In Praise of Casual Nudity

I write stories about nudity, about characters, usually women, taking off their clothes and becoming naked. I do this because I enjoy naked women, I enjoy seeing them, thinking about them and writing about them – and I have an audience who are much the same. Many men, and women, enjoy female nudity – to say so is almost redundant – but not everyone takes it to the extreme of writing erotic fiction where the erotic parts are driven by depictions of that nudity. Some might call it a fetish, and in some ways I’d agree.

Where you have people, like me,  who create material which emphasises (female) nudity for erotic entertainment, there tend to be themes and tropes we share between our work. Concepts like ENF (Embarrassed Nude Female – a woman is seen naked when she doesn’t want to be)… or Exhibitionism (a character deliberately shows their naked body to others, often because it gives them erotic pleasure to do so)… There are lots more; tropes and sub-tropes. I’ve explored some of them in this blog as well as in my stories – for example, my deep dive into the Nude in School concept.

One that I don’t think I’ve taken much time to talk about before, though, is Casual Nudity – and that’s something I’m a big fan of.

Some casual nudity - who needs clothes to play videogames at home?

As always, if I’m going to be talking about something, I like to start by saying what I mean by it.

By casual nudity, I’m talking about scenes of women going about naked without much second thought – literally, they are naked, and they are casual about it. They are probably doing normal, everyday things – only, they are naked. They might be alone, or in the company of others. But if other people are around, the naked girl is not at all uncomfortable about her nudity. She isn’t embarrassed or ashamed, she isn’t covering herself (as she would if she was an ENF protagonist). She is just acting completely normally.

“Acting normally,” too, largely precludes any erotic behaviour on the part of the naked girl. If she is walking around casually naked in front of others, wherever she is, she isn’t acting overtly like an exhibitionist (even if she is one), and she probably isn’t trying to provoke a strong reaction (I love exhibitionist women too, but it’s hard to argue that a situation where the nakedness is sexually charged for them can really be called “casual” nudity).

So, for the woman to be casual about nudity, why might she be naked?

Unless you live alone, casual nudity at home requires others to be open-minded.

Well, might it be that she is just more comfortable without clothes? Perhaps she is a nudist, or just someone who finds – either generally, or at that specific moment – that having no clothes on is preferable to the alternative.

Perhaps she is simply unmotivated to dress? Especially if she is alone – if she is alone, she may have just got up, or just had a shower, and feel no need to get herself dressed until it is absolutely required.

Even if she isn’t alone – perhaps she is around people she feels comfortable with to the point that she doesn’t always bother to put on clothes (and who, crucially, don’t mind if she doesn’t either)? I have been friends with a couple of different women who, as adults, walked around naked in front of their parents, because they felt safe and comfortable doing so, given that they had been raised by them. These weren’t nudist families, they were just individuals who were a bit lazy about getting dressed and

nobody in the household minded it.

Some women just don't dress for company.

Or perhaps she doesn’t actually see anything wrong with nudity? A lot of the reasons we as human beings don’t walk around naked in front of others is because nudity is taboo. It’s seen as intimate to be naked, especially with the opposite sex (and even, in some scenarios, the same sex) and of course there is the fact that if we were naked in the company of others, they may feel uncomfortable with us being so.

But what if the girl is a free spirit who rejects the notion that nakedness is something that should be kept private? Maybe she feels comfortable naked and doesn’t want to moderate her behaviour just because other people are hung up about it?

If she is a practicing nudist, maybe her philosophical beliefs insulate her from any feelings of embarrassment, shame or vulnerability and enable her to be casual about being naked in the company of people who aren’t, as well as people who are?

Mio from the anime 'Waiting in the Summer' is a nudist at home.

Or maybe she has no concept whatsoever of nudity being taboo? Maybe to her the idea that she should, at the very least, always have her breasts and her genitals covered when there are other people around, and that she should act with modesty when naked, has simply never occurred, or was not part of her culture?

Whatever the reason, the naked girl in a casual nudity scenario is either safe from prying eyes, or she is someone who is completely unbothered by others’ reactions or interpretations of her nudity; therefore she is supremely confident; as confident as she might be if she had clothes on.

I think that’s one reason why I find casual nudity scenarios attractive. I like women who are confident about their bodies, who don’t act ashamed or embarrassed by nudity. I like women who are exhibitionists, but I don’t require exhibitionism to like a woman. But I do like body confidence, and an aptitude for casual nudity is one way in which that confidence can be shown.

Some people just prefer to be naked at home alone...

That’s why I think there is an erotic potential in casual nudity, even where the nudity itself isn’t portrayed in an erotic way. It’s an illustration of a woman, with a woman’s body, who isn’t cringing in a corner because someone saw her breasts or her vulva. She is just saying, here I am, here is everything you want to see, and I don’t care what you think about that.

I think that’s why I like the idea of a female character being casually nude in the company of others. Don’t get me wrong – I also enjoy stories where a person explores freedom from clothing solo, discovering new things about themselves and what feels good for them. But if solo casual nudity is good, it gets even better when you add other, non-naked people.

...others don't mind if they have company

For one, you can introduce other perspectives on the woman’s nakedness. She might be among people who accept her nudity as something normal (or, at least, normal for her) but equally she might be encountering people who are surprised to meet someone who has such a relaxed attitude to being unclothed. The reaction of other people to the casually nude character can be what makes their scene have impact, or at least, give them a chance to explain their personal feelings when it comes to nudity.

If a woman is casually naked in company, it also offers an extremely high likelihood of an “only one naked” scenario. I like those types of scenarios because of the juxtaposition between nude person and clothed people, and because of the way the nakedness feels out of place, unusual, different. If the naked person is casual and (implicitly) comfortable around people who are not naked, that can make the scenario last longer.

On X, these pictures were posted with the caption...

"At a party of some friends and there was a gal walking fully nude around the gang."

Given that I’m pretty keen on casual nudity, it’s not surprising scenes of characters being nude casually turn up a lot in my writing. It would be boring if I listed every casual nude scene I’ve written, but I’ll just bring in a few times when I’ve employed such a thing in one of my stories.

While I think even my unofficial “forced nudity trilogy” (Sophie, The Tribulations of Omega Girl, and Phoebe’s Punishment) contain some casual nudity scenes, you’ll find them much more often in the other four of my books; the ones that much more blatantly draw on themes exhibitionism, but also nudism, in explaining why the main female characters are getting naked.

In the two Naked Girl books, in Brave Nude World, and in Carla Takes Her Clothes Off, the main characters are all, in some way or another, nudists (although Carla, in-narrative, decides the term doesn’t apply to her). Becky, the Naked Girl, identifies herself as a nudist to her best friend Lisa because she wants to stop wearing clothes in Lisa’s company, and she gives this same explanation to anyone else she also wants the freedom to be naked around during the course of both the books in which she appears. Meanwhile, Rachel in Brave Nude World is drawn to the specific version of nudism – going naked in public, which has become legal – practiced by self-declared nudists in the book. And although Carla rejects the idea of being a card-carrying nudist herself, she certainly prefers to live without clothes on as much as she is able to.

So all three characters engage, at various points in their stories, in casual nudity – making these books a sort of “casual nudity quadrilogy” to juxtapose against my “forced nudity trilogy”.

I’ve mentioned nudism a few times in connection with themes of casual nudity, and so you might be thinking, am I not just describing times my characters were nudists?

I think it’s true that in common vernacular, anyone who might have a preference for, or at least a high level of comfort with, being naked, might well be inclined to describe themselves as a nudist, because by and large we have come to think of that word to mean “someone who gets naked a lot”.

At nudist events, people are casually nude.

And it’s true that nudism involves casual nudity – most nudists are not just “being naked”, they are engaged in other activities while naked. Some nudists prefer to be unclothed at home all the time, they are certainly practising “casual nudity” rather than any sort of activity for which the nudity is an explicit requirement. Even socialising with other nudists at venues and events, they are casual about the actual nakedness they are engaging in. And some nudists are comfortable enough with nudity to remain casually nude in the company of clothed non-nudists; friends, family, even strangers.

At some nudist events, nude and clothed people mix, but it's always casual

I have certainly had characters (Becky being the main one) announce that they are nudists to explain why they are walking around naked in a casual way.

But while I think nudism, by its very nature, incorporates casual nudity, I don’t necessarily take the view that all casual nudity is nudism. That was something I was trying to explore a little in Carla Takes Her Clothes Off – the idea that a person might like to be naked, prefer it even, and see no wrong or harm in it, without necessarily simply ascribing the label nudist to themselves. I have no dispute with nudism, but as I write more and more stories I find myself interested in characters who have reasons for going naked and enjoying it that differ from them simply “being a nudist”.

Casual nudity in public places is possible, if risky

Of course, Carla doesn’t just go around her own home naked. As the story progresses, she finds herself testing the boundaries of what her confidence will allow and what is deemed acceptable in her own community, leading to her eventually adopting a lifestyle whereby she doesn’t feel any need to wear clothing even when in public spaces, such as the village pub.

While in fetish content terms I would differentiate “public nudity” and “casual nudity”, the fact is that in real terms, the actions of a person deliberately walking naked in public are usually displays of casual nudity. They are displaying a casual attitude by acting in a manner that is no different to how they would behave when clothed – walking along the street, going into shops, bars, restaurants; interacting with people. They sort of have to keep things casual – while some places are tolerant enough that a woman can walk around naked without negative repercussions, that tolerance does not necessarily extend in most cases to overtly sexual behaviour. So when you see, for example, a video made by Nude In Public.com, the model in the video is always acting casually when she is in public view, behaving more-or-less like a clothed woman – and if there is sexy stuff in the video, it’s usually confined to times when she is out of sight of anyone other than the cameraman.

Casual nudity on private property is probably safer

Similarly, when Carla is hanging out nude in the pub, she is only doing the things she would be doing if she weren’t nude – relaxing, having a drink, socialising with friends. She absolutely does experience some sexual gratification from her naked experiences, but she only acts on this when she is out of view – she masturbates, but at home or at least when alone. Carla, outside of fantasy maybe, would never lie back and spread her legs and get herself off in the middle of the pub – because she knows that while her neighbours might be tolerant enough to have no issue with a woman being naked in the pub, that tolerance would not extend to her displaying overt sexuality (beyond what she shows simply by having no clothing on).

So it is in most good depictions of casual nudity – the nudity is depicted without sexuality. That doesn’t, though, prevent it from being titillating, exciting, arousing, for the reader/viewer – after all, we are still seeing a good-looking woman naked. In a way, the lack of sexuality from the naked person themselves just makes it sexier.

Here are some examples of casual nudity in films and other fictions that I particularly like

Alexis Dziena in ‘Broken Flowers’ (2005)

Aging lothario Bill Murray is visiting Laura, an old flame: waiting in the living room he is surprised when the telephone rings and Laura’s daughter (Lolita – it’s a running joke that neither she nor her mother know the connotations of the name), played by Alexis Dziena, walks in to answer it; because she’s completely, unapologetically naked.

The presence of her mother’s ‘old friend’ is of absolutely no concern to her – she was chilling out in her birthday suit, the phone needed answering, so here she is. It’s a great little scene, in which actress Alexis Dziena is full-frontal naked with a nice bush, and it maintains a humorous tone thanks to Murray’s wry, worldly “just when I thought I’d seen everything” expression.

Christina Ricci in ‘Prozac Nation’ (2001)

Christina Ricci has done a variety of nude scenes in her career, but for me this one stands out because of the casual, matter-of-fact nature of her nakedness. She’s playing a character (author Elizabeth Wurtzel) who is depressed, and in a state of ennui. That state is emphasised by the fact that the weary gen-Xer can’t even be bothered to put her clothes on, and is just sitting around in the nude, lost in her thoughts. In comes her mother, to remind her that she needs to get ready for college registration – neither mother nor daughter is in any way embarrassed about the latter’s nudity (although her mother is annoyed that she isn’t ready to go) and their conversation is conducted without Ricci’s character feeling any need to cover herself; a great illustration of casual nudity with a deeper meaning.

Of course, she also has lovely breasts, and the hint of pubic hair between her legs is a nice bonus too.

Jennifer Connelly in ‘The Hot Spot (1990)

Jennifer Connelly, like Christina Ricci, is someone who started out as a child/teenage star and is now equally known for taking on edgy parts as an adult that include memorable (and sometimes shocking) nude scenes. This earlier effort is found in a middling 90s erotic thriller starring Don ‘Miami Vice’ Johnson. Connelly plays Gloria, a young woman who works at the car dealership where Johnson’s drifter Harry takes a job. As the film unfolds, Harry learns that Gloria is being blackmailed by a local criminal, Frank, who has nude photos of Gloria and her best friend (and maybe lover) Irene that he took while spying on the two girls skinny-dipping and sunbathing at a local swimming hole. We see the scene from Frank’s point of view, which makes it quite voyeuristic – but the two girls have no idea of his presence and are comfortably and casually tanning in the nude. Connelly reveals a great deal of herself in this scene, and it’s much more enjoyable to watch than the horrors of her most notorious role in the later Requiem for a Dream.

“You owe it to yourself to live a little, Harry” – 'Dirty Harry' (1971)

Thankfully this scene doesn’t involve casual nudity by Clint Eastwood! No, instead we get another of those little insights into why some of the other cops call Harry Callaghan “Dirty Harry” – it might be because he’s got a bit of a dirty mind. Harry is on a nocturnal rooftop stakeout, scanning with binoculars for signs of the sniper killer Scorpio, when he spots a pretty girl in her apartment window in her underwear. Urging himself wryly to “live a little,” he treats himself to a second look, and watches as the brunette strips completely nude – and then rushes to the door to welcome a couple of (fully-clothed) friends into her home. Are they about to have a threesome? Or is she just a free-spirited hippy nudist (this is San Francisco in the 70s, after all) who doesn’t feel the need to wear clothes even when she has company? We never find out, as the film snaps back to the action – indeed, the sole purpose of the scene is to show Harry getting distracted by with T&A so he misses a crucial sighting of Scorpio and has to go running off to track him down. But the girl is pretty and she is certainly casual about nudity, at least with her circle of friends.

'Captain Momo’s Secret Base' – Kenji Tsuruta

Moving away from films now. If you are reading any work by manga creator Kenji Tsuruta, you know you are going to encounter casual female nudity before long. Alongside cats, water, and lovingly-drawn pubic hair, beautiful pale girls chilling out and wandering around in the nude is something of a trademark for Tsuruta. The guy loves casually-nude women even more than me, maybe! In Captain Momo’s Secret Base, the title character is the only crew member (well, the only human crew member – she has, of course, a cat) of a vast cargo starship, and as she is completely alone on her space journey, she spends most of her time not wearing any clothes. Momo’s nudity aside, the book has no erotic content – indeed, her completely casual nudity isn’t erotic in the context of the story, she’s just making herself comfortable. But Tsuruta does draw her beautifully, and it’s hard not to feel a little pang of voyeuristic longing when you see her going about her daily tasks in her birthday suit without a care in the world. Tsuruta used a lot of the same elements (woman, isolation, cat, nudity) in an earlier work called La Pomme Prisonniere (a young woman lives with a cat in an isolated tower which is cut off from anywhere else by water – she doesn’t wear clothes), but Momo has more narrative focus.

'The Meek' – Der-shing Palmer

It’s been [x] days since I last waxed lyrical about Angora, the protagonist of one part of creator Der-shing Palmer’s (now, sadly, discontinued) epic fantasy webcomic The Meek – but she fits with any discussion of casual nudity. In case you’ve missed me raving about her, and The Meek generally, Angora is a green haired girl on a quest to do… something that will save the world, or at least the part of it she lives in. And, for reasons that the comic never got around to explaining, she’s completely naked, without seeing anything unusual or out-of-place in that. She roams around the forest in her birthday suit and interacts with people in a wholly innocent way – she’s entirely comfortable with herself. The Meek isn’t an erotic work and Angora’s nudity is more a display of her innocence, even naivety, but as a character she is definitely casual about her nakedness.

'Dressed in Tattoos' – Kara Bryn

Much like Angora, Dressed in Tattoos is one of the works I regularly champion when I’m talking about other creators’ depictions of nudity.

Dressed… a story in Bryn’s ‘Naked Women In Shorts’ collection has the main character, Rupa meeting a woman at a party – Natasha – who is both heavily tattooed and also not wearing any clothes. Through conversation she learns that Natasha is one of the roommates who lives at this particular house; that she simply prefers to be naked and that the people around her (friends, and friends-of-friends, as well as presumably a few who are strangers) simply accept that as normal.

There’s a sexual charge, an attraction, between the two women that stops the story from slipping into a simple “I met a nudist” tale, and this plays out as Rupa finds herself tempted towards her own display of casual nudity – but even on its own, the party scene is a thrilling one, with the naked girl standing out in a room full of clothed people who are, by and large, completely unphased by her nudity yet nonetheless implicitly othering her for it.

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That's just scratching the surface of good, enjoyable, and sexy scenes of casual female nudity. I could list many more, but I'm more interested in what other people have to say. Do you have a favourite scene of this type? Let me know!