Nudism Researcher Dies at 87

Noted sex therapist and researcher Marilyn Fithian has died at age 87 in Long Beach, California.

Her master's thesis was based on research about nudism that she conducted with (William E.) Hartman, who had been one of her professors at Long Beach. They interviewed 2,600 people at 150 nudist camps around the country over eight years and in 1970 published their survey, "Nudist Society," which found that those who chose clothing-free environments were generally well-educated and married.As she told Robert A. Georges and Michael Owen Jones in their book "People Studying People," she reluctantly disrobed before interviewing nudists and was immediately identified as a "cottontail," or non-nudist, because of telltale tan lines.

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