Because we don’t need it. Because it only hinders progress. Because history has shown us that the original goal of nudism has run its course and has impacted society as much as it could. So let’s move on. Let’s not label ourselves with titles that shove us into boxes. Are you gay? Is your entire identity consumed with being attracted to people of the same gender? See? Labels are silly. The same is true with nudism. If your whole identity and personhood is all-consumed with being naked and nothing else matters to you, then you should probably calm the fuck down for a minute. There’s no such thing, really, as a person whose entire identity is wrapped up in one label.
So, we don’t need the title of nudist or naturist. But how do they hinder progress? Because separating ourselves into different groups, while it brings to light our individual causes, is, by its very nature, exclusionary. As soon as you draw a line between yourself and someone else, you’re excluding yourself from their group and you’re excluding them from your group. Even if you want to retain the title, you have to adjust it. One group never survived by restricting its membership to only those who were included on the first membership roster. Imagine if only white people were allowed to be Mormon still. Or imagine if white, heterosexual, upper-class women were the only ones allowed to be feminists. The groups would have died out by now. Progress cannot be made through exclusion. In the case of nudists, the excluded group is almost everyone, so who can possibly benefit?
So why should we kill nudism? Because everyone needs a broader outlook on their body and everyone should have the right to feel comfortable in their own skin, in their own body, without having to be part of some obscure group. Could we all not disseminate educational information,leaving behind the goal of pushing them into the cult of nudism? We can retain some selfless goal of just being open-minded people who care about people’s self esteem and wellbeing.
Maybe “kill” is a bit harsh, but it doesn’t do anyone any good to cling to the tenets of a movement that has more or less run its course, to the extent possible given the current state of the face of the movement itself. Let’s just get naked. Or not, because it doesn’t matter <3
