Please read this article and the following comments before reading our response. The writer is one of our favorites and often brings up interesting subjects. We don’t always agree, but there’s room for all of us!
Our response to ‘Earl’s (https://clothesfreelife.com/) comment:
Spot on, Earl! Our concerns about the overuse of nude pics stem from the public image presented, especially to newcomers. Photos without context are indistinguishable from nude galleries unrelated to naturism. In fact, many of those shared pics either originate from or gravitate to websites that exploit nudity, period.
I wrote a longer response to this, but it got waaaaay too long! So you’ll have to go to our website to see it, and this article.
‘Real’ nudists/naturists don’t see those pics in the same way, and that’s great. But relatively few nudists (out of millions) peruse the internet looking for nude pics of ‘naturists’ either. Why would they? As Jillian says, we don’t particularly notice bodies, so why would we seek them out simply to view online?
It’s a dicey issue in our community and since most nudists/naturists don’t use the internet to look at nudes, but rather for information, photos, as in any other journalistic genre, should be as illustrative of the content, not the focus of it.
As to those who feel a compulsion to post nude pics of themselves, that’s fine. But that, in and of itself, does not promote or do anything positive for social nudism. Is that exibitionism? Are clothed selfies exibitionism? Does it matter?
All-Nudist has always kept the newbie/interested in mind, and we strive to see things from their point of view. After all these years, that gets harder to do and I think many folks forget who we appear to the outside world.
When someone finds a ‘naturist’ site and it’s all naked photos, or they run across nude selfies, how do THEY see it? That’s our concern, not frontal (or not) nudity per se. It’s how this introduction to social nudism affects interested persons, and what it leads them to expect.
In that regard, we can be quite intolerant and critical of those who, perhaps inadvertently, betray the basic concepts of social nudism in favor of nude pice which boost ratings.
That was our website’s intent and main concern: Giving newbies a place to find an honest, realistic benchmark to work from, and links to others. Our original desire was to provide an option to the nudie galleries and garbage sites purporting to be ‘nudist’ or ‘naturist’.
So when we occasionally make a comment about “Bob the Naturist’s” daily nude selfie, it’s along those lines. When a site emphasizes those photos, we have to ask what do those pics accomplish other than show us “Bob”?
All of this is, of course, OUR opinion. We have made it clear from the start that our viewpoint of social nudism is OURS, based on what we have experienced personally and learned from folks worldwide.
While not all agree with this, it cannot be ignored that All-Nudist has been endorsed by nearly every legitimate nudist/naturist organization in the world, does NOT attract those looking for naked women, and still managed to be ranked #1 in the world in our category. Over four million visitors.
That’s not bragging: That’s a very positive indication that we have got it pretty much right, and a lot of folks appreciate that. REAL people and not those looking for naked women.
The problem with nudists displaying themselves isn’t in the intention, or that some nudists that appreciate that; it lies in the perception of social nudism, and that’s what generates some discomfort with a plethora of nude photos unrelated to text articles about the lifestyle.
This self-indulgent exposure of ourselves may be simply part of the general social condition where folks now seem to think that everyone wants to see their selfies and FB postings letting us know that they’re at Target right now. Could be.
Angie and I are kinda old now, and our attitudes can reflect that. But the basic ideals of social nudism remain the same, and exposing ourselves for no other reason other than “Look at me!” has no place within the nudist/naturist philosophy.
As previously said, it’s not an easy question and many opinions are valid. Ours is quite simple: Use nudity in images to demonstrate something or as illustrations of something worthwhile. Otherwise, there is no other reason in the world for me to show you my dick. If you’re a nudist, you don’t care. If you’re not, masturbation to ‘nudist’ pics is NOT what we want to promote as mainstream social nudism.
If it pleases you to share your naked body with the world, that’s fine. Just please don’t contribute to other negative views of us by implying that we think looking at naked people is the big thing. It’s not. Any more than we care care that you’re enjoying coffee at Starbucks right now. Save all that for your friends, please?
And Jillian, we’ve been with you from the start and always supported you. If All-Nudist is the unnamed Twitter follower you mentioned, and if we unfollowed you it was because we have a very busy yet limited newsfeed and only follow those who regularly offer items of interest to mainstream nudists. You’ve become much more political lately and quite frankly, we get enough of that elsewhere. Nothing personal there, just a matter of what we’re interested in. Fair ’nuff? Still follow on WP and repost relevant articles!
Filed under: Blogs, clothes free, First Time, Political/Social | 3 Comments »
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