Apart from my youngest, my children don’t really go much for lots of cuddles anymore, feeling too ‘grown up’ for that ‘yucky kissing’ thing I and their Dad do (pretty much daily in front of them, lol) but as Howie’s home has a new swimming pool, complete with parent/child poses, I decided I’d pose accordingly.

There may be those who baulk at the notion of a naked (pixel drawn) child in the photos, but I’m of an opinion that I’m fed up having my naturism held hostage to the actions and perverted mindsets of a few individuals who’ve altered an entire perception of naturism, as if children aren’t part of the agenda. Of course children, and family orientated naturism, are core to the lifestyle.

Without children being involved in naturism it could be argued that the new, happy, well-adjusted and safe ‘next generation’ of naturists will wither (see below), and that we -naturists- would face some sort of existential crisis as a result.

British Naturism (see their recent tweet above) appear to agree with me.

We’ve always been blasé about our nudity around the home and on holiday, have always used the proper words for parts of the body, and the children are growing with an acceptance of their own, ours and others nakedness. Piercings, depilation or pubic hair doesn’t really interest them one iota any longer. Things just are what they are.

I don’t intend to make naturist children ‘a thing’ within the blog (incidentally, the avi undertaking the role of ‘my daughter’ is an alt of mine, there’s no age-play involved here) and I won’t be posting photos of real life naturist children. But I am going to move forward on the basis that we must begin to reposition them, in a theoretical sense, within naturism. To keep reminding people that they are there, they are happy and well adjusted, that they’re the next generation and that, despite their relative invisibility (even in text form, not even photographic form) in naturist websites and blogs, we have to remember that they’re there, and that it’s by immersing them in naturism at a young age that we will ensure healthy, rounded teenagers and adolescents, less curious about what the other sex looks like and thus less likely to be indulging in some of the more dangerous rites of passage of teenage (unprotected sex, teenage pregnancy and so on).

I expect some readers will disagree with the view that we must make children and families more ‘visible’ (purely in a textual sense, not photographed). But I feel that I’m swimming with the tide here, if the likes of British Naturism are also gently reminding us of the many benefits to be gained by introducing children to the lifestyle.

Ella

Thank goodness for the Fab Free Cart Sale!

I’ve fallen into a bit of a disinterest in SL recently and have contemplated calling it a day with the blog, but a bit of retail therapy at The Wash (Fab Free HQ in SL) has bumped me out of that! 🙂

While not ‘naturist’, the items bought harken back to the early days of the blog when posts would regularly be peppered with what I called ‘the naturist wardrobe’, that is, clothing items that would have fitted in with my naturist holidays.

I’ve picked up a lovely boho outfit (L$10) as seen in the top photo, and that sort of long, flowing skirt and minimal top is the sort of thing I would wear to restaurants. The bottom photo features a similar boho styled skirt, not really focused on for the photo, but I’ve paired it with a loose, lacy and see-thru top. Where I holiday, some restaurants might have no issues with such clothing in the evenings, others might have a rather more strict dress code, so it’s not the sort of thing I would necessarily wear out to an evening meal, but something I would throw over me if we take ourselves off the beach and into a beach bar for a light, tapas lunch.I’m hoping that the chance to wear/show off my new purchases is the starting point for a reinvigorated SL!

Ella

I picked up a story in today’s UK ‘Mail on Sunday’, relating to children’s author Enid Blyton. Everyone in the UK will be aware of the books she wrote, including series of them about ‘Noddy‘, the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. 

Many of the tales are related to little gangs of children from privileged backgrounds, all at boarding schools and getting up to all manner of ‘larks’, and in the Secret Seven I suppose there’s almost a blueprint for ‘Scooby Too’, in that many mysteries get solved.

I don’t imagine Blyton will have too much of a reputation beyond the UK, and with the progression of time the attitudes in her books have been branded (rightly so) as both racist and sexist. Some feature a ‘golliwog’ – ‘wog’ being a historical racist term of abuse in the UK.

Examples of ‘golliwogs’

Of course, Blyton didn’t invent the golliwog. Credit(?) for that has to go to Florence Kate Upton, who was writing books 40-50 years prior to Blyton. How much of Blyton’s racism was real, and how much of it was the times she lived in is hard to guess, but what’s clear is that the attitudes don’t belong in the 21st century, as they shouldn’t in the 20th, 19th or prior.

An example might be in Blyton’s book Mister Meddles Muddles, with text such as “Go to the kitchen,” said his aunt, angrily. “You are not fit to be here with us. You need to be taught more manners than the little black children. I am really ashamed of you, Meddle.” or“Now, there’s a very nicely behaved nephew of yours,” everyone said to Aunt Jemima. “You must be proud of him. If only we could have the little black children in far-off countries brought up like Meddle, what a wonderful thing it would be!”

Wow!

What interested me about the story reported today was her attitudes, from the plain awful -indifference towards her children- to the ‘outrageous’ (for the times…an affair with a married man, a lesbian crush) to the forward thinking -naked tennis. Yes, naked tennis.

I know it’s not much of a unique thing these days in the culture of naturism, with many clubs having their own tennis courts or miniten (a cut down version where space is at a premium in naturist grounds) and the internet is certainly awash with pictorial evidence of naked tennis being played, but back in the 1920s/30s such behaviour, particularly beyond the then growing naturist culture and lifestyle, would have been to court outrage.

Anyway, here’s a few photos of a more familiar naked tennis almost a century after Blyton, with our model Abbey even managing to do a bit of it herself in SL.

Ella

…that I’m not feeling inspired by Second Life lately. Recent surgery, and a naturist season that has never really begun this year, have left me becalmed in terms of both blogging and even logging into SL.

I’ve been struggling with interest in both lately, and I find that there is now beginning to be a fair amount of repetition in the blog.

I’ve made no definitive decision yet -I’ve been here before and sometimes all that’s required is one new purchase/location to reinvigorate me again- but it’s beginning to feel as if the blog has run its course, as though it may be time to stop blogging. While I’ve had these periods before, they’ve never gone on as long as this one before.

I’m taking the time to decide. Nothing has been made certain yet. But unless something turns up soon, and relights my appetite for blogging and SL, it maybe feels like time to call it a day. Seven years, pretty much the same length of time The Beatles functioned in the public eye, seems like a period of time to run something before it gets boring. I’ll keep you informed, but right now, there’s nothing planned to post, and not much enthusiasm to even log in.

Ella

Britain’s Daily Mail has an interview with veteran broadcaster Esther Rantzen, in which she tries to explain why Britain needs to be less uptight about nudity.

Ella

I’m only now feeling like I’m getting back into SL after an enforced lay off, and one of the things I spotted was L$1 Bento poses from Wasazu on the Marketplace.

Although they weren’t designed as naturist, a couple of them easily lend themselves to naturist poses, the first being one where a towel/wrap is blowing away…so I’ve photographed it with and without the wrap.

The second one is a perfect ‘wading out of the water after a swim pose’.

Ella