GIRLS BATH BEACH

When we were growing up, my parents sent me to a science camp out in the Central Oregon desert. In the middle of the day, the temperatures would often soar well above 100. The camp was "rustic" at best; none of the ramshackle cabins and outbuildings had air conditioning or plumbing, so the counselors took us down to the river for our daily bathing.

I think it was much more common back then to separate boys and girls. In school, we had boys PE and girls PE. Co-ed sports was totally unheard of. Perhaps because of this, there was never any thought group showering in the locker rooms.

In the case of camp, that sense of shared group shower carried over to the river. The river didn't seem as much "swim time," as it was the only shower we'd get at camp without indoor plumbing. So, the river time was really shower time, and boys and girls were separated.

Being so hot and dusty, everyone gladly stripped down and jumped in. Normally, the water would be freezing, but in the mid-day heat, it felt refreshing. No one complained about bathing in the river. Maybe there was "body image" anxiety back then, but I can't recall it. Media hadn't told us we should be concerned, and so we weren't. We considered some girls pretty, and others maybe not as pretty, but that was usually a combination of face and personality. No one ever focused on another's body. Tighs, hips, chest, it was all just as "God made you," we'd been told. And so who were we to question God.

Maybe in some ways we really were ignorant in those times, but then, it seemed a lot healthier, a lot less stressful, and a lot more fun.

Those Sexy 70s...

Japanese Exchange Student

In Japanese, Sahoko's name meant "girl walking on a beach." She had been born near the water and had spent her whole life swimming. She swam competitively since a little girl, and it earned her the opportunity to attend a university in the US on scholarship.

Sahoko said that her family was directly decedent from Japan's ancient class of samari. The word fear was not in her vocabulary.

So when her new best American friends invited her to go camping with them at the lake, she said sure. When they told her that boys would be there, she said, no problem. When they suggested a skinny dip, she said yes.

She'd grown up swimming at dawn in swimming pools of icy water. That was no problem. In Japan, especially in the countryside where her mother's family was from, they bathed in traditional sentos, the public bathhouses, and the onsens, the natural hot springs.

For the American girls, swimming nude was a big deal. It was a double dog dare. They thought getting the Japanese exchange student to go skinny dipping was going to be the biggest most incredible memory for the otherwise conservative and studious student from Japan. For Sahoko, it wasn't a big deal. In fact, if anything, it was like being home.

1950s Housewife

Breaking rules is so much more fun than following them. It's no surprise that the height of cocktail culture was during Prohibition. Modern pornography (as in photographs and films depicting sexual acts) was born in the prudishVictorian Era, and wife swapping and nudism entered the American vernacular in the repressed 1950s.

As Senator McCarthy was trying to call out communists, and as TV and magazines depicted perfect nuclear families, with father knowing best and mom pulling a hot ham from the oven, and the two kids studying at school and playing sports, there was just as much sexual libido as any other generation. Perhaps suppressing it only made it that much more exciting.

As any reader of this blog knows, I'm a huge fan of the flower power hippies and back to earth kids of the late 60s and 70s. Those skinny dippers at Woodstock and beyond really knew how to be natural out in nature, and are all the sexier for it. And while I completely advocate for an open and honest acceptance of human nudity in nature (see my other blog Naked Outdoors), I have to admit that a world without censorship and prudes would be a little dull. Some of the fun of stripping off clothes is the thrill of it being a little "inappropriate."

That's why I find this image so erotically charged. Just her nude body could belong to any era, but with the hairdo and cat-eye glasses, this is clearly the 1950s. She's maybe late 20s, early 30s? For the time period, she's probably a housewife somewhere in a new American suburb. Her husband has a steady 9-5, and in this post-war boom, they own a home. A nice white one-story ranch. And the home has a front yard with a driveway for their new chromed Chevrolet, and a big backyard.

Perhaps when her husband is at work and she's finished the dishes and laundry because she owns new washers and dryers and housework is done by modern machines and not by hand, she has more time for herself and relaxation. Perhaps she takes a towel and paperback novel into her big backyard, and in the sun, lays out, buck naked. It's something neither her mother or her husband would approve of, but that makes it all the more empowering.

AT THE RIVER

I know a secret trail to the river. It's about a 2 mile hike from the road, but it's a nice place to get away and be out in nature. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with that idea.

HIKING WITH GINA

We started out in the afternoon. Near the road, there were other hikers, always in view whenever we stopped for a photo. This added to my frustration, but Gina's thrill, as she knew I wanted to be alone with her out in nature. As the sun got lower and as we hiked farther from the road, Gina became more daring in her poses. By the end of our hike, the sun had almost gone, and she pulled out her jacket from her pack, but she had given me plenty to look at, and a few photos to always remember.

My Hippie Neighbor

The young woman who lives nextdoor to me is a bit of a hippie, a granola, whatever you want to say. She grows her own veggies in her backyard. In the summers, I see her out working in her garden. We wave and sometimes chat. She's often barefoot, and I don't know if she even owns a bra. On hot days, she wears tank tops. It's easy to see the outline of her nipples. When it's hot, she glows with sweat, and when she raises her arms to knot her hair back into a bun, I can see the dew drops of fresh sweat glistening in her underarm hair. With a slight shift of breeze, I catch a whiff of the sweet, tangy scent. She doesn't wear deodorant, and she smells beautiful. It's a smell that's distinct, earthy, like a flower, and not offensive in anyway. It's not at all an old BO stink like a locker room--no, it's like a tomato plant, sweet, pungent, and fresh. I think I may be developing a crush, an innocent crush, on my neighbor.

I've noticed that when I'm out in my garden, I've taken to wearing only thin skirts, and t-shirts or tanks. No bra. No deodorant. Why bother when you know working outside you'll just get sweaty anyway? I've stopped shaving. I feel sexier than I ever have. 

The Retreat

In college we went on a retreat out to the desert. Some of the girls decided it would be a good idea to get up in the mornings and greet the sun with yoga. Naked. 

It was a beautiful sight. We all had a relaxing week in the desert, hiking and eating and hanging out. It was so hot that once we stripped off our clothes, we really had no reason to put them back on. The sun felt great on our skin. The girls were comfortable in their nudity. No one shaved. Everyone was natural and free to be themselves. It really was a perfect week.

OREGON COAST

Colder, but still sunny in September. Kids back to school, safe for flashing

DARE TO BARE

We were hanging out in the backyard, kicking back on the weekend, having a few drinks, and enjoying summer. She lay out on a towel, and was looking pretty sexy. As we were both enjoying a buzz, I complimented how her body looked in the sunlit and said it was too bad we weren't in Europe where she could sunbath topless without worrying about the neighbors. She seemed curious about this idea, and I could tell maybe a dare would encourage her. She stripped off her top and held it up for me to see that she was brave as any European woman, and just as proud to look sexy.

HAMOCK TIME

She likes to take siestas in her hamock, nude. It gives her time to get in touch with herself.

SUMMER FLING WITH EX-GIRLFRIEND

On of my favorite summer memories was when my high school girlfriend returned from college. We'd broken up in the fall to go to different schools, and explore our separate ways. I'd dated a couple girls, but was single when I came home. She'd met some guy, but apparently, it wasn't so serious. So soon as we were back in our hometown, we started hanging out again. And even though we weren't officially dating anymore, we were still totally attracted to each other. In fact, not dating meant we didn't need to break up again. We both knew the summer would end, and she would go back to that guy, or not. It was like getting to have a summer fling. Best summer of my life.

BURNING MAN

A vision in the desert.

NIPPLE AT THE BEACH

Just like this image.

BOAT PEOPLE

I realized today, as the temperature hit 100, that I don't have any friends who own a boat. That's a shame, because boat people tend to be pretty laid back, cool people to hang out with.

SARONG

On really hot summer days, she likes to slip on a sarong over her naked body. None of our neighbors can see much of our backyard, but even if they could, it looks like she's completely clothed from a distance.

FRIENDS AT THE BEACH