In any setting, it can be difficult to make friends. And if you’re new to nudism, it can be especially hard to make friends within the community for obvious reasons (it is pretty sequestered). And while you have maybe told your friends about your covert lifestyle, you may also crave the opportunity to unabashedly discuss what you love or even better, be in the nude with others who feel the same and aren’t put off by your lack of clothing. But as mentioned, this is no easy feat.
On the other hand, if you’re not new to nudism and are simply doing your research before looking to make a change. You may be looking to see how easy it will be for you to find a circle of friends who will accept you should you decide to venture down the nudist path.
Either way, this article should be helpful to both parties. It’s all about finding niche communities online!
The Reality
Here we are in 2020. And we’re not only in a technological era, and we were just in a quarantined one. This means that finding communities just got a little harder, right?
Not necessarily.
Even if we weren’t amid COVID-19 terror, I would still highly recommend finding niche communities this way – at least to begin. The reason being you are much more likely to feel uninhibited behind a screen finding people and meeting them (virtually) for the first time compared to if you had actually met them face to face.
Additionally, you are bound by location when you solely meet people face to face. While I do not recommend video chatting nude with anyone (for a few reasons), it is a wonderful feeling to be able to discuss similar viewpoints on personal matters in a group setting. Whether that be on a video call or in a chat room, the point is the same. You are sharing a common experience and passion. AND – if you happen to live in the same area or near each other, well then that’s just an added bonus as after quarantine lifts you will likely be able to arrange a meet up or even set up a recurring hangout. The possibilities are endless but it all starts with a small step.
The First Step: Get In Touch With Your Core Values
The first step in finding a community is finding yourself. Define the following terms. What do you want? Why do you want it? Or more specifically in this instance, what core values bring you to nudism? Keep in mind there are no wrong answers here. The only wrong ones are ingenuine so stay true to you and you’ll be in the clear. Authenticity is key!
Second Step: Find A Like-Minded Community
Once you have “defined yourself” within the community, go out and find your own circle! But hold fast to your personal values. These will act as your compass while you navigate the swells of nudist communities that exist on the internet… Trust me. It’s a lot. I’m sure you already know this by now, but if you by chance are just starting out and are feeling inundated, here are a few good sites to start with
- Haulover Beach’s Reddit Community
- British Naturism
- Twitter – Follow Haulover Beach & the accounts we follow
Third Step: Establish Yourself As Part of the Ingroup
Then after you find a nudist community that you think is up your alley, start to make yourself a part of that community. In any environment, you must first make yourself a part of the ingroup before you can make friends. It might sound weird but it’s actually a basic tenant of psychology. For more information on ingroups and outgroups, check out this article here.
Fourth Step: Make Some Friends!!!
Now that you’ve found yourself and your community, start making some friends! That’s what this article is all about after all.
Making Friends Online Vs Making Friends Face to Face
So this step needs to be broken down into two different facets as making nudist friends online is vastly different than in person.
Making friends online is way easier for anyone, but I will say if you are a single man, it will be harder as I mentioned this is a more guarded or sequestered community. If you are a single woman, not as much. Simply put, people aren’t afraid of a single nudist woman but for whatever reason people tend to be more suspicious of single nudist men. That said, if you are a single nudist man, you’ll have better luck making friends online at first.
Also, if you happen to be a nudist couple, you are pretty much good to go. It will likely be extremely easy for you to make friends within the community. Again, I don’t make the rules. But for whatever reason, coupled nudists are seen as less threatening and are therefore welcomed more quickly in my experience.
So just keep in mind both of those things as I start to break down online friendship vs face to face friendship. I’ll give you the dos (things that typically give people the green light when interacting with you) and the don’ts (things that typically make people think you’re creepy AF).
Online Friendship
The DOs
- Message people and introduce yourself explaining your new and interested in the forum
- Offer your experiences on message boards or blog comments. This shows you truly are interested in contributing to the community and are adding value
- Chime in on group chats that look fun to you
- Rate the site online somewhere if they have that set up
- Try and find a way to contribute to the community whether it be writing a blog or offering to help speed up their site with some web developer tricks. The opportunities are endless on this one
The DON’Ts
- Ask anyone for pictures
- Ask to video chat nude
- Ask for any sort of onlyfans page information etc.
- Ask anyone if they are single or in a relationship
- Give out your address or other personal information such as your birthday etc.
Face to Face
The DOs
- Go over and strike up a conversation
- Ask a simple question to break the ice (i.e.; where’s the bathroom?)
- Join any sports going on or any group activities in general like dining or karaoke
- Smile and wave – sounds silly but sometimes when we’re feeling shy we can inadvertently make ourselves look less approachable by smiling less
The DON’Ts
- Take pictures
- Be pushy
- Stare
- Comment on anyone’s appearance
- Touch anyone
The Wrap Up
Don’t be afraid. Everyone was in your shoes once. Just be extremely respectful in this highly protected community and you will be set for success. It’s a big world, but the nudist community certainly makes it feel smaller. I wish you luck in your journey!
Great article! We are a nudist couple from top free Austin,Texas. We are fortunate to live in Costa Rica for a couple of years. I enjoy chatting with others, be they male or female.
As a naturist for 50+ years living in UK, I’m glad you have mentioned our national organisation British Naturism which has done a lot and is doing a lot to make naturism normal (twitter #NormalisingNaturism ).I wish I could visit Haulover but that can’t happen, but at least here it is quite legal for naturists to walk in countryside clothesfree. All the best in all you do!
Humans are some strange in nature. I can recall going to a bar and no one will makes friends with you if you are new to that place, even a men’s bar. You have to earn your way in there and even you buy drinks that may not work either. So many times I’m just myself and my actions are louder than words. Helping some one with any little favor changing a flat tire or a jump starting their dead battery are only common things that anyone may do however, that person will not forget you. Helping some one carry with their stuff is a kind thing to do. I always pick up plastic, paper and other things that washed up on the beach in Rhode Island. It gives me some exercise and I feel good about the way the beach looks when I’m done. I usually wear a thong so I can get a tan all over rather than laying in the sun and getting a sun burn. I used to go up to Cape Cod Ma. and those nudist people are snobs, because they can tell you are new to the area and you may be invading their space, from what I have heard that there used to be a couple of hundred nudist on that beach. The tickets for nudity are not what they used to be, it’s still illegal however, tolerated by most Rangers. I would like to meet up with nudist in the northeast Rhode Island and Cape Cod would be great and possibly in Florida.