The beach is the only place where complete strangers exist in comfort in either a semi-naked or naked state with others

In most other environments this behaviour would be seen as strange but on a beach this is accepted as the norm

We are attracted by sand which in essence is ground down debris and the sea and the breezes to be found in coastal regions

What are you writing Tush?

Nothing in particular

Just about beaches

Martha was walking around the apartment naked as she always did in the mornings

She was a very large woman who was not far from twenty stone in weight

But she did not care

Neither did Tush who was wearing a tee shirt and jeans

The difference between the friends was quite startling

Tush was slim and quite boyish and had cropped her hair which added to the androgynous image she welcomed

Martha was the complete opposite

The apartment they shared was not far from the beach

Quite often the friends visited the beach

But here was the difference

Whereas Martha thought nothing of undressing completely Tush would sit in the shadows of the trees wearing her jeans and a tee shirt

Even on the hottest of days

I first thought that this reticence was due to shyness but her behaviours when in the apartment did not indicate shyness or a lack of confidence

She thought nothing of nudity

We are all the same just flesh and hair

Shyness is a wasted emotion

If it is an emotion at all

She was writing a short story which she had called Naked

Living so close to the sea gave her plenty of opportunity to observe beach behaviours

Which she recorded in her small notebook

Her relationship with Martha whilst not sexual was very close but certain things remained unsaid

Martha was a little confused by her friend who whilst quite liberal in her attitude to nudity refused to undress on the beach

Was she doing this for her friend?

But her size had never bothered Martha

It was a problem for other people

She was aware that people sometimes looked at her with disgust

But she had always been fat

Quite often she would encourage Tush to swim naked

But her friend always refused

Indeed the friends used to sunbathe together on the flat roof of the apartments and if they were interrupted Tush showed no signs of embarrassment

It did not bother Martha but she was intrigued

During the first week of each month Tush would visit her parents who lived about three hours away

Sometimes she would return on the same day but she usually stayed with her family

Her friend had been gone for a few hours

Martha looked at Tush’s laptop which she had left open on the dining table

She knew her friends password

Should I read her beach story?

Would she be cross with me if she found out?

I value our friendship

But Martha’s curiosity won

She opened the file and read extracts

The beach is the only place where complete strangers exist in comfort in either a semi-naked or naked state with others

In most other environments this behaviour would be seen as strange but on a beach this is accepted as the norm

We are attracted by sand which in essence is ground down debris and the sea and the breezes to be found in coastal regions

If the postman comes and I am in the shower then I will cover myself with a towel if I answer the door to him

Whereas if I am naked on the beach I would make no effort to cover myself if I met him there

Why?

Even in a hot country such as Spain with its liberal attitudes behaviours such as this are normal

Why?

Even where the church is strong

Why?

But the patterns are there and easily seen

Woman who think themselves as attractive tend to display themselves such as peacocks would

Whereas the plainer or larger women tend not to undress as much as they are ashamed of their bodies.

This said this is a generalisation

I have a friend who is rather large and she always undresses on the local beaches

She is comfortable with her body and does not listen to criticism if it arrives

This is where my experiment comes in

I quite often visit a clothes optional  beach with my friend

There are normally a number of men on this beach

I am an attractive if a somewhat androgynous woman

I have cropped my hair to sustain this image

But I am dark as my father as Maltese

My skin is olive

I am desirable

And men find me attractive

But this is where I challenge these men

When I arrive at the beach with my friend she undresses quite quickly and goes for a swim

My friend does not conform to their ideal of beauty as she is large

These men are disappointed at her appearance

They are waiting for me to undress

I am an attractive girl

They expect me to undress

But I do not

I wear what I was wearing on the street that day

Jeans and a tee shirt or jeans and a vest

I have challenged them

I feel their disappointment

Soon I am ignored when another attractive woman comes in to view

Some question my sexuality

I know this

I am liberated and would think nothing of removing my clothes on the beach

But this would ruin the experiment

A few weeks ago my friend and I were interrupted when we were sunbathing naked on the flat roof of our apartment block

The caretaker did not know that we were there and had come up on to the roof to repair some cabling

He showed signs of extreme embarrassment as he had not expected to find us there

But we were in his environment

He made his excuses and left as if he was the invader

But this very same caretaker uses the town beach with his family

I often go topless on the town beach with other friends and the caretaker quite happily will wish us the time of day a chat for a while

Quite why the man was so shocked on that roof is open to question

With the exception of a small amount of body hair my appearance was the same as on the town beach (The caretaker does not use the clothes optional beach)

The answer is ——————————————-

Tush had stopped there

Martha looked into some of the other files but there were no further additions

But she had an answer to her question

It was all an experiment

Tush was attractive and she was expected to undress on the clothes optional beach

But she did not

Martha knew that she was fat and men considered her unattractive

A lot of the larger women on the beaches that surrounded the town remained dressed or semi-dressed

That was accepted

She challenged this

But did not do so deliberately

She preferred the freedom

It was not an experiment

It was all about freedom

A week later Tush and Martha went to the beach

But Martha did not undress

Her friend questioned her decision as it was unusual

Martha noted that she had read the short story

Upon hearing this Tush undressed fully and remained naked for the rest of the day

Martha remained clothed

The following day they switched roles

Martha undressed

Tush remained clothed

They did this for six weeks

They would have continued for many more weeks but the weather became cooler and the beach became less attractive

There were fewer people on the beach

The experiment was concluded

In the December of that year Tush published her story online