In a new story for Psychology Today, psychologist Amy Campbell allows her professional work to intersect with her own experience as she explores her lack of self-confidence and her relationship with her body.
Like many women, Amy was exposed from an early age to both the oppression and objectification of her body by male peers. Comments about women’s bodies, whether judgemental or sexual, are so commonplace that they can barely register as wrong. More broadly, we have learned to assume that nakedness must mean something. It is rarely allowed simply to be a state of being.
Amy’s first experience of simply being naked came in a Japanese onsen. Surrounded by other naked people, she suddenly discovered that her body was just a body. There were no judgements, stares or comments. The absence of all the things she had expected came as a surprise.
This is a situation that we as Naturists know well. In a supportive Naturist community, we are not bodies to be judged or objects to be sexualised. We are simply people, treated with respect. The challenge is how we help others discover that life can be this good.
As a scientist, Amy immediately began examining the gap between her expectations and reality. This connects with the work of Professor Keon West and the research he has undertaken with us, which shows that attitudes towards nudity are not innate. Shame about our appearance is not an instinct that has evolved within us. It is a cultural attitude that we learn, and the differences between cultures demonstrate just how much our expectations are shaped by society.
Nudity in a Japanese onsen feels normal because it is expected. Lying naked in a German park can feel equally unremarkable because it is part of the country’s FKK tradition. What feels strange in one culture can be completely ordinary in another.
Having discovered a new sense of comfort in her own body, Amy took things further. She joined a weekend retreat with nine other women where they were naked together. They sunbathed, jumped from boats, shared meals, took baths and swam in the ocean, allowing their bodies simply to be.
Sound familiar?
This is exactly what Naturists do all the time. Yet to much of the population, the idea can sound strange, even frightening. That reaction tells us something important about how deeply we have been taught to fear and judge the naked body.
Amy asks her readers a crucial question: having got this far in the article, have you felt uncomfortable or found yourself wanting to argue against what she has described? If so, that reaction is worth examining. Why does the simple idea of people being comfortably naked together provoke such a strong response?
This is where Amy’s work as a psychologist and our work as a Naturist organisation intersect. We do not need to force people to become Naturists. Nor do we need to tell them that everything they currently believe is wrong. We can simply create positive, welcoming and respectful spaces in which people are able to question what they have learned.
That is something we can all do, both as an organisation and as individuals. When people see Naturists enjoying themselves, forming friendships and treating one another with respect, they may begin to wonder: “How can they feel so comfortable with something I have been taught to be ashamed of?”
That question is the beginning of change.
And once someone is ready to question what they have learned about nakedness, they may discover that the thing they were taught to fear is actually something that can bring freedom, confidence, connection and joy.
They may even discover Naturism.
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