If naturism is just about getting on with everyday life but opting to do it without clothes is the need to bring gender, sexual orientation and sexual discussion into articles a confusing distraction that does more harm than good? 

I have just read an article about naturism that in many ways has a positive message Link to Article but there are aspects of it that suggest a need for the writer to promote her own way of life over and above naturism. Maybe it is part of journalism today that authors are more interested in creating their own fame than writing about a piece of news. Maybe magazines and Newspapers are maybe guilty of becoming more like internet blogs in an attempt to follow trends and feel like influencers. 

So if you read the article there is much time put into the author's enjoyment of alcohol, a constant reference to having friends (another big need in this social media life), language and body references that seem more about appearing cool and a reference and link to her being part of a "throuple." A reference that is totally meaningless to the article and if removed would have no effect on the article. 

The fact that she has a boyfriend and a girlfriend and that they according to the linked article spend time together in bed seems completely out of place in the article and totally superfluous to the article and given the confusion that many have over naturism a comment that could be considered damaging. The author's sex life is not one that she should hide or be ashamed of, and is something she has obviously written about but why bring it into a naturist article?

If she was writing an article about hiking would she mention it? I guess maybe the need to turn journalism into a personal diary of your own private life may mean she would but you wouldn't expect it. 

My question is why is there a need to confuse an article about how safe and wonderful naturism is with a reference to living in a threesome? The article several times refers to naturism being free of  the sexual predatory behaviour of men, she keeps referring to her companions as girl friends encouraging the idea that she wants to be away from men, and then also refers to the alternative "nudist" scene as being more about swinging - and that it exists, is safe and is cool too. She refers to going to gay bars to be free from being pestered by men.

So what is this article really about? Yes it says naturism is sunny and family friendly, but the article is about her life, her sex life, her relationships, her feelings, and if we take that away there is little left. So if you don't like her or the idea of being in a throuple you will be left with little to encourage you into liking what she is sharing.  

The article has even been placed into the category "Sex and Relationships" - is that the right category for a naturist article - that on the surface should be providing the message - naturism is family friendly. A wonderful message tainted by a need to sexualise yourself in the writing. 

So why does it happen? Is it because of the nudity? 

There seems a growing obsession with talking about gender and sexuality within naturism. I read today about same sex couples being allowed to compete in the international naturist petanque competition. The question is what is a couple? If gender doesn't matter, could the contenders just be friends. Does sexual orientation need to be considered. Why not just call it doubles? And not bring gender and sexuality into it at all. 

When we were in Broadlands we met a male couple who had just become members of the club, there was no fanfare, they were listed with the other new members, they were simply part of the club, accepted and appreciated for who they are and not because of their sexuality. Isn't that the whole point? 

With more and more "women only" holidays and events being organised we keep confusing the issue. Naturism is a non-sexual life style choice, just like kite flying. So is the need to pepper articles with sexuality and encourage segregation doing more harm than good?

Or is the need to talk about our sex lives and sexual orientation a way of suggesting that naturism is not a secret sexual society pretending to be sex free? 

What do you think?

This is something we have been seeing more and more of in the last few years. The rise of gender ideology has impacted every aspect of society, and it does appear as if who you sleep with, is becoming more and more important in day to day life, and to a degree, it appears to trump every other aspect of who people actually are.

The saddest thing about this article is that if you were to remove all of the references of sexuality and sex, the article would actually, with a little more explanation, be a good and positive article and advert for naturism.

To be honest, we were always of the mind that it did not matter within naturism, and to a degree we thought naturism would be one of a few places where sexuality and gender would never really be necessary, for the very reason that it is a none sexual pastime or lifestyle. In recent years we have now seen that is not the case, as it has even found its way to slither within the ranks of a naturists and our national organisations.

When British Naturism decided to partner up with Stonewall in an advisory capacity, something we did not agree with, we felt it that naturism was about to be assaulted with sexuality, and again, as a none sexual pastime or lifestyle, we felt it did not belong, Rob actually had a few long debates with others about it, because as he stated, sex has nothing to do with naturism.

Rob worked as a sexual therapist, to be honest, when it comes to sexual practices, he is very well informed and accepting of all people’s sex lives, and yet he took a stand for naturism and argued that national organisations should not have officers whose job it is to make sexual identities a priority within the ranks of a naturist organisation. As he stated at the time, it was nothing to do with the individuals, he accepted all no matter what their sexual identity, what he objected to was making sex a priority within naturism. He believed at the time and still does, that it will damage the reputation of naturism, especially in the eyes of the general public, who he felt would see naturism as a sexual thing, and not the none sexual life it is supposed to be.

We believe that naturism is no different from textile life, the only things that is different is we do things textiles do naked, but in every other regard such as respectful behaviour, the rules are the same. In textile society, if people are sexually attracted to each other, they either excuse themselves discreetly, or arrange a time to meet up at a later point to engage in romantic activities, and the same rules apply to naturism.

There is no reason or excuse to exhibit sexualised behaviour openly in front of others, be it textile or naturists, and in that regard, peoples sexual preferences are not important to naturist activities, to us, it is just good sense and also highly respectful.

As we have noted in more recent times, there does appear to be an effort within naturism to blur the lines between what we see as normal none sexual naturism and the more adult focused hedonistic side of sharing lifestyle. We feel there is a great need to fight off this trend and disassociate naturism from it, because we do feel that it is something that paints a dangerous picture when it comes to perception of the general public, and we already have enough false information and perceptions being slung against us from mainstream and social media, without pushing the narrative that sex and sexuality are all we are about, because we are not.

Sadly we live in a world where sexuality has become the be all and end all of most conversations, and image, and if we are completely honest we do not think that it is a positive thing, because as Rob has highlighted many times in his work it actually works against people, as it becomes the only thing important about a person, which it is not. Imagine a human personality is like a cake, divided into twenty equal parts, only one slice of the cake is the sexuality of the person, the other nineteen represent many more of their qualities. Making this one slice the most important, lessens the rest of who that person is, because all of us are vastly more than simply who our bed partner is. 

The same goes for naturism, if we make the sexuality of a naturist more important than all the other aspects of what naturism is, we erode naturism down to the one aspect that has never belonged within it, sex.

There is a place for everyone within naturism, it has always been open to all, and sadly those at the top of naturism have forgotten that in a bid to become trendy, and it has, is and will damage naturism if we do not speak out against it. All that matters is that you enjoy socially naked time and the life that surrounds it, and that something for everyone.

It is normal, natural, none sexual nudity, and sex has no part in it, and to be honest, what happens in the bedroom,be it with two five or ten, should not be public knowledge, not even in the textile world, let alone a naturist one.

As you say there are some good things in this article but sadly the message becomes clouded by a need gto talk about other things. 

Goodness knows what members of the AANR and other legimate socially naked enjoyers that consider nudism is there word to see it stated clearly that nudism is about sexual sharing. 

Steve and I have chatted about the petanque situation. Why describe it as couples? If two men or two women can partner can they not just play as a pair or as friends without the need to be described as couples? If you are going to allow ant two people to play together how can it matter if they are a couple or not? 

This article is another of many so called promotions of naturism that are applauded and welcomed with joy without considering the message. It is time we started to recognise that simply mentioning naturism does not make it a positive advert. We have to be more chosey about the blogs, events, websites, articles, social media profiles etc that we back, follow, share or applaud. When we show such a desperate want to approve of anything that mentions naturism or portrays itself as naturist despite what the message actually is we fail to ensure it is best represented and best understood and we fail to encourage more of the right people to head in our direction. 

Sadly we are seeing (certainly in the UK and maybe others from other countries may say they are seeing the same - do let us know) a trend towards even our national body showing too great an interest in our sexuality and linked with a growing trend to segregate, a growing trend to ignore families, a growing trend to create adult only events, and a growing trend to encourage a bump and grind party approach to these events backed up with drag queen style entertainment - we really should be concerned about the future of naturism.  

I'll be short. Sex sells. I liked the article, but the throuple thing made me cringe... What on earth is this doing here? Are we reading about naturism or sexual preferences? I fully agree with all that was said, but the (sad) reality is that sex is top of mind for a lot of people because they're confused and seek acknowledgement from others, like many insecure people. But, this is what the media wants because it will make people come. Sanity has left this world a long time ago...

The article has some good things it is just sad that there is a need to keep bring it back to trendy issues like sexuality and how much alcohol can be consumed. Why the need to write about the plenty of places for swinging in a naturist article. Would she write about the many places you can go fishing in an article about ten pin bowling? And why categorise the article as "Sex and Relatinships" when the message is really nothing to do with either. I despair!

The same is that I often read these type of articles (not just on naturism) and I get the feeling that they are fantasy. I am not suggesting that the author isn't a naturist, but there is something in the way these articles are often written that makes them feel like short stories created as articles- all "dressing" and little information.