“Full frontage nudists are not exhibitionists but are showing their body acceptance without shame.”
It was something I had been thinking about recently, after seeing numerous full-frontal photos on social media shared by naturists. Many of them were posing, like any tourist would, in front of various attractions. One, for example, was standing in front of a giant cactus in Arizona.
The only difference between them and your average tourist is that the naturists were, quite naturally, naked.
Were they exhibitionists? No, I reasoned. At least, not any more so than clothed tourists who post photos of themselves. So, the issue was quickly resolved in my mind, and pretty much laid to rest . . . until my friend SoCalNaturist posted the quote above along with some full-frontal photos on Twitter (as many naturists do there).
The four pictures are grouped together in a gallery of sorts: one shows a woman proudly naked in a living room, another shows a man naked outdoors in a green setting, another shows a group of happy women young and older posing for a photo on a beach, and the final photo shows six happy 30somethingish men and women running along a beach. (See below, but you might have to click on them in Twitter to see full images)
They are all scenes similar to ones I have seen shared by naturists before.
I liked the tweet. And I liked the message SoCalNaturist was spreading. I didn’t see the people in the photos as exhibitionists. I saw them as happy people — just as I would have seen them if they were dressed in bathing suits or whatever.
So, I shared the tweet with my followers on Twitter, many of whom are naturists.
I was a little surprised when one of my naturist followers accused me later of sharing images from a porn site, and of hurting the image of naturism. And then he unfriended me.
Excuse me, but I know the difference between porn and other types of photos, and there is absolutely nothing pornographic about those photos — even if they might have been copied from a porn site (which I doubt). The images themselves are innocent enough.
But I wondered why this individual — and other naturists, no doubt — would see them in such a negative light. Was it because all of the people in the photos are pretty good-looking? Would the individual have approved of, say, the photo of the naked woman in the living room if she had weighed 250 pounds and was 20 years older? Would he have approved if the same young woman in the photo was wearing a dress?
Sure, maybe the pictures are of people who are attractive and in good shape and aren’t exactly a cross-section of the whole naturism community. But, hey, those good-looking people are allowed to be naturists, too. And if those photos were posted with the intent of raising awareness about naturism — which is one of the missions of SoCalNaturist — what is the problem? I am a member of a very reputable naturism group in Ottawa, and there are some individuals there who look something like the people in the photos. But truth be told, we naturists don’t actually look at each other that way. We don’t really see each other’s nudity because we take it for granted now. That’s what naturism is all about. And that’s how I saw the photos: nothing sexual about them for me.
But I do know that some naturists (and I am not talking about the aforementioned former Twitter follower, who I respect) disapprove of some forms of nudity — at least, in pictures, anyway. They’re comfortable with photos from behind, or from the side, or that conceal certain body parts. But they are squeamish about certain types of full-frontal nudity being put on display for the world to see. Different naturists have different parameters of body acceptance. There seems to be a shame factor for some, as if some people should hide their frontal nudity. Which, to me, betrays the philosophy of social nudism/naturism.
Of course, as I have stated before, we live in a diverse world. To each their own. I am not criticizing anyone in particular. Indeed, this is a post about body acceptance and how even naturists have different views of it. I didn’t have a problem with the photos, but my former Twitter follower did. Who is right? Who is wrong?
Well, there is no right or wrong in cases like this. It’s about personal comfort levels, I suppose. And I guess that I am far more liberal than even I knew because, as mentioned, I had been thinking about the issue before, but had reconciled it by the time SoCalNaturist posted the tweet shown above. No, my friends on Twitter and Facebook who have been posting full-frontal images of themselves weren’t being exhibitionists. That was out of the question. And there was nothing wrong with SoCalNaturist’s photos in my view.
But as we Theosophists are fond of saying, there are no coincidences in life. SoCalNaturist’s tweet along with that from the follower who unfriended me inspired this post, and whatever discussion among readers that follows below. So, I thank both for their input, even if they never read this post.
What say you?
With respect to all
— Jillian
Photo credit: Naturist on the beach. (Source: Montse aka Supermons on Flickr/via Wikimedia Commons)
Jillian Page 
While I respect the sensitivities of others – in particular those whose views might differ from my own – I see no problem with photos of people in their natural state, whether their penis or vagina can be seen or not. And even though I might respect someone with a different viewpoint, I would nevertheless question their reasoning ability if they were to try to explain to me that it’s OK to be nude as long as no one sees your groin.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Just imagine living in Malta where pub lic nudity is still a crime!
LikeLike
Obviously neither you or your former follower took the time to review Chapter 7, Section 11 of the International Customs & Practices for Naturists (2014 Revised) where the guidelines for acceptable Social Media…okay, in my dreams ( or nightmares). We are a diverse group us nudist-naturist-clothesfree brethren. Additionally, social media connects us, but does not build consensus. That’s okay. We can each choose our comfort levels and follow/unfollow to our hearts content. Agree to disagree as needed, just don’t claim a legitimatecy to speak for the group, simply speak for yourself.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Right on!
(You almost had me with the International Customs and Practices for Naturists. lol)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for the piece and raising the questions that stimulate discussion. I may have a minority view but I wonder if the unfollower was sensitive to the fact that most “nudists” who repost images of unknown people don’t take the time to source them and so many of the images which are infused with naturist meaning may in fact come from porn sites and that association between porn and naturism seems to be the single biggest problem to normalizing simple nudity and engaging people. Just a thought. That being said my problem with the practice of arbitrarily posting pics of unknown people frontal nudity or not, is this.
Those images tend to be just photos of naked people without context disassociated from the experience of human being that is viewed. IMO without any experience or context it doesn’t present anything but a naked body because we don’t learn anything about the person except they are naked. Anything else is our projection. The photo could be staged or candid we don’t know. I’d like to think that naturism is something more than a naked body.
In contrast one can promote naturism quite effectively by sharing experiences without any images as you usually do and quite well on this site. I was just struck by that recently because unlike many other blogs I can’t just peruse the pics. I actually have to take time to read your story, engage your experience and listen to your opinion, Something that is unnecessary and impossible with the pics of the unknowns. Furthermore, it is rare that the posters or I should say reposters of these photos (the images are hardly unique but just keep getting reblogged over and over again); it is rare that those individuals post their own photos or experiences. This maybe an oversight attributable to newbies to naturism looking to gain some credibility. It certainly seemed the way to me in my early interactions online. But many if not most of the posters are self described long time naturists. It would seem they should have something to share.
So what we are left with is the perpetual reposting of photos of unknown people disconnected from their context and infused with our own meaning. I dare say we could do better if we genuinely want to promote naturism to people who are not yet engaged. If naturism is a way of life, I often wonder what others must think of this way of life seeing the life part consistently left out of our efforts to promote it. It that engaging? That might be a question for those more brilliant than I to answer. But it is a question I believe needs to be asked.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Well said, Earl. It’s hard or impossible for newbies to distinguish titty pics from ‘naturist’ photos, especially in galleries.
Images to illustrate text is one thing; making them the focus is quite another and makes one question the motive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just make sure to not back your bare ass into the cactus during the photo shoot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess that all of us can draw a line between porn, exhibitionism and nudism. The only problem is that each of us would put the line on a different place. For me the key is not what you show, but your intention. This is the opposite to the censorship rules of Facebook or Instagram, which can happily accept a blurred close-up of an erect penis while they ban an image of a man just skinny dipping. And this is why I cannot but agree with the comment by EarlD in that context is everything.
But of course full-frontal nudity is normal when we talk about naturism. In a nudist place we expose our whole body without shame, so it is normal for every body part to appear in a photo (is there any difference between a toe and a nipple?). In fact, I don’t like those nudist pics where there is always an umbrella, or a chair or a newspaper conveniently located to cover those “sexual” body parts. I feel that they reinforce the idea that nudity is something to be ashamed of.
I’m not saying that “true” nudists have to post full-frontal pics, not even that they have to come out in public. It’s up to everyone to decide what to share and waht to keep private.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Have you seen very recently where FB removed a pic of an ancient Italian statue because it was nude? In their response, FB said nudity and PLUNGING NECKLINES aren’t allowed! http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/europe/facebook-neptune-statue-photo-ban/
What? Have you seen their ads for all sorts of sex-oriented FB pages or websites? Plunging necklines? WTF?
It’s a VERY uphill battle, folks,even now in the 21st Century.
And this is what we’re dealing with…
LikeLiked by 1 person
The last comment about FB, and other social media, is so very true. Collectively nudists do face an uphill battle in gaining wider acceptance for our preferred way of living still. Especially when so many people get their ‘news’ and information through such media, which is so very censored and often can be one individuals spin on that subject.
Nudists, naturists etc have individual takes on aspects of life, just as other members of wider society do. Thankfully our minds are not clones of the ‘approved’ way of thinking, yet!
I share nudist photos online with friends of places we visit and from shared experiences. I also share them online on nudist sites – for example with others in groups for those who enjoy hiking nude. As others’ comments have touched on, we’re nudists so we don’t particularly note what body parts we see in photos of other nudists, other than seeing naked people as the whole person, its just as we see each other in real life social nudism. These are photos from typical nudist settings, mostly outdoors. I don’t see much point in the bathroom mirror selfie nude pics, just about anyone can take them and to me they don’t particularly record nudist life.
Shots of the whole nudist(s) in a normal nudist setting, from most angles, show nudists living life the way we prefer. If we start worrying about seeing full frontal photos from a nudist setting, then that is a backward step in gaining body freedom and clothing optional rights in my view. If we are not to have body shame, why should we have specific body part shame? Gratuitous focus on certain body parts is a different matter though.
These are just personal thoughts, I’d rather individuals make their own minds up. Healthy discussions like that introduced by this thread are very welcome, thanks for setting the wheels in motion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice comments. I do try to encourage discussion with my posts here.
I think any pictures that are acceptable with clothes on should be acceptable with clothes off, whether they are head shots, top-half shots, or full shots.
Some pictures in Twitter and Facebook and other social media posts show a cropped version until you click on them, and then you see the full photo as it was taken. So, a picture of a woman or man showing boobs on the top half — because if a man can appear topless, why shouldn’t a woman — may show the whole bodies when clicked on.
There is a lot of discrimination out there against nudity, and against women who want the same rights men have to bare their chests in public.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What makes me more suspicious than anything else in a “naturist” photo is–tan lines!
Seriously, why should we be ashamed of showing any part of our bodies, as if our minds had not been transformed by seeing and knowing the truth about simple nudity? Others may read into such pictures what they will, but we know the difference.
And if such images have been stolen by porn providers, reposting them can be seen as a rescue. 🙂
LikeLike
I had the same thought. Then it occurred to me that opportunities for naked sun worshipers to soak up some rays aren’t as readily available as other places where nudity isn’t allowed. Thus the tan lines.
LikeLike
Great review! I don’t find the photos offensive. I think anyone posting should be thanked for not being “prude like”!
I’d love to contribute my photos to your twitter page now!
LikeLike
Centering just on pictures, I think that there is no problem at all if they come from a “porn” site, let’s accept that many of them may come from those sites, but it’s also true that those pictures are running free from their original sites long ago, and as long as those images depict nothing porn I don’t see any issue. For some it perhaps is that a picture known sourced from a porn site might relate the user to that (or any other) porn site, and we know how sex-negative are many, to the point of denial of their own sexual nature and sexuality. A link that in their minds is putting them in a position where others may think they use and enjoy porn, thus turning them into violators of their strict moral Code.
I don’t have problems accepting the fact I got a sexual life that includes the joy of sexually explicit material, but I differentiate that from my naturist life. So I can use images that come from non-naturist sites as illustrative of a naturist life as long as they’re not porn in themselves.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Look at Both Sides Now and commented:
Excellent article, and the comments are very informative. Jillian, you always have blogs that get us all think, which I personally appreciate. Thank you.
LikeLike
Very kind of you to say that. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Tha Naked I.
LikeLike
I’ve put a few of my own pictures here on Wikimedia and I feel definitely not as exhibitionist
Everyone always says that it is so natural to be naked and still show most images only bales and sometimes faces are covered with a blob of white or black color – equivalent to a motor magazine showed only cars rear view and with the wheels covered.
and example in this small article http://spotnaked.com/liberate-your-mind-and-body-at-naturist-vacation/4794/
LikeLike
First thing first, what I am about to type comes from wanting but not raising a family. I think that naturism is very family friendly and by that I mean it should include adults and children. The only website that really promotes family naturism is the one run by Sunsport Gardens. On that website it show both adult and children in the nude. I do not find the images of children without clothing pornographic, I find them to be a realistic image of how one might raise a naturist family.
LikeLike
This has been very interesting to read. Nudists / naturists love being naked which is pretty obvious. The pictures which head this discussion are lovely.
My wife and I have been naturists for many years and naturally we have taken pictures of our holidays, and also shots taken in a domestic setting. As nudists we are naked quite a lot. Our pictures show us fully naked and nothing is either hidden or highlighted, the pictures just show us.
There are few things in my opinion more attractive than seeing a whole family enjoying themselves naked. Three generations are not uncommon on beaches in Europe and we honestly think it is very healthy.
We have no problem with other people seeing us or our pictures, but have no desire to embarrass or offend anyone.
These are just our views of course and many might think very differently.
That’s life.
Rod Burkey.
LikeLike
Just a thought here. People toss around the word “exhibitionist” a lot. That can be a psychological disorder…
DMS-V: Exhibitionistic Disorder will have occurred over a period of six months, are recurrent and result in intense sexual arousal from the exposure of one’s genitals to a stranger or unsuspecting individual. It is an uncontrollable sexual urge that is deliberately intended for an unconsenting person. Exhibitionistic Disorder results in significant clinical distress and impairs social, occupational and/or other normal life functions.
… but it usually is not. The broader definition is merely someone who puts something out there to be seen. Every actor, every author, every musician, dancer, performer, every political candidate, every person who has something to present for the world’s approval is an exhibitionist in this broader sense. Even the kid who shouts “Look Ma, no hands!” (as they ride their bike into the ditch) is an exhibitionist.
There are many things that are good and even wonderful that can be expressed in a damaging way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How did he know it was from a porn site?
LikeLike