Christie Sinclair Tuesday 7 August 2012 1:24pm

• (20)
• (14)
• (97)

Would you do this?

by CHRISTIE SINCLAIR

I recently attended a barbecue with a few couples and my boyfriend. Now, I’m not entirely sure what mid-20 year old couples are supposed to talk about over dinner these days, I would have expected the usual complaints about work, analysis of our mutual friends relationships and maybe a bit of a gossip. Thus, assuming I would be leaving feeling somewhat satisfied with the acquisition and distribution of information across the board.

Not so. After a nice dinner, a few wines and a thorough deconstruction of each of our relationships, (a given) our hostess with the mostess casually mentioned that her and her partner spend a hefty amount of their time at home together, in the nude.

Even referring to herself as a “NAH”- Nudist At Home. She assured me they weren’t traditional nudists though. For example, apparently they don’t don their birthday suits to do the gardening or wash the car. Just to perform menial tasks including but not limited to cleaning the bathroom and making dinner.

Please excuse my seemingly narrow-minded affinities, but this information didn’t rest too well with me. Not only because I couldn’t help but think about the bare body parts that had previously made contact with the beautiful leather sofa I was perched upon at the time, but I found the whole ideal a little, well, whack. Heck, I’d only ever heard of the concept of nudism on those radical TV documentaries. Never had I have ever considered my friends to be so fervent about being nude.

Christie, not a nudist.

What surprised me the most was I was the only person in the room who found this concept unusual. Unbeknownst to me, even my partner thought in-home nudity was normal (a comment I would have probably appreciated two years ago at the beginning of our relationship). And in a paradox, I was branded a prude for not choosing to waltz around my house au natural, while these so-called nudists deemed themselves normal for being just that. Nudists!

Am I unknowingly in the midst of a nudist revival? Or am I part of a strange minority of humans who never received the memo outlining our need to embrace nudism within the confines of our home in order to be considered normal? Here I am worrying about being sprung bra-less in my daggy old pyjamas by the postman or kids trying to sell raffle tickets at my front door, when my nearest and dearest are busy tootling around their homes in the nude without a care in the world.

While I may have been the only prude in the room at this particular dinner, it seems I’m not alone in thinking this custom is completely far-fetched. A simple search engine investigation revealed forum after forum of anecdotes about naked related troubles from vexed wives and girlfriends.

I have to say, I don’t believe the high number of women experiencing animosity towards nudity has a great deal to do with sexual desire or lack thereof. Instead, I believe in many cases, women are simply far too self-conscious to nude up in front of their partners. Yes, that old chestnut. I don’t blame them though.

The ability to hide your wobbly bits is increased to the power of ten when nude outside the confines of your bedroom. Especially in direct sunlight. Then for others, like myself, nakedness is simply unnatural. Which is why, one week after the highly mind blowing dinner party revelation, I am still trying to get my head around the entire concept of in home nudity.

I guess what I’m really wanting to understand as a result of this conversation is how nude is not nude enough? Rather, how nude is normal?

Christie Sinclair is a freelance journalist and marketing account manager from Melbourne. When she’s not perusing fashion blogs or lost in a pile of glossies, you will most likely find her sitting around the table with family and friends, enjoying good food and great wine. Follow her on twitter at https://twitter.com/ChristieSin.

Are you comfortable hanging out around the house in the nude?