Looking for both logical and emotional reinforcements, from casual acquaintances to intimate partners, and any orientation if not especially, everyone matters.
Frame it as a “friend” if you’d like, but I would like to know what made an impactful impression on you personally, above and beyond any hypothetical.
I never really had any major body image issues, don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of things I would like to change about how I look, and I’m certainly no sex symbol by a long shot, but I’ve always been pretty comfortable in my own skin.
But what little problem I did have pretty much evaporated when I decided to try out a nudist resort.
I think if you spend a day walking around naked people, you pretty quickly get some perspective. Most of the people at a nudist resort aren’t exactly the kind of people you particularly want to see naked.
Fat, skinny, stretch marks, scars, weird lumps and bumps, piercings, tattoos, pale, tan (though certain there are more heavily-tanned people that average,) dicks, balls, tits, and asses of all shapes, sizes, and configurations, little kids, people who look like they’re old enough to remember when dirt was invented (though some of that might just be all the sun-exposure,) it’s all out there on display.
And none of it matters a bit. They’re just bodies, we all have them, and they’re all a little weird, and I think experiencing something like that in-person really drives it home in a way that just thinking and talking about it can’t really do justice.
I kind of ended up there on a whim. The year before I first went to one, I did our city’s naked bike ride with a couple friends (also a very body-positive experience, but understandably the crowd skews a bit younger and fitter because bike ride) and had a blast riding around in our underwear with them.
The next year we couldn’t make it because of our schedules, but in searching for other things to do we stumbled onto something happening at this resort that sounded fun, so we went for it, and enjoyed it. We’ve talked a couple other people into joining us and they’ve also had a great time once they get over the initial shock of being naked around other naked people.
Also what really sold me on it was when we first arrived, I got there a bit before my friends. It was one of those hot, humid days where the moment you step outside you’re immediately drenched in sweat and your clothes start sticking to you.
I had kind of figured I’d set my tent up first then take my clothes off so that I’d have somewhere to put them, but after barely getting my tent unpacked I was already drenched in sweat and feeling gross, and the lightbulb went off in my head "just take your clothes off dumbass) and so I did. I was dressed pretty appropriately for the weather, but even still that made a world of difference, so by the time my friends showed up I was already sold and walked over to greet them naked, which I think also helped to put them at ease with the situation.
I will say that when you have body image issues you can wind up weird there. I’ve got a difficult relationship with my perception of my own weight (I’ve never been heavier than overweight, and rarely am even there). This has persisted through years of everything from sex clubs (yeah it’s similar to nudist beaches in body variety), non sexual nakedness with nudist friends and nudist experimentation in college, and just generally not finding fat people unattractive (I’m not a chubby chaser either, I just don’t care). I’ve had times lying in bed next to an obese woman I was in love with and wildly attracted to and I was feeling the need to scramble and put a shirt on after sex to hide the fact that my stomach felt less than flat and I was insecure about it
And if all that sounds too intimidating, you can also consider a nude bath house, spa, or sauna. It’s a much shorter period of time, and a much smaller number of people, but you can still get the experience of just casually chatting with strangers au naturel. The one I went to had a lot of old people, but everybody was super chill.
Also nude beaches
This particular resort is, luckily, close enough to me that I could go there for a day trip, or maybe even an afternoon or evening if I were so-inclined. It’s a bit out of the way but I’ve definitely driven further for worse reasons
Something to consider is that a lot of bath houses and such are gender-separated. For some, that may make it more comfortable, but for others I feel like it may not quite get them to confront all of their anxieties.
It may be easier for some people to ease into it from something like that (also to that end a lot of, but not all, nudist resorts and beaches are clothing-optional except for certain times/places/activities, so you can ease into it at your own pace,) but when possible I think it’s worth trying to rip the bandaid off all at once.
Have you seen any trans people at these nudist spaces? I’ve been interested by the idea a few times, but always got put off by the fact that I felt it would make me incredibly dysphoric
YMMV depending on where exactly you go, but the place I usually go to has a trans employee who usually works the front desk and sometimes bartends
And one band that performs there pretty regularly has a trans singer. Most of the bands and such they book there keep their clothes on, she was the exception.
And I think this says a lot, because she was up on stage performing for a couple hours, I probably walked right by her about six times before I noticed that she had a penis, and the only reason I did was because the rest of the band fucked off for a few minutes to get a drink or something and she stayed up on stage singing for a while and I finally realized that the deep voice that had been singing was coming from her
So you really quickly stop taking notice of people’s genitals there. That’s all that I’ve personally noticed but there very well might have been tons more and I just didn’t notice. Definitely no shortage of other LGBQ folks around there though.