We often call ourselves the “digital generation”. The Internet found its way into our homes when we were early teenagers. Before we were allowed to drive a car, the squeaking modem sounds got replaced by the fiber that helped Napster infuriate the music industry. After that, we’ve just been experiencing one revolution after the other. We were the early adopters of social media. Well, at least of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, TikTok is still a big mystery to us. We were the first blog readers, podcast listeners, and Airbnb guests.
When we were kids, dad used to take out his big camera on family events. Take 24 or 36 well-positioned shots and then weeks later find out that half of them are dark or blurry. Our first party, our first kiss, our first time drunk remain undocumented forever. The pictures of our childhood cover not much more than the bottom of a shoebox. Today, our smartphones contain more photos than a whole village would possess in the early nineties.
We are the easy-photo-generation
We literally take pictures of everything. How we look when we get out of bed, the mess on our desk, oh look how cute the cat is. New stuff we see at the supermarket, the traffic jam, the sunset over the highway, still traffic jam, breakfast, lunch, dinner, the 4th beer with friends, the 7th beer, oh look the cat is being cute again…
Most of all, we like to take photos of our vacations. It sometimes bothers us, how people these days don’t seem to stop anymore to absorb the beauty of a park, a building, or a lake. They just walk by, snap, snap, snap, and figure that they’ll have a good look at it when they get home. Or not.
Taking pictures has become a part of our lives. We do so without thinking. If you’re about our age, or younger, and you meet up with friends, chances are that you’ll take a selfie within the first 15 minutes. That’s not even the second beer.
The generation/information gap
We got into a Twitter conversation the other day about taking pictures at naturist resorts. A generation gap quickly became obvious. Some wondered why on earth that someone would ever want to take a picture at a naturist resort. It’s not that you’re going to show it to anyone. And what if there are other people in it? How do I know that you’re not secretly taking pictures of me? What if the pictures get stolen and end up on the web?
The other side wondered why they shouldn’t take pictures at the naturist resort. We document our whole lives. It’s almost a habit. Who are we kidding, it is a habit. Spending a week without taking pictures of ourselves and our surroundings would mean a gap in our photo library. A gap in our memory. As if this week just didn’t exist.
Even if we don’t intend to take pictures, our smartphones are glued to our hands. We have friends and influencers to follow, Whatsapp groups that require our attention, messages need to be replied to, pictures to be seen, posts to be read. We need to engage or we don’t belong. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? The future will tell. The world isn’t going to stop if you put that phone away for an hour, you know. Yeah, dad, it’s not going to stop either if you miss the 7 PM news. It’s just what we do.
How to handle smartphones at naturist resorts
The Twitter conversation moved on to how naturist resorts cope with this sudden device that has two high-quality cameras. Some mentioned that their favorite resort had a strict no-phone policy. If you really need to send out a Whatsapp message you have to go to the parking lot. Someone mentioned Bare Oaks Park, which has a photo point where you are allowed to take your selfies with the big sign. Several resorts hand out small stickers to put over the back camera of your phone, so everyone can easily see that you just can’t take their picture. And then we all wondered why those stickers aren’t standard procedure at every resort.
In any case, the potential risk is obvious. We’ve all heard the stories about people being blackmailed with nude shots. Kids being bullied and lives being ruined. Those things do happen. But how’s a stranger who secretly took your picture at a naturist venue going to know your name, find your address, and social media accounts? Find out who your close friends are? Most cases of blackmail happen with people we trust. People who we would allow taking our photo. In many cases, the victim has actually taken the picture.
Is banning the smartphone really the answer?
This makes us wonder. Does banning smartphones from naturist resorts really solve the problem? Does it really eliminate the risk? Today, online companies can deliver spy tools on your doorstep that would even make James Bond frenzied. High-quality cameras that fit in buttonholes or glasses. Cameras that are hidden in clocks or smoke detectors or that look like a plant or a rock (yes, we looked it up and they’re pretty convincing).
Doesn’t banning the smartphone give us a false sense of security? If someone has the intention to take pictures of naturists, will he or she really use the most obvious tools? We could go even further. With banning smartphones, aren’t we actually encouraging the villains to search for smarter tools? While they might otherwise just try with a phone and get caught.
The voyeur business
Now before you’re all freaked out and swear to never take off your undies again, there is an important side note. The number of people being photographed at naturist venues is really small. First of all, while voyeurism on itself is rarely considered a crime, capturing your image without your consent often is. Broadcasting (as in sending the image around or publishing it online) is often seen as a sexual offense. This could result in jail time, few are willing to take that risk.
Then where do all those naturist pictures online come from? Many of them are stolen from an official publication. Meaning that the persons in the pictures actually did give their consent. Our pictures get stolen all the time. This doesn’t really bother us if it’s for the sake of promoting naturism, but a lot more if it’s for someone’s financial gain. As with the example of blackmail, it’s a matter of trust. If the organizer of a naturist event asks if you’re okay with having your picture taken for the website, there’s nothing wrong with that. If that picture gets stolen from the website and published somewhere else, it’s not your fault. Nor is it the fault of the organizer or the club. It’s sad, but it does happen.
Another big chunk of the online naturist photos is fake. When we see all those “naturist” pictures passing by, perfectly clear shots of young women on the nude beach, often in a slightly suggestive pose, we can’t but wonder at which beach those were taken. We rarely see those girls at the places that we visit. There’s money to be made in the voyeur business, but the fines when getting caught are pretty high. It’s much more convenient to hire a couple of nude models, get their consent, and sell the photos as “hidden cam”.
How much should you care about all this?
Further down the Twitter conversation came the “So what?” question. So what if someone takes our picture? So what if our nude butts can be found somewhere among the thousands of other pictures on that person’s phone? So what if he or she sends it to a friend or in a Whatsapp group? So what if it appears on the internet?
When Selena Gomez or Justin Bieber dare to have a skinny dip in Cannes or the Bahamas, they can be sure that their pixelated bodies will cover the tabloids the day after. But we hate to tell you, you’re not Selena or Biebs. You’re much better obviously, but the world just isn’t that interested in seeing you naked.
During the last three years, we’ve spent more time on nude beaches and in naturist resorts than most naturists do in their whole life. Because we’re naturist bloggers, we’re looking at naturist content and naturist pictures every single day. Not once have we seen a picture of ourselves passing by. And even if that would happen, what are the odds that this content passes by the eyes of friends, colleagues, or family? And even if that would happen, so what?
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Personally I think that if naturism and clothes free living is to be taken seriously the same rules should apply as they do in a dressed depressed world. The hashtag #NormalisingNaturism should mean just that… Normal. Anything else just means being naked is something not normal, something most of us have been campaigning against for years.
Bang on! I agree
We used to be really reluctant to take nude photos of each other or ourselves with our smartphones because we’ve heard that “they” see every one that goes through the cell phone networks. However, we live in a world where there is ZERO personal privacy anyway, and even if we use our digital camera and download the photos to a portable hard drive, there is still probably a way that “they” can look at them.
As I type this, I’m “working from home” at our old house in the country and my wife is back at home (essential job), so I have been sending her nudie selfie photos of myself out on the deck overlooking the river, walking down the (dead end) street just to make her laugh and miss me more. I’m sure that somebody somewhere else is also seeing them, but oh well!!!
As far as getting blackmailed, I’d have to research it, but there was a story of some female singer/actress who was being blackmailed and the person threatened to post her nude photos online unless they were paid some sort of ransom (and still no real guarantee or assurance that they’d never publish them anyway) but the singer/actress beat them to the punch and published them herself AND got all kinds of praise for being so “body positive” and “sexually liberated”. I guess that I’d be tempted to do the same if someone tried that, because I honestly don’t care if someone sees me nude (accidentally in real life) or online some how. Even friends or family or members of our church (that wouldn’t ordinarily know that we’re naturists/nudists) would likely shrug and say “He’s always doing offbeat stuff, so here is yet another example…”. As I grow older I care less and less what “they” think of me and my wife. I’m happy with the choices that I’ve made for our lives, and my wife is too.
We also kind of remember such a story about a celebrity. But can’t recall which one either. That’s a great proof of how even such juicy news is quickly forgotten 🙂
And as mentioned in the post, celebrities are somewhat different. Much fewer people are interested in seeing the average Joe and Jane nude.
I recommend that naturists take advantage of vimeo.com for when they want to express themselves, nude or not. Their more relaxed policy regarding nudity is potentially very appealing to naturists.
Many have already have posted there and their views are increasing daily.
That is wonderful for a place to share photos you have taken, however most places you still can’t take the photos to put there.
As a professional photographer images being stollen is a big problem. It’s my living!
As a naturist if people want to take pictures on the beach or other naked places I’m not worried. We should be proud we are #normalisingnaturism we aren’t doing anything to be ashamed of being liberated.
The problem with online content is that lots of people seem to think that it’s free to reuse. Some people will “just” use your pictures on their media, others will actually ask money for your work. That’s just sad.
I agree that the ban on phones is a bit much. I understand when most of these rules were written they said no photography, these rules were referring to cameras specifically, now yes we have the cameras on our phones but like you said we want pictures of ourselves and the surroundings to remember a trip. Why not normalize technology at nudist locations as much as most nudists say they want to normalize nudity to not have to be in a specific place to shed their wares.
I take beautiful pictures of the nature I am surrounded by when I hike the trails at my nudist camp. I hike the trails alone so if I want to be included in the shot I use the timer. I never photograph others and I don’t post them anywhere on the web. They are for me alone to look at and reflect on all the wonderful days I’ve spent nude in nature. So when the harsh New England winter sets in I can warm my soul remembering those days past and looking forward to those to come.
I had wanted to ‘try’ naturism for a long time and only got around to it in 2009 at 68 years old, on a public ‘playa nudista’ in Spain. I found a lounger at the beach cafe, took off my shorts and shirt, and discovered the sky didn’t fall. Later, I walked the length of the beach and back, twice, and the sky still didn’t fall. During those walks, I passed a local (I think) family of parents and two small kids, all naked. Mother was taking photographs of the family, including the kids, which I am sure would be shown to the rest of the family. I realised I could well be in someone’s pictures. I concluded that if I was going to walk clothes-free down the public beach, I could expect to have to live with the consequences (there haven’t been any). Now, cellphones with two cameras are everywhere; I say, live with it.
There is definitely a huge difference between appearing in the background of someone’s family pictures and being the main subject of a picture. In the first case, there’s little chance that those pictures will ever leave that person’s phone and end up at unwanted places.
I probably don’t have a picture that could blackmail me. I have been in the Finnish and Swedish TV a few times with no clothes on. Dressed only once.
When photographing naturist areas, I don’t take a picture of anyone unless I ask permission, with almost non-existent language skills, it’s hard to ask.
Basically, in those areas where I have been, is shooting prohibited.
However, I have not noticed the controls.
L&N – do you have any advice for people who are not celebrities, but still do have “public sensitive” occupations – local councilman, primary school teacher, etc ?
Not that they are doing anything wrong, but prejudices present in society may ruin their professional life.
“…But how’s a stranger who secretly took your picture at a naturist venue going to know your name, find your address, and social media accounts?…” google image search.
Hi Zib, as mentioned in the blog post, the chance that someone who knows who you are stumbles upon a candid picture from you. How many pictures of naturists do textile people see on a monthly basis? Until they’re into voyeur porn, probably not that many.
But you’re right, some professions are more sensitive than others and in the cases you mention (council, teachers,…) it could happen that people are actively looking for secret information about you. Google image search could be used for that, but then your name has to be tagged in the image. For example, if you Google “Nick & Lins”, you’ll see a lot of pictures of us popping up. But that’s because we or people we know have published those pictures. A stranger who has no idea who we are could never tag our name in a picture.
If someone has the intention to hurt your public image, there’s definitely some risk. That’s why public figures need to watch their steps in everything they do.
Not sure Zeb is entirely wrong. There are jobs, and some positions, like local government, where someone could really mess with you, and it wouldn’t even matter if they could prove when, where, or even what context the photo was taken.
I also think its approaching the point where its.. almost a mute point. Right now, with existing tech, someone “could”, if they spent some insane amount, map your home office, track you in there, delete your body from the result, and replace it – so that, on a “Video chat”, if its your side doing it, you could almost get by with being naked, and having a replacement avatar, fully clothed, talking to the person instead, or, just as likely, if the person on the other end was a creep (and this would be harder, since they don’t have the map of your room that is 100% accurate), replace you with an image “they” want. It might not be long before this is all VR besides, so you could literally “step into” the other person’s office.
You can already make near perfect “fake photos”, which could be used to blackmail someone, and could generate these using the background of any place you wanted, including the parking lot of a nudist resort, if you managed to get someone in to just take a pic of “that”. So, really, if you work for some place that cares, or would care, someone with enough tech savvy could ruin your job anyway – and then you could sue, prove that it was fake, hopefully, prove that its not possible for a company to know it was, and.. in a single act make it much, much, much harder for the next place to fire someone, even if they “did” do something they didn’t approve of (for no sensible reason).
Point being.. kind of like the printing press was supposed to be about Bibles, but turned into both science text books, as well as really bad erotica, new tech, and that includes our phones, is going to make some real dumb stuff possible, a lot of other much better things possible, and.. really ruin the lives of people who think they have, and should have, control over everyone else’s choices. Because.. how do you discriminate, when the victim is such discrimination may not even be guilty of the thing you are trying to ruin their life for? Even villains have line they can’t cross, because they don’t *think* they are villains really.
We definitely agree that some jobs are more sensitive than others. But in those cases, nudism is probably only a fraction of the risk. If there may be people who could want to ruin your life, you need to care about every step you take
Agree. I only heard of one occurrence of this kind – when a politician from extremely conservative party had been papparazzied at secluded beach. The comments were more about his hypocrisy than nudity itself.
Personally I don’t care as my business does not clash with naturism. Still I suppose there is demand for private restricted resorts where this fraction of risk is minimized.
I don’t see it as a big deal. I’m a Councillor on our local authority and would have no problem with anyone knowing I’m a naturist. Some of those who voted for me might, but that’s their problem! I also like to be able to take photos of where I am and of myself. Even ask others to take a photo of me…
We need to get over naturism being seen as weird and try wherever we can to normalise it.
We should not ignore the deterring effect of cameras for people who might be willing to start with naturism. Going naked in public for the first time is already a significant step, and the possibility that someone might take a picture increases the barrier significantly.
Allowing pictures is also to some extent schizophrenic . At many naturist places the partner of a mixed naturist/non-naturist couple is not allowed. You know, the philosophy ‘You see my butt only if I may see your butt’. But on the other hand it should be acceptable that someone takes pictures of a naturist that may be viewed afterwards by several unknown non-naturist people whose faces he can’t even see, let alone their body?
It’s better to maintain a clear message ‘no photography unless people explicitly agree’ instead of ‘we can’t stop all cameras thus just feel free to take photos as much as you like’. It’s not because some people happen to drive too fast that we have to abandon all speed limits.
Definitely agree! But there’s a difference between “no photography” rules and “no smartphone” rules. as mentioned in the post, the “no smartphone” rules might take some risk away (we’ve had to redo so many pictures because someone accidentally passes by, maybe not everyone does that), but it won’t stop those who intentionally want to take pictures of others.
Hi, I just found your site and I am happy to see that a couple that ARE NOT Seniors have picked up the torch on naturalism. We have to teach the next generation. I have been practicing for decades, an ANR member, introduced my new wife to it 10 years ago and my son when he was in his early 20s. Naturalism needs fresh young, not so perfect bodies and faces.
I will follow you on twitter. I own an entertainment company and DJ around the world and really want to start au naturel DJ parties with out being sleazy (hedonism).
That’s also something the naturist world is waiting for, activities that are actually attractive to a younger audience. Like DJ parties
It’s not “naturalism”, it’s “naturism”.
Great subject and great article! As you know we regularly take photos of our naturist group events. I think it is a matter of respect and trust. We always ask our members permission or who wants to be in a posed group photo. We also do our best to watermark the photos as a way of discouraging them being stolen. Most of our members are fine with being in photos used to promote our group and naturism in general and trust how we will use these photos and where they will end up.
I feel that the purpose of the photo is also important. Our photos are intended to give a realistic view into what occurs at our group events. Therefore, few photos are posed, many are taken at a distance, they will all clearly show that there is nothing sexual and that as we are a family group children are often present. This helps people join our group for the “right reasons”.
This has allowed us to work with some resorts to get certain allowances within the terms of their photography policies, like turning a blind eye as they know we are taking photos of our members and grant them access to where the photos are posted. It has also helped with some behind the scenes discussions with social media platforms like Meetup and Facebook which in some cases have reposted photos that where initially picked up by their bots or have allowed the inclusion of some children when the photo does not display their genitals. I have also found that being “open” about what we do and the purpose of the photos creates trust with strangers that may be set up close to us at a nude beach or hot springs.
Finally, some of these resort photo policies give the appearance that we have something to hide which only contributes to misconceptions from the “textile” world. We feel that these realistic photos in our albums as well as selfies on social media platforms are a great factor in slowly changing these misconceptions and show our true values and beliefs.
That’s definitely true, Ron. In a previous blog post, we also talked about the need of putting a face on naturists and to show the world who we really are and what we really do. By saying/showing nothing, we just feed the misconception that we’re actually doing something wrong. And photos of course help a lot with that.
Whilst it might cause problems for some people, I’m personally not that fussed. Not many people would want pictures of me anyway, and they wouldn’t know my identity. I wouldn’t post on social media where friends and family can see them. My pictures are for me, as a record of good times spent and places visited. I wouldnt take close up pics of others without asking though. I wish I could be more open, but I just apply commonsense. If I appear in someone else’s photo, its not a problem. I’m happy in the body that God gave me.
Again, one of those interesting subjects.
As most times i tend to give 2 versions of a story, the one the way the world is now, and the way id like it to be or ,i dont even have to like it or want it, cause u can never like everything but u get the point…
As it is now, it makes total sence for the very reasons u metnioned, that it shouldnt be allowed.
As in an alternate world, ppl have to step back and ask them selfs generally … wth is wrong with being naked? Whats the big deal that will make some1 lose their job as a ..i dunno ..1st hand manager, or a teacher or a polititian, or why will some1 pick on a kid or their parents cause they saw their nude pic on twitter? ..
Ppl put in front of them selfs , artaficial barriers.
Thats the problem, artaficial rules laws ..
Just take a look at weed cigs and drinks … 1st is almost illegal everywhere, 2nd and 3rd is almost legal everywhere… why is one ok but the other isnt? Do ppl drink more cause its legal oposed to as if it was illegal?
Do you smoke? its legal … you dont .. so does the legality of it have anything to do with ur choice? No.
As a matter of fact, the more things are legal, or should i say better, not made to be illegal, the less they will be a subject of talks or intrests of ppl ,hence no1 will give 2 ratts ass about anything.
Same applys for pictures.. if there are tons of ppl making pics, and more or less every1 ends up on them sooner or later, naked or not, old or young .. whos gonna care? Nobody.
Its easy, the more things u make to be illegal or not even illegal but …um… controversial, the more problems u will create.
And no, no1 can bad use anything then cause nobody will care.. there would be tons of pic of any1 ,so to whom would u be service of for benefits?
I know that many , many many ppl are unable to think paralel to the reality , so most times things like these not understandable to those kind of ppl cause they always use the realities way of thinking trying to answer or give a comment.
This is very much future wishful thinking, but we do hope that we will eventually evolve in that direction. That appearing nude on a picture is just nothing to worry about. Yesterday, we were watching the news and there were images about extreme right protests. We would like 100 times rather appear nude on TV than being captured at such a protest. But then again, we’re not going to those protests…
Lol i get it …
Let me give u an example, of why i, write how i write , i prefer to compare things in just about everything, cause the crazy hypocrisy of ppl never seez to amaze me..
I watch streamers here and there, and theres this guy in the States that does food delivering with hes car right .. and on one traffic light , he saw a guy or a girl ,cant reall, only in hes/her undies, and he was like omg!!! wtf was that?? did u guys see that?? i mean like really?? is that the worst thing u can see in the streets of USA today? lol .. i saw tons of pics of ppl practicing their beloved 2A , even ppl taking pic with their like 7yo kid holding a ar15 .. or whatever its called .. so thats perfectly normal, but omg a person only in undies !!
I just dont undertand the mindset of ppl ,how they allow others to decide whats “normal” and whats not, when in reality normal is just something ur used to, its not good or bad, funny or sad .. and thats why i always write, that the more “rules and laws” there are, the more such things will be.
Imagine this.. if porn was mainstream and when i say that i mean that ,nobody cares who does it, it can be seen normaly on TV, so whoever wants will watch ,those that dont, wont .. then there wouldnt be such things as revenge porn.. cause nobody would be interested at it anyway ,cause it would be basicly boring lol.
Big deals are only made up by ppl ..artaficially , ppl and mindsets are the only barrier ,nothing else.
And the worst ppl are those kinds that have a mindset where, hey i dont like this or i hate this or its sick so it shouldnt be legal/normal/whatever.
Referring to the comment about someone photoshopping me into a photo of a nude resort sign and using it to blackmail me with my employer, pastor, etc…. I say have at it.
If someone has THAT kind of time/energy/sinister motives and wants to drag someone like me down… I’ll gladly pack up my desk at work and shout “Peace, out!!!” and walk away.
Much like my earlier comment about the celebrity who posted her own nude photos online before the blackmailer could – she got out of it pretty sweetly. If someone wants any photos of me nude, in front of signs, landmarks or whatever so that they can fulfill some odd desire… Have at it! I don’t see it “wrecking my life” unless I was running for public office or opening a daycare center for kids. I’m just not that important to the rest of the world. 🙂
So what?
Et alors?
En dan?
In my opinion the best approach towards friends, family or colleagues if you are surprisingly confronted of a nude picture of yourselves.
Nevertheless keep all rights and if possible make an official complaint towards the publisher
There is definitely a fear that is quite unnecessary. We have spent so much time in naturist resorts and nude beaches around the world, and we’ve seen quite a number of meerkats in the dunes. Who knows how many pictures have already been taken of us. But we also spend a lot of time on the internet and see lots of naturist content pass by. But until now, we’ve never seen a nude picture of ourselves pass by that we didn’t take or to which we hadn’t given our consent.
Having never wanted to go to a naturist resort or sun club all our public nude time is on the beach we’re everyone can see us. So it’s no big deal and speaking for myself I’m not attractive enough to bother taking pictures of!! I’m years past my best now!
I’m old enough now I don’t care! I’d love it if friends would accept being with us naked and just realise it’s no big deal. We all have seen both versions of the human body naked lots of times so what’s the problem? I told a female friend the other day after we invited her to come skinny dipping I have seen lots of naked women! She had said you just want to get me naked! A typical response from someone who hasn’t been publicly naked. I told her I’m not interested in seeing her naked. She clearly didn’t believe me. It’s sad so many people think like this. They are limiting their enjoyment of life. Sadly all we can do is do our thing and hope they see how much the freedom makes us enjoy being alive.
No, I would say that this is a typical response from WOMEN. While I tend to applaud those people, mostly celebrities, who have, when confronted with someone saying they will post nudes of them some place, telling those people to F themselves, and often posting things themselves in retaliation, since I think, in a sane world, it represents the perfect way to defang the sort of assholes that would use such pictures to ruin a carrier or blackmail someone, the reality that you don’t seem to get is that a) not everyone has the clout to deal with things that way, b) some people actually have jobs that would be destroyed if it came out that they spent time in the nude, especially since the sort of places that are likely to post such content, and get by with it, are porn sites, and we live in a world in which, ironically, the “leaders, lawmakers, and ‘moralists'” are more likely to think the worst, and assume it *IS* porn, than believe the victim (they often don’t even believe victims in cases of real assault, with clear evidence), and c) its not you job, nor your right, to tell anyone, “Don’t be afraid, scared, sickened by, or offended by, someone posting your pictures.” It sure as hell isn’t when the victim of this is a woman, who is among a very large (half the world population) group of people who deal with fear, uncertainty, and potential abuse, every single day – precisely because, when it does happen, often no one believes them, or worse, they excuse the abuser, and/or claim that, “It really wasn’t what you imagined it was.”
Which, again, goes right back to the question of, “What gives you the right to tell someone else what they ‘imagined’ someone else was planning to do to them, or actually intended?” There are two things that are sad here:
1. The world is so f-ed up that its “normal” for women to automatically assume the worst, because they are right more than half the time.
2. Some people *can’t see to get this*, and instead think the correct response to this is not to address the fears they might have, but scoff at those fears dismissively, and mere, “typical behavior of someone that just hasn’t tried it”.
Imo, you need to seriously reexamine your assumptions about such reactions, and whether they deserve the response you give them Splendidorca.
We agree that there are some jobs that could be destroyed when nude pictures of the person would pop up. But we also think that this fear is overreacted. We’ve heard many stories who know someone that knows someone that got fired because he/she is a nudist. Yet, we believe that we still need to meet an actual nudist who got fired…
It also depends on your social presence. If you have a function in a conservative political party or a conservative church or so, and the word gets out that you’re a nudist, you’ll probably lose your job. But this also means that you’ve been lying to yourself and to others. That your social presence is not who you really are.
If you look at Angela Merkel, who was the chancellor for Germany and pretty much the big boss of Europe for quite a while, she never made it a secret that she enjoys social nudity…
Been.. 1-2 cases, not nudists, who got fired for things they did “not at work”, because the companies decided it someone “reflected badly one them”. Some of those things even lose people their jobs, when trying to find legitimate jobs and get out of those things, because.. lets just say that to loosely paraphrase someone’s comment on the state of affairs with that sort of activity, “Being a convicted killer will get you in less trouble when finding a job than being an ex-…”
In any case, yeah, its probably a fair bet that a nudist/naturist is already aware of the possible issues and will have specifically found work in a place that they either know won’t go after them for such things, or is hiding it real well. Been a few hilarious cases recently with lawyers, etc. “showing up” on their online sessions (since the actual courts where not available with Covid going on), and… forgetting to put pants, or.. anything at all, on. Kind of amusing.
But, in any case, odds are, if you are a nudist/naturist you already know not to, say, show up to the local Evangelical, fire and brim stone, church for a job interview, and leak to someone that your vacation pics might be some place they would freak out over. lol
But, its kind of part and parcel of the problem – while the public might not give a F, in the majority, and the courts wouldn’t care (in some cases, to a high degree, beyond suggesting you might want to put pants on before continuing), etc., a lot of “advertisement” for companies, and the companies themselves, might care a lot, and they have idiotic amounts of power, and a absolute paranoia about what the small minority of politically connected “moral minority” types might do/say, if they “allowed” someone to associate a nude lifestyle with their “products”. Even the ones willing to do mad things like the all nude cast of a commercial in Europe, for.. I think it was a cell phone? Wouldn’t *dare* do the same in the US (and might be willing to cut someone loose, to save imagined face, if that person was too “obvious” about being both a) an employee, b) an American employee, and c) having too much in common with the people in their European advert).
But, yeah, its probably, to a fair degree, an exaggerated issue, but then.. I would argue that this is the core strategy of a certain “political” ideology in recent decades – “Exaggerate everything, to scare people into voting for us!” And, as one person put it, more or less, “If you look at the things being said, its a minor rewrite of the last scare. 90% of the ‘threats’ and the people (or children) they promise to protect from the new scary boogie man are identical to the prior set of threats. Even to the extent of imagining secrets buried under pizza parlors, which 40 years ago where imaginary bodies of victims, which also didn’t exist, on some poor fools farm. Only which ‘evil group’ is being blamed for these imaginary crimes changes.”
And, not enough people will call them on it, lest.. thousands of people, Gasp!, “write letters”. Or, I guess the modern equivalent would be tens of thousands of fake spam bots, posting nearly identical emails, all of them concerned that their child processes are under threat from, in our case, “naked people”. It doesn’t matter if, even after the numbers are counted, its 10% of the population, and 90% of them are probably fake. Its a “big number”, and, apparently, people who deal with billions of dollars are no better at understanding “big numbers” than an 8 year old who just found a jar full of a thousand pennies, and things they are now “rich”, or spotted a hundred pigeons, and runs screaming about Alfred Hitchcock being “right about the birds!”
If we may roughly divide the majority of nudists into Americans and Europeans, we also think that this fear is mostly American. Although that’s not 100% true either. When we started to appear in national and international newspapers, many friends and family members seemed to worry about our future if we ever decided to come back to Belgium and get “normal” jobs again. We’re talking about 4 years ago. Today, few people still believe that we’ll ever return to the rat race 🙂
But anyway, it’s interesting how our friends believe that we will have fewer job opportunities because we’ve been naked in a newspaper or because we proudly say that we are nudists. This came as quite a shock to us, and our reply has always been that if a company doesn’t want to give us a job because we’re nudists and not hiding that, that is not a company that we want to work for.
This is indeed a very typical reaction from people who have never tried naturism before. When we went to a naturist resort for the first time, we also thought that everyone would look at us. But nobody did. Instead, we were the ones looking at the other naked people. For us, this was very new, while for the others, they probably had seen hundreds of naked people before.
It really puts you with your feet on the ground. “Did I really think that my body looks that special that it would stand out among hundreds of other bodies?”
To be fair this is almost the same on clothed beaches. Who wants to have their picture taken without consent in swimsuit, and published who knows where? We can argue that being naked makes it a bit worth. But not significantly worth in my opinion.
Appearing on the background of a picture? No problem. Being the main subject of the picture? Better to ask. Naked or in swimsuit, it’s basically the same.
Note that I’m talking from a place where being naked on the beach is fairly common and accepted (Spain). It might be that the less common nudity is, the more having pictures taken can be seen as a problem.
Personally, when I have my smartphone at a resort, the last thing I think about is taking a picture. I carry a roll of electrical tape and cover my lenses under my case so there is no way to use my camera. I only use my music app or audible app for entertainment. I usually keep it in my bag so it doesn’t make people uncomfortable.