Mardi Gras should now have begun in New Orleans. Here, our own ‘Fat Tuesday’ comprised of flipping a few pancakes for dinner, served up with lemon juice and sugar. In the UK, it’s ‘Pancake Tuesday’ or Shrove Tuesday, not quite the glitz and razzmatazz of Mardi Gras. It precedes Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and Easter is now 40 days away. During Lent, Christians traditionally abstain from something they usually love for the duration of Lent.
In recent years it has become a little bit of a ‘tradition’ (or drunken behaviour, depending on what you read about it) for ladies to flash their breasts in exchange for souvenir beads.
I’m not sure I can buy into the ‘official’ line that it’s not a tradition. There seems to be too many women, in the hours of daylight, ‘flashing for beads’ to say that it’s some kind of coercion. They seem to be freely entering into the spirit of it all, a bit of silliness, whether drunken or not, and in a country often nipple-phobic, a bit of silliness to be welcomed.
Second Life has its own Mardi Gras sims and parade, with quite a few avatars entering into the spirit of it and even going bare-chested. Jazz bands! Hula Hoops!
I saw this infographic online and thought it summed up the process of becoming a naturist very well.
Of course, it’s not quite as easy as that, as there’s the small matter of what’s inside your head to contend with.
I can still remember my first ‘dash of shame’ from a sun lounger to the pool and the return trip from the pool, trying to casually cover as much of me as I could. Of course, no one gave two hoots, but that wasn’t the feelings inside my head.
Previously private parts were now very public parts.
Within the hour, though, it has all become completely normal, ordinary and unremarkable. Not all penises are equal, not all breasts are equal, not all tummies or bottoms are equal, and you’ve long stopped looking, or wondering if someone is looking at you.
You may not, just yet, feel confident enough to do handstands in front of everyone, but you will certainly have stopped feeling self-conscious about the situation you find yourself in. A big plus is the almost certain proximity of a pool or the sea. Once you’ve swum naked, for about two minutes, you realise you could never go back to swimming with a costume.
Your swimsuit will, where circumstances allow, have been consigned to history.
Showering outdoor, too, will seem like the most natural thing in the world.
One or two things may feel ‘strange’ at first.
I certainly found it a little strange to move away from the pool and sunbathing area, where nudity seemed entirely natural, to walking the streets fully nude. That feeling disappeared within 24 hours.
Shopping nude too -and even more, shopping for clothing whilst naked (I needed to buy a pareo)- was another ‘this is strange in a nice way’ feeling.
It’s a new year. And in no time at all the naturist season will be upon us. Make 2017 the year you tried the naturist lifestyle, if you haven’t already done so.
I’m delighted to see that a youtube video of the day’s events is available.
It’s 30 minutes long and don’t worry, it’s only the ‘front page’ image that is pixellated.
This got me thinking. If placards protesting the Trump Presidency have been made available in SL, why not appropriate them for our own Naturist Parade?
With many ‘naturist’ sims now accepting textile creep, and declaring themselves as ‘clothing optional’ as opposed to naturist, perhaps we need to ‘reclaim the grid’, in certain locations, for naturism.
The photo of Gypsy at the top of the page reminded me that there are all manner of body paint tattoo layers in SL. Our models found them at L$10 on the Marketplace in a variety of colours and styles.
I don’t go to the cinema. I find it an uncomfortable sit with not enough leg room and no neck support, some films are ridiculously long (90 minutes seems like an optimum length for a film to me) and I don’t ever really identify with the characters. I don’t feel their joy or their pain, care about them or root for them. ‘Look’, I want to yell at the screen, ‘grow up and act like an adult!’
That annual love-in where ‘luvvies‘ congratulate one another for being fabulous. I’m not sure if ‘luvvies’ translates beyond the UK…it’s generally used here as a derogatory word for actors who seem a bit smug and self-righteous about themselves, their peers and their work. So smug, in fact, that British actor Tom Conti wanted the word ‘luvvie’ seen in similar terms to using racially abusive words.
That’s the same Tom Conti who plays a Greek tavern owner in the film Shirley Valentine, hamming it up in a very racially stereotyped interpretation of a predatory Greek man with a comedy accent. Tragic, really, and oblivious to any accusations of cultural appropriation. As ridiculous, in my opinion, as donning black face. Why not cast a Greek man, eh, Tom?
A couple of weeks ago the British equivalent of the Oscars, the BAFTAs, took place. There were some minor political references, such as Swedish actress Noomi Rapace talking some drivel about cinema bringing down walls, which rather over-egged the importance of a bit of storytelling and fantasy. British director Ken Loach laughably told a room filled with millionaire actors and film types that they were all ‘with the people’ in a bit of a tirade against the British government. And that was it. Probably because Meryl Streep didn’t get an opportunity to speak, having been overlooked in the Best Rent-a-gob category. Both interventions made me hoot with laughter.
Anyway, the annual gathering of the ‘luvvies‘ (just in case you were under the impression I wouldn’t sneer myself) is about to take place with a backdrop of President Trump.
We’ve all got an opinion, and a right to express it, but the idea that the ‘luvvies’ have a voice more important than anyone else’s is hideous. These are people who dress up, play make believe and speak words written by others for a living. At what point do I begin to care what they say? At what point should you care? At what point does their life in a bubble, cosseted and fawned over, carry more weight than the unemployed steelworker in the Rust Belt? The likes of Bruce Springsteen may be voicing his disquiet about the current President, but I feel he has a little more of a valid voice in expressing himself, given that he’s spent a career voicing his concerns in his own words. I draw the line at listening to anything Meryl Streep has to say.
Let me make a few predictions about this year’s love-in. More than one person naming the nominees will make some barbed remarks about Trump. The audience will hoot with laughter, even if the ‘jokes’ at Trump’s expense aren’t very funny. It’s important to demonstrate liberal solidarity, by way of virtue signalling, to their peers, and there’s no better way to demonstrate liberal credentials than spitting the dummy or throwing the toys out of the pram when the democracy you champion doesn’t give you the democratic result you wanted. Consider this: should someone get up at the mutual back-slapping exercise that is the Oscars, in this or any other year, and say ‘give Trump a chance’ they will be rounded on by those in the room, in the echo chamber that is the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. And subsequently flailed (if flailed is the right word, I’ve been following the likes of the Daily Show, and it’s like they’re beating the White House with a rolled up, wet piece of paper, personally. I don’t hear any ‘attacks’ hitting home at the intended target in any meaningful sense).
Now, there’s nothing wrong with liberals; I include myself in their number. But there’s something inherently wrong with liberals acting in an illiberal manner, mirroring the people they criticise in a herd mentality manner, like sheeple. And we’ll get that herd mentality tomorrow night, an audience as virulently illiberal as the ‘rednecks’ they sneer at and condemn.
‘I’ve nothing to say for myself, really, being little more than an above averagely attractive person earning a living in the land of make believe’
But since we’re on the topic of awards, I’d give a special mention to Channel 4 & British Naturism, the UK’s governing body of naturism, who recently produced a documentary on the Great British Skinny Dip. It was broadcast recently in the UK, and is worthy of an award.
A section of the Channel 4/British Naturism documentary, which should be available to view worldwide.
Nude actors on the carpet, complete with Academy Award.
You can walk the red carpet in Second Life at Quinnell’s Chinese Theatre. Inside, you can buy your own Oscar statuette for L$60.
Incidentally, if you are going to protest against Donald Trump, can I request everyone does it in a similar fashion to those below…
I hope that those of you overseas (from the UK) might be able to see this video of an attractive woman offering ‘free hugs’ which then result in the woman displaying hairy armpits.
The numbers of those accepting free hugs for an armpit shaved woman, and an unshaven armpit woman were roughly the same, but the lady involved found that people recoiled in horror (see below) or adopted a ‘hey, we’re liberal, do what you wanna do, sister’ attitude.
The conclusion, correctly, was that it’s a ‘buying into the accepted norm’ sort of thing.
Hairy armpits, on women, are a natural thing. Why the recoiling in horror?
Edited to add: This morning, the Daily Mail carries a story about a new book on the life of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his lover, Claretta Petacci. One photo immediately grabbed my attention…
I repeat, body hair is a natural thing. When did we become so afraid of it?
Irish avatar (and naturist, on holiday, never at home in the Emerald Isle, she tells us) Caireann is a Dubliner who jogs or cycles the Royal Canal, Dublin, on an almost daily basis. She’s also a long-term friend of SLN.
As it reaches central Dublin it’s wide enough to house pleasure craft and houseboats (I know, I’ve visited Dublin and seen them). While it’s probably not an ideal naturist environment in the centre of a city, Caireann was excited to see that Blue Lagoon Marina in Second Life has ‘some sense of the Royal Canal about it…the locks and the houseboats. If I can’t get my kit off in a real life Royal Canal scenario, I can do that in Second Life!’
I mention this because I’ve been in touch with those who run the Blue Lagoon Marina naturist estate and I’m working on a major posting for what I think is the major single naturist story within SL for quite a while.
For breadth, depth and scope, and variety of environments, it rivals the Eden Naturist Estate. As I say, there’s a major blog posting coming on BLM, but in the meantime I thought I’d utilise Caireann’s photos and just a little background to another of those urban arteries fallen into disrepair and then, in recent years, revived beyond even former glories.
Incidentally, I’m in Dublin myself in the middle of March, so I’ll be exploring any naturist opportunities in Ireland, and bringing you a little travelogue on the weekend. It’s a work-related thing, so probably not any opportunity to do anything naturist, but it doesn’t mean I can’t research it…just in case! 🙂
I’ve booked a ferry crossing from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and driving south to Dublin for a weekend of *sigh* seminars, never something to gladden my heart. Still, I’ve been to both Belfast (capital of Northern Ireland) and Dublin (capital of the Republic of Ireland) before and found everyone to be warm, friendly, welcoming, chatty and great fun! The icing on the cake would be a little bit of a naturist swim 😉 If you’re Irish, naturist, and know of any indoor (or outdoor…but it’s March!) naturism available, please drop me a message on the blog or IM me online! I’m travelling on the afternoon of March 10th and will be in Ireland for the entire weekend, driving and ferrying back home on the Monday.
On the ‘About Us’ section of the blog, a correspondent writes…’Why do you pretend this is about fresh air and living in the Natural state. It is all about loads of on tap Sex for sex addicts. # So many liars snd fakers out there’
To which I have (initially) responded…
That’s not an untypical response and yes, there are ‘naturists’ for whom the lifestyle is just that…an opportunity for sex. One or two real life locations do cater for that, such as Cap D’Agde in France and Hedonism in Jamaica. They aren’t, however, typical of the naturist lifestyle. They are an anomaly. I don’t need to ‘pretend’. For most naturists the lifestyle is about fresh air and living in the natural state, and the notion that it’s ‘on tap sex’ is risible. In some resorts the demographic is 50-70+. That’s not to say 50+ year olds aren’t capable of having, or enjoying sex (and not necessarily even with a life partner), but it’s laughable to suggest it’s ‘sex addicts’. Yes, there are liars and fakers out there, not so different from any other lifestyle grouping in society as a whole. The blog has a very clear agenda, and that’s to ignore the liars, fakers, sex addicts (in real life) who would seek to use naturism for their own ends, and promote it as it overwhelmingly is, a celebration of fresh air, living in a natural state, eating healthily, taking exercise and so on.
Let me, however, expand on that initial reply, by pointing at numerous, reports, backed up by science that suggest nudity isgood for you. Even sleeping nude, alone, may provide some benefits to your health. I won’t re-heat those arguments at length here, as it’s a topic we regularly highlight, except to say that there isn’t much ‘on tap sex for sex addicts’ (self-love notwithstanding) by sleeping nude, and self-love, as practiced in masturbation (not a topic is part of SLN”s remit), also has apparent health benefits.
Because masturbation isn’t really the remit of this blog, nor something I feel compelled to research widely and deeply, you’ll need to undertake your own research further on this matter.
Does she seem sexually aroused? Or simply living life for the moment, without the encumbrance of unnecessary clothing?
Focussed on the game, not on her, and entirely unaroused by her naked form. Living life naturally? Or a ‘sex addict’?
Washing dishes. Not exactly a situation that will lead to ‘on tap sex’.
Naturism is a family orientated lifestyle.
Naturism often involves healthy exercise.
This ‘sex addict’ is clearly in the wrong place for ‘on tap sex’.
‘Sex addicts’ in obvious search of the nearest orgy.
I won’t labour the point further than I have in the captions to the above photographs. I suspect we’re being trolled by liars and fakers, but in an increasingly conservative world it’s sometimes hard to tell. With ‘fake news‘ being the mot du jour, I suppose we’ve got to be aware of ‘fake replies’ to our blogging too.
Yes, the periphery of naturism, i.e. ‘naturist’ blogs and tumblr sites who only ever feature one gender in gynaecological poses or in various states of arousal certainly are authored by liars and fakers or resorts where group sex or wife-swapping are part of the agenda aren’t filled with liars and fakers who aren’t genuine naturists. The fact remains, though, that the overwhelming majority of naturism is about fresh air and living in a natural state without unnecessary clothing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Something New Poses have a rather delicious group pose out right now. It’s not too often that a free gift for a group pose emerges, so take the opportunity to grab it (LS0, no group joining fee).
Entitled ‘Country Life’, I think it’s something…well…definitely Something New! I think this is a fantastic pose!
Our poses model, Malgorzata, pointed us towards this one which she, in turn, had picked up from the Fab Free blog.
Which reminded me…tractors are a popular prop in nude photography…
Mal also told us about a free gift she received via one of her groups, Verocity, which was called ‘Elephant’. And that is, indeed, what it is…
Elephants, too, are no strangers to helping out in nude photography…
Verocity has several other free group gifts available, and we’ll blog some of these on Friday night.
Note that Mal is bottomless in the elephant pose, which brings us to an infographic I found online, and asked Mal to pose accordingly for the photo.
Note the words: ‘Experienced naturists know that most body heat is lost through the upper half of the body. When cool, naturists put on a shirt -not pants’.
With the Oscars (almost) imminent, I note that in the ‘Foreign Language film’ category is a movie set in Vanuatu, called ‘Tanna’.
The film is in the Nivhaal language, and it’s essentially a love story between people in, and beyond, tribes who live, undiscovered by modernity, in the jungle. Indeed, Nivhaal, related to another language called Tanna, appears to be so obscure that both are sort of almost untouched by the internet in terms of me being able to do any further research on them.
The case appear to spend the film (and subsequent ‘red carpet’ appearances) class in nothing but grass skirts, for the females, or grass loincloths for the males, and the film’s promotional material shows off bare buttocks and a topless female (see above).
The cast at the Venice film festival
The film, if nothing else, should remind us that (i) big themes such as love, and tribal fighting, are universal, whether touched by modernity or not and (ii) clothes are often imposed upon us by ‘modern, progressive’ society, whether required or not. In the heat of Polynesian islands there’s not much requirement. Indeed, in the heat of 21st century, modern, progressive France, Spain or the Greek Islands, there’s not much requirement there either. Less clothing means more comfort, so why shouldn’t we adopt the minimum of clothes where the weather permits? Why sweat, chafe or itch in items of clothing not necessarily required…apart from society’s demands that ‘this is what we do…we’re modern and we’re still horribly tied to the mindset of Christian missionaries from a century and a half back’.
While not being an exact match for male clothing, we did find one male loincloth that would sort of replicate the male wardrobe of Vanuatu, priced at L$125.
I’ve no idea if the film will win its category, but it’s certainly good that routine semi-nudity is shown to an international audience without any sort of sexual connotations applied.
Ella
(nb: my foot injury is much better, I’m mobile and can sit with comfort now. Work is settling back into its normal groove now that some sense of ‘it’s not new anymore’ calm has settled on world politics -although how long this continues is debatable- so it’s back to a more normal blogging schedule here on SLN).
For almost as long as the blog has been running, we’ve championed a wider naturism, of adherents attuned to nature, the environment, to caring for the world we get to inhabit for a short time and leaving it in working order for our children and grandchildren. A naturism that has a responsible attitude to litter, cleaning up beaches, opposing fracking and all the other things that make our world a better place.
Let me point you at the website ‘Tree Girl’, wherein a woman takes some incredible photographs, nude, of herself and others set in nature.
A usual, photos may be deemed to be copyrighted, so I won’t repost them, but the video above will give you a flavour of what to expect before visiting Tree Girl’s website.
There are some truly stunning photographs on the site, and show a perfect union between the human body, naked, and nature itself.
We asked model Eileen to don a pair of glasses in order to give herself a little bit of a ‘Tree Girl’ look, after which Harry took her out for a photo shoot in one of SL’s many beautiful, photogenic tree-filled sims.
the sl naturist 