I just had a thought. Nudists often ask the question, "how do I practice nudism on my own property, without upsetting the neighbors?" Privacy screens are often the best solution, but sometimes other nudists wonder, "why not just ask your neighbors if they mind?" But the problem with this solution (other than the possibility that they will not be so obliging), is this: I currently have a relatively private yard that I enjoy lounging (and recreating) naked in. But there are times when even I cannot do so - namely, when we have non-nudist-friendly guests over.
(There's this impression that nudists never seem to intermingle with less-than-fully-tolerant populations - e.g., nudists who boast that they don't even own swimsuits, and insist that a nudist should never have tan lines - but there are virtually no nudists in my regular family and friend group, and only very few that are comfortable with me being nude around them, and I'm not just going to cut off relations with these people because they insist on me wearing clothes).
So, the thing is, I don't even always know very well ahead of time when we're going to have guests over (obviously not during the pandemic, but under normal circumstances I mean). Can you even imagine having to stay up to date on your neighbors' visitation schedules? How do you know it's safe to go out and lounge in the shade for an hour, and that your neighbor's not going to have someone over in half an hour to show off their new deck? How does your neighbor know you're going to decide to do some naked gardening in the afternoon, and that he shouldn't invite his conservative parents over for a cookout?
It'd be all well and good if we lived in a more tolerant society, where people could more easily overlook the fact that somebody might be nude on their own property, instead of this hyper-anxious, litigious mindset - and any situation in which you think most people would behave reasonably can easily be turned upside-down by adding some hypothetical children into the mix. Whether the charge sticks or not, the last thing you want to do when you're just trying to relax and enjoy the weather is explain to a cop how you're not actually a depraved pervert who likes to expose himself to kids.
Besides, you might have some golden ideal of neighborly brotherhood in your head, in which neighbors look out for one another, sharing household tools and the like. But not everyone wants to live like that. I always strive to be amicable toward strangers, but I am not a social butterfly (in spite of my enjoyment of social nudism). And my home is my sanctuary. It's where I go (or stay) to get away from people. It's the last place I want to have someone strike up a conversation with me when I'm minding my own business. I'm a firm believer in the adage "good fences make good neighbors", and it seems to me that the taller they are, the better.
