Balanced perspective on nudity

I just got back from a week in Europe, where I spent most of my time in the Netherlands. While there I visited 3 different "thermen" These facilities require nudity for the use of the various saunas and pools, and they also provide extensive areas for nude sunbathing and socializing. They are fantastic places. A wide variety of different saunas and steam rooms, well thought out plunge pools, whirlpools and regular pools and relaxation areas. Very civilized too with restaurants and bars integrated into them.

These facilities are common. There must have been 10 within a 20 mile radius of where I was staying. It is not uncommon to spend the whole day at one of these facilities. What I found was that it was difficult to spend less than 3 hours. There just isn't enough time to go through the various cycles of heating up and cooling down in the various saunas.

A complete cross section of the local population visit these facilities - from teenagers and young adults to children with their parents through to octogenarians and people older than that. Couples, singles, roughly equal numbers of men and women. All different shapes and sizes. Lots of different pubic grooming patterns, even on the men.

People are friendly and easy to talk to. People are aware of other people's bodies, judging by the looks my circumcised penis generated (I think I saw only 1 other circumcised penis in all these facilities so it is obviously unusual), but they are matter of fact about it, and polite.

It would be great if DCHS was a bit more like this.