Are there any special body language rules for nudists?

I’ve spoken to many nudists, and all seem to find one common but unspoken law in operation. There is an exaggerated amount of eye contact among nudists, almost as if it were a defense against letting the eyes wander to more intimate areas of the body.

“This is not a conscious thing,” one confirmed nudist stressed. “It’s just something you do without realizing it.

In a way, I guess it’s a part of the overexaggerated respect for privacy that goes along with nudism.”

Another one of “those things that go along with nudism” my friend tells me, is a lack of touching. “There is almost no touching in the average nudist colony.” 

When pressed for his own explanation, he suggested that it might be a fear of arousal or respect for privacy.

Among the other interesting observations he made during his years as a nudist:

In the beginning, a towel, even if it is held without covering the body serves as a pacifier. Later, as a person becomes more at ease with nudism, the need for a pacifier disappears.

Fastidiousness cuts across all lines. A fastidious person remains that way whether dressed or nude.

The use of territorial space among nudists depends on their rapport with their neighbors rather than on their cultural background.

The intriguing thing about nudity, my friend reports, is that it does away with all status symbols. Short of hair-styles, beards, and mustaches, there is no way to identify the economic niche of the other person. It causes a curious kind of leveling.

However, some other nudist friends who favor the Riviera and the West Indies claim that suntan definitions are a type of status symbol. The narrower the band of pale skin around the hips in a man and around the hips and breast in a woman, the higher the status. The overall tan, however, is usually frowned on because without the contrast there is no way of knowing how much is suntan and how much the pigment melanin.