The body beautiful? Not in these nudist magazines
The best thing about nudist magazines is that they give you a newfound appreciation for clothing.
The glitziest fashion spread in Vogue’s history is not as good an advertisement for clothes as a nudist magazine’s simple black-and-white photo of a pudgy middle-aged couple just sort of standing there buck naked.
In this over-civilized modern world, we don’t often get to see what average Americans look like under their clothes. And after perusing two popular nudist mags, I can report that this is probably a good thing.
The two magazines are N: Nude & Natural, which is the official publication of a nudist group called the Naturist Society, and Travel Naturally, a magazine devoted to “nude recreation.” Both are widely available -- I found them on the newsstand at Tower Records -- and both offer ample evidence that the urge to party naked is not confined to the kind of people you’d like to see partying naked.
It’s easy to wax poetic about the beauty of the human body while reading Playboy or gazing at Michelangelo’s “David.” But when eyeing naked pictures of folks who look like Dick Cheney or Barbara Mikulski, you’re forced to admit that the average human body is really not all that attractive. Of course, such sentiments are blasphemy to the editors of these magazines, who believe that the world would be a better place if everybody wandered around naked. And they may be right. There would certainly be a lot fewer concealed weapons.
N is the more political of the two magazines, written by and for activists in the cause of naturism, which seems to be the politically correct term for nudism. N runs articles on the movement’s legislative battles -- “Wisconsin Anti-Nudity Bill Sent to Legislative Purgatory.” It also runs learned legal essays, such as “Naturism, the Adult Entertainment Industry, and the Law,” by Allen Baylis, a lawyer who is shown in a photo that’s far more revealing that anything you’re likely to see in, say, the American Lawyer.
Traveling Naturally is a far less political magazine, concentrating instead on stories touting nudist camps all over the world. “What began in back lots, remote beaches, and rustic trailer parks has truly emerged into an industry,” writes editor Bernard J. Loibl.
