Did other naturists understand that beauty pageants are not just in line with their ideals?
From looking through our small personal collection of nudist magazines from the 40's - 60's, people had a different mentality. Naturists felt they should honor the great thing about the human form and that people should strive to realize a healthy, toned physique. Health, during those days, was equated with beauty. (And still is today, with how folks think slim = healthy = lovely.)
At precisely the same time, it is not as if naturists didn't recognize how naturism promoted body acceptance and offered a means of looking beyond superficial qualities.
In a 1958 issue of Canadian naturist magazine Sunbathing For Health, there 's an article, written by a female naturist, entitled: "Naturism - What Is in it for we girls?"
The author writes:
"Many girls envision that they'd never dare to walk nude amidst a crowd of strangers in any sunlight club; believe me, I did too, before I ever tried it. 'But my amount - I Have lost it - I Had feel horrible walking around in the nude,' you say. The vast majority of the women (and the guys also!) Most people are approved for what they're as INDIVIDUALS, and never what their vital statistics are!"
But then, in another post, in an identical magazine, a female columnist offers exercise and diet advice to girls who are worried about additional fat on their hips. And on http://schlaue-kids.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=nudist18.xyz is an exercise guide aimed toward girls for "creating body beauty."
So the naturist doctrine was not completely absent. They simply didn't seem to see it as contradictory to designate only specific bodies as "beautiful."
Canadian History presents signs that some nudist club owners were unquestionably conflicted or against the pageants. On the one hand, they were aware of the contradictions in putting young, "captivating" female bodies on display to promote naturism. On the other hand, the quantity of marketing and money created by the pageants was incontrovertible. It became a cost vs. benefit analysis.
Authors Gentile and Nicholas say that the nudist beauty pageants were assumed to demonstrate the people that nudity was natural, not obscene, or sexual. In Miss Nude World, that basic message was readily lost. The authors came to the conclusion:
"Nevertheless, while naturist pageants were purportedly intended to encourage the public to see the body in a fresh light, the public allure of these events depended on an exploitation of the taboo nature of nudity and made a spectacle of unclothed bodies. In doing so, these pageants were as showing of the tensions within naturism as they were of the contestants on stage."
Furthermore, the authors concluded the pageants were a way for naturists to prove they were "regular" by using a mainstream kind of occasion that adhered to sexual and gender standards. Observing girls for their beauty and femininity, placing them on display, electing a "king" and "queen"..these were ways of demonstrating how nudists kept their masculinity / femininity and adopted heterosexual normativity.
Ultimately, was the Miss Nude World Pageant more dangerous or beneficial to the naturist movement? That's up for argument.
In the Steins' view, it was a resounding success and brought more attention to nudism than another occasion ever had. At the conclusion of the interview, Stephane asked them if they could go back in time, would they change anything? http://m-design-usa.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=nudistteen.xyz answered with a resolute "no."
As for follow , I wish naturism had not so readily abandoned its ideals for profit and publicity.
Listen to the full interview with the Steins in the podcast below. Inside my section, Stephane and I talk about the celeb nude jpg hack.
http://www.bareoaks.ca/podcast/Ponderosa.mp3
Podcast show links:
Ponderosa Nature Resort (Flamborough, Ontario, Canada)
Bare Oaks blog: Four Seasons Nudist Resort going cloth
Bare Oaks site: The close of Glen Echo Family Nudist Park
Mondo Nude movie (1979) about the Miss Unclothed competition at the Four Seasons Nudist Resort
Or stream the podcast on the Naturist Living Show site.
What do you think of the nudist beauty pageant?
Young Naturists and Naturists America
At precisely the same time, it is not as if naturists didn't recognize how naturism promoted body acceptance and offered a means of looking beyond superficial qualities.
In a 1958 issue of Canadian naturist magazine Sunbathing For Health, there 's an article, written by a female naturist, entitled: "Naturism - What Is in it for we girls?"
The author writes:
"Many girls envision that they'd never dare to walk nude amidst a crowd of strangers in any sunlight club; believe me, I did too, before I ever tried it. 'But my amount - I Have lost it - I Had feel horrible walking around in the nude,' you say. The vast majority of the women (and the guys also!) Most people are approved for what they're as INDIVIDUALS, and never what their vital statistics are!"
But then, in another post, in an identical magazine, a female columnist offers exercise and diet advice to girls who are worried about additional fat on their hips. And on http://schlaue-kids.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=nudist18.xyz is an exercise guide aimed toward girls for "creating body beauty."
So the naturist doctrine was not completely absent. They simply didn't seem to see it as contradictory to designate only specific bodies as "beautiful."
Canadian History presents signs that some nudist club owners were unquestionably conflicted or against the pageants. On the one hand, they were aware of the contradictions in putting young, "captivating" female bodies on display to promote naturism. On the other hand, the quantity of marketing and money created by the pageants was incontrovertible. It became a cost vs. benefit analysis.
Authors Gentile and Nicholas say that the nudist beauty pageants were assumed to demonstrate the people that nudity was natural, not obscene, or sexual. In Miss Nude World, that basic message was readily lost. The authors came to the conclusion:
"Nevertheless, while naturist pageants were purportedly intended to encourage the public to see the body in a fresh light, the public allure of these events depended on an exploitation of the taboo nature of nudity and made a spectacle of unclothed bodies. In doing so, these pageants were as showing of the tensions within naturism as they were of the contestants on stage."
Furthermore, the authors concluded the pageants were a way for naturists to prove they were "regular" by using a mainstream kind of occasion that adhered to sexual and gender standards. Observing girls for their beauty and femininity, placing them on display, electing a "king" and "queen"..these were ways of demonstrating how nudists kept their masculinity / femininity and adopted heterosexual normativity.
Ultimately, was the Miss Nude World Pageant more dangerous or beneficial to the naturist movement? That's up for argument.
In the Steins' view, it was a resounding success and brought more attention to nudism than another occasion ever had. At the conclusion of the interview, Stephane asked them if they could go back in time, would they change anything? http://m-design-usa.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=nudistteen.xyz answered with a resolute "no."
As for follow , I wish naturism had not so readily abandoned its ideals for profit and publicity.
Listen to the full interview with the Steins in the podcast below. Inside my section, Stephane and I talk about the celeb nude jpg hack.
http://www.bareoaks.ca/podcast/Ponderosa.mp3
Podcast show links:
Ponderosa Nature Resort (Flamborough, Ontario, Canada)
Bare Oaks blog: Four Seasons Nudist Resort going cloth
Bare Oaks site: The close of Glen Echo Family Nudist Park
Mondo Nude movie (1979) about the Miss Unclothed competition at the Four Seasons Nudist Resort
Or stream the podcast on the Naturist Living Show site.
What do you think of the nudist beauty pageant?
Young Naturists and Naturists America
