Shit Nudists Say

I started this series over a year ago. I called it "things nudists say that make me groan" to be a little less offensive, but in hindsight, I should have just called it "shit nudists say" after all. Well, here's another entry:

"I don't understand why anyone would want to buy nudist images or videos of strangers."

This is shit not just because the people who say this obviously know why someone would do this - they're just implying that there's no good (as in virtuous) reason to do it, and that the people who do it for other reasons deserve to be judged and shamed.

I don't believe that people who find value (even monetary) in naked images or videos of strangers should be judged or shamed. Even if that value is erotic in nature. If you see an attractive stranger on the street, you're admiring the erotic appeal of their body. It doesn't matter whether or not they set out to be admired in that way.

I understand that nudism is a more sensitive context, but a) admiring somebody even for erotic purposes is perfectly harmless, and b) I might get flak for saying this, but if you're a nudist, part of your philosophy should be "I'm okay with perfect strangers seeing me naked". It shouldn't matter how they interpret what they see. It should only matter how they behave towards you.

Nudism and photography are a match made in paradise.

And if you're being featured, consensually (I assume - otherwise this is a separate issue), in some form of multimedia that is being shared with and/or viewed by diverse audiences (that is to say, not a private, hand-picked group - although even then you might be surprised by the thoughts going through some of the people's heads, if you only knew), then you have no recourse to complain that the wrong person looked at it for the wrong reason.

(But it frequently seems to be third parties expressing concern for the sake of others they do not know the desires or intentions of, and I despise that kind of "savior" mentality, where an imagined slight is manufactured on behalf of one who never asked for their choices and actions to be second guessed by puritannical holier-than-thous, who like nothing more than to tell people there are certain things you just can't consent to, because it offends somebody else's fragile sensibilities. That's the whole reason sex work is criminalized, and why pornography is under threat of heading in the same direction).

But besides all that, we've completely side-stepped the possibility that there could be nonsexual reasons for somebody to enjoy naked depictions of strangers. Is the human body not a work of art? Do nudists not preach that the human body is beautiful? So what's wrong with looking at it, then?

And then there is the more common argument from sympathetic nudists, who like to see other people practicing this minority lifestyle, to make them feel not so alone in the world. I feel like there's a lot of suspicion levied against this argument, as if it's considered a hollow excuse for more sinister desires. I don't think it's fair to jump to that conclusion, and assume that nobody watching nudist strangers is doing it for anything other than a sexual motive.

But, as I've argued, even if that were true, it's still not a big deal. And if you're putting yourself (your whole self) out on the internet, let's be real. It's gonna happen, and it's pretty pointless to complain about it. God forbid that nudist photo of you should make somebody enjoy their life a little bit more for a short period of time in a way you didn't intend. God is definitely going to roast you in hell for that unthoughtful act of charity.

Tune in next time (maybe) on Shit Nudists Say for "when we discard our clothes, we discard our social status."