On a warm afternoon Stephanie Cooke in front of a call Bible. She takes the church you next day. As the heat up, she'll -win's only protective sun - she isn't wear
On a warm afternoon in September, Stephanie Cook sits at a picnic table in front of a cane shake, absorbed in her Bible. She takes notes in preparation for the church your class she'll teach the next day. As the afternoon continues to heat up, she'll use-apply sunscreen, her skin's only protection against the warm sun - she isn't wearing any clothes.
In fact, no one at Lake Edun (appropriately, "nude" spelled backwards) wears clothes. Established in 1982, the 60-acre site southwest of Topeka is a refuge for naturists, a European term that means the same as nudists. "Naturism" is the preferred term of most nudist organizations because it's a little more discreet, says Nicky Hoffman Of The Naturist Society, a national association of naturist clubs across the country.
Contrary to stereotypes, Stephanie and her husband Ernie, a mechanical contractors from Lenexa, don't look like aging hippies resembling Dharma's parents
from Dharma and Greg. Outside of Lake Edun, the gray-haired, church-going couple is respectably dressed — like they could be your parents. In fact they are parents. The Coopers have eight children, aged 18 to 31. With all but one child out of the house, Ernie, president of the Lake Edun Foundation, enjoys living out his naturist lifestyle at home. He sleeps nude, wakes up to feed the cats and dog in the nude and only puts on clothes when it's time to leave for work. When he gets home, he showers and doesn't dress again. "I'd walk out to my mailbox nude and get the paper if I wasn't afraid the neighbors would call the police," Ernie says.
The Coopers first visited Lake Edun in 2002 after Ernie learned about naturism on the Internet. Ernie says he was concerned about one of his son's problems with pornography
and had been researching ways to help him when he came across the topic of naturism. He says the idea of nudity as
healthy and positive struck him as odd. He continued to read about naturism and e-mailed several naturists across the country. One was Jim Cunningham from Newport, Vt., who soon became a good friend and a mentor to Ernie. Even with Cunningham's encouragement, Ernie was still a bit skeptical. "I finally asked him,'How do you deal with those naughty parts?'" Ernie says. "And he said, 'Who told you those parts were naughty?'"
side nudist activities as a contrast to the rapid urbanization and industrialization of society. The pamphlet asserts that they
Naturism has a long history. After all, the ancient Greeks are known to have competed in the nude during the first Olympics. In more recent times, according to a Naturist Society pamphlet, Germans during the early 1900s enjoyed out-
They said it...
Quotes about Naturism according to the International Naturist Society, www.clothesfree.com:
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed?" — Michaelangelo
Quoting the book of Genesis,
"They were nude but they were not
ashamed." Furthermore, because
God created it, "The human body
can remain nude and uncovered and
preserve its splendor and its beauty"
— Pope John Paul II
"Nudity is undignified and an error of taste." — Adolf Hitler
believed being nude put them closer to nature. Lee Baxandall, founder of The Naturist Society, helped to develop naturism in the United States during the 1970s. However, the U.S. seems to have been slower at accepting nudity as a virtuous practice than Europe, where today nudity is not thought to be shameful or sinful.
Sex and naturism
Overcoming society's misconceptions about naturism is a challenge, Ernie
Cooper says. Of the 75 to 100 members at Lake Edun, the median age is 54. Ernie attributes the absence of younger people to a lack of education and understanding about naturism.
Sai and I "KU
herse again strive
she h vado visit woul free s
Ern ist ca
"Sex mous
show man
that."
Hot calls they a nular be thinks ing su ne w use centeu looks says. says.