A sizeable number of comments have come in in recent days asking that the blog continues. I’ve even had one or two people apply for the vacant editor’s chair.

I don’t want to spoil Ella’s legacy, or diminish all she did to promote naturism in general and SL naturism in particular, and my head says to close the blog.

But I’m open to what you, the readership, feel. Several have pointed out that, even for people not involved in naturism, it was a valuable resource. So I’m asking the question, continue or let it go?

I’ll let the poll run for a week and I’ll take my cue from how you, SLN’s readers, feel about it.

Howie.

I’d just like to place, on record, my thanks for all Ella did over the years in making SL Naturist such a success. It was her energy and hard work that did it, all I did was fund it a bit, but there can be no doubt it was Ella’s baby, Ella’s success.

When she stood down from the editor position when her most recent child was born, I still felt the blog had some wind left in its sails, so we recruited Trine as editor and she was equally energetic and successful in keeping it going before Ella was tempted back into the editor’s chair for a second stint.

If I remember correctly Ella once said that it had reached almost every nation on earth at one time or another with a few exceptions, and I know we’ve had about 1.5m visitors over the time we’ve, or rather Ella, has been running the blog. But this time it does feel like it’s time to stop, that we’ve run our course and Ella can be proud to have made one of the very few lifestyle SL blogs around such a success. The blog, as Ella has already said, will remain online. But! And here’s the difference between Ella’s thoughts on the future and mine. I will leave it open that if the naturist lifestyle expands again in the context of SL, and Ella feels in 3-6-12 months time that she is renewed with energy, perhaps we can revive SLN. We do, I think, need that jewel in the crown, as Ella referred to Eden Naturopolis, to be a focal point for SL naturism. There’s some other good naturist sims out there. I’m a member and regular visitor to Lupe’s, for example. But I’d also echo Ella’s view that the focal point of SL naturism has been lost. I maintain a home at Eden, but frankly it’s a shadow of what it was.

I remain committed to some form of lifestyle SL blog publishing, and will take time to consider another blog that might reflect a specific SL community interests. Lots of people make music, fed live into SL, so that might be an option. A growing interest in spirituality and alternative lifestyles (naturism might be part of that too, as it happens) is another option. I’ll take my time and see how we move forward from here. But the SLNMPG (SL New Media Publishing Group) will maintain a presence in blogging and reflecting the successful real life/second life crossover Ella brought to naturism.

Best wishes.

Howie (SLNMPG and SL Naturist Publisher)

Hello everyone.

All good things come to an end.

The closure of Eden Naturopolis felt, to me, as though a jewel in the crown of Second Life naturism had been ripped out. Although there are several excellent naturist sims in existence, it feels to me as though I’ve reached the end of the blogging cycle, and have therefore decided to close the blog with immediate effect.

It has been seven years of blogging, and there always felt as though there was something new to write about in that time, with limited repetition. Recently, it has been to feel as though I am going over the same ground, again and again, and there doesn’t even seem to be a huge amount of naturist related content in real life or in Second Life, to write about.

Thanks to all who read, contributed and commented over the years. Well over a million visitors in the time we’ve operated, from almost every country under the sun (a few Central African countries being the few exceptions to that global span). It has been wonderful and I’ve not regretted a second.

I shall probably be leaving SL too, on the basis that it doesn’t feel as essential as it once did, and log-ins are becoming increasingly rare. I may check in from time to time, I simply don’t know, but right now my appearances inworld are practically zero each month.

The blog shall, of course, remain online.

I don’t really expect to return to SL in the immediate future, if ever. Perhaps the long-promised, never delivered Sansar might change my mind, but that’s doubtful. Time for a new challenge.

Take care, be good to one another, enjoy your real life or virtual naturism, and lots of love to you all.

Ella

There’s a French TV series called ‘Nu’ being broadcast at the moment.

The premise of it is that a policeman wakes up in 2026, having been in a coma for eight years after being shot. In the interim, France has passed a ‘Transparency Law’, which requires everyone to be naked. That way, no one can hide weapons. There is a lot of male and female nudity in it, almost from the off, and it continues right through every scene of the entire series. Except for when the occasional ‘dissident’ is caught wearing clothes!

A silly idea, perhaps, but equally…why not? Where do you hide weapons in an increasingly violent world?

I’ve seen some of it online, but I had to go seek it on one of those rather odious ‘naked celebrity actress’ type websites, which I’d prefer not to go near. However, I was keen to see how the topic was approached. It was rather refreshing, really, as the nudity -basically a naturist world of the near future- was matter of fact and just…there! There was absolutely no sense of eroticism or sexuality involved in it whatsoever. You could say it was basically one long advert for naturism.

Equall refreshing was that it featured, in the main, ‘ordinary’ actresses. There had been no sense that ‘we need to stuff the programme with young, nubile actors and actresses’.

And, of course, we took the opportunity to recreate a scene from it in Second Life.

Ella

This is more about exhibitionism than naturism, but I think the woman at the centre of the story says some things that resonate with people as regards to the manner in which the naked body is still deemed to ‘offend’ while poverty, homelessness, guns, bombs and all other manner of things much more offensive are simply accepted by society.

Bild reports that German actress Antje Mönning was caught exposing herself to undercover police officers in Germany. Reporting makes great play of the fact that she has played a nun in a German TV series.

You can also read the story, in English, from the Daily Mail.

Ms Mönning, who has described herself as an ‘exhibitionist’ told the tabloid that nudity should be ‘considered natural’.

‘Do we really want to live in a society where you can not fool around mindlessly, where everyone is secretly recorded on video, in which people sue each other instead of talking to each other and in tolerance and acceptance soon only exist as foreign words in the dictionary?’

While I would take issue with the ‘exhibitionist’ aspect of her claim, she’s obviously right to say that nudity should be considered natural. It is, and too many people have too many hang ups about it.

And yes, she’s right about the intrusive nature of cameras in everyone’s life right now, and to some extent tolerance and acceptance are now fast disappearing from our vocabulary. An entirely naked Antje should not be causing anyone any offence, and even ‘provocative’ clothes such as she’s wearing shouldn’t be of any concern to anyone. Remember: many marches held by women exist precisely to highlight that women have a right to dress how they like without being subjected to sexual harassment or rape.

“I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

Slutwalks are intended to highlight what should be a basic right for women to dress as they wish, and that includes Antje’s decision to wear a see through blouse. No offence has been committed in that regard!

(Deliberately flashing her bare bottom and genitals, well, that’s a different story, but. going out without underwear is no one else’s business either. And a strong wind exposing her lower half, had it happened, well, that’s still no one else’s business either too. Her right to dress as she pleases).

Ella

The UK is enjoying a little bit of Indian summer weather right now.

Blues skies, low wind, and temperatures hovering, or just over, 20 degrees. Perfect for a little autumn (fall) naturism in the garden…and beyond!

I’ve previously told you that our garden backs onto the sea, reachable by unlocking and walking through a gate in a fence we had erected (it used to be a case of climb over a wire fence, but we fenced it properly when the children could walk and could have ‘explored’ a dangerous area before they could swim).

One of my friends often calls back to the house with me when we’ve left the children to school and we have coffee and a chat once a week, at least. It could maybe be a couple of mornings a week. She’s always known I’m naturist, and over the years she’s asked many questions, to the point where one hot morning we decided it was time to have some coffee and a little naked sunbathing on our terrace, after which she was hooked and we’ve often laid out a couple of sunbeds and enjoyed some sunshine and downtime from being Mums and wives.

This morning, with the weather as good as it is, we went one stage further and unlocked the gate, stepped out onto the ‘beach’ (it’s a couple of yards of sand about 3 foot below land level, peppered with stones and seaweed) and went skinny dipping. Or, at least, immerse ourselves in about two foot of water, not quite a ‘swim’. And it was rather lovely, approaching mid-october, to be able to extend the naturist season accordingly.

My friend was and is reluctant to be photographed (even on her own phone, just for her own memory’s sake) but I was able to persuade her to allow me to photograph her (and her me) for the blog! 😉

Ella

If you’re like me when the phrase ‘naturist location’ is mentioned I immediately think of the beach, a resort, or a club. My mind never automatically wanders to ‘the great outdoors’, even though it’s likely there are far more potential locations for being nude in nature, away from the coast, than there are on the coast!

I started thinking about this and my naturist experiences over the years, and while beaches and resorts are my ‘go to’ places, some of the most memorable have been in nature itself. Naked hill walking in Spain. Nude swimming in a mountain lake in the UK. Showering naked under a waterfall in France (admittedly, it was within a naturist campsite, but still a memorable nude in nature moment). A gallery, above, shows the potential for naturism available in nature. And SL is no different, particularly with many sims decked out in their autumnal (fall) splendour.

Don’t feed the bares! 😉 

Ella

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a play in my life (unless nativities at the children’s schools counts), so the name of Milo Rau is new to me. But apparently he’s something of an enfant terrible in theatre, and his current play, based on the stained glass windows of St Bavo’s in Ghent, is courting a little but of controversy, not least because of…

…Adam and Eve simulating sex in front of an audience of children.

As The Guardian reports it, the children simply ‘looked bored’, but the grown ups seem to think this is awful.

I’m not entirely convinced that simulating sex is entirely necessary, but the photos, which depict naked grown ups in the presence of children, appear to reinforce the idea that nudity in the presence of children isn’t such a big thing, not entirely shocking to them and likely to create feelings of boredom, once they’re past the giggling stage. It all seems rather natural, once past the giggling stage, and humdrum to them.

In the climate of ‘grab ’em by the pussy’ and locker room ‘hi jinks’ by students who think it’s fun to humiliate and hold captive a young woman to the point where she fears she may be raped -simply because the people allegedly undertaking these actions were never taught respect or had the whole teenage male goggle-eyed, bully-boy mindset worked through, even in high school.

Making children aware of the appearance of naked bodies, their own, siblings, parents, whoever, still seems to me a way in which to foster better understanding and respect for one another at an early age. I see that in naturism all the time. 5 & 6 year olds just play naked naturally without thought. By the time they’re 15 & 16 all sense of curiosity, even with puberty coursing their veins, has gone. I’ve witnessed a bunch of 16 year old boys at a naturist resort totally fixated on the naked soccer game they’re playing on the beach, entirely oblivious to the 16 year old girls flicking through teenage magazines for make up tips. All curiosity is gone, the naked body of the opposite gender unremarkable. And I believe naturist children generally carry forward that lesson forward into adult life and know how to behave, in terms of respect, for the other gender.

Ella

It’s that moment when a group of friends decide to challenge one another. It’s conceivable not all have ever gone topless before but they succumb to peer pressure in the moment and pose for the camera. A story to tell friends when they get home. And, who knows, maybe the first step into embracing naturism fully!

Ella

Nice lecture online about the history of FKK. For those who don’t know, FKK means (in Germany, and by extension the rest of the European naturist -and general- population, freikoerperkultur, free body culture. In other words, naturism.

You will often encounter such road signs across Europe.

Ella