jumbo747jet: Hi all.
I have never visited the US, so can't comment what the nude beaches are like there, but the beaches I have visited in Europe and in Australia are nothing like what some of you have described.
Most people who go to nude beaches are very relaxed about being naked and have left whatever insecurities they may have had about their bodies at home. It is not the "body beautiful" people that go to nude beaches but people of every shape and size.
Personally I would say that people at some "regular" beaches can be a lot more judgemental about how people look.
At most European nude beaches, there's a very accepting and relaxed atmosphere, which might explain why it is only at a nude beach where I have seen women who have had a mastectomy totally at ease enjoying the sunshine.
Yes, people at nude beaches look, but with the accepting and relaxed atmosphere, that's as far as it goes.
I'd be the last to deny that a nude beach is a great place to show yourself off a little but anyone going to a nude beach for the first time, expecting some kind of sexual haven, will be terribly disappointed.
For those of you who haven't yet experienced the feeling of being nude at the beach - give it a go. Chances are that you'll be very pleasantly surprised.
Cheers