Amateur Nudist?

The existence of an amateur nudist implies the existence of a professional nudist.

A recent article by the Daily Mail described the chair of the UK’s Liaison Committee, Sir Bernard Jenkin, as an amateur nudist.

The article dealt with the questioning of the committee of the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. There was no other reference to Sir Bernard's clothes clothes-free practices, and some might argue nor should there be.

It seemed like it was a simple case of an attention-grabbing headline, trying to lure readers into clicking on the article to discover how Sir Bernard’s private clothing choices were relevant to his ability to carry out his duties as chair of the Liaison Committee.

To be fair, the Daily Mail is not held up as a bastion of reputable and hard-hitting journalism, and may not be the go-to publication for critical thinking or analysis.

While I was annoyed at the assertion that being a nudist would affect one's professional ability, my initial reaction appeared to be similar to that of many of the readers commenting in the article's feedback section.  If there is such a thing as an amateur nudist, how does one become a professional nudist?

Apart from being paid to take one's clothes off as part of a performance or as a life model, I am not sure of other avenues to monetise simple nudity.  I include both artistic and sexualised nudity under the term performance.  I am not sure that anyone really believes that most adult sexual content available on pay-per-view platforms is anything other than an extreme type of performing. I am also confident that there are not many people who would pay me to get naked and if I am honest, those who would pay are probably not the type of people I would be comfortable getting naked for.

As a heterosexual male, happy in a committed and stable relationship, it amazes me how many messages and comments I get from guys with a penchant for older, slightly overweight men.  I know everyone has their price, but I have yet to think of a number big enough that would entice me into the idea of getting jiggy with salivating daddy-bears.  That is not my scene.

I suppose that it could be argued that those who run a naturist facility such as a nudist park or naked accommodation could be defined as professional nudists, although it seems that they are being paid not for their own naturism, but rather for providing a space where others can enjoy naturism.  It is technically possible for a non-naturist to run such a business, and therefore could not be described as a professional nudist.  They may more accurately be described as someone profiting from the naturism of others.

There are of course a few people who have successfully monetised their naturism, and in a way that does not seem to compromise the ideals of the philosophy.  There are a handful of naturist bloggers who appear to have cracked the recipe for a social media presence that generates an income.   

I applaud these pioneers and am slightly jealous of their ability to get paid for their content.  While I feel that naturism should largely remain free from monetisation, I genuinely wish these naturist bloggers every success.  Their efforts seem effective at helping to legitimise naturism the world over.

Having said that I might be jealous of their being paid for naturist content, I am under no illusion that filming, editing and producing content is a full-time and often exhausting process.  In addition, getting people to pay for the content when there is so much available for free must be a constant worry when it is your primary source of income. The pressure to continually come up with fresh, new, and interesting content must be demanding.

My personal philosophy around my naturism is more about relaxing and living stress-free rather than adding stress to my life.  My naturism has always been and always will be, amateur.

Returning to the original article that prompted this entry, one wonders what the mainstream media think are the opportunities to derive an income from being a nudist.  Why was there a need to label Sir Bernard as an amateur nudist?  Out of the many millions of nudists in the world surely the number of professional nudists can be counted on one hand if you work in a sawmill.

With only a few exceptions, I would argue that nudists are amateur by default.  The word amateur seemed superfluous in the headline and added nothing to it.  Had they simply labelled Sir Bernard as a nudist, I wager just as many people would have clicked on the article.

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed.”  -Mark Twain

Thank you for reading.  Have a comfortable day.

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Next Week:

What is a Naturist?

And what is it all about?

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Links:

Amateur nudist, Sir Bernard Jenkin