavior. It was just their chosen level of dress. We believed that each individual was free to dress or not dress as they pleased. Over the years we noticed that non-nudists, not used to nudity in everyday situations and usually only experiencing nudity with another person when engaging in sex, associated nudity as a kind of prelude or invitation for sexual behavior.

Both families also believed that erections were a normal bodily function did not require concealment if treated discretely. For us spontaneous erections in a social setting were unintentional and were an involuntary reaction to stimulation outside of the man’s control. They are just a part of the natural male condition, can occur at any time while clothed or nude, and are more frequent in teens and young adults. Even in a group, the presence of someone with an erection drew no special attention as long as it was not intentionally stimulated, did not advance to a high level and was not emphasized or made the center of attention.

Our parents explained that there were four levels of erection development. In Level One the penis becomes larger but is still flexible and the foreskin may retract, exposing the tip of the head. In Level Two the penis begins to rise, becomes more firm and the foreskin noticeably retracts, exposing most of the head. Level Two erections typically subside within a couple of minutes after the triggering external stimulation is removed. In Level Three the penis is almost completely hard, rising to horizontal or higher erection with the head fully exposed, often with a droplet of fluid emerging from the tip. Finally in Level Four the penis is completely hard, fully rigid and pointing noticeably upward.

As a teenage male I experienced many Level One and Level Two erections, many at the most inconvenient times at home or at social gatherings. Sometimes during an activity like washing dishes, folding laundry, or just walking together as a group I would be surprised that I had developed an unnoticed erection. When convenient I would casually obscure it with my sitting towel, but otherwise I would just continue exposed until my penis became flaccid again. It happened to all of the boys and usually passed without mention.

Even Dad was not immune from the occasional involuntary erection at home or camp. Sometimes, after coming home from work he would fall asleep on the recliner while reading the paper. This usually resulted in an erection that stood out like a tent pole. We usually did nothing, however if we had visitors Marion would gently place a sitting towel over it and move on.

FEMALE CONSIDERATIONS

A normal body function that did require special attention was women’s menstrual periods. Susan was the first girl in our group to experience her first period. When she began having her periods Marian had her wear menstrual pads and panties or a bathing suit bottom to hold them. Susan disliked the feeling of the bulky bathing suit bottoms and especially didn’t like being the only girl “in panties” at camp. Additionally, the use of menstrual pads prevented her from participating in any swimming pool activities.

Marion and Mabel had both used tampons for years. However, the common belief at the time was that their teenage daughters would lose their virginity if they inserted a tampon into their vagina. After consultation with a doctor refuted this notion, Marion agreed to allow Susan begin using tampons.

At the start of Susan’s next period Marion showed her how comfortably squat and insert the applicator into her vagina and release the tampon, letting the string hang outside to use later for removal. Susan would have to change her tampons every four to six hours. She would use tampons during the day but would still use pads and panties at night for sleeping. Marion also showed her how prepare a few tampons for the day at camp or other social gathering by cutting the string short and to darken it with a marker. After inserting the tampon she would tuck the shortened string between her labia to make it inconspicuous. The properly inserted tampons allowed her to participate in her favorite swimming pool activities.

Mabel’s daughters, Becky and Julie, both started using tampons after their first or second period. They all followed the string cutting procedure when going to camp or other nude social functions.

THE DIFFERENCES

Both families held conservative nudist values that promoted body acceptance but discouraged sexual behavior in social settings. They both agreed that sexual activity should be engaged with the same levels of discretion and decency as you would in a clothed public environment. The difference was each family’s definition of sexual activity.

For our family, displays of affection in public venues like camp or social gatherings were very conservative and kept to a modest minimum, limited to occasional A-Frame hugs and peck kisses. With only our family or close friends present our parents were somewhat more demonstrative with their affections. They would often share full body hugs, sometimes with hands on their butts cheeks. When arriving home from work Marion would greet Benson with a full body nude hug and kiss as he came through the front door. At times he would lovingly cup one of her breasts or butt cheeks. She would sometimes respond with a light stroke of his penis. At the more wild parties they may have a very brief playful touch or handling of each other’s genitals. They were otherwise very discrete and did not linger in these actions as those were signs of affection and not intended to be sexual stimulation. Any sexually motivated activity was always kept in private.

At home Susan and I seldom engaged in arousing kissing and petting with our dates, as we wished not to cross the displays of affection limit line set by my parents. As teens and young adults, during some of our parties, especially if kissing while slow dancing, we would get visibly aroused. No one ever took special notice as long as we didn’t flaunt it and the condition waned quickly.

As Susan and I became young adults we would each conduct our sexual activities in private and neither hid nor was expected to discuss these activities with our other family members. When we finished we merely cleaned up as best we could and proceeded normally. No one ever made special notice of waning erections or other visual indications, or their cause, as they were considered natural and normal body functions and did not require an explanation.

The situation was somewhat different at Bill & Mabel’s home. As college professors they had developed a more broad minded attitude regarding interpersonal behavior, touching, and displays of affection. They had defined a three level definition of intimate contact: incidental, functional and sexual.

Incidental contact was unplanned or accidental contact that happened while hugging, dancing, physical play, or by simply working in close quarters. Functional contact occurs when applying lotion, grooming, examining or massaging. These types of contact could include handling of any part of the body including the butt, breasts and even the genitals and could occur at any time with only a single restriction. Contact with the breasts, butt or genitals, was only considered sexual if the primary goal of the contact was to induce sexual arousal.