How has the digital age affected nudism?
It's certainly made information more easily accessible. Back during the 1960's, when I first started searching for nudist clubs, magazines were the primary source for information. Generally they were "under-the-counter" items, if available at all. Libraries had little to offer, there might be an occasional tongue in cheek article in local Newspapers. After locating a club, one was required to send an S.A.S.E. for a response to any inquiries, and it was all handled with confidentiality.
On the whole, I think, the digital age has been a boon for nudism: it's made it much easier to find information about nudism and places to get out of one's clothes, whether beaches or resorts, public or private. And it's made it easier to meet other folks who also enjoy time wearing nothing at all, and want to find other folks who have no compunctions about being naked with other naked (or at least naked-accepting) folks.
The shadow of the internet, of course, is that it has also made predatory sex easier, and too often associates nudism, not with healthy sensuality and sexuality, but with predatory, gratuitous sex.
So the onus is on all of us, individually: be naked, but be careful. Even an old fart like me, overweight and underhung as I am, never knows for sure when a selfie posted on a nudist site might surface on a porn site.
That doesn't mean "don't ever post a selfie". But it does mean: we have to know what we're doing, and why; and we have to be ready to find that our vulnerability has been exploited, and to accept responsibility: responsibility, not for the exploitation, but for what we may have done to invite the exploitation; and then to call out the exploiter. Not unlike the world outside the cyber-sphere, eh?
Allen
I remember in the early 90s my subscription to N magazine and how it opened up a world to me of real people in real bodies. It transformed me that there is a group of people willing to be naked without the false poses of the leading soft porn skin mags of the day.
The ease of accessing nude pictures online gave me hope that nudism would become more widely accepted. However, here in the Midwest things have become more restricted instead. In addition to the Internet, I see several factors impacting nudism. The rise of the gay culture has made many straight men more homophobic, feminism has deobjectified womens bodies to a degree while stigmatizing boys and men, and with the US political swing to the right has come a decadent puritanical fundamentalism. As a result, individuals relationship with their bodies has evolved.
When I was in high school, I would have had a hard time understanding that my kids would feel uncomfortable to be naked in the school locker room but would think nothing of sending boner shots to their girlfriend on their phone of all things. Now my kids are in high school and I feel for the complicated relationship my sons generation has to their naked bodies. However, I still cant say I understand it and likely have to settle for being a clueless old naked geezer in the locker room.
Actions
Back to TopicsReply to TopicShare this topic
Get paid just by sending us users/traffic.
Signup takes seconds, start now!
Signup as an affiliate!