:: IS NUDE SUNBATHING NORMAL? 

 :: QUESTION:  I'm a 41-year-old man and I've been married for 17 years.

  In the past five years or so, I've become interested in naturism
(nudism).  I'm wondering if this is a natural or unnatural interest.

  Once in a while I go to an out-of-the way nudist beach about 50 miles
from my home. Or I go to parks to sunbathe nude.

  My wife has some unusual attitudes about sex and nudity because she was
sexually abused by her stepfather as a child. She has had professional
help, but is barely out of the closet sexually.

  I've learned to accept our different attitudes toward sex, and I know
better than to tell her about these sunbathing ventures, even though
nothing wrong goes on.  Am I normal?

 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

   ANSWER:  "Social nudism is not a sexual deviation," say psychologists
and sexoloists Drs.  James Leslie McCary and Stephen P.  McCary, authors of
the sexuality textbook "McCary's Human Sexuality."

   "As a matter of fact," they go on to say, "the overall atmosphere in
most nudist camps, is, because of rigidly enforced rules of behavior, more
suggestive of asexuality than of sexual permissiveness."

   The average nudist is also the average citizen, say the McCary's,
"although he or she may have become free of certain taboos still clinging
to the rest of us."

   However, the line between nudism and exhibition becomes blurred if you
are nude in public places.  If the police find you sunbathing nude in your
public park they are much more likely to consider you an exhibitionist than
a nudist.

   If you wish to get together safely with others who share your interest
in being nude in the out of doors, contact the American Sunbathing
Association (1703 N.  Main St., Kissimmee, Florida 32741).