Link clicking in pursuit of suitable images to illustrate the blog, I chanced upon this image above. It’s a young woman, probably a Brit, if truth be told, we do have that reputation abroad, having drunk so much she has passed out in the street. She’s either gone out in a short skirt without underwear, or the underwear is a thong not visible to the camera. Such is the way of young people today on holiday. It makes me glad that my first holiday without parental supervision was a (then) wholesome naturist destination!

Worse than the using of  photo is the accompanying text…

Would you

A – Help her into a taxi and get her home safely

B – Take her to your flat and then f*** her

C – F*** her where she is 

Well done, blog writer! You’re offering options to rape. Remember: increasing numbers of European countries are passing legislation whereby if the girl is drunk and incapable of processing consent…it’s rape.

There should be no options other than (a). Well, maybe if options (b) and ( c) are to help her find her girlfriends or stay with her to ensure she doesn’t choke on her own vomit, or wander into a road and get knocked down.  It’s not big, clever or amusing to even suggest, even to readers of a porn blog (I was chasing links and landed in the site which wasn’t remotely naturist) that sex is the remotest possibility. Sure, you were probably trying to be funny in your own head. Sorry, don’t give up the day job, you ain’t a comedian.

Such is the way where young men begin to process information regarding women, and how to treat them, that there’s no respect involved. A woman is merely a sperm receptacle. Who cares if she’s drunk insensible. A stiff prick has no conscience. (And lest you think I’m being crude, that’s Shakespeare!)

This got me thinking…how does SL reflect RL in this regard?

Hmm…’well’ (or terribly), depending how you wish to report it. Lots of sims with ‘rape’ potential, and presumably the reinforcement of the idea that role-play raping female avatars is OK (granted, within SL the likelihood is that the woman is giving her consent, even if it’s advertised as ‘rape’ by hopping onto a pose ball.

I didn’t check out any sims. Just a search for what’s available was enough.

Long, long ago SL pretty much outlawed age-play sims. Having seen what I’ve seen in a search box, it’s clear to me that SL has a responsibility (just as tumblr does) to ban sims that encourage rape. I don’t think that the ‘hey, it’s better people live out fantasies in a virtual world’ stands up at all. As I say, it simply reinforces the whole idea that women are available and easy.

She’s drunk and falling over. It’s time to be a gentleman. Protect her and care for her.

I’ve long been an advocate of banning sims where rape is encouraged, or indeed where female avatars are treated in a submissive manner. We can really live our Second Lives without sims that feel the need to tie women up, put them in cages, or indeed have them naked where men are clothed, in a manner that reinforces male dominance over women. Time for this aspect, as odious as SL child play, to stop!

Ella.

Thanks to James and Lav for playing the ‘drunk girl meets gentleman’ roles in SL!

‘Hi Ella’, avatar Nancy IMs me. ‘As a sort of naturist mother, I’m wondering how you brought up the topic of a naturist holiday with your children? I’m sort of naturist in that my husband and I enjoyed nude holidays when we were first married. Children came along, and we’ve not had any family holidays abroad, or naturist, in recent years. I’m happy to say we’re now in a financial position to be able to afford to take five of us off on holiday and and my husband and I have discussed a naturist vacation, but I’m not sure how we should bring up the topic. Our kids are 11, 8 and 6’.

You don’t say, Nancy, how you approach the topic of nudity in the home. My children were used to seeing us in the bath or shower, or wandering around naked, before they could walk, so the subject of nudity never bothered them. They understood, from an early age, that we could fling off our clothes on a hot day and enjoy the garden as well. As they’ve got older, they still enjoy that sense of freedom and find nudity totally unremarkable.

Where are you planning to go? If the destination has a website, gather them around and show them your idea. Discuss the whole concept of not needing swimming costumes.

If you have some sense of nude freedom in the home, I suspect you’ve got children who will simply accept nudity can also be enjoyed outdoors. Kids simply love the sense of freedom and your younger ones will embrace the idea. Even if you’ve not brought them up with a sense of naked freedom at home they’ll accept the idea -although if you and your husband are going naked in front of them for the first time on holiday then I’d expect there’ll be some giggling when Mummy and Daddy go naked for the first time in front of them. Be prepared for comments like ‘I can see Daddy’s willy’ or ‘I can see Mummy’s boobies’. 🙂

An hour later they’ll have forgotten all about your and their nakedness.

I would add that, despite my children being aware of their parents’ naked forms all of their lives, my oldest boy did ask questions about breasts and pubic hair when he was old enough to articulate the issue. He was curious about why grown ups had those things, and equally as to why some grown ups didn’t have pubic hair. Ditto the issue of body piercings. I explained it all truthfully. Children will accept facts, and are less impressed by a load of old waffle.

If they grow up with it, being naked is natural as far as children are concerned.

I suspect it’s harder for children to get their heads around the idea of parental nudity the older they are. As they move into puberty there’s likely to be a feeling from them that, as a 14/15/16 year old, their parents are simply trying to embarrass them. Most teenagers find their parents embarrassing, naked or clothed.

They learn their behaviour, all of it, from you!

So if they grow up in a naturist environment from birth, the nudity is easily accepted.

You’ll probably find your younger two children are quite content in going nude. You’ll know your 11 year old better than me, but there may just be a little resistance to them going nude. Never impose it on them. If they want to wear swimsuits, fine. Let them find their own comfort levels in their own time. If they never strip, but accept you do, let it be like that.

I’d be thrilled if you report back having broached the subject and let us know how you got on.

Ella

Manchester is 200 miles away from where I live. Regardless of distance, it’s another city in the UK so this week’s events in Manchester are something I feel is close to home.

As usual, though, some elements of the press are keen to link Monday’s events with all of Islam, when we all know that’s not the truth. Most Muslims are peace loving people, and identifying all of Islam with terrorism is ridiculous and wrong. It was 21 years ago Manchester endured, and survived, a terrorist attack by Irish extremists. Manchester survived then. It will again. And today the Irish, in Manchester, aren’t seen as ‘all’ being extremist or terrorist. We can hope that it takes less than 21 years for ‘all’ Muslims in the Greater Manchester area to be regarded as peace loving people, the overwhelming majority as offended and disgusted by Monday night’s events as you or I.

I’m always aware that a Second Life link to real life, in these circumstances, trivialises tragic events….wherever! Be it Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Nice, Manchester, London…

SL, of course, responds. We’re human beings, embracing humanity, even in our SL guises. But now is not the time or place to post a couple of posts I’ve been working on for a few weeks now, regarding Islam within SL and how we, the real people at this end of the screen, can learn from the avatars on the other side of the screen, not only in terms of the Islamic faith, but sexuality, gender issues, colour.

Ella

I had intended to be inworld last night (Friday) but the weather was Mediterranean in its evening heat and zero breeze – so it was a case of carpe diem, seize the day, or more accurately carpe noctem, seize the night. With the children in bed, and just settling down to open up the computer, Jim had this mad idea to do a barbecue at 1030pm! The weather was so marvellous we’d not been wearing anything at home since getting in from work/the school run, so there we were at 11pm, doing some barbecuing in the fading light. Because we’re quite northerly here, the evenings go on forever. Not quite Scandinavian levels of it being bright all night, it does get dark, but there’s a marked difference between the evenings here and evenings in London, where I was used to it being pitch dark by 9pm, even in summer. Here, there’s some light in the sky at 11pm and in a month or so it’ll be bright enough (weather permitting) to sit out and read a book in natural light at 11pm. I’m still not used to it after so many years living further south!

So no SL activity last night. Instead, a glass of wine (or two! 😉 ) and some naked al fresco cooking. We wrapped up around 100am, both of us a little tiddly, so I’m a little delicate this morning 🙂

Rain is forecast for most of the day today, so hopefully I’ll get online this afternoon or evening with some posts, particularly as I’ve got a bit of a backlog of posts now and I’d like to ‘clear the decks’ before moving on to new naturist blog entries.

Ella

nb: when researching for suitable ‘naked BBQ’ photos to accompany the post, I chanced upon some imagery, cartoons, by Hannah Carding. As it’s copyrighted work, I won’t reproduce it here, but there are some amusing nude cartoons featuring a world BBQing nude, going on the Underground (Metro/subway) nude and doing some field sports, also nude. Worth checking out!