Northwest Nude News 03/27/2014
AANR-Northwest
This week in the Northwest 3/28 – 4/3
*Friday*
Black Light Karaoke – 7pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
*Saturday*
Ladies’ Spa Night/Men’s Game Night – 8pm – Lake Bronson
Next week in the Northwest 4/4 – 4/10
*Saturday*
Breakfast – 8am – LARC
Highway Clean Up – 10am – LARC
Bare Bowling – Hidden Springs
80’s Theme Dance – 8:30pm – Lake Bronson
*Monday*
Spa Night @ LadyWell’s – 6:00pm – _SLUGS_
Keep Our Nude Beaches Bare
Many times, it has been mentioned that AANR-NW is in partnership with
the voluntary beach clean-up agency known as SOLVE
If you have a Fred Meyer rewards card, here is the way you can sign up
to link your FM card to donate to SOLVE without the expense of actually
using your personal funds.
Go to:
http://www.fredmeyer.com/company_information/FM_Community/Pages/community_rewards.aspx
1. Click on: Link Your Rewards Card now
2. Sign in or set up an account
3. When offered an organization to link to, type in SOLVE – This will
show the SOLVE info Under Organization/Name/Address:
4. Click the circle at the left and press enter.
That’s all there is to it to help keep our nude beaches bare.
Nudity, Nudism and our Society
by Mel Kanner
/Number 2 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have
observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view
of nudity./
Archive: #1
The first nudist camp I joined in the sixties was Swallows near San
Diego (it is no longer a nudist camp). It was fairly luxurious for its
time, as nudist camps go, with a swimming pool, a tennis court, a
volleyball court and a snack bar, and lots of space for semi-permanent
camping. Median age was about 35, I guess. Not a lot of attendance
during the week, but a couple of hundred people on the weekend with lots
of kids. There was always some sort of festival going on, with
volleyball competition, swimming races, and a king and queen contest.
Most of the members were married, with children. Almost no single
women. And very few single men. Most clubs had a quota on single men.
Some still do. And a few even now still allow only legally married
couples.
The following year I moved to Seattle and joined Fraternity
Snoqualmie. It was much smaller with a pond for swimming. There were
even fewer singles. I had to be vetted before I was welcome.
Membership was predominately married couples with children — people
who had been born in the 1920’s and 30’s. Their children were the
boomers, and ranged in age from infants to teens.
In those days, the norm in our society was marriage, with children.
Women were expected to be married by their early 20’s. Men were
expected to be married by their mid to late 20’s. The model was “Father
Knows Best”. (Men worked outside the home, earning enough to support a
family; women took care of the home.) Divorce was not common and was
difficult to obtain. The pill was just being introduced, and other
forms of birth control were difficult to get. Abortion was illegal, and
almost unthinkable. The sexual revolution hadn’t yet arrived. It was
not considered appropriate for an unmarried couple to share living
quarters. People who were single past a certain age, or not producing
children once they were married, were treated as if there was something
wrong with them*. *
And there was no question that if you were a nudist married couple you
would bring your children with you to camp.
The proponents of nudism also considered that nudism was good for
children. The articles in the magazines talked about how children who
grew up in nudist environments were more comfortable about body changes,
were less curious about sexual differences; that there were fewer cases
of teen pregnancy and fewer early marriages.
Even among the non-nudist population, some nudity was common practice:
Norman Rockwell depicted young boys swimming nude at the “ole swimmin’
hole”. Showers in school, and in the military, were open and communal.
Men swam nude at the “Y”. One of my high school PE classes was
swimming. We swam nude. The girls, of course, had their own PE class.
And there was some acceptance of limited nudity of children in a mixed
sex environment. For example, at public swimming beaches, children
younger than age five often went nude. The swimsuits for pre-puberty
girls usually didn’t include tops. A photograph of a two year old lying
on a rug or sitting in a bathtub was not considered alarming.
How times have changed – in both the nudist and non-nudist environments.
Women usually work outside the home. Divorce is common (50% of
marriages end in divorce). Many couples choose to not have children.
Marriage between gays is now the law in many states, and in most
western countries. Couples living together without being married is
common. Unmarried women are choosing to have children without the
umbrella of marriage.
Our nudist camps have changed also to reflect these societal changes.
Fraternity Snoqualmie no longer has a singles quota. Some clubs allow
any two persons to join as a couple (same sex, brother/sister,
mother/daughter, etc.). Having different surnames is not a problem.
Being gay is usually not a barrier.
But there have been many attitude changes, in both the nudist and
non-nudist environments, that seem to contradict the loosening of
societal restrictions that have taken place. I will discuss these
contradictions in next week’s installment.
(to be continued)