Islam dominates our news these days. Or, more accurately, a militant, violent death cult trading under a general Islamic name dominates our news.

From San Bernadino and Orlando in America, to Paris, Nice, Brussels and a week of German bloodshed in Europe, to the ‘forgotten’ attacks…Zliten, Libya, Sharaban, Iraq, El-Adde, Somalia, Deir ez Zor, Syria, Charsadda, Pakistan, Damascus, Syria, Mosul, Iraq, Dikwa, Nigeria, Ankara, Turkey, and on and on and on…as well as the Russian Metrojet crash a year ago, there are hundreds of incidents that involve the sub-human filth that trades under the name Da’esh.

This organisation hates the name Da’esh, so that’s what we’ll call them.

Let’s look at the words of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, ‘Daesh hates being called by this name, and anything they don’t like has an instinctive appeal to me’.

Me too.

While the European attacks dominate the news in Europe (and north America), what we’ve got to remember is that more Muslims than Christians have been murdered by Daesh. The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe is, I’d imagine, providing opportunity for Daesh murderers and pond life to sneak in under a false refugee crisis, and while Europe’s far-right parties are speaking of a cancer entering Europe, the reality is that many are fleeing death, the exact same flight that you or I might take were such medieval barbarity to be visited on our doors. It’s irksome to read of idiots like Donald Trump generalising in such a moronic manner you feel he’s climbed down to Daesh’s level.

We’ve also read of Muslims attacking (verbally at least) naturists in Germany.  I wrote about this in the ‘Sluts and Terrorists‘ posting recently.

Here’s the thing about respect. It’s a two way street. We will respect Muslim customs but you’re in Europe, so you will respect our cultures and lifestyles too. It’s not for you to impose your cultural framework on something we -Europe, north America, the Antipodes- have built since the time of the Enlightenment.

By all means have Ramadam and other cultural festivals, but be sure to respect our cultures and lifestyles, including naturism.

When researching items for SLN2, I often come across websites that aren’t entirely wholesome. Porn, in other words, pretending to be ‘naturist’. Something of a meme in these is ‘the Arab as whore’. Not new. There is a long history of checking the Arab woman (or black woman for that matter) as a ‘whore’, and in European colonial times there was a history of photographing these ‘naked savages’ the entire length of Africa, from Algiers to Cape Town.

The ‘civilised’, ‘Christian’, ‘developed’ West has much to feel guilty about in this respect.

Of course, a familiar human trait is to demonise or dehumanise ‘the enemy’, and so a trope of internet porn will be the casting of the Arab/Muslim woman as a ‘whore’ in some respects.

Put her (and it’s the internet, she may not even be Muslim, or from a Muslim country, we don’t really know) in her hijab and sexualise her. There are many more disturbing rape/torture type photos out there than this mild ‘glamour’ photo.

If Muslim men (and it is men, largely, who are imposing their will on women across the Islamic world to a large degree) want to cover their women up to hide their beauty, for purposes of modesty, you can be sure she will be stripped by the west to demean her.

While ‘back in the editor’s chair’ while Trine was on holiday, I came across a remarkable piece by Abigail that was unpublished, and for some reason it appears that it was overlooked by Trine, and I’ve persuaded her to publish it in the next couple of days.

What you think you know about Muslim/Arab women isn’t even scratching the surface, as Abigail found in a lengthy piece about Muslim women, interviewing some who play Second Life. It may well alter your perceptions of what you think being a Muslim woman is all about. It may challenge your perceptions about Muslim ladies and their attitudes to sex and nudity. And yes, there will be a nude/semi-nude/even naturist angle to some of it.

Ella.

The Olympics have started. I have to say I’m not a fan of it, or any other sport for that matter, and it’ll pass me by almost completely. I’ve already retuned my car radio to avoid elongated news bulletins about people I’ve never heard of before, or will again, competing in sports I’ve no interest in.

However, the Olympics engage many people, and it seemed an appropriate time to do a post on the Olympics’ naked origins.

First of all, the word gymnasium/gymnastics/gymnast are all rooted in an ancient Greek word ‘gymnos’, which means ‘naked’. The early competitors trained and competed naked.

Much art that depicts the early Olympics accurately depicts the competitors as being naked, from carrying a flame to wrestling (above) and everything in between.

When the Olympics returned to their spiritual home in 2004, the opening ceremony featured body painted men, with some sort of costume worn on their bottom half, to reflect the way things were (see photo above).

Women weren’t allowed to compete, or spectate, at the early Olympics, hence the lack of ‘equality’ demonstrated in these items of art or living statues.

In 2004, however, the organisers of the ceremony did add some ‘Minoan fashion’ as a nod to ancient Greek times.

That is, they were routinely bare-breasted.

A few years ago, when Second Life seemed to maintain a greater cultural diversity, there was a role-play sim built in a Greek style, with women expected to be ‘in character’, dress wise, with bare breasts and, if I remember correctly, the men went nude, reflecting the times.

This famous painting by Degas (above) shows the dress code of Spartan youth, naked boys and top-free girls, although Degas’ sketches suggest that he maybe initially intended to portray the females without skirts.

Those who indulge in the ‘natural/shaved’ pubic region debates in 2016 should note that, two thousand years ago, depilation was also practiced then.

It is highly unlikely that the Olympics that started today will feature any nudity, although the words of Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser (who swam at three Olympics in the late 50s and early 60s) said that if she had been allowed to compete naked she would have broken more records than she actually did.

As I’ve alluded to above, SL used to contain a much richer range of cultures, including sports. It’s almost impossible to find a running track, or a gymnasium these days, but we’ve got a model to do a bit of a naked workout on the grid. Perhaps Linden Labs would like to consider using up some of their abandoned land to provide ‘social infrastructure’ for SL. Gymnasiums, swimming pools, libraries…all of the facilities that create a proper society, but in which there is no potential to offset tier costs.

Ella