It is worrying that society is acting so blindly in this respect. Everyone I speak to seems concerned that the attitudes that appear to be created to encourage a better understanding are actually creating more distrust, anger, bitterness and hate. I honestly believe that the world is becoming more racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic despite it being so "trended against." The media may love force feeding us propaganda about how equal and accepting society is becoming - but that is worryingly a view that is actually more and more fake. It is the same with the whole body acceptance movement. We can pretend that society is changing but it is mainly patronising articles or articles attempting to show fairness that are surrounded by proof that all forms of media are still obsessed with their perceived ideals. It is just ticking boxes to appear like things have changed rather than things having actually changed. But it is the very pretence that seems to force a fake perception and it is breeding contempt. The best way towards equality and acceptance is to stop pointing fingers and stop placing people outside of a place of importance.
How can my son be told by a career advice officer that because he is a white English male he will struggle to find a job? While society places colour, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability as a matter of importance in our work place, our school place, our communities then there will always be an underlying awareness of difference, an imbalance. All lives matter, all people deserve equality, all people deserve a fair crack at the whip, all deserve to be trusted - and unless they prove otherwise that trust should be based purely on their character, skills and ability. We cannot live in a world of ratios and ticking boxes. The best person for the job each and every time. The best society we can build - no matter what. Equality for everyone is the only way and the current trends are missing the point completely. If an article states the point that the person in the article is for arguments sake a plus sized woman - then it says several things - an article about large women is unusual, large women need special recognition, large women are shocking, large women are different to just "women," and the woman in the article is being chosen simply because she is large. This does nothing to help with the acceptance of the size of women. Do it too regularly and it makes smaller women feel unfairly treated and long term will make these women want to become large, do it rarely and it makes large women an obstacle of interest- almost worse than not doing it at all.
These articles should simply not care - surely there is more to the article than the fact that the woman is large - and if there isn't then that just reinforces all of the above. Integrate large women into media without it being forced and without underlining it and without ignoring other size women and that is equality - equality that allows the woman to be of interest for who she is and not how she looks. This is the same with all aspects of society. We have to stop expressing an unnatural interest in differences to find equality. When I read an article do I care about what minorities or majorities the person is in - no I do not I care about whether the article is interesting. We should not ignore injustice and inequality that exists in places around the world - we need to combat that - but these are topics that need confronting honestly and placed into context. If a man beats his dog in one country it is unfair for the dogs in another country to be biting the innocent and fair hand that feeds them.
Here at ANW I hope everyone feels welcome. All that really matters is that we are all here with a mutual love of naturism - other differences just add to the spectrum of who we are and what we may talk about and the personal histories we bring to the community.
I can see how women only events may be a safe step towards naturism for some women - but I do think the learning curve of naturism and the actual way society real works is being ignored. The joy is actually that we are all naked together. A naturist woman isn't safe because she is kept distant from men, a naturist woman is safe because naturists are decent people - fair people - caring people. If an individual breaks that trust - them it doesn't matter if they are a man or woman - they are causing harm and hurting naturism and unwelcome.
I worry about the amount of families in naturism. If we attempt to just that the way forward is to segregate families from non families then what is that teaching the families, the children and the non-naturists looking at our lifestyle? One easy suggestion is that children in naturism need protecting from perverts. And that is exactly why naturism has had protests, that some people feel naturism is not for families and why promoting naturism as a family friendly lifestyle is happening less and less. Suggesting women are better off segregated is possibly putting more women off naturism than encouraging them. As it begs the question why? And some of the possible answers are very negative. So would a woman want to bother? Would a woman want to take that risk?
For me naturism needs to be promote as universal - open to all - and the starting point of trust in the lifestyle has to come from an awareness that it is suitable for families. Until that point is recognised then we cannot really move forward with strengthening our acceptance.
Anna said as much in a woman's live debate and one woman replied - Well you want families in naturism because you have children! - this is exactly the problem isn't it. Everyone thinks that each of our life set ups should make a difference.
I have no children so let's look at adult only events. I don't trust men so let's look at women only events.
We are already a minority - we have to consider all and that includes majorities - families make up a huge proportion of society. If I didn't have children I would not be blind to this fact. The existence of children and families also ensure that behaviour is suitable for all - and that is a good thing to keep firmly in our minds. For non-naturists it helps to clarify certain concerns.
If we want the best for the positive growth of naturism we need to forget segregation and look at ensuring that all are welcome and all are fully involved. Society has to stop ignoring majorities and it has to stop make such a big deal about our differences.
If women want to hang together at a club for a chat, or families want to connect so children can play - that makes sense - but keeping others away to allow such things to happen only breeds mistrust and contempt. As a society we learn to trust and accept each other by integrating. Women will only trust being naked with men if they get to do so, children will only learn to understand how to behave in larger society if they get the opportunity to do so. We will only learn to become less prejudice and accept equality if we are allowed to meet everyone on equal terms and recognise them for who they are and not what they are.
This post was edited by
Steve ANW
at April 18, 2025 6:30 PM BST