TheG

[TheG]

This thread makes me think I’ve wandered into the IT department. It’s so long since I briefly worked in IT that, in those days, the computers were huge and needed arctic air conditioning. Not a good environment for being naked, though even then there were rumours of dares that had been carried out!!

Ed likes this

[TheG]

I blame mass production. I can’t buy cheap clothes from supermarkets because I’m overheight. My doctor thinks I’m condemned to an old-age full of illnesses because I’m overweight according to her definition, but I’m not overweight according to the supermarket clothes definition. I could be a lot fatter and still wear their clothes, but I’d need to be shorter. My liquid diet is overcaffienated and underhydrated. My garden is underflowered and overweeded. A friend once tried to explain that she was the wrong shape to wear a particular kind of dress. (I tried very hard to pay attention, honest!) Surely the dress was the wrong shape for her, not the other way round. When I’m naked, am I underdressed or overskinned? (I’m what a serious real pagan would call a “wannabe pagan”, and I like the word “skyclad”.)

Going back to a previous discussion, maybe some people are shocked by nakedness just because the skyclad person isn’t wearing the average amount of clothing, a tiny bit like the gutter press being “shocked” that a princess is too skinny or a TV presenter is too fat.

[TheG]

Yes, I’m concerned that if someone sees me naked, they’ll think I’m a flasher, or at least they’ll react as if I’m a flasher. Despite naturism not being illegal, people do call the police if they see a naked man, and the police do investigate. I was surprised fairly recently to see a local newspaper report about police asking people to check their doorbell and dashboard camera footage because they’d had a report of a naked man wandering around late at night. It gave the impression they wanted to arrest him even though the report was so vague he clearly hadn’t caused any trouble. Even if he was then released without charge, it could lead to him being unable to get an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate signed off to work with vulnerable adults etc etc. That’s a different emphasis from another newspaper story where someone had reported seeing a naked woman seemingly tied to a lamp-post. On that occasion the police were trying to identify her, supposedly so that they could check on her welfare, but I wonder what being “identified” could mean for her future employment, especially as the police can be remarkably lax about giving too many details to the media.

Sorry about my uncharacteristic grumpiness. I’ll go for a naked wander around the garden to cheer myself up (and hope next door’s security camera is less invasive than it appears to be!)

ptHarry likes this

[TheG]

Is it essentially a knee-jerk reaction to under-age kids posting nude selfies online? I can see that’s a serious problem, especially where (a) they are tricked/coerced (which if course can be scarily subtle) or (b) they are cutting themselves off from their desired future careers. That means it would make sense to age-check young-looking people submitting images, much as shops age-check cigarette and alcohol purchasers. That doesn’t explain a need to age-check all members of the community. Maybe it’s simpler to age-check everyone up-front and then not need to spend even more time keeping track of who is posting what.

Re-reading that, I’ve used a lot of hyphens. If the hyphen-forfeit is to take something off for each one, I’m relieved it’s relatively warm here.

Ed likes this

[TheG]

I wonder how some sites manage to cope with numerous levels of patreon support. Maybe they have a team of technical, admin, marketing etc people behind the scenes. The new regulations could be most challenging to the smallest sites – yet another way that big corporates get more and more advantage over independent sites.

ptHarry likes this

[TheG]

I’d have found that weird, but would probably quickly get used to it.

ptHarry likes this

[TheG]

On a beach, people undress and dress together, so I’m not being very logical here. I’d find it very easy to come out of a changing room naked, especially those individual ones that are the opposite of a tardis. I’d find it more difficult, at least at first, to get undressed in front of everyone. It would be a good initiation, though, if I was joining a group for the first time. Reminds me of Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show.

ptHarry likes this

[TheG]

That’s a really interesting question, especially in the light of current debates about gender. I’ve sometimes wondered how I would experience this site differently if I presented as a woman, and whether I would like what I experienced. I know this isn’t a “whooar – get ‘em off luv” kind of community but there must be subtle differences in the way we approach each other depending on the gender mix. (Don’t worry – I won’t be creating a female account. I’d quickly make mistakes. “As I was saying to my mate Fred in the gents bog last night… oops, I meant the ladies bog obviously.”

John and Ed like this

[TheG]

That’s sad. There’s lots of history here. But I suppose we need to live in the present, not the past.

ptHarry and Ed like this

[TheG]

I remember a conversation at work a few years ago where the subject of nakedness came up. It must have been after a Naked Office programme had been on TV. One woman said that if anyone from work somehow saw her naked, or if she saw anyone from work naked, she’d be mortified and would never be able to speak to them again. Another woman said she and her partner often went to nude beaches on holiday because they were less crowded than costumed ones, and that people very quickly stopped noticing that anyone was naked. I haven’t yet been to an official nude beach, but I think it would feel very natural these days. (I can’t imagine really doing an actual Naked Office day though!!)

Ed, ptHarry and Jesss like this

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