When AANR President Linda Weber asked me to write one of the Across-the-Board Bulletin articles in my capacity as AANR-Southwest Region president, I chose the August issue with its theme of Celebrating Nudist History. I’ve always loved history. I minored in it in college. Having visited a nudist resort for the first time 40 years ago, I also figured that I had witnessed, or at least been around for, quite a bit of that history.
On my last visit to the American Nudist Research Library at Cypress Cove, I pulled out a couple of the bound editions of The Bulletin from 1985 through 1986. I remember receiving those original issues in the mail as a young man, black and white and printed on non-durable newsprint paper. I wasn’t researching or looking for anything in particular; I just wanted to see copies of those issues that I had received and read back then. The articles and the advertisements, many for clubs that no longer exist, brought back a lot of memories.
I was an 18-year-old associate member of the Ponderosa Ranch, a nudist resort east of Dallas that was later renamed B.B.’s Hideaway before eventually closing. This means that I had an American Sunbathing Association (which later became AANR) membership but not a full membership to the Ponderosa. One of the things I remember attending in the mid-1980s was the Ms. Nude Teen Texas pageant. The Ponderosa had other pageants, of course, like the big Mr. and Ms. Nude Texas, but the only one I personally witnessed was Ms. Nude Teen.
The pageants, celebrating one body over others, now seem antithetical to the current idea of body acceptance and body positivity although they were seen at the time as an extension of health and fitness. It is difficult to imagine a current AANR-affiliated club holding one of these pageants today, but they did happen in years past. As we struggle with attracting new and younger members to our ranks, it is essential that we look back with honesty and integrity at our past. AANR wants new members, yes, but for the right reasons. We can acknowledge our history without necessarily celebrating it. Yes, we used to hold beauty pageants, but we don’t anymore.
Dan Hawkins
AANR-Southwest President
