Politics and Nudity

How Being Naked Can Make You a Better Citizen, a Worse House Guest, and the Most Popular Girl at the Protest!

De: Kristin Williams

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Hi, I’m Kristin, and I vote naked.

I also cook naked, garden naked, do yoga naked, have long-winded political rants naked, and once accidentally joined a Zoom school board meeting while entirely in my birthday suit. (They’ve since updated their policies. You’re welcome, Snohomish County.) If you’re clutching your pearls already, loosen your grip, darling. We’re gonna be here a while.

Let me clear something up right away. Being a nudist isn’t about sex. Well, okay, sometimes it is. But mostly it’s about comfort, confidence, and the pure chaotic thrill of doing normal adult things like arguing about property taxes while your boobs are swinging freely like patriotic little pendulums of civic engagement. You haven’t truly experienced democracy until you’ve filled out a voter registration form with nothing between you and the upholstery but raw ambition.

I’m 38, suburban, and yes, I shave my legs in the summer but let them run wild in the winter like the majestic Pacific Northwest lady Sasquatch I was always meant to be. I’ve got a little house outside Seattle where the moss is thick, the coffee is strong, and the HOA has stopped trying to fine me for sunbathing topless because frankly, they’re exhausted. Good. They should be. I’ve got a towel and I’ve got rights.

This book isn’t going to bore you with dry political science. No, ma’am. This is the story of how being naked made me pay attention to the world. Something about having your skin completely exposed makes you start noticing things, like how many laws are just one uncomfortable breeze away from ruining your day. When your butt's on the line, suddenly zoning ordinances matter a whole lot more.

We’re going to talk about nudity and politics, sure. But we’re also going to talk about nudity and life. Like how I accidentally mooned a campaign fundraiser. Or the time my best friend Tanya yelled at me mid-argument about city planning while completely nude, and then tackled me into a kiddie pool filled with Jell-O because she thought I was being “elitist about infrastructure.” She wasn’t wrong. My Jell-O rash disagrees.

You’ll meet a few of my friends—some nudists, some nudist-curious, and one or two who are just here for the snacks. You’ll hear stories that might make you laugh, cringe, or question your own relationship with pants. You’ll also, hopefully, learn a few things about how politics and nudity intersect in hilarious, weird, and actually kind of important ways.

So strip down, grab a snack, and get ready to dive crotch-first into the tangled, ridiculous, liberating world of naked citizenship. We’re not just baring it all for fun. Okay, yes we are. But also for freedom.