Difference between nudism and exhibitionism?

Nudists are people who have realized that the culture has unnaturally and harmfully conditioned them into being ashamed and offended to be what they are, and have chosen to resist. We believe that to have to be covered to avoid the sight of our own species is perverted, wrong, and harmful to how people think of themselves and others. Often to our initial surprise, we have found that people are naturally, quickly, and quite easily comfortable being around each other without having to be covered. We see ourselves as being what everyone would be, and used to be, before the conditioning created the perversion. Or the perverted view of what we are, created the conditioning.

Exhibitions, on the other hand, have some weird sexual need to deliberately offend or shock people as an outlet of their sexual expression. What they do is selfish, anti-social, and sexually perverse. Good nudists have no interest in offending anyone. The two have nothing in common other than being naked... for different reasons, in different situations, with entirely different results.

Exhibitionism has an element of thrill or shock in it (like streaking, mooning, or flashing), and many exhibitionists derive sexual pleasure from exposing themselves to others. However, much like other ordinary people, the person (exhibitionist) normally doesn't walk around naked.

For a nudist (naturist), nakedness is a lifestyle that has its own culture, like sports associations and conventions. It's not a fetish, and the person, given the choice, would want to freely walk around in the nude because that's just what the prefer. They're essentially naked hippies.

To make a long story short, nudism and exhibitionism have different psychological roots and different intents. Those are the basic differences.

It simple terms, a nudist is a person who enjoys being naked alone, or with others, primarily to enjoy the freedom and natural feeling of being without clothes while doing everyday things like swimming, hiking, other social activities. An exhibitionist is a person who enjoys being naked in front of others because they derive a satisfaction by having others see them naked. There can be overlap, a nudist can be a bit of an exhibitionist and vice versa, but I think the deciding factor is based on the primary motivation as described above.

There ARE just a few people. There IS only one person. Let me explain something: rules against being nude on public (or private) beaches DO NOT APPLY on nudist beaches. That's why they're called "nudist" beaches. It's okay to go naked on a nude beach because that is what is expected and accepted. It's not weird that being nudist is permitted; if a group of people buy or lease an area and all parties who are members of the nudist or 'naturist' club agree to abide by certain rules of behavior while nude (ie, no staring at genitals, no sex, etc), then what you have is a private nudist club. Not my cup of tea -- sunburn and mosquitoes would put me off, aside from the issue of privacy -- but if people want to walk around with their bits hanging out, it's no skin off me. Underwear is often made of more sheer fabric than swimsuits, but with some suits, there really is no difference. And yes, some underwear DOES afford more coverage than some swimsuits. Welcome to the wonderful world of human illogic.

Nudist Exhibitionists

Nudists seem to just want to be free of clothes whereas exhibitionists want to make a statement of sorts.