Secret naturism, or stealth naturism, take your pick. We had to sneak around the golf course, which was lined with cabin homes observing the fairways. A golf course is like a small town, people talk, people object to protect their interests, socially and financially. Lots of retired people who bought into a golf course and want it to be used only for golf.
Full moonlight is very revealing on a fairway. People sit out on porches in the evening. One must hide in the shadows, or wait until the wee hours, or run risks and increase odds of discovery and potentials of hassles.
In Michigan in the dead of night, as teenagers out way past legal curfew, we would wander Battle Creek Country Club, which had few houses observing it. We would wander all through the suburbs, sometimes drinking, sometimes I would be naked, sometimes with a girlfriend and lay on the green's lovely grass. It was an exercise in stealth, like commandos, always ready for a bush to hide behind, in case someone showed up in surprise.
TSNS started out about such activities and also doing such in urban environments for kicks. It evolved into more a FRN conversation as we learned and shared our experiences and new members came on board.
Secret Naturism was also about being nude without spousal interference. Just hiding it from others for social/economic reasons. That was generally a solitary thing.
Many of us were just people feeling a need to be nude, or a form of sexual antic, or a dare game. Then, when we discovered that there were others like us at TSNS, we began dialog. We discovered that we were normal people in weird circumstance, not the other way around and that we were not alone. Some began to use the tools of SN to such a frequency that the edge was worn down and our activity could be perceived as a more comfortable behavior. Naturism, it's social aspects, its spiritual aspects, began to enter into the picture.
I became so adept that I found myself naked all over most of the time, a Free Range Naturist.
All of this pops up from time to time, here. Be it taking out the trash, getting mail nude for a kick, or a liberation, or wrapping unwrapping on a trail in nature. After a while it can become safe and normal to be nude without hard rushes of fear. Our fears drop away with experimentation. Now, we have organized hikes, hikes in less populated areas, local secret places to be nude, and free range websites. We allow ourselves to be seen on the trails. We're going mainstream and are already mainstream naturism. Resorts are nice, but hardly necessary. AANR ain't got the message. TNS has gotten the message and are publishing as such. The web has also grown.
Lookee started a site back around the turn of the century, when I still had WebTV. There was a competition/conflict with another person's site, or a ruse by "Corbie." Lookee came up with TSNS. It then all evolved over the next twenty years, or so. I think that it frequently got out of Lookee's hands and original vision by the membership's use.
Is the Secret Naturist Handbook still around here? I have a complete copy written by Lookee. It reveals the original intents of TSNS.
We've come a long way over nearly twenty years. I have found a personal growth and spiritual growth with my involvement. It is legal in Britain and Spain to go walkabout naked. Things in the USA's naturist movement are changing. There are enough of us doing things that we are making a difference. This forum is still a very important step in the social evolution.
Many things are converging, making for a trajectory toward body freedom. I plan to keep plugging away until there is freedom. That is when the norm is the recognition that a naked human body is not harmful. A child will not be damaged by the sight of a unclothed member of it's own species and naturism is simply wholesome and fun. I also personally, I want to see that my nude spiritual pursuits are recognized as a religious freedom. All, a long way from sneaking the trash out when naked, just for the rush.
Jbee