Work Text:
I sat at my computer, looking at what I had typed out: “Nudist Resorts, Good Clean Fun or Inappropriate? An Essay by Rose Kanahele”.
I blew a lock of my hair from my face as stared at the title, the only thing I had written down. It was a hard assignment not because I didn’t know the subject; I already compiled a bunch of notes for it. No, it was hard because I had zero interest in the subject. I didn’t even pick the damn thing.
For one of my social sciences classes at college, we had to pick a controversial lifestyle and argue for or against it. Unfortunately, I was out sick when they were handing out the first prompts and when I finally came back to class, the only prompt left was “Should we have nudist resorts?” I’ve been dragging my feet on the assignment since then.
I was slowly typing my intro thesis when I heard arguing in the next room over thanks to my open door. No doubt it was my younger sister and mom going back and forth over some of my sister’s weirder habits. I rolled my eyes and tried focusing on my paper; mom means well, but she can be so uptight when it comes to what her daughters are doing something she thinks can be harmful. She still gives me crap over getting a tattoo on my arm. As with most of our arguments with mom, the talking stopped, and my mom came trudging out from my sister’s room.
“Have a good pep talk?” I called out from my desk sarcastically.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with her; Kayla was hanging around her room naked again. Claims she was just air drying!” mom replied in exasperated tone, “She has to stop that bad habit of hers. What if some creeper was watching her from the window? Or if she caught pneumonia from walking around naked after a shower? She needs to think about these kinds of things before she gets hurt!”
She walked away, muttering to herself as she usually did when she was in full worrywart mom mode. A minute later, my sister, Kayla, popped into my doorway, now dressed in pajamas.
“You know, it would be a good idea if you actually locked your door once in a while,” I told her.
“I don’t get what mom is arguing about. I’m not hurting anyone and it’s not like anyone can see us at home. She’s worried over nothing as usual,” Kayla pouted. “Plus, I was actually air drying this time!”
“Wow, you got some strong opinions about being naked. Maybe you should write my paper for me,” I teased.
She walked over to where I was sitting, a curious look on her face.
“Are you writing about people taking baths?” Kayla asked flatly.
I turned my direction towards the computer screen and responded, “Well…not exactly. I’m doing a report on these people called nudists.”
She looked at me with sudden curiosity. “What’s a nudist?”
I paused for a minute to think over her question; how exactly do I explain what a nudist is to the average person not in the know?
“Um, well…basically a nudist is someone who likes to go around naked. But not for anything nasty; they like to go nude for reasons like health and getting in tune with nature and all that…”
Despite absolutely fumbling that explanation, Kayla seemed to understand what I was saying. Seeing as I had an audience now, I decided to pull up the notes I had saved on my computer to help me explain better.
“Okay here we go; nudists are also called naturists as being around nature is a key point in their philosophy. Nudists advocate for innocent nudity, showing there’s nothing inherently nasty about the human body. For example, there’s nothing dirty about taking your clothes to take a shower is there?”
“That’s a good point…” Kayla said, looking more thoughtful. “If you think about it like that…what’s so different with hanging around your room with or without clothes?”
“Good observation Kayla,” I replied, “One thing that nudists often say is how anything you can do in clothes, you can do in the nude, like swimming or playing sports.”
“Wow…anything in the nude?” gasped my younger sister, clearly thinking about the possibilities.
She then grimaced a little. “Cooking while naked doesn’t seem all that fun…”
That got a laugh out of me. Yeah, I guess just because everything CAN be done in the nude, doesn’t mean you HAVE to do it. Definitely something to consider in the arguments for class.
I glanced over my notes and said, “You know what is fun though? Sharing nudism with friends; naturism has such a strong social element that people build entire resorts just so they can hang around and do stuff with each other while naked.”
“Whole resorts? Like the ones we go to in Orlando…but naked!?” Kayla’s jaw dropped in surprise, having a bit of a tough time processing that. “Is there anything like that here in Hawaii!?”
I was taken aback by her sudden interest spiking up like that and starting thinking back to what I researched. “Um, well, I don’t know if there are any here…but speaking of Orlando, I know Florida is one the mainland states that has a lot of resorts. Oh, there’s a lot of resorts in Europe too.”
Kayla simply had a starstruck expression on her face, her brain absorbing everything I told her. It was a bit funny, not going to lie, but a part of me was glad I was able to teach her something about such an admittedly weird subject.
“Anything else you wanted to know Kayla?”
She snapped out of her daze and shook her head, a smile on her face.
“I heard a lot already. Thanks Rosie!”
She then turned to leave my room, a little bit of a hop in her step. I smiled and turned my attention, ready to type up the rest of my report. I knew just how to approach this paper.
The next day I walked to the front door of my family home, grinning ear to ear. My teacher was impressed by the work I did for the essay, meaning I secured my A on a controversial subject. Nothing could have brought me down.
So, you could imagine the emotional whiplash I felt when I walked through my front door and saw my mother and Kayla arguing with each other, with my younger sister completely naked!
“You are getting dressed this instant young lady! I will not have you running around naked in my house!” my mom stated through gritted teeth.
“What’s the big deal? It’s not like I’m hurting anyone!” my sister shot back, arms crossed against her bare chest.
Not wasting another second, I swooped in and got between them, halting the argument for a moment.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” I asked exasperatedly, still frazzled from this really weird scene.
“Kayla decided that she wants to parade the house in the nude!” shouted my mother, putting extra emphasis on those last three words. “That goes beyond indecent!”
“It’s not “indecent”, it’s nudism and there’s nothing to be ashamed of! Rose told me all about it,” Kayla argued.
That got my mom’s attention. Now focused on me, mother dearest narrowed her eyes at me and almost growled her next words, “Is this true Roselani? Did you tell your sister to walk around naked?”
In hindsight, I should have expected for this to come back and bite me in the butt. Thankfully I just came back from arguing this for a college class, so I had a bit of confidence I could make a case here.
“It’s like I told Kayla; I was studying nudism as a topic for one of my classes. It’s a non-sexual lifestyle that promotes a positive self-image of your body, something that’s very important for people Kayla’s age might I add.”
My mother bristled at this. “You’re telling that there’s nothing sexual about walking around naked!?”
“Is there anything sexual about going into the shower naked?” I retorted.
“That’s different Rose! She’s walking around the whole house like this!”
“And what’s so sexual about your daughter just walking around and doing nothing else?”
Mom opened your mouth to speak and couldn’t come up with a response. It was clear that I got her there. Seeing how she couldn’t argue what I said, she shifted gears, “What if someone sees her? I don’t want perverts peeping on my daughter or to people to start gossiping!”
I was able to smoothly counter with, “Nudism can be practiced completely indoors without anyone finding out. Just make sure the curtains are closed at all times, restrict her nudism to just inside the house, and no one is the wiser. Simple as that.”
My mom was silent, trying to gather her thoughts for another argument. Seeing this as my chance, I went in for the kill. “Mom, think of it this way; if it’s just a phase she’s going through, she can get out of her system faster and probably go back to wearing clothes. But if you keep forcing the decision on her you’ll just end up with a rebellious nudist.”
I pointed to the hibiscus tattoo on my arm and said, “Remember how much you forbade me from getting a tattoo and I got it anyways?”
I had her on the ropes at this point. There wasn’t any point of arguing this anymore; I had used the skills I picked up in college to actually win against my mother. The tuition was worth every penny.
Exhausted, my mother worked up the energy for her next sentence, “If I let Kayla do this…nudist thing…there’s going to be a few rules she has to absolutely follow.”
I turned the floor to Kayla who was giddy with excitement. “Y-Yes, please, anything you want!”
Mom took a deep breath and stated her conditions, “Like your sister said, you can only be naked inside the house and only once you’ve made sure all the curtains are closed and no one can see you.”
“Got it mom!”
“When we have company over, you have to be in your Sunday’s best. You may get undressed when they leave but until then it’s clothing time.”
“Yes of course!”
“And when you sit down, please, please, please make sure you set down a towel first. If you’re going to be nude, at least be hygienic.”
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that…but yes, I promise to remember that!”
Satisfied that she and Kayla understood each other, mom walked out of the living room muttering, “This is going to be a lot to explain to your father when he gets home.”
Once our mother was out of sight, Kayla wrapped her arms around me for a tight hug. “Thanks for the save Rosie!”
“And thank you for helping me with my paper,” I said, hugging her right back. “Consider this a lesson in paying it forward.”
Later that night, when our parents stepped out for the evening, Kayla and I decided to have a movie night in the living room. I was setting up Netflix and looking for a movie when my younger sister brought a large bowl of popcorn, fit for two people.
She set the bowl down and was about to sit when I spoke up: “Uh, what did you promise mom?”
Kayla gave me confused look before realizing what she forgot and ran out of the living room to grab a towel. Cut her some slack, it was her first day as an official nudist: she needed a reminder here and there.
Once she got what she needed and set it down on the couch, we both took our seats and started the movie. The rest of the night was a mix of chill and fun; when we weren’t laughing and making comments about the movie, we were poking fun at each other and having popcorn fights. And in all that time, my sister being nude never once felt awkward or off-putting. If anything, I felt us grow a little closer after everything that happened today.
Who knew this was all possible thanks to a boring old school paper?