How to Feel Better Naked

Whether you want to find joy in your body, or just greater self-acceptance, these four strategies from psychologists and activists — and, yes, nudists — might help.
When Carolyn Hawkins went to her first nude resort four decades ago, she was 37 years old and absolutely committed to keeping her clothes on.
“I said, ‘I’ll go, but I’ll never do it. I’m not taking my clothes off,’” said Ms. Hawkins, who was visiting the resort with her second husband. But surrounded by a kaleidoscope of imperfect bodies soaking up the Florida sun, she felt like an outlier and stripped down. “I took to it immediately,” recalled Ms. Hawkins, now 79 and the director for club and member relations at the American Association for Nude Recreation.
Not everybody is so comfortable being naked. For many of us, nudity — or just the prospect of baring more skin during the summer — can be fraught.
“Even being naked alone can leave us vulnerable to the critical voice in our own mind,” said Renee Engeln, a professor of instruction in psychology and the director of the Body and Media Lab at Northwestern University, which researches issues surrounding women’s body image.
The goal of feeling “good” while naked tends to be tangled up in cultural beauty standards that few of us meet, she said. Yet, therapists, body image activists and, yes, nudists contend there are compelling reasons to pursue a more joyful relationship with your own naked form, or at least a neutral one.
How to Feel Better Naked