But this is not a rant against the YNA; far from it. I wish them success in what they are attempting to do. From what I’ve heard they have organized some very good events and anything they can do of a positive nature to address the body image issues rife within North American society would be a victory for common sense.
The YNA writer starts off with a questionable definition of nudism borrowed from dictionary.com: Nudism – The belief in or practice of going nude, especially in secluded, gender-mixed groups for reasons of health. Then they eschew dictionary.com when it comes to defining naturism and switch to the new Oxford dictionary which yields: Naturism – The practice of going naked in designated areas. I take issue with both definitions. The use of the words secluded and designated reads like the dictionaries are subsidiaries of the AANR and the old model for nude recreation.
Now done with dictionaries, the YNA writer is off into the realms of the upper air to define other terms without adding the important caveat “in our opinion:”
Nudist – A Nudist is a person who enjoys nonsexual nude recreation and social nude activities in sanctioned public locations and / or in private ones.
Naturist – A Naturist is a person who enjoys nonsexual nude recreation and social nude activities with a major focus of interest on those activities that take place outdoors, in nature and/or on public land. This group also believes that Naturism and environmental issues are intertwined.
Nudie – We also understand that there are some people who don’t like labels and especially hate the old world terms of nudist and naturist. Therefore we came up with a third category for such nude-friendly people – Nudie.
What can I say? Quite a bit, actually but, caveat emptor, these are my own opinions, your mileage may vary.
Naked (adj) – entirely unclothed (in my opinion hats and footwear don’t count as clothing)
Nakie (adj) (joc / infant) – naked
Nude (n) – (1) a naked person, (2) a work of art depicting (1); also (adj) – naked
Nudist (n) – (1) “an adherent of the cult of the nude” [NOED definition – not very helpful], (2) a person who likes to be naked just because it feels right, moral, comfortable and/or natural and who follows this lifestyle choice, whether alone or in groups with the awareness that nudism is non-sexualized nudity. In my own opinion, a person can be a real nudist and still not be a naturist. Many people who are comfortable being naked in private or semi-private cannot manage the evolution necessary to become naturists – i.e. social nudists – fully comfortable with being naked in the presence of strangers.
Naturism (n) – “a lifestyle in harmony with nature, expressed through social nudity, and characterized by self-respect of people with different opinions and of the environment.” [INF definition – authoritative] But naturism doesn’t end there. Naturism is a house of many mansions: some segments among Christians, Jews, Neo-Druids, Wiccans, vegans, anarchists, teetotallers, fitness seekers, smoothies, naturals, transcendentalists, pacifists and others claim their own patch within naturism but none of them own the term naturist. Still, it doesn’t stop the uninitiated from getting into arguments about what constitutes real naturism.
Naturist (n) a nudist who ascribes certain societal principles and ideals to being naked as part of a social group, particularly those aspects of the lifestyle enumerated within the INF definition, and who as a matter of principle becomes involved with naturist society. See above for some of the sub-genres one might adhere to . . . or not.
Nudie (n) – a young person who likes to be naked but who purports to dislike labels (because that is a big deal these days) so, instead of self-identifying with the existing labels nudist or naturist, adopts the label nudie instead, thereby demonstrating a complete non-comprehension of irony
And I’ll toss in this definition of swinger because the ignoranti among the Clothen are often of the opinion that nudists/naturists are constantly involved in orgies of some sort:
Swinger (n) – (1) a label adopted by sexual libertines seeking to avoid the negative connotations of being labeled as libertines, (2) a person, either married or unmarried, who engages in social and recreational sex with numerous partners, sometimes of either or both genders, often as a form of performance art – in other words, a sexual libertine. Swingers/libertines are neither nudists nor naturists but sometimes try to infiltrate nudist/naturist society as they do not understand the fundamental differences between the two lifestyles.
Moving along from the tawdry side of things to the sublime:
Free range naturism (n) – according to Stuart and Karla, the very articulate gurus of the genre at http://freerangenaturism.com/ free range naturism is “naturism without walls, away from the fences and gates of the traditional club, set loose to run free in the wilds.” That works for me. Free range naturism is naturism wherever innocent public nudity is tolerated or, failing that, wherever you can get away with it. That can be on an isolated beach, a mountain trail or in the forest, on private or public land, but not confined to private clubs where one must pay for the privilege of being a natural human. Free range naturism is the polar opposite of “beached and clubbed” naturism and, I’m happy to own, my preferred form of naturism since I was a teenager, rather longer than Stuart and Karla have been at it. I used to refer to it as free roaming naturism until 2000 when I saw the animated film “Chicken Run” and switched my terminology. Imagine my surprise when I happened upon a website with the name Free Range Naturism.
Free-Ranger (n) – a proponent of free range naturism
Free Hiker (n) – a person who hikes naked
Free Beach (n) – a public beach at which nudity is accepted
Naktiv (adj) – a portmanteau word coined by Richard Foley to promote naktivism, a form of naturism that combines the idea of being naked with the idea of rather more strenuous physical activity than pickle ball. Naktivism is another take on free range naturism and is perhaps best known for its signature event, the N.E.W.T. – the Naked European Walking Tour. For more info google “naktiv”
Textile (n) – longstanding naturist common coinage for a person who is clothed and who cannot (as yet) make the transition to nudism or naturism [compare with “Gentile” as an outside the chosen people] – held by some to be a pejorative term; also useable as an adjective, e.g. “textile attitudes”
Clothen (n) – [this is my own coinage, modeled on the word “heathen” to denote a person or persons who does not subscribe to a widely held precepts of naturism, as regarded by those who do] – a person who is clothed and who cannot (as yet) make the transition to nudism or naturism; also useable as an adjective; also useable as an adjective in the same manner as "textile"
All this said, this is NOT a definitive naturists dictionary. The fact is that there isn’t such a thing. No doubt some people will disagree with my definitions, and that is their right. Definitions for some of these terms are difficult to pin down in that they are not truly definitive, merely guidelines. Concepts change over time and from place to place. In Britain my definitions of nudist and naturist would have more traction than they would in the USA where the two words are most often used as synonyms . . . at least by persons not claiming to be nudies.
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