Naked Houses

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, organized nudism emerged as a collective social practice of predominantly white, middle-class Americans intent on pursuing alternative paths to health and well-being while shedding the poisonous sexual and cultural hang-ups of mainstream society. After World War II, nudism became more of a family concern and was increasingly practiced indoors with nudists modifying their homes to accommodate their alternative lifestyle. This article traces the history of nudism in American suburbs and the world nudists created in their homes and in the pages of nudist magazines, the one public outlet for their experience. I argue that the existence of suburban nudism forces a reconsideration of suburban conservatism while acknowledging how neatly alternative lifestyles could fit into a postwar domestic ideology of atomized family life and consumer capitalism.