Our life as nudist bloggers is pretty awesome. The pictures on our Instagram account and the stories on this website don’t lie. During the last 2.5 years, our continuous travels have taken us to some of the most amazing places in the world. We’ve visited naturist villages in France, hiked nude in the Californian desert, went on a nude sailing trip on Lake Ontario, got naked with a bunch of fun Brazilians in the Amazon rainforest and only recently visited the nudist festival in Zipolite, Mexico. Not to mention the uncountable nude beaches and naturist resorts we’ve visited.
You, our readers and followers, often tell us that we are living the perfect life. And honestly, we think so too. We’re not going to fake some kind of modesty here. We love our life. It’s the best life we could wish for. We love the many people we meet, the many places we visit, the traveling (well, after 16 hours on a crappy night bus we might tell you something different), the warm weather we keep chasing and the time we can spend without clothes. And we love taking funny pictures for Instagram and writing about all our experiences, ideas and visions. You’re absolutely right. We are living the perfect life.
When a blog becomes a business
One downside of the world we’re traveling through is that it’s not organized according to the Black Rock City principle, the temporary city in Nevada where the annual Burning Man festival takes place. In such an alternative world, we would be able to exchange our photos and stories for food, booze and a roof over our heads. Whereas today, we need euros, dollars and pesos to keep ourselves alive and on the road.
When we started Naked Wandering back in 2016, we had no idea where this would be going. We couldn’t have dreamt that today, almost 4 years later, we would find ourselves in a town in Mexico still writing blog posts. Naked Wanderings started from ideology. We noticed that the nudism we were experiencing was not like the nudism we read about on the internet. We wanted to show the world that nudists are more than just a bunch of grannies playing petanque or hippies living in the woods with no hot water or (the horror!) wifi connection.
Things started to go fast. Our story got picked up by the international news and soon we found ourselves butt naked in newspapers all over the world. Our family was so proud… We even got featured live in an American TV show, long before we had ever set foot on American soil. Our audience boomed. From 7000 readers per month in 2016, to 20 000 per month in 2017, to 50 000 per month in 2018, to more than 150 000 monthly readers in 2019.
We saw an opportunity here. What if we could start earning money by doing what we do? What if our bank accounts could start filling up again, instead of running as dry as the Sahara desert?
The struggles of running an online nudist business
We are not the only ones with this idea. There are lots of other nudist bloggers out there who also figured out that that there’s money to be made with running a website. We started copying the blueprint of successful travel bloggers. We had read their success stories and figured that with an audience the size of ours, we could easily make thousands of dollars with advertising and affiliate marketing. We put on our rose-colored glasses and saw a bright and comfortable future, full of nudist traveling, ahead of us.
Most of our applications to advertising and affiliate networks got rejected one after the other. For one reason: nudity. Or in some cases even porn. No harm done, we wrote back to explain that nudism is nothing sexual, that it’s a very genuine lifestyle and that the number of worldwide nudists keeps growing steadily. The statistics of our website and social media are the best proof. 150 000 monthly readers in 2019, that’s a huge specific market which few others are reaching.
We received a lot of excuses. “It’s not us, it’s our advertisers. They just don’t want their product to be shown anywhere near a naked body“. So far making big bucks.
The alternative ways to monetize nudism
You’re probably wondering where this very long introduction is leading to, so let’s get to the point. Like ourselves, the other nudist bloggers ran into the exact same problems. We all started to search for alternatives, for ways to avoid the prudish dictatorship of Google and Facebook. Some put donate buttons on their websites, asking their readers for financial support so at least the costs of keeping a website online could be compensated. And then a new way of gathering donations became popular, in the form of Patreon and OnlyFans.
Technically, these websites provide a subscription platform. Visitors pay a monthly fee to subscribe to your account and in return, you give them premium content that nobody else gets. A bit like subscribing to a newspaper or a magazine. But of course, who’s going to pay to read your writings? 150 000 people happily read our blog posts for free, but how many of those are going to give us $10 a month to do so?
Because of social media censorship, some bloggers noticed an opportunity. If you become a member of their Patreon or OnlyFans account, you get to see the uncensored version of their photos. And more! You get to see specially made uncensored photos. And videos!
Who sells nudist pictures? And who buys them?
If you ever Googled the terms “family naturism”, we hope that you were as disgusted as we were when we did so for the first time. The first 15 items of more than 124 million results (if these were all genuine nudist websites, the whole world would be nude by now) give you the opportunity to buy pictures and videos of naturist families and children.
Now we wonder… We are nudists, we see naked people all the time. Including families and children. For us, that’s as normal as can be. Why on earth would we pay money to see pictures of someone else’s family?
For social and family reasons, we’re often forced to watch the endless series of pictures from our friend’s or aunt’s latest vacation. We often think that they should pay us to do so. No way that we would pay to watch some stranger’s holiday pictures.
It’s not too hard to imagine that the people who pay membership fees to those websites are not nudists like you and us. Then what with those who subscribe to your OnlyFans account to get to see your uncensored pictures and premium videos?
The controversy with selling nudist pictures to support nudism
It’s important to mention that not everyone who supports a nudist Patreon account is by default a pervert. Plenty of them do so because they appreciate all the work the blogger puts into his or her project and because they want the project to keep running. Similarly, we’re also pretty sure that not every single person who visits Naked Wanderings or looks at our Instagram photos does so with the right intentions.
So what’s the difference? No matter if you sell your content or just give it away for free, it will always reach both the right and the wrong people. And if creating paid content actually helps you to write more, take more pictures, create more videos and visit more nudist places to tell the world about, isn’t it actually a better idea than the risk of running broke and becoming the next nudist website that has to shut down for financial reasons?
Our biggest problem with creating paid nudist content is the message it sends to the outside world. As nudist bloggers, we have an exemplary role. We show the world what nudism is and what it means to be a nudist. What will the world think when we show them that as nudists, we sell premium uncensored pictures of ourselves?
Let us know what you think.
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The road to Hades is paved with pay per view.
Right now your are a shining example of what naturist, or for that matter any type of, blogging should be. Informative, fun, positive and encouraging. Every reader wishes they had friends like you because of what you write and do.
Understand life takes funds to carry on. Would hope you could sell your book in English, or Nick & Lins towels, or write a clothed travel blog on the side that could get sponsorship, or remote part time software work, or some thong else.
Hate to see you folks selling your souls to the devil.
Your are the best, please keep it that way.
Don’t worry, we won’t sell our souls to the devil any time soon. We keep coming up with ideas that could improve the naturist world, we just need to work them all out. NaturistAds is a good example of that.
We had hoped to publish our book in English, but our publisher refuses to do so. Since this book is written in collaboration with a publisher, we’re pretty much stuck to that. Maybe we’ll write another book one day in English.
Thanks for the very kind words!
Ditto what CuCntry said!
So just how much can I get per picture?
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pay to see me naked but if the money is right?
Is that taxable income? Lol.
We’re sure that you can get big bucks with this Marc! 😀
I like your optimism!!
I like your blog and envy your life travelling. I realise this dosen’t come cheap so you need to have an income. But selling nudist pictures I fear is not the answer. True nudists don’t need pictures of other naked nudists. The pictures would get purchased by people with the wrong intentions. For the record as soon as you ask people to buy an image I have found as a professional photographer suddenly they don’t like it enough to part with money for it. My images on Facebook & Instagram get loads of likes but the same images on Patreon have never sold.
I’d think again and find another way of generating an income. At the moment you inhabit the high ground of true naturism. All the best guys.
Don’t get us wrong, we’re not actually planning to start such a paid account with uncensored pictures 🙂
No I realise you are musing about how to advance the cause of naturism and to make it financially possible to continue to do what your doing which I full support. I think you two guys are awesome. I have thought for years could I use my skills as a professional photographer and my commitment to a naturist lifestyle to shoot images that could generate an income using real naturists preferably more mature in landscape and seascape images as naturist art. So far because of a lack of willing naturists and knowing I would have to police and prosecute the inevitable pirates that steal other people’s work to protect my copyright and the purpose for which they are intended the advancement of naturism and the sitters rights it hasn’t happened. So I completely support you in asking the question. It’s sad so many non naturists would miss use images with nudity in them.
In the end it’s your call what you decide but know I will support your decision.
Selling naturist content online is definitely not the best way forward. The best examples are the types of websites that are currently selling “naturist photos”.
But have you ever considered selling prints of your work? We can imagine that lots of naturist resorts could be interested in buying those prints to decorate their resort.
As I read the comments and what some said about nudists not willing to pay money for nude pictures, I totally agree with them. But I would gladly, like many more of us, to contribute to a donation if it would be available. Not everyone can travel to where you’ve been and definitely I would like to learn more about many other places you’ll be visiting in the near future.
I really love every each one of your blogs!
You are a premium business in this space. You cannot cheapen the “Naked Wanderings” brand by selling content and expect to survive. You have entered into a space that I do not believe anyone thought would run for 2 1/2 years without going down this path. Ad’s may seem today as a potential income source but is it really that different than what you have written about in this piece really?
It is possible that you cannot continue. Personally I applaud what you are doing and what you have created. Most all envy/agree with what you have done and written. I hope you find a way here.
You cannot cheapen your brand.
It will ultimately destroy everything you have built.
Thanks for the kind words. Meanwhile, with NaturistAds we have been able to generate some income through advertising on Naked Wanderings and we’re sure that this had an influence on the design and readability of our blog. But we are strict about trying to only publish the right ads that could actually bring value to the reader. You won’t find any ads that are not naturist or travel-related for example.
From that point of view, we definitely think that ads are a more genuine way to earn income than selling uncensored pictures 🙂
I think the idea of a paid subscription for uncensored photos is tacky. As naturists, all photos should ideally be uncensored, but the textile society still seems to believe that the human body is shameful. Real naturists would have no interest in paying to seem someone nude. This would only appeal to voyeurs.
Perhaps you could lead paid naturist tours, such as a tour of naturist locations in France. Another idea might be to host naturist events, similar to the Zipolite Naturist Festival. Hosting sailing trips to naturist locations would be another idea. I think that there are lots of people who would be interested in taking advantage of your travel experiences.
The naturist tours is actually something we hear a lot. We have to think about that some day 🙂
Ultimately a web site for business is one of two things, promote your business or some else’s. Since selling advertising is not working out perhaps you need to start your own. A Naturist Travel company that offers guided tours. Think of it as a Bare Necessities for land travel.
Well, selling advertising actually started to work because we’ve launched our own advertising platform NaturistAds. This is a bit the issue. If we want something similar as in the textile world, we have to create it ourselves. Which is really fun, but also very time intensive.
As always, interesting, thoughtful article full of (Belgian?) humor.
I do feel bad now though. You guys are fantastic and have done more to normalize genuine naturism than anyone else on the planet. We get to read, see and enjoy your experiences and you put a smile on our faces and make us dream of a being on a naturist beach or a skinny dip on the Wild Atlantic Way.
I don’t view or sign up to any patron and only fans accounts and really hope you guys don’t go there but at same time will totally understand if you need to. We all have to live and pay the bills and we only get one shot at life here.
But I hope instead you find another way to fund your naked wandering. Maybe open a group of cool, trendy, fun, boutiquey clothing optional places where we can all enjoy The Naked Wanderings Experience !
In the meantime, best I can offer for now is to donate multiple creamy Guinness in your pint glasses when you reach the west of Ireland ??
Since beer-money is a very important part of our budget, a couple of pints are always very much appreciated 😉
I love the idea of supporting content creators through Patreon! However, I do think there are other types of content that you could provide to “paid” members, even if it’s just 1€/month. For example, an audio podcast to augment your wonderful Instagram feed and website… In the end, I agree with most that uncensored photos isn’t the way to go, but I am sure many of your fans would be willing to throw in something per month for other types of content.
Thanks for the tip Steven. The thing is, there are only 24 hours in a day 🙂
We think that we can say that we’re pretty good with words and photos, but if we need to start with audio and/or video, that would again be a huge learning curve. And we would hate that our other content would suffer from that.
Perfektní snímky , super
I guess if you have to make ends meet than do it you only live once.
Yeah, selling nudist photos would attract the wrong clientele. Why would a genuine nudist want to pay for such things?
Every nudie has different standards. Some only publish FB safe pictures. Others see no reason to accede to the demands of textile sensibilities. I’ll publish full frontals of myself if I think the story calls for it. (And I’m writing for a mostly clothed audience.) Others don’t even want their face visible.
To each their own.
Kind of a different subject of those most interesting ones that always get lots of comments.
Now , im not sure,its late as i write and i need the beeed …! so u actually asking ppl if its ok for u to do this or..?
Anyway, i dont think there are “right” and “wrong” ppl, theres just something u accept and do not eccept ,just cause u dont accept something, it does have to mean its wrong,and that it shouldnt exist, and that ppl that like or do that are wrong type of ppl.
I mean, just recently, i had to get a upgrade on my cable ,so i can watch the Nascar 2020 season ,to basicly unlock the sports channels other channels where they show it.
Now is that wrong? I can still watch tons of football on the first 3 channels of that tv station, but for Nascar i needed to upgrade..
Now, to me, naturism, is something that should tech be as far aways as it can from capitalism.
You remember how often i compared it with communism in those old mails hah ..gee that looks like it was ages ago now wow.. anyway..
There are nude beaches places ,or even non nude, it dont matter .. but at same time ,there are tons where u have to pay to be there..
So in that sence, whats the difference?
Whats the difference when u look at the Pride`s of today, that are more street advertising then rights march..
Of course nudies most likely wont pay others to see they nude vacation, or family with kids .. but others might ,others that aint nudies, cause for ex. you dont really get to see many of those kind of pics ,so thats one way of seing them, someone obviously figured, hey .. there are not much pics like that online, that means i could make money out of it if theres pps that wanna see pics like that.
At the end of the day, isnt it like .. hey , if u wanna make something like that and sell it, and hey if there is someone out there that wants to buy it? why should it concern you/me?
Anyway, a little off subject ,i dont know how much do you remember, but i said we have a little unofficial nude beach here on the river .. and guess what .. our brilliant corrupt polititians wanna make an elite, by the water type of appartment blocks and stuff.. that would tear down the ship yard,and all the ranch houses ppl made there ,little by water restaurants and all … not to mention it can cause big floods in the city in the future cause they wanna narrow down the river at that part..
Very important to mention is that the underlying question of this blog post was NOT whether people would find it ok if we would start selling uncensored pictures. If this would be the only way to earn money with Naked Wanderings, we’d rather do something else instead.
Another interesting question, which you point out, is if it’s ok to monetize a lifestyle like naturism. Which has for a long time been based on non-profit intentions and voluntary work. We could write a whole blog post about this subject and it’s not really what this one is about.
The question we do ask is: “As promotors of nudism, as promotors of non-sexual nudity, can you say that some parts of your nudity need to be paid for?”.
Doesn’t that spread the idea that you can pay to visit a nudist resort to see the uncensored stuff?
Do note that we’re talking about nudists who promise “premium” and “uncensored” content.
We’re not talking about nudists models who sell their high-quality art pictures online. But we (as in Nick & Lins) would make a great example in this question. You can rarely see any breast or genitals in what we post. What would it say about us, or nudists in general, if we did put content for sale where you could see breasts and genitals?
“is if it’s ok to monetize a lifestyle like naturism”
Every nudist resort, every cruise, even my own show is an effort to monetize nudism. I think the key is what aspect you are monetizing. In my case, you aren’t paying for genitalia, you’re reading or listening to the associated story and I hope you’re entertained.
If someone were to sell access to naked pictures for a price, the only people who would pay are people who desperately want to look at naked pictures. I really don’t understand those folks. There is an endless supply of nude photos online. I think the only reasonable assumption is that they want to see nudes of people they already have a relationship with through reading. Nudes of the sellers, not just random nudes.
I don’t have the slightest problem with selling vacation nudes. But at that point you aren’t selling naturism anymore, you’re selling sexuality. If the buyer wants to see you *personally* naked. I don’t have a problem with it. I’m just as sex-positive as I am body positive. But someone who is naturist at heart won’t pay for such a thing. If I believe something should be free and normal, charging money runs counter to that.
Who is your market?
However, put yourself in the mind of a non-nudist who sees your regular photos and then a link to buy photos with genitalia and nipples. You’re teasing them. What conclusion would they arrive at?
I REALLY REALLY REALLY think that us nudies need to do everything we can to desensitize the public to the notion of nonsexual nudity. Otherwise, we are stuck in the backwoods and resorts and we’ll never be able to fully open our closets.
A lot of people are quite comfortable in their closets. That’s ok too.
The use of nonexplicit nudes in a blog about nudism has a purpose and that is to pull in people who are not comfortable yet with the full monte. If little Johnny sees them, parents won’t freak out. If the post gets shared on FaceBook, nobody will get their account canceled. If employers or friends see, there is little risk of repercussions. All extremely valuable considerations.
So it is never a question of “is it ok” and always a question of objectives. Personally I opt for a bolder approach. YMMV. While I don’t focus on genitalia, I’d don’t avoid them either. It all depends on which photo ends up in focus and best composed and best supports the story.
Some of my nudie posts don’t even have a body photo in them and others leave nothing to the imagination. Those I usually tuck an NSFW warning in somewhere so I don’t freak unexpecting viewers out. But then my blog has a LOT of textile readers who don’t seem to mind. I count that as a good thing because my desire is to destigmatize nudity among non-nudists.
There are ways to monetize naturism that doesn’t denature it. I think the best is a Patreon or maybe a Coffee button. You could have a Kickstarter or Go Fund Me project. Sell carefully vetted advertising. Use a spare bedroom for a naturist B&B. You could even sell photos if the photos themselves are really unique and works of art.
I’m retired and my income is just enough I don’t feel a need to make money. I absolutely understand that not everyone is in such a position.
This was exactly the purpose of this blog post… To start an interesting conversation. Thanks a lot for your contribution Fred!
Of course, our title question can’t just be responded with a simple “yes” or “no”. We’ve met several photographers along the way who sell nude art. Often even in a naturist context. And we don’t have the slightest problem if they link this to naturism, as long as their art also expresses non-sexual nudity.
The promise of uncensored visual content, however, does get a sexual connotation. Why would someone not pay for a censored image of ourselves but pay for an uncensored one?
That’s a bit the bottom line in this blog post. We have been publishing free content for almost 4 years now. Would people pay for the exact same content if we stopped giving it away for free?
And if not, what would it make of us if we would suddenly change the “type” of the content we produce just so people would buy it?
I think if we were to see more breasts and genitals in your regular posts it would go farther in promoting non-sexual nudity. I’m sure the cheeky photos with strategically placed coffee cups, breadsticks, etc. are fun to make and necessary on certain platforms to be published at all, but they actually buy into the counter message of the “naughty bits” have to be covered. It re-enforces the message that there are naughty bits.
We started with our own “censorship” for several reasons:
1. It avoids us getting kicked out of popular social media like Instagram and Facebook
2. Until not too long ago, the mental picture that most people had about “The Nudist” was a middleaged man with a beer belly who was full frontal nude. We wanted to tackle that image with something funny.
3. We don’t think that naturism/nudism has anything to do with putting fully nude photos on the internet. In fact, that goes much more towards exhibitionism. Photos online have a huge “Hey! Look at me”-factor. This is not what nudism is about. With our type of pictures, everyone can see that we are nude but yet didn’t see all that much.
Soon, this type of image became our brand. People started to recognize them among others. It actually happened before (we kid you not) that we’re on a nude beach and strangers start imitating our pozes because they recognized us.
Then we found another advantage: Because there are rarely female nipples or genitals to be seen on our website, we don’t have such a huge problem with perverts as some other nudist influencers have. There’s absolutely nothing interesting for them to see here.
But we also understand your point of view and have had many discussions about that in the past. And it’s absolutely true. Our pictures do send out the message that some body parts are supposed to be hidden. And that’s a bit the controversy within nudism. As nudists, we like to claim that all bodyparts are equal (and non-sexual) and that we don’t care about other people’s breasts and genitals. Still, we don’t like it when there are clothed people on the nude beach. Still, we get annoyed when we receive photos of a penis or breasts from strangers but not photos of a face. Or let’s say an arm or a leg.
This is a complicated matter and we can talk about this for hours (we actually have quite often).
In the end, our website gets many thousands of regular readers, who couldn’t care less that there’s never a penis, vagina or female breast to be seen. Would it make such a difference if we started publishing fully nude photos? Would we attract so many more “true” nudists by doing so? We doubt it.
I find this whole conversation a bit fascinating and reading through the comments has helped me integrate a lot of different ideas as well, but this one really struck with me.
I have a few thoughts and I don’t want this to be a jumbled mess so I’m going to start with a note about Patreon, which is the least relevant to the rest. Which is you don’t need to have a lot of premium content, that’s how many people up their Patreon base, but really what it’s there for is for people to be able to support you financially if they like your work and many people will support you with or without premium content. Many Patreon accounts have a tier system, so for example a youtuber might have behind the scenes videos at $5 and a $50 patron might get special livestreams with only people of that tier, but they also might have a $1 tier that has no benefits but is just for people who want to support their work in any way. Also a common thing used is getting content early, maybe letting people on Patreon see your articles early and have a special space with which to discuss them, there’s more you can do then just something hugely extra. I think many people on here would be glad to support you in any way they can! You can also start one and start simple and then expand as you deem necessary or in areas that you see support for.
So as for my thoughts on the rest of the conversation, so I’ve never posted on here before so for context I like most people wasn’t born a nudist, in fact it took me a long time to be comfortable naked. I know for many people nudity is just more comfortable but for me it wasn’t the case, I turned myself into a nudist so I could be more in tune with my own body and once I had I found the effects overwhelmingly positive and thought it was something that should be more accepted. One of things of note though is when you say how lucky you are, you really are. For a long time I didn’t have the money, the location, or the health to travel to nude destinations, and I didn’t have anyone in my life who I could share nudism with, you guys having each other is such a wonderful thing and you’re so blessed for it. While I’ve never paid for pictures online (and I agree it’s not a winning financial strategy, cause even for perverts they can just find that stuff online for free) I’ve at points understood the appeal of seeing just nonsexual nudity in some way or form out there. It’s not something I had a lot of experience with, and I craved it for a long time. That and my lack of real world nudist experiences left me not entirely uncoupled from the potential sexuality of it all. There are a huge number of people out there who have discovered nudism in some way and have not been able to live it due to the nature of their lives and I don’t think it’s fair to ignore that increasingly more common situation. However the point you made about you not experiencing the same problem with perverts as other nudist influencers really struck a chord with me, because the shear length that you have desexualized your content has made it a very clean and safe space to discuss nudism without any of other wires getting involved. We might like to say body parts are just body parts, but we’re wired on some levels to want certain of those parts over others, and socially conditioned on top of that to make that desire more overwhelming than it otherwise might be.
If your content had been more revealing when I had first started exploring nudism, I don’t think I would’ve been able to read it with the same clear head I can now. By getting those parts of our brains out of the way your content is actually one of the very best places to discuss nudism; especially for people like a younger me who were new and exploring it and hadn’t finished decoupling it from sexuality. The brand you have built up has given you a unique authority in this sphere as wise sages of the community and to alter that by advertising your uncensored pictures would be a huge disservice to the up and coming nudists that you help find a path. I do believe that an important aspect of destigmatizing nudity is to distigmatize all of it, but you guys don’t need to do it all. You have your section here where you do the good work that you do, and other’s can put in the work to destigmatize the rest of the body.
Thank you for all the work that you’ve done and also for opening up the conversation!
Thanks a lot for these very thoughtful comments Jon.
You’re absolutely right. Patreon is more than just providing premium content and we do believe that the idea is very genuine. It’s about supporting the people that bring added value to your life. When someone writes a blog post or creates a video that enriches your life or at least entertains you for a while, that’s worth a compensation.
But it doesn’t always work like that. The internet has created a world of free information and lots of people these days believe that all information should be free. Which is in fact an idea we stand behind as well. But who’s going to compensate the effort of those who spend time bringing the information?
Then we end up with the 2 ways that Patreon offers: Or you depend on voluntary gifts or you bring information which others don’t get. At a cost.
There are indeed a lot of people who are still discovering nudism or who don’t have the means to practice social nudity. We became very aware of that because of our online presence. We hadn’t really thought about that much before. We’re Europeans, where nudity isn’t really such a big drama and we both come from families that weren’t nudists but also never taught us that nudity was dirty or shameful. So we do often write content for the home nudists and aspiring nudists as well.
Interesting that you mention that we value some bodyparts different than other bodyparts. Next Monday we’ll publish a blog post about exactly that. Although we are huge promotors of non-sexual nudity, we also don’t pretend to be holier than the pope. But that’s something for Monday.
Thanks a lot for the kind words!
Lets’ get this straight, subscribing to these pay sites and the buying of “uncensored” content, doesn’t support nudism or naturism, it supports a nudist, period. If you want to support nudism or naturism join groups and clubs, be an outspoken advocate. Spend the money on providing resources for everyone to have the opportunity to be naked. If you want to support a particular nude artist, model, photographer, blogger, etc. great do so, but don’t buy into the claim it is supporting nudism in general. We need to amplify our collective voice to normalize social nudity, not just pay for someone else to live the lifestyle we envy. I see a lot of postings from people with their hands out begging for money, money that I work hard for, so they can continue to frolic au natural in exotic places, while I do the 60 hours a week grind. For me that money is better spent on my own nakedation. Yes, I know blogging, journalism, … is hard work too, but are you out to share your experiences, or produce content to sell?
Saying that by supporting nudist bloggers, you only support one nudist is a bit reductive, isn’t it?
We get messages on a very regular basis from people telling us that thanks to our blog, they decided to give nudism a try. And then we’re not talking about the many thank you messages we get when people find a new nudist place thanks to our reviews.
For the last 4 years, we’ve been writing about nudism on this blog. So we do believe that we are supporting nudism. And by supporting us, you would be supporting nudism as well.
Basically, every time you pay for anything, you are supporting some person’s life. Whether it’s the baker who makes your bread, the lady who sells your newspaper or the guy who fixes your car. Even if you put your money into clubs and groups, they will invest it into someone else and support his/her lifestyle. A blogger maybe? Or a photographer, web designer, content creator, lawyer or someone to cut the hedge and fix the pool.
We’ve already mentioned it in the blog post, we love our life as it is right now. And we’re not going to lie about it, if what we do could become a well-paid job, it would be the most perfect job in the world. The thing is, it’s already a fulltime job. It’s just not well-paid yet. And the comparison with someone who has to work 60 hard hours for their money is something we don’t really like to hear. We work A LOT too. In fact, with Naked Wanderings and everything around it, we probably work more hours than back in the day when we had office jobs. And we earn a lot less. But it’s a life we’ve chosen. And we absolutely love it.
In a way we could toss this ball back to you: It’s easy for you to talk, you work 60 hours per week and earn a living. We often work the same for little more than a couple of drinks.
We don’t know why we would have to choose between sharing experiences and selling content. We think that we definitely can do both. In fact, we’re already doing that, see our Naturist Guides (https://www.nakedwanderings.com/naturist-guides/) for example.
Personally, I don’t see any issue with charging for premium content in this day and age. Look at Hector Martinez, for example. He’s a very respected person in the nudist community, and he has a Patreon page that is very respectful to the ideals of naturism while also being uncensored.
I don’t look at it as “paying for uncensored pictures,” I see it as “I have the opportunity to support something I’m passionate about on a platform that happens to allow nudity.” I support Hector because I believe he is doing a great job of promoting true naturism in a non-sexual light.
Yes, it may attract the wrong type of people, but those people will get bored quickly when they realize there is nothing sexual about what you’re posting and they’ll look for what they want elsewhere.
You’re absolutely right that not everyone supporting a nudist Patreon is by default a pervert, even when that nudist promises uncensored content. We have also mentioned that in the post.
Our main question is: Which message does this send to the world? When promotors of nudism keep uncensored pictures for those who want to pay for them?
Suppose a nudist resort would have a special section where you can see more if you pay more…
Personally, I enjoy what one commentator (affectionately?) called your “cheeky” photos. Your photos help the reader visualize your location and surroundings, which, in turn, provides context for your written message. Best of all, your photos invariably show you laughing or smiling, which conveys the most important message — that naturism is FUN. And as Lennon & McCartney reminded us on Sgt. Pepper, “Fun . . . is the one thing that money can’t buy.” (In know, they also said that money “can’t buy me love,” so maybe there are two things money can’t buy.) No matter, I hope you keep having fun, and I hope you keep the “fun” photos coming (whether “cheeky” or not).
Hmmm. You might think about placing your pictures with a good legit photo agency. You would get a bit of audience through the professional* media and some – not a lot, sadly – money. I could point you toward a couple of agencies if you want to explore that.
Not to denigrate your professionalism. You get what I mean – media outlets that pay for what they publish as opposed to stealing it 😉
We’ve been selling some pictures on microstock websites previously, mostly landscapes and cityscapes from the places we visit, no nudity. Probably nudity will sell pretty well on those websites too, but the effort it takes to upload every single image, add metadata and go through the approval process was just too much to keep doing this.
You are having fun lifestyle.. arent you getting bored by being naked all the time?
we wear clothes every couple of days to go to the grocery store 😉
I am so glad someone is asking this question and getting the conversation going!!!
Over the past year and a half, I have taken to nude portraiture. My exposure to implied nudity while studying at Uni opened my eyes to how natural being nude is and that the sexualisation of the human body and “private parts” was completely unjustified.
Working with nudity has been so transformative! I wouldn’t consider myself a practising nudist, but I feel that I could easily slip into it now… Whilst nude portraiture could be considered exhibitionism (it’s hard to create a professional portrait without it exhibiting a person). I feel that I have taken more of a nudist or conservative approach to how nudity should be portrayed, natural and non-sexualised.
The thing that weighs me down the most is this issue around monetizing nudity. I completley feel that it goes against the idea of naturalising nudity! So does any form of “Self-Censorship” on platforms that forcefully dictate censorship, its supporting a cycle of never ending censorship.
I think FansOnly and Patreon are counterproductive because they are tied into to the forced censorship of the human body and that censorship demonises our “private parts” as harmful sexobjects. Those platforms are entirley for pervs! People can support us in other ways that don’t contribute to and encourage censorship an monetisation of “private parts”
As a photographer people can support me by paying to have a professional nude portrait taken, but that can also be an issue because seemingly I am privelaged to be in the presence of their nude body…
It is such a complex issue and one that really bugs me!
We don’t really agree that Patreon and OnlyFans are entirely for pervs. Especially Patreon has a huge community of content creators looking for support. We certainly believe that the intentions of the platform and most of their creators are genuine: Some kind of long term crowdfunding. But, of course, it all depends on how the platform is being used.
If a photographer or painter uses Patreon in order to get fundings to buy equipment and give paintings/pictures in return, we don’t think that anyone has something against this. If a naturist content creator deliberately uses censorship on their mainstream (free) platforms and then sells the uncensored versions via Patreon, it’s of course something completely different.
Not that there’s anything wrong with giving away free teasers and selling the complete product, this principle is being used in so many industries, but it’s rather what it represents. To us, these practices undermine the idea that naturism is non-sexual.
At Naked Wanderings, we have been able to keep away lots of pervs just because of our inventive censorship (well, basically we’re just really boring to them because they can’t really see anything “interesting”). If we would sell uncensored pictures on other platforms, we’re sure that this would attract an audience that we rather don’t have.
P1.
Sorry, “entirely” is a bit strong! I know of aviation vloggers that use Patreon… When it comes to nudity though, pervs seem to be where the easy money is at especially around digital images, as opposed to physical artwork.
P2.
Yeah, I certainly agree with that!
P3.
Isn’t it an issue is that there is no choice around Instagram and Facebook? These platforms have forced us all into “self-censorship” and the forceful nature of it makes it forced censorship…
Whereas on a platform like Flickr, there is absolute choice around the use of self-censorship or non-censorship and who can see what. We all have a right to choose, yet we are in an environment that dictates censorship.
It’s tough… Despite the benefits of censorship and the use of platforms that dictate censorship, doesnt this also continue the cycle of socially accepted censorship and idolisation of private parts? If done right visually and seen encensored, nudity can help change people but they have to want to change their reaction to nudity also.
I actually searched my question into google and it lead me here, I am really thankful! I feel like my views leave me in a minority in the photography community and it has been so frustrating… This has given me a better sense of why and I think that helps.
So thankyou, it is such an important topic!
The nudity policies on social media are double. On one hand, there are Facebook and Instagram which have even banned photos of our butts even though their policy clearly says that those are allowed.
And on the other hand, there are Twitter and MeWe, who allow all kinds of nudity but are overflown with porn.
But we understand the difficulty. It’s very hard to allow non-sexual nudity on a large scale platform. Who will moderate those things? It’s almost impossible to do so via automated algorithms. A women who’s fast asleep on a nude beach with her legs half-open should definitely be considered non-sexual. If she’s awake and looks straight in the lens, it’s another story.
The difference between sexual and non-sexual nudity is largely in the intention with which the picture was taken and not in what’s actually in the picture.
Inconsistency is a real issue. This is the thing, I am ok with my work being seen on a platform where sexualised imagery is present… But only as long as we are ALL treated equally!! Nudity is nudity at the end of the day and everyone has the right to portray it in their own way. What is important is freedom of choice and a safe space where those choices can be made.
I highly recommend Flickr and would love for you to take a look into it! It is home to all kinds of photography and uses various levels of Content/SafeSearch filters, groups (some moderated some not), obviously hashtags help to some extent… So there is absolute freedom of choice for viewers and creators!
It is where I am focusing my attention and encouraging anyone working with nudity to explore. I can be found on there as “Environude” and I am genuinely curious as to what you think of my work. To support Flickr is to support freedom of choice. We just need a little more diversity in people to contribute, encourage and support the community!
It is the original for photo sharing and has a whole 6 years on Instagram. Their app is a bit behind the times but they are working on improving it and bringing a lot of their great web-based features into the app.
Flickr is definitely a great platform for sharing images. But it’s not an alternative for sites like Patreon, for the obvious reason that there’s no option to monetize content. The reason why people join Patreon is for fundraising.
Great photos, by the way!
Thanks 🙂
But isn’t this just it? Censorship=Sexualisation/Perversion of certain parts of the body=Monetisation of those parts.
I am dead serious, if this is not true and the community working with nudity truly believe in freedom from censorship and normalising nudity? Everyone would support each other in an environment like Flickr and viewers/supporters would willingly purchase physical prints/artwork, make donations, pay for collaborations, whatever form of support…
It wouldn’t be about locking away uncensored content for easy money like it is now!
Why not run Patreon side by side with Flickr, rather than Instagram (and occasionally use Instagram to direct people to Flickr)?
Censorship drives Monetisation, Monetisation drives Censorship and Censorship is someone else controlling you/us as a community! It is a cycle that is designed to keep nudity in the shadows.
I must be insane! Somehow, I feel like I am the only person who has thought about this deep enough to see the damage that censorship and censorship-based monetisation is doing to normalising nudity. It is far from normalising or desexualising nudity…
This is why it needs to be talked about, I feel that people fail to see it or ignore the reality!
I’m truly sorry, I could go on forever! Over the past few months, I have been trying to clearly write down all my own insight and thoughts on this issue into something people can read. I’ll get there eventually.
censorship is definitely a driver for monetization. If you can’t get something for free, people will be willing to pay for it. But it’s important to make the distinction between creators who use Patreon to sell uncensored content and creators who use Patreon for funding of their ongoing projects.
Check the Patreon of the Naturist Living Show, for example: https://www.patreon.com/NaturistLivingShow
You get the chance to donate, but they give nothing specifically in return except for the content that is free for everybody (their podcasts).
Because of the censorship, however, people started misusing the principle. They claim to be true promotors of naturism and say “we would love to show you uncensored content, but because of censorship we’re not allowed to. So check our Patreon for the content”. That’s pure baloney because as you mention, there are many free platforms like Flickr who do allow uncensored content. They just try to have it both ways: Attract pervs who are looking for uncensored naturist pictures and attract naturists who want to support naturist creators.
That is a very responsible use of the platform around nudity!!
Obviously it doesn’t involve nude imagery, which makes the situation a little different… It is still supporting them though without utilising censorship or the lure of uncensored photos, which is fine in my eyes!
I would see no issue in setting up similar, as long as it doesn’t involve selling uncensored images, I guess it is no different to a donate button really.
Done! 🙂 It sounds like we do see eye to eye on this. The moment censorship and uncensored imagery comes into play, that is no longer responsible.