Nudist biography

Ethical or philosophical nudism has a long history, with many advocates of the benefits of enjoying nature without clothing.
Nudity (or near-complete nudity) has traditionally been the social norm for both men and women in hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates.
Popular Nudism Books ; The Nakeds Lisa Glatt ; Naked As a Jaybird Dian Hanson ; The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany: A Social History, 1890-1930 Michael Hau.

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History of nudity

Social attitudes to nakedness

For broader coverage of this topic, see Nudity.

The history of nudity involves social attitudes to nakedness of the human body in different cultures in history. The use of clothing to cover the body is one of the changes that mark the end of the Neolithic, and the beginning of civilizations. Nudity (or near-complete nudity) has traditionally been the social norm for both men and women in hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, and it is still common among many indigenous peoples. The need to cover the body is associated with human migration out of the tropics into climates where clothes were needed as protection from sun, heat, and dust in the Middle East; or from cold and rain in Europe and Asia. The first use of animal skins and cloth may have been as adornment, along with body modification, body painting, and jewelry, invented first for other purposes, such as magic, decoration, cult, or prestige. The skills used in their making were later found to be practical as well.

In modern societies, complete nudity in public

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The best books on Understanding the Nude

Before we launch into your chosen books, what is the nude?

Well, it depends whether you’re talking about the nude in art or whether you’re talking about the nude body in everyday social life, on a personal level. Then again perhaps you’re talking about nudism, or naturism as it’s sometimes called, as a form of social organisation. Part of what I’ve been interested in is the overlap, the different cultural meanings around those different concepts and practices. Nudism as a social movement would see itself as being very, very separate to the representation of the idealised nude body in an art gallery, for example.

One of the things that I’ve been interested in exploring is how nudists historically have visually represented their movement. Often they’ve drawn on the canon of artistic styles and poses from art history to give legitimation to what they do, and to promote an ideal public image. Because the nude, historically, at least until about the late 20th century, was a practice of idealised artistic representation, often with female

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By Mark Storey
Originally printed in N Issue 19.3, Spring of 2000

What is The Naturist Society? How, why, and where did it begin? What does it hope to accomplish? And why is it headquartered, of all places, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin?
This outline history of TNS hopes to answer the above and other commonly posed questions. In its more than 20 years, the full story of The Naturist Society has not been written down. This account is intended for those Naturists and nudists who wish to know something more about their ideological roots; for those in media who need to follow up on a story about skinny-dipping at a local beach; for students of American history looking for a summary of one strand of advocacy for rational acceptance of social nudity; and even for those who are not at all happy that so many people delight in total body freedom.

Defining Those Labels: Naturism & Nudism

Perhaps for those new to social nudity, we can begin with a brief understanding of the terms “naturism” and “nudism.” Both refer to the belief that non-lewd, family-friendly soc