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not allowed to show their faces in public. Women who do are 'loose women' whose value and marriageability drops. In the Victorian era, a view of the scrupulously hidden ankle was considered scandalous. If, in the modern age, it were the elbow instead of the breast that stayed conscientiously hidden from view, then flaunted busts would have long ago lost their novelty and men would be engaged throughout their teenage years in a quest to catch a glimpse of the hinge joint.

No, nudism does not promote sexual deviancy, but rather a neutralizing of curiosity and temptation. When you are surrounded by naked people the strangeness begins to wear off and you begin to accept the human form the way it was created. Usually the naked and nearly naked bodies portrayed in modern media are youthful, flawless and slender. In a clothes-free community you get a much more realistic depiction of what people look like. Surgical scars, cellulite, blemishes, and varied forms; that's what a body is, for those of us not blessed with model proportions and eternal youth. Children raised in a clothes-free community actually seem to benefit from exposure to undisguised human forms. Teenagers who were brought up in naturist communities experience less curiosity and confusion regarding sex and their changing bodies. They do not mature with the sense that they have to conform to the body image being broadcast by movies and television, a standard that is nearly impossible to attain. Also, people in clothes-free communities operate with social rules and codes of conduct just like people in clothed communities. You would not grab, fondle or molest your neighbor any more in a nudist neighborhood than you would in a clothed one. Basic social regulations still stand.

Nudism is not for everyone. People who embrace this lifestyle do so because it feels natural and right. If you have spent a lifetime in clothes, it is not easy to discard the feelings of shame and vulnerability at being naked. There is certainly a perverseness to the way modern western culture views the human body. Puritanism still influences the way we think and feel about sex and the body; that they should not be talked about because they are shameful. On the other hand, the permissiveness of our culture and the bombardment of sexual images in television and magazines sends the opposite message: that we should want sex all the time and strive to appear youthful and sexually attractive. The collision of these two impulses creates a lot of shame, confusion and frustration, especially for young people. An important step in every person's life is recognizing that you are beautiful the way you were made.

Learn more about this author, Alissa King.
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