This is a topic I saw addressed recently in the AANR Bulletin. I will state that I differentiate between the scars of life"-surgical scars, mastectomies, C-sections, injuries, battle scars etc, things that are involuntary and in the cases of combat wounds, badges of honor-and unadorned fat and flab, the result of overindulgence and a lack of healthy pride in one body. I think much of the negative public image of social nudism is well summed up in the words of a woman reporter who wrote in 1979 in one of the local papers that she was appaled by the physiques she saw at the nudist resort she was invited to. "Most were ..., fat and grotesquely out of shape. Their bellies dwarfed everything else." Mr. Universe I am not, though I can claim that my waist is several inches smaller than my chest. And I do eat too much junk. But I try to keep fit through cycling to work and weightlifting, and I think that those who laugh away their weight problems with talk about body acceptance are doing themselves-and us-a big misfavor-and promote a negative image. I do not advocate the freaky physiques seen in the muscle magazines, but the old idea of a healthy mind in a healthy
body is still true today. I don't think many of us would accept someone who is slovenly and unhygeinic in a
social nude setting.
body is still true today. I don't think many of us would accept someone who is slovenly and unhygeinic in a
social nude setting.
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