The naked truth

What is the big deal about being naked? Summer Moore, a Butte College student, retail worker and mother, said the time she spends naked with her husband and two daughters in Upper Bidwell Park has made her more confident and introduced her to a better class of people. We caught up with Moore a few days after she lobbied the City Council to vote down a suggested ban on nudity.

What do you like about [being nude]?

Being free. It’s hard to express.

You’re not embarrassed about it at all?

No, no. My family knows, Most of my friends know. It’s not something that I go tell everybody at my work, just because a lot of people who don’t know what it’s about, they judge. They think that it’s about sex and orgies, and that’s not what it’s about at all.

What is it about?

It’s about body acceptance. Gosh, we have young girls growing up in society thinking there’s a certain way they should look. You go to a [nudist] resort, and it’s not that way. Most people have bulges here and there, and scars.

When did you start doing this?

In ‘98. [I went] up to Upper Bidwell, very nervous. I saw a couple girls down the way who were going without their tops on. My husband encouraged me, and I said “OK.” When he approached me wanting to go to a resort, I said, ‘No, I’m not into that,’ [but] we ended going. The nicest people were there—very accepting.

Do you feel better about yourself?

Oh, absolutely. I’m comfortable in my own skin. I’m not so worried about what people think about me anymore.

What would you think about a ban on being nude?

I think there are other things they should be wasting their time on. The police especially need to be able to have time to make sure people are wearing their helmets, maybe control the young college guys that are going up to Upper Bidwell Park [and] throwing glass bottles at the nudists.

You wouldn’t go to a Disney movie naked?

No, because then I’d be offending someone else. That’s why we have resorts. We have places that we go to. We also hike pretty far up into Upper Bidwell Park so we don’t offend people. We go out of our way not to offend people. The people that have had bad experiences with naked people, such as the sexual overtness, I’m really sorry for them because that’s not what we’re about. That person that’s displaying that lewd behavior when they’re naked, they’re not representing what we stand for.