If there’s one thing naturists adore about extending life outdoors, au naturel, it’s al fresco cooking, particularly barbecues.

Naturism is a very sociable lifestyle, best shared with others, and there’s nothing like inviting a few friends round, or being invited round elsewhere, whipping up a salad and then throwing some kebabs or meat onto a barbecue grill. Or grilling up some vegetable kebabs to go with the salads offered.

And I have to say that the very best time for this to occur is late afternoon, usually after the siesta period, perhaps 6pm-ish, as the sun’s going down. Because you have the heat of the BBQ as the evening marginally cools, the wonderful evening light descending into darkness, a meal with good friends and a few drinks.

A new BBQ has been installed at SLN-HQ, precisely to replicate RL within SL. Although…

…be careful when cooking nude! 🙂

Ella

Baby Stroller : L$5 on the Marketplace.

I have to say that when we focus on celebrations like Mothers Day, it makes me wish that we could introduce the idea of SL children in naturism to better demonstrate the wholesome, family aspect of the lifestyle. Sadly, the disgusting behaviour of a few ensure that one important element of naturism -the family orientated aspect of it- is all but invisible, in and out of SL. For this reason, I’ve pixelated April’s daughter as depicted in SL.

Ella

Paris, daughter of the late Michael Jackson, has been posting censored topless photos on Instagram.

This led to a bit of trolling, apparently, which has led Paris to offer a more robust defence of naturism…

Nudism “started as a movement for ‘going back to nature’,” she wrote, “and was even called a philosophy”. It helps her connect to the earth and is a “beautiful thing” that does not have to be seen as sexual, she said.

“Feminism is being able to express yourself in your own way, whether it’s being conservative and wearing lots of clothes or showing yourself.” 

“The human body is a beautiful thing and no matter what ‘flaws’ you have, whether it be scars, or extra weight, stretch marks, freckles, whatever, it is beautiful and you should express yourself however you feel comfortable. 

“If this makes some of you upset i completely understand and i encourage you to maybe no longer follow me, but i cannot apologize for this in any way. it is who i am and i refuse to shy away and keep my beliefs a secret.”

A remarkably positive defence of what are clear naturist, humanist, ideals. Best wishes to Paris for having the awareness to grasp the whole naturist idea and sum it up in a couple of well-worded, pithy sentences. You go, girl!

Ella

Naturism, people will say (and always have said) is about being an individual. So far, so good. People choose to remove their clothes in a non-sexual, social environment. As should be their right.

I was talking to someone yesterday about an evolving naturism. Photography from as recently as the 1980s/1990s will, in the main, show naturists as razor-free, piercing-free, tattoo-free individuals…simply removing their clothes in a non-sexual, social environment.

But naturism has changed over 30 odd years. Tattoos and piercings are in abundance, and the razor rules where pubic hair is concerned. And older naturists sometimes shift uncomfortably in their seats at the evolution. ‘It’s not like it was…’. No, evolution’s awkward like that.

Clearly, given what I’ve said in the past on this blog, I’m not a fan of the razor, I don’t like tattoos, and the one occasion I had my ears pierced as a teenager left me with an infected earlobe, so I never repeated the experiment. I’m, therefore, expressing my individuality, as a naturist, to be a hairier, fresh-canvassed, jangle-free naturist. My choice.

The same choices are available to other naturists, and they may not choose to adopt the same approach as you or I, as individuals, do. They may like tattoos, a smooth look and all manner of piercings. Their choice.

Don’t assume that an expression of individuality involving body decoration of some description negates their authenticity as a naturist. Don’t judge. Accept and be yourself. Accept others as they wish to be themselves.

Tattooed and smooth

A natural look

Pierced

You might, in a small way, judge people on how they vote, what TV shows they watch, sports teams they follow and food preferences, but you wouldn’t dismiss a person’s company for any of these things because you recognise they’re much bigger than just any of those things. Similarly, don’t pre-judge anyone in naturism whose individual choices don’t mirror your own. It’s not the naturist way.

Ella