Category: Miscellaneous

Canada and art in the nude

On March 27 2015 something special and good happened in Canada. At THEMUSEUM in Kitchener, Ontario there was the first nude art exhibition.

Meaning that the visitors were naked. Just like the Naked Van Gogh exhibition in Amsterdam that took place last year, this was a first. I am sorry I wasn’t there but hopping over to Canada just wasn’t in the wallet this time. 😉

The news about this exhibition came to my attention via tweets from the Bare Oaks family naturist park in Canada who were very excited about this exhibition – of course. It’s not every day that a museum offers the opportunity to do this.

I hope this was not a one time occasion. Naturists should be offered more options to visit artistic and cultural venues in their natural way of life. It’s also a great way to encourage the clothed public to give this a try.

(Photos by Michael Willems, found on Tumblr.)

Naked Crow 3 and the future

Hi all.

NakedCrow3_320Yes. It’s real. Naked Crow 3, called “Nagual“, is out into the world.

The spread to all the shops will take a while but it’ll get there. In the meantime I have a serious question to all the readers (and non-readers).

I am working on a fourth Naked Crow book. Are there issues concerning naturism/nudism that you would like to see addressed in a novel on naturism? I’m not going to ‘lead’ you by giving examples to keep things open for everyone. If you feel something needs to be highlighted or in another way addressed, please let me know in a comment or let me know via e-mail.

I can’t promise that I’ll be able to deal with everything that’s mentioned but I’m going to do my best. Thank you!

Nude beaches and cameras

I suddenly wonder about something. Nude beaches (and other places where naked people like to gather) and cameras. We all know the ever-present smartphones and they all have cameras. Cameras that aren’t always welcome at nude hangouts. After all you don’t want to have just anyone take your picture and put it on some porn site where others ogle you and have their pity little pleasure.

On the other hand however, cameras can be put to good use. At times I read of people complaining that they are harassed and stared at by unreal nudists. Such ‘nudists’ probably make a habit out of that.

Nudist beach
Enjoying the beach unhindered.

Suppose now that you are there, seeing people who’re making a pest of themselves. Perhaps even for so umpteenth time. Wouldn’t a camera be a great deterrent when you point it at them and snap their picture? You can show it around and let others know about those predators so they can be spotted easily?

That way we, the real nudists and naturists, can enjoy our beaches and resorts without having to be suspicious about folks who seem to have dubious intents…

 

Every body is beautiful.

Not that again!

And why not? It’s not me who’s reading this, it’s you. And I agree if you’re moaning. Not every body is beautiful. Not in the light of modernday standards anyway. On a side note I am not sure which standards that would be because like everything in life, standards have a tendency to jump around and do different things every few days, weeks, month or years. Look at fashion (hey, a nudist who talks fashion!). What was great last year is entirely impossible this year.

beautyqueens 1920sCan you guess when the girls on the left were beautiful? Do you think these women are beautiful? This is 1920s beauty. It’s quite different from these days, isn’t it?

beauty_queen_t580Compared to a 2015 beauty queen the 1920s girls won’t stand a chance with most modern people.

 

The odd thing is that there’s nothing wrong with either period. We’re real people with real bodies (although that might be reason for discussion in these days). With the visual overload and indoctrination of the media that we all have to be young and happy and smiling and all that crap, it’s no wonder that many people go berserk trying to live up to ‘the standards’.

Plastic is fantastic when your butt sags, or when your boobs are the wrong shape.  (How can something natural be the wrong shape, can someone explain this to me? We’re people. We get old. Some don’t (often thanks to the attempts to keep up with being young and pretty).

Naturists / nudists have a much more healthy concept of beauty. They don’t give a damn about how someone looks. If there’s a nice person inside, that’s what counts. That is what makes someone beautiful.

Nude art?

This is an older video and it’s in German but don’t let that put you off. The title of the video is A Chair for the Brave.

The supporting text on Youtube says:

When you’re brave you can become part of a piece of art. A simple chair waits for someone to sit down on it. The catch is that this person needs to be undressed. This idea stems from the artist Franz West who died last year. (Note: this video is from 2013.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O1tzarRNYo

I think this is a brilliant bit of video and the stunning thing is that even when the people who undress and sit down on it aren’t avid nudists, they all were impressed how natural it feels. The young lady at 1 min 48 seconds says, “It’s a bit of a threshold you have to get over at first but after undressing there’s nothing to it.”

At 2 min 40 the artist says, “If you consider how ‘naked’ we are these days, with all the scandals around listening devices and how health care insurances can deny you medication or other help if you didn’t do all you can to keep fit, then there is no way that we can still provoke people by the view of a real naked person.”

Weird nudity laws

Via Jillian’s Page did I find a list of very strange things concerning nudity…

Did you know you’re not allowed to be naked in your own home in Singapore? You can get a hefty fine and face jail time even!

The same goes for Villahermosa in Mexico, even though the fine there is lower than in Singapore.

I don’t see many readers of this naturist blog moving to either of those places soon.

On the other hand it’s totally fine for ladies in NYC to bare their breasts in public as long as it’s recreational and not for ‘business’ purposes.

05 UnderboobIn Cleveland, Ohio even the smallest sliver of underboob is considered nudity. I wonder what they will think of bare arms…

On the contrary, if you want to go hiking in the nude legally you should move to Los Angeles: 02 Hiking ShortsDid you know that? If you want to see a few more odd nudity laws, do hit Jillian’s Page. It’s worth following.

Nudism in Egypt

Nudism in Egypt isn’t visible but it exists. I just read an article in the Dutch NFN magazine “Uit!” about a reporter meeting with 6 people from Cairo who occasionally get together in secret somewhere to be naked. Nothing more. They’re naked, watch TV, drink beer and talk. It is highly illegal what they do because Egypt does not allow nudism and they go to extremes to prevent it, apparently…

One of these people is mentioned with his Twitter ID, @EgyptianNudist. I ‘know’ this man. I follow him on Twitter and we exchanged many tweets. And since last year August he’s gone very silent, as if he disappeared from the earth. In the article there’s mention of someone threatening him and the people in the secret nudism group. (Isn’t that utterly sad?)

I hope he’s okay. I hope they all are okay. Maybe you’re even reading this, my Egyptian nudist friend. If you do, please let me know things are okay with you and your friends. I’ve heard of others who also miss you and wonder where you are. If someone knows anything about him, I’d really like to hear it. Thanks.

pYou can e-mail me if you don’t want to respond online.

The weird world according to a naturist.

Yes, according to many naturists (I know that for certain; I’ll never say I speak or write for all of them) the world is a weird place.

The ‘general’ (non-nudist/non-naturist) world is obsessed with sex and nudity (if you don’t believe me then just open your eyes and look around).

kiltEveryone is curious, almost hungry to see what’s under your clothes, even though it’s too obvious what’s there as there are only 2 genders in humankind and everyone has seen each of the models in the nude one time or another.

Of course, shape, size and colour may vary but the basic package for everyone is exactly the same.

For instance at a beach you can see girls wearing the most skimpy little things to “cover” what shouldn’t be seen, while at the same time the skimpiness of it all is meant to uncover everything so it can be seen. How stupid is that?

And it gets even worse.

Beneath the kiltAs soon as a member of this very same curious general public is given an unobstructed view of what’s actually there, there’s no relief to their curiosity. On the contrary: shock, horror, finger pointing and screaming will ensue (probably after enough people grabbed their phones to take pictures of the corpus delicti). Indecent exposure is the least of one’s problems, being accused of sexual harassment very probably, and with some luck the police force is called out to pick you up and throw you in the back of their car and finally into jail where you, being the pervert that you are, belong. (But we do have the pictures, those are fun to show around!)

Skimpy bikini This is much better.

More honest too, because there is nothing in the way of ‘indecent exposure’.

Or isn’t it? I don’t think so.

Nudism is acceptance of and honesty about one’s body and that of others, no buts or maybes.

Covering things up is social hypocrisy.