Naturism isn’t for everyone. There are people who remain anxious about exposing their genital area, and that’s fine, no one involved in genuine naturism is going to push them to fully strip off (with the caveat that naturists don’t like people remaining dressed on the naturist beach while being there for obvious perving/voyeur purposes.

We’ve all had our nervous first time, and as long as you’re easing into the lifestyle, no one blinks an eyelid. The likelihood is that you’re going to be stripped off in an hour anyway. When surrounded by naked bodies, you feel more self-conscious in a costume, and the only way to blend in and become anonymous is to stick that swimming costume into the beach bag.

In Europe, large numbers of women go topless, but the bikini briefs remain in place. It’s likely that many women don’t even think of this as being semi-nude, but just the dress code for the beach. When topless, the bikini briefs will sometimes be a full bikini brief, the lady in question thinking that she doesn’t want almost her full bottom exposed any more than she would ever want to display her intimate parts.

Men, of course, are routinely ‘topless’ and don’t even give the process a thought, including their choice of swimwear, which more often than not seems to be of the ‘shorts’ variety more than a pair of speedos.

Even where speedos are the deal, they’re a full cut shape, covering the man’s bottom.

Then there are those ladies whose costumes are of a much higher cut, almost all of their bottom displayed, just a small triangle of fabric covering their genital area, and very much cut lower and lower so that the only thing not being shown is the vaginal lips, pubic hair almost invariably having been removed in full. These are the ‘Wicked Weasel‘ design of bikini briefs. The point?

A Wicked Weasel bikini. If you’ve reached the point of wearing this, isn’t it time to embrace naturism?

I find this sort of costume exceptionally strange. Everything else is displayed. Boobs, bum, maybe even a good portion of the mons pubis. Yet the woman hasn’t reached a point where she can say, ‘oh, to hell with it, this flimsy piece of fabric is just ridiculous’.

To me, these costumes say ‘I really want to go nude but I can”t because…the cloth covers my most private of places’. In other instances they say ‘I’d be quite relaxed being nude, and in fact have spent time on naturist beaches, but the silly laws in place at this beach demand I have to stupidly cover my genital area’.

If nude sea/sunbathing is possible on the beach, sometimes there are those who do eventually get rid of the stupid costumes.

‘Why have I been wearing this silly piece of pink fabric for several days?’

Sometimes it’s that *gulp and breathe deeply…it’s only my penis/vagina on public display for the first time* moment. For others, experienced naturists included, it’s the moment when they can finally allow all of their skin to breathe freely. In naturist circles, these people whose lower body tan is maybe several days behind the rest of their body, are called ‘cottontails’, with white bottoms on display.

Look! It’s a cottontail! Yes, the rabbit’s white rear is why experienced naturists sometimes refer to new naturists as ‘cottontails’

Of course, some ‘cottontails’ are experienced naturists. We can’t all have the pleasure and privilege of a private back garden in which to top up the tan prior to a naturist vacation. And sometimes (most of us on SLN are Brits, remember?) we don’t have the weather to even try.

So…thongs and cottontails in SL? Let’s have a look, shall we?

Yes. Easily done. There are lots of free and cheap micro bikinis around the grid and on the Marketplace, and as for tan lines to ‘cottontail’ it, I wrote about the same topic back in June.

  ‘Thank goodness I’ve got rid of that ridiculous piece of cloth!’

Tanlines are free, as a group gift (L$0 joining fee) at the Black Pearl store.

Pookes