A Newbies Concerns: lurkers, self appointed police (prudes), libertines and some member profile pics
Youll see a repeat of this on my profile page because I cut & pasted much of it. I know Im a bit wordy but Im new here and had some concerns about the site in general as it relates to a newbies coming out. The concern is buried below and any thoughts or site guidance to finding legit people and/or groups would be appreciated.
I'm a 60 year old gay man who is in a loving 22 year-old relationship. While in my early 20s (back around 1975), I was an open nudist living in San Diego where I frequented Blacks Beach on a regular basis. Since I was living the beach bum life and not working, I was at the beach nearly every day. That was then. Somewhere along the line I got a job working in a bank and later for local government where, in both cases, I resigned myself to just being naked at home in the house. Well, I retired last September and have been yearning to live naked and free again -- skinny dipping, gardening, etc. My partner is accepting but is still a little uncomfortable (but getting better) about being naked 24/7. He definitely is not ready for socialization/recreation and, quite honestly, Im not sure I am either. It has been a long time since Ive been naked in front of other people and I think I need to ease back into it slowly. There are many reasons for that -- first, I do not know any other naturists and while scouting this website found that naturism/nudism means a lot of different things to different people. Im not a Libertine (although I may have been in my 20s) and Im not a Prude (in fact I didnt even know naturist prudes existed until I started reviewing some of the conversation threads in a few of the intro forums). Its a little frightening for me to come out of that clothed closet after so many years, join a web community such as this and expose myself in more ways than I would by reposting crap on Facebook. Part of that fear is knowing that there are lurking perverts out there even though I know most wouldnt be wanting to gaze at my photo and I know they will eventually get weeded out of this site anyway. Im also a little scared of the Prudes who find it their duty to flag people because someone says something they don't approve of. Im not afraid of becoming certified but becoming a subscriber will have to wait until Im more comfortable that this site isnt just a hookup site. I realize that some people are proud of themselves (and maybe there is a little bit of exhibitionism in all humans) but I'm seeing a lot of profile page photos where its not much more than a crotch shot (male and female) and that makes me nervous too. I'm not saying that I wouldnt friend such a portrait but I would approach and accept that friendship cautiously. Thoughts?
Great post! Very thoughtful.
Unfortunately, we have to do our own 'weeding' in this garden, but you are taking a cautious approach which is good. There are a lot of good people here. It just takes time to find them. The others you will learn how to block, flag, and/or ignore. Don't get discouraged by the pervs or the prudes. Just from reading your post, I think you will fit in well here. Welcome to TN!