It’s time for some soul-searching and for a new approach, for me, for my Naked Fiction…
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog in which I took some issue with certain members of the naturist community who I felt were unfairly critical of me, as a naturist who is also an author of erotic fiction which uses themes of both sexual and non-sexual nudity to entertain an adult audience.
I took issue with the fact that some naturists are personally hostile to any combining of nudity and sex in culture and media, due to their feeling that naturism is unfairly presented as sexualised, often for the profit of adult content creators such as myself.
In my now-deleted blog I argued that real life, and real human sexuality is complicated, and that while naturism and naturist events are non-sexual in nature and promote a healthy view of nudity in which men and women being naked together has no connection to sexuality, it is also futile to attempt to completely eradicate the link between sex and nudity. I argued that naturism is non-sexual, but it is also in actual fact no more or less sexual than any other social human activity, whether that is visiting a textile beach, a gym, a nightclub or just walking down the street. I cited my own examples of couples I know who have met and connected via naturism and who, presumably, have no issues reconciling their personal sexual desire for each other with their participation in social naturism. I personally feel that to truly feel comfortable with naturism, we naturists need to accept that sex is a part of life, and that for nudity to be truly normalised we need to understand that sexual thought and desire among adults should no more be eradicated from naturism than it should from any clothed activity.
Which includes writing erotica for my own and my readers’ enjoyment in which the characters might be described as nudists or naturists, or engaged in some form of non-sexual social nudity in addition to the “sexy stuff” – and my right to market my work as featuring these themes as a selling point.
That said...
Over this weekend I have become aware of something which has caused me to consider how things can be seen from another point of view.
In my country, media attention has recently been paid to British Naturism, the official member organisation of naturists in the UK, and particularly their holding and promoting nude events at a number of waterparks, events which are open to attendees of all ages, including children.
The increased media presence has attracted attention from persons who hold a different view; people who believe that events in which children/minors and adults are able to socialise together without clothing must be a) attractive to and attended by paedophiles and b) prevented from happening so as to protect children from exploitation and abuse.
This has culminated in groups presenting petitions calling for these events to be banned and, over this weekend, actual street protest in the form of self-described “paedophile hunter” activists going to a naturist event, standing outside and filming and harassing the attendees.
Now, British Naturism, its members, and UK naturists as a whole, do not need someone like me, with my library of smutty books and stories, defending them from these attacks. They are quite capable of doing so themselves, and I’m more than aware that (although my fiction is entirely about consenting adults) any inadvertent associating of myself with them in order to provide a defence would probably do more harm than good.
But the way that media stories about innocent naturist events have nonetheless led to a linking, in the minds of some members of the public, between naturism and sex, and therefore a feeling that children are being exploited by being taken to naturist events by their families, has caused me to consider how I in my own small way contribute to that misconception.
Because I do. I don’t post sexually explicit photos or videos to social media under the guise of naturist photography, the way some do (leading to the possibility that if one searches for hashtags like #naturism, one is confronted with hardcore porn), but I do post advertisements and enticements to buy and read my erotic fiction using those same hashtags.
In the past I justified it to myself by contemplating my work as being both erotic, but also naturist, and I hold true to that. There are plenty of positive representations of non-sexual nudity in the Lisa & Becky books and in Brave Nude World. But there is also sexual exhibitionism, soft-core straight and lesbian sex scenes, masturbation, and a lot of content best described as ‘titillating’.
My readers know and understand this, and I count many naturists among my fans. But to a wider world, if I market an erotic book with hashtags like #naturism, all I achieve in doing is strengthening the link in people’s minds between naturist social nudity, and erotic experiences.
In the past I have been deaf to, and even angered by, criticism of this. In part that is because of individual experiences with naturists who, I feel, have been unfair towards others because of their identities as creators of adult content. Specifically, I have a friend who is both a naturist in her spare time, and a sex worker when “on the clock”, and she has felt forced to distance herself from naturism because of experiences with some naturists who have felt her decision to monetise her body and sexuality renders her incapable of being true to the ideals of naturism. I have seen the same perspective used towards other individuals, fine naturists all, who also produce adult content, often as models.
I still feel the individual experiences of these people are unfair. But I am not fighting that battle in a personal way, I am shouting out unnecessarily. By broadcasting out media which links naturism and erotic content, I have not redressed that balance or righted those wrongs; I have contributed, in a small way, to tipping things the other way, making it harder, not easier, for genuine naturists to fight their own battles to practise their own way of life freely without having angry people demonstrating outside their events.
So what does this mean?
Well, it means that in future, you will not see the words naturism/naturist/nudism/nudist in marketing material for my books. The content of the books will not change, but you will not find my work marketed under those hashtags. While this may hurt my sales, I feel it is the right thing to do.
In future I will continue to use erotic fiction and fetish hashtags, and the hashtag #nakedfiction which I employ to describe my work, but will not mention lifestyles which are about non-sexual nudity.
I will largely refrain from blogging or posting to social media about naturism. My blogs and social media posts are part of the way I have chosen to market my work and in focussing on naturism, even if it is because it is interesting to me, I am helping to reinforce the association between naturism and sexual nudity.
I will continue to blog and post about (non-naturist) nudity, erotica, writing, and the fetish themes of my work. You will still see plenty of content from me but it will no longer be attempting to straddle the fence in writing about both sexual and non-sexual nudity; no more trying to be all things to all people.
My next novel will not involve naturism/nudism in any way. That is not a reaction to my current feelings, that was planned anyway long before this, but I feel now more than ever it is the right step to take. The content I have in mind for the foreseeable future is erotica with no naturist/nudist elements. It is still Naked Fiction but aimed more at the CFNF/CMNF/exhibitionist fandom for whom I initially wrote.
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