now comes the age of pay per view nudity
A new phenomenon has emerged in recent months something I call pay per view nudity. Recently many social media platforms have cracked down on nudity. While Facebook and Instagram have always had somewhat strict policies Twitter and other have increased their censorship in response to some public concerns. This increased scrutiny led some people online looking for places to .express" themselves fully without censorship concerns.
Twitter which has long been the most open of the platforms to nudity revised it terms of service to include new provisions related to nude images. For example have a nude image as your avatar or cover photo can get your account suspended or deleted. Twitter is also following the lead of other platforms like Tumblr and Flickr where nudity is permissible but account which have displays of nudity must be marked as such so as to be restricted from viewing in search results but the general public. Into that gap has stepped web site like Patreon and the newer entrant into the nude for profit space OnlyFans.
https://twitter.com/a_nakedgirl/status/936910520975683590
The pay per view concept developed around the sport of boxing which once upon a time used to make money by selling rights to broadcast boxing matches to the broadcast and then cable networks. Some promoters decided to cut out the "middle man" and sell the right to view premier matches directly to the boxing fan. The fan paid a fee to be able to view the match. The pay per view model has been adopted by many other media entities who believe their fans are willing to pay to get early or unfettered access to their product.
Naked bodies or implied nakedness have been used for a long time to promote or sell products of all sorts.
However, the emergence of the nude for profit cottage industry has created a context there the nakedness itself is the product. No more implied nudity the app per view nude for profit promises its patrons the real deal full nudity with no censorship for a price. With their Patreon or OnlyFans accounts individuals can bypass the social media platforms that restrict or censor. I use these as examples because these are the sites creating the most buzz in regular and social media. As the IG post below illustrates the this emerging trend is a big deal.
Artists, photographers and models have used Patreon or the pay per view mechanisms to monetize their work in the recent past. Now it seems that people who actively wear the label nudist or naturist are joining the nude for profit trend. A recent conversation with the newest nude photo darling of the online naturist crowd focused completely on how the site which has photos of the individual could be further monetized. This beyond the several hundreds of dollars already being collected from several individuals each month. This phenomenon is not restricted to women.
https://twitter.com/t3dus/status/930618728148062208
As a person who believes in and promotes nu gymnosophy as healthy non sexual clothes free living the trend among some who wear the naturist label (nudist has already been taken by the porn industry) is concerning. I fully support the right of any individual to do as they wish with their body and make a living by whatever means they choose. The concern comes when the term naturist is associated with something that looks a lot that the porn industry that has long made use of the pay per view model.
What does is say about the state of naturism when bona fide efforts to promote clothes free living get little or no support while naturist cleaners and pay per view nudity rake in the cash. As a follower on IG commented to the masses "it looks like straight up porn". Consider the press coverage of "naturist" travel blogger couples. The mainstream media leads stories like that with sexual overtones not the travel.
The issue for me is not mere nakedness or nudity or making someone money off nudity. Artists and photographers have been doing that for centuries. Spencer Tunick starting with his Naked States project has given a wonderful example of artistic nudity and I suspect made some money in the process. That artistic expression nudity always seem to point to something more. Nudity was not the product or the project it was a vehicle. The pay per view nude for profit industry turns that on its head and takes the notion of nudity as art to a place of nudity is art.
If we are honest there are many entities associated with naturism that are primarily revenue generarating. The national organizations who sell memberships, the magazines with their photo travel logs, and other naturist affiliated businesses all make money from their association with naturism. But this is different. With the previous efforts there is something beyond a naked body that is offered. The nude for profit cottage industry has no such pretense. You pay to view nudity. The viewers pays to consume the naked body. It feels like something of a digital peep show.
I don't know where this ends in a visually oriented culture driven to individual freedom and consumption. If this article I came across recently is any example, it doesn't feel like it will end well. At least not for the ordinary naturist and others living a non sexual clothes free life.
First published on clothesfreelife.com February 2018
https://clothesfreelife.com/2018/02/now-comes-the-age-of-pay-per-view-nudity/
There are several libraries accumulating printed publications about naturism under the management of international naturist associations. Alas, they all provide materials also on a paid basis. To promote naturism, I think it would be more expedient to make the archives of these libraries digitized for translation and open for public access. Since it is better to receive income from increasing the number of new members of naturist associations.
That Walgreen commercial is 100% good.
https://youtu.be/gDBcrPnuHEI
To me, art is something created by intent. A body is therefor, IMHO, not in and of itself art. A body may be extremely beautiful but it falls in the same category as sunsets and landscapes and flora and fauna, and such. Natural beauty is not art - which is the root of art-ificial.
It can be a canvas for art to be displayed on. Some people would consider body building to be an art in which the body could be art because it has been transformed by the will of the artist from what it normally is to a means of expression. Jewelry, tattoos, paint, hair styling, makeup and other forms all use the body as a canvas for art.
The body in motion could be art if the motion is intended to convey something. Again, the intent to evoke a feeling is what makes dance an art as opposed to doing the dishes.