This is really a long standing issue, well over a decade old. I haven’t seen any dramatic change over the last 15 years. I think so long as nudity remains socially taboo, another 15 years probably won’t see much change either.
In terms of the factions and divisions, that’s definitely not unique to naturism/nudism. I love the term “like minded people” because realistically such a thing just doesn’t exist. People often focus on differences rather than similarities and generally speaking, aren’t willing to find satisfactory common ground.
I think the most common denominator throughout is that naturism is arguably over represented by aging males. As an aging male myself I feel that really sucks.
Realistically though, we’re the most likely demographic to have the freedom and the means for naked skylarking.
I’m not sure how long it will take for the stigma associated with nudity to lift. I’m fairly certain it will take a newer younger generation who just don’t give a hoot to turn the tide. It happened once in the sixties. Chances are it will happen again.
It almost certainly won’t happen through the old paradigms that have been in place to date.
I have been trying to narrow down the focus of your article/post. Clearly, you want to advocate the merits of naturism, with a resultant increase in the number of naturists. You then say that there is a problem, with the naturist community becoming increasingly fragmented, assuming it was once cohesive. Then you argue that naturist sites have content that is confrontational to a textile.
The primary thing that might potentially upsets a textile is the appearance of genitals in naturist imagery. Some sites manage to avoid this controversy using the devise of somehow obscuring genitals in photos, say a convenient flower pot that happens to be in the way. This contradicts the the reality of naturism, being the freedom to be visibly naked wholly not partially.
Füde is interesting where it alludes to the aesthetics of nudity and art. More particularly in respect of the recent exploration of naked dining and naked art gallery visits. However, in the end, the problem remains with the power of prudes in dictating morality. For instance, we are daily confronted with the saga of Trump in court, an evidently corrupt self-serving rapist, who is hypocritically backed by the conservative section of the American electorate. Surely, Trump is the emperor without clothes, betraying the inadequacy of the political system, in the same vein as Epstein and Prince Andrew.
Therein lies the lie about blatancy and confrontation.
In the Fediverse I belong to several instances in which naturists/nudists post. Those posts are a miniscule number compared to those instances' total posts. Very rarely do those N/N posts get a "favorite", "comment" or "boost". We N/N posters are little islands onto ourselves. Also I have lost or been muted by many followers once they find out I am posting N/N content.
There is only one instance that I am aware of that is created for the participation of N/N folks. That instance is quite small and is really mostly general content.
If you, or anyone else, knows of any Fediverse instances consisting of more that a handful of members and expressly created for the promotion and support of N/N, I would like to know about them.
There are lots of sites that allow nude postings and other content by N/N members but most of those sites are not what I would label as "quality" in nature. They have lots of content that violates the spirit of the N/N community. I'll use MeWe as a good example. Lots of N/N groups but none that enforce the posting of only N/N content. Pretty soon these groups become overwhelmed with dick pix.
Same with Reddit, Discord and the new Tumblr though Tumblr does an excellent job of filtering out porn. I mostly put the failure of those sites and groups with their owners and moderators. It requires active and serious moderators to police these places.
Please name me just one site or instance that contains moderated N/N content.
It's very disheartening that we N/N folks can't have just one place where rules and policies are followed and is moderated.
Steve, This is an excellent summary of online naturist venues. You've obviously spent *many* hours checking out what's available. What we need now is some way to put together a "tour guide" to every reasonable online naturist site out there. Information to compile would include membership fees (if any), types of resources provided (blogs, discussion forums, naturist news, etc.), and connections with existing regional and national naturist organizations. The product could be put together in some sort of wiki that would (eventually) be available free to anyone.
One person can't possibly do that. Can we somehow assemble a team or task force of online naturists to compile useful descriptions of all the sites? There are very few naturist bloggers still active (Dan Carlson recently disappeared). Few naturists are writing on Substack. People from national and regional naturist organizations should contribute, and not just about their own organization. This large task will require more than a small number of contributors.
The work could be coordinated in one of a few reasonable places, such as British Naturism, ANW, etc. A private Facebook group could work too. I've been involved in cooperative efforts like this before (outside naturism). It can work if people are willing to put in the time to do it. We all need to promote social (not just private) naturism. But no existing single organization can do that. Also, there should be different groups for different language communities (English, French, Spanish, German, etc.) But those will have to function somewhat independently.
"There are many naturist sites out there, but none seem to be a genuinely unifying platform that we can all agree works. What seems to happen is that some people are unsatisfied with the way a specific platform behaves or with the community that it has created . . ."
I think this is because the term "naturist" no longer has a universally accepted definition or ideology. For many people it simply means non-sexual social nudity, with little if any connection with the natural world other than sunbathing on a beach. For others it's not even that - preferring to be naked alone within their own homes. From that point of view, the vast majority of today's naturists don't fit the original philosophy of naturism at all.
But does it actually matter? These days a lot of folks enjoy skinny dipping or sunbathing naked but don't identify with a label such as naturist or nudist. You don't have to subscribe to a philosophy to incorporate social nudity into your lifestyle. After all - it's just a dress code, like any other.
But as for social media platforms - yes, there's a plethora of them out there, each with their own pros and cons. For anyone running an enterprise promoting clothes-optional living, you have to be selective to optimise your presence on the web, as you're limited by how much time and resources you have available. At Hauraki Naturally for example, along with our own website, we use Facebook simply because it's still the most popular, MeWe because of its less restrictive censorship, You Tube and Vimeo for video content. Even with those few I have another person looking after the video platforms.
However, I totally agree with taking the concept of normal everyday nakedness out into the public eye. Naked beach cleanups and bike rides are two you've mentioned that we have found work well. Also things like the mid-winter polar plunge and other activities in appropriate public spaces. These all help to let society see that nudity is not, of itself, perverse or obscene. Hiding behind tall hedges and locked gates enjoying the facilities and a small group of friends is perfect for some naturists who simply enjoy the status quo, but it does little to promote the cause.
This is really a long standing issue, well over a decade old. I haven’t seen any dramatic change over the last 15 years. I think so long as nudity remains socially taboo, another 15 years probably won’t see much change either.
In terms of the factions and divisions, that’s definitely not unique to naturism/nudism. I love the term “like minded people” because realistically such a thing just doesn’t exist. People often focus on differences rather than similarities and generally speaking, aren’t willing to find satisfactory common ground.
I think the most common denominator throughout is that naturism is arguably over represented by aging males. As an aging male myself I feel that really sucks.
Realistically though, we’re the most likely demographic to have the freedom and the means for naked skylarking.
I’m not sure how long it will take for the stigma associated with nudity to lift. I’m fairly certain it will take a newer younger generation who just don’t give a hoot to turn the tide. It happened once in the sixties. Chances are it will happen again.
It almost certainly won’t happen through the old paradigms that have been in place to date.
As you have said it rightly, no one platform will have the complete features what a every naturist wishes.
I have been trying to narrow down the focus of your article/post. Clearly, you want to advocate the merits of naturism, with a resultant increase in the number of naturists. You then say that there is a problem, with the naturist community becoming increasingly fragmented, assuming it was once cohesive. Then you argue that naturist sites have content that is confrontational to a textile.
The primary thing that might potentially upsets a textile is the appearance of genitals in naturist imagery. Some sites manage to avoid this controversy using the devise of somehow obscuring genitals in photos, say a convenient flower pot that happens to be in the way. This contradicts the the reality of naturism, being the freedom to be visibly naked wholly not partially.
Füde is interesting where it alludes to the aesthetics of nudity and art. More particularly in respect of the recent exploration of naked dining and naked art gallery visits. However, in the end, the problem remains with the power of prudes in dictating morality. For instance, we are daily confronted with the saga of Trump in court, an evidently corrupt self-serving rapist, who is hypocritically backed by the conservative section of the American electorate. Surely, Trump is the emperor without clothes, betraying the inadequacy of the political system, in the same vein as Epstein and Prince Andrew.
Therein lies the lie about blatancy and confrontation.
Thank you. Namaste,
Wes
In the Fediverse I belong to several instances in which naturists/nudists post. Those posts are a miniscule number compared to those instances' total posts. Very rarely do those N/N posts get a "favorite", "comment" or "boost". We N/N posters are little islands onto ourselves. Also I have lost or been muted by many followers once they find out I am posting N/N content.
There is only one instance that I am aware of that is created for the participation of N/N folks. That instance is quite small and is really mostly general content.
If you, or anyone else, knows of any Fediverse instances consisting of more that a handful of members and expressly created for the promotion and support of N/N, I would like to know about them.
There are lots of sites that allow nude postings and other content by N/N members but most of those sites are not what I would label as "quality" in nature. They have lots of content that violates the spirit of the N/N community. I'll use MeWe as a good example. Lots of N/N groups but none that enforce the posting of only N/N content. Pretty soon these groups become overwhelmed with dick pix.
Same with Reddit, Discord and the new Tumblr though Tumblr does an excellent job of filtering out porn. I mostly put the failure of those sites and groups with their owners and moderators. It requires active and serious moderators to police these places.
Please name me just one site or instance that contains moderated N/N content.
It's very disheartening that we N/N folks can't have just one place where rules and policies are followed and is moderated.
Steve, This is an excellent summary of online naturist venues. You've obviously spent *many* hours checking out what's available. What we need now is some way to put together a "tour guide" to every reasonable online naturist site out there. Information to compile would include membership fees (if any), types of resources provided (blogs, discussion forums, naturist news, etc.), and connections with existing regional and national naturist organizations. The product could be put together in some sort of wiki that would (eventually) be available free to anyone.
One person can't possibly do that. Can we somehow assemble a team or task force of online naturists to compile useful descriptions of all the sites? There are very few naturist bloggers still active (Dan Carlson recently disappeared). Few naturists are writing on Substack. People from national and regional naturist organizations should contribute, and not just about their own organization. This large task will require more than a small number of contributors.
The work could be coordinated in one of a few reasonable places, such as British Naturism, ANW, etc. A private Facebook group could work too. I've been involved in cooperative efforts like this before (outside naturism). It can work if people are willing to put in the time to do it. We all need to promote social (not just private) naturism. But no existing single organization can do that. Also, there should be different groups for different language communities (English, French, Spanish, German, etc.) But those will have to function somewhat independently.
"There are many naturist sites out there, but none seem to be a genuinely unifying platform that we can all agree works. What seems to happen is that some people are unsatisfied with the way a specific platform behaves or with the community that it has created . . ."
I think this is because the term "naturist" no longer has a universally accepted definition or ideology. For many people it simply means non-sexual social nudity, with little if any connection with the natural world other than sunbathing on a beach. For others it's not even that - preferring to be naked alone within their own homes. From that point of view, the vast majority of today's naturists don't fit the original philosophy of naturism at all.
But does it actually matter? These days a lot of folks enjoy skinny dipping or sunbathing naked but don't identify with a label such as naturist or nudist. You don't have to subscribe to a philosophy to incorporate social nudity into your lifestyle. After all - it's just a dress code, like any other.
But as for social media platforms - yes, there's a plethora of them out there, each with their own pros and cons. For anyone running an enterprise promoting clothes-optional living, you have to be selective to optimise your presence on the web, as you're limited by how much time and resources you have available. At Hauraki Naturally for example, along with our own website, we use Facebook simply because it's still the most popular, MeWe because of its less restrictive censorship, You Tube and Vimeo for video content. Even with those few I have another person looking after the video platforms.
However, I totally agree with taking the concept of normal everyday nakedness out into the public eye. Naked beach cleanups and bike rides are two you've mentioned that we have found work well. Also things like the mid-winter polar plunge and other activities in appropriate public spaces. These all help to let society see that nudity is not, of itself, perverse or obscene. Hiding behind tall hedges and locked gates enjoying the facilities and a small group of friends is perfect for some naturists who simply enjoy the status quo, but it does little to promote the cause.