Then she had stumbled upon a blog post about naturism. Not the titillated, voyeuristic version she vaguely remembered from late-night TV, but something else. The philosophy was simple: social nudity, practiced in safe, non-sexual environments, to foster respect for oneself, others, and nature. The comments section was filled with people talking about how it had cured their body shame. It sounded absurd. It also sounded like the only real challenge left.
“Only because you’re shivering,” the woman, who introduced herself as Marianne, said. “And you’re still wearing your earrings. Most new people keep their earrings on. It’s a good anchor.”
By noon, she forgot she was naked. It was a startling, profound sensation. She waded into the lukewarm lake up to her waist. The water lapped against her soft belly, her scarred hip, her wide thighs. And for the first time in years, she felt no urge to suck in her stomach. She floated on her back, staring up at the endless blue sky, and felt only the sun on her skin. Purenudism Login Password Hotfilerar
“I think,” Elena said slowly, a genuine smile finally breaking across her face, “that I’ve been wearing clothes my whole life to hide from people. And all I really needed was to take them off to find myself.”
“You’re fine. That’s the point of being here, isn’t it? To stare and realize it doesn’t matter.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “I was a Marine. Lost it in an IED blast. For two years, I wore long sleeves in July. Wouldn’t go to the beach. Thought my life was over.” He gestured with the sandwich toward the lake. “Then I found this place. And you know what happened? On my second day, a little girl came up to me and asked if I was part robot. Her mom almost died of embarrassment. But I just told her no, but I did get to push a really cool button that made a helicopter come save me. The girl smiled, said ‘cool,’ and ran off to chase a frog.” Then she had stumbled upon a blog post about naturism
A man in his forties with a port-wine stain covering half his torso was playing badminton. He was terrible at it, laughing every time he missed the shuttlecock. A teenage girl with a mastectomy scar from a recent surgery was reading a graphic novel, her bare feet tucked under her. A heavyset man with a kind face and a full back of hair was teaching his young son how to skip stones. No one stared. No one flinched. No one whispered.
Now she was here. And she was naked.
They were all just… bodies. Moving, breathing, eating, laughing. In the real world, Elena realized, bodies were never just bodies. They were advertisements. Status symbols. Judgments. Here, a body was simply a vessel for a person.
“First time?”