Hopefully the day when public nudity becomes more acceptable is drawing nearer!
My first experiences being nude were in the 60's, the personal freedom advocated by the "counter culture" was like a challenge to the establishment at a time when there was a much more oppressive moral "code" as to what was socially acceptable. Always being one to challenge the establishment I saw nudity as an extension of the political and social attitudes I held. More people were prepared to be nude in public as a form of protest and I increasingly came to think of clothes as another form of oppression. (At the time clothing was also a signifier of class.)
I first started going nude "in secret" during holidays when no one was around, I suppose I still felt there was something "perverse" about it, but there was also an elation of feeling more in tune with nature without clothes about it than just groupage rebellion.
It wasn't until I was in my twenties I encountered social nudity. I stumbled across a naturist beach one day and it was a sort of life changing moment. It took seconds to get out of my clothes, but this was very different to any textile beach I'd ever been to - instead of having your own little space and no intereaction with anyone else this was really friendly, people would come and chat and there was no feeling of discomfort about it. There was also no distinction of class, there were people from many different backgrounds but no social barriers. There were men and women, singles and couples, gay and straight, and you felt you could talk to anyone. The one obvious missing group was freeer people. Although there were families with free adults there were no groups or 20's, all the adults were pretty much middle aged or older.
Since then I spend as much time as possible nude, have become a regular beach goer, moved near the beach and arrange my work so I can be on the beach as often as possible (not as often as I'd like thanks to our climate). I have also shaved all body hair as it feels so much nicer and affords a more even tan. My best friends are naturists and I've met some great people at various beaches and on the net.
There are some positive changes from my early days, there are more freeer people from the missing age group at beaches these days. More non naturists seem more tolerant of naturists, and the net has become a great forum to exchange ideas.
Sadly however it seems to be taking ages for attitudes to change, there are still too many who see us as perverts or link nudity with activity. Our media still views naturism with the same sort of "naughty postcard" image and advertising still uses nudity to sell products. Things are slowly changing though and it is nice to see sites like this helping to change attitudes. Keep up the good work. Any comments are welcome.