Anna
2011-04-22 18:34:09 UTC
From a blog. So you can post to the blog directly as well as posting
here.
http://emergingnudist.blogspot.com/2011/04/young-adult-nudist-groups-at-odds.html
http://tinyurl.com/3fg8okk
No one inside the nudist & naturist community is unaware of the
difficulty our culture has in attracting young adults. Much has been
written about the "aging" demographics of the nudist culture. A number
of theories have been put forth that attempt to explain why young
adults, ages 18 to 30 do not embrace Nudism in large numbers.
Everyone from the national nudist organizations to individual clubs
and resorts have sought ways to attract the younger generations in
larger numbers. The assumption is that unless the nudist lifestyle
gets a reasonable inflow of new blood, the nudist & naturist lifestyle
may eventually disappear altogether and at least as far as the
traditional AANR-type nudist clubs go. Given the realities, it stands
to reason that all nudists & naturists would applaud a new, vibrant
group founded for the very purpose of promoting the benefits of nudist
lifestyle to young adults by seeking to raise the general awareness of
what Nudism & Naturism have to offer to those between 18 and 30.
Young Naturists and Nudists America Arrives on the Scene
On November 28, 2010, a press release announced the founding of just
such a group with the express aim to promote naturism to young adults
in the area encompassing New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The
stated goal of the group, Young Naturists and Nudists America, was to
educate young adults about what naturism & nudism have to offer them
and to raise their awareness of the positive benefits of the
lifestyle. The organization began by putting up an educational website
in October 2010 and then began planning and hosting nudist events in
the greater New York - New Jersey area to garner more participation
among young Americans in the naturist & nudist lifestyle. The group
sought to "show the AANR how its done" when it came to garnering
interest in Nudism among the "younger tech savvy community" by
creating a fresh, relevant and informative website and by harnessing
integrating the powerful social networking tools available with the
Internet.
Controversy Erupts
The organization has since enjoyed some rather phenomenal success in
attracting young Americans to become registered members of the web-
based group, attracting participants to the hosted events and
followers on the organization's Facebook page. Yet recently, YNA has
come under fire from the founder of another young adult nudist group,
Florida Young Naturists. That group's founder, Robbe White, published
on the FYN website, a Public Statement regarding YNA (Young Naturists
America), dated March 3, 2011, in which he stated, "I do not support
YNA." In the statement, White justifies his non-support by explaining
that the YNA Facebook page contributes to the linkage between social
nudity and sex by seemingly welcoming "self-proclaimed, proud voyeurs,
exhibitionists and swingers" to the folds of YNA and thus does a
disservice to the naturist community. White went on to say that, "From
what I can gather YNA is a lifestyle [swingers] group" that harmed the
reputation of respect and wholesomeness that traditional naturists had
worked hard to build.
The YNA Response
Understandably, perhaps YNA founders were outraged by White's public
statement and a "war of words" began via posts to the YNA website and
Facebook page. An entire forum thread on the site titled, "Robbe White
of Florida Young Naturists Attacks YNA - Again," was started by one of
the YNA founders, J. Blum. Another YNA founder, "Felicity" posted a
scathing response to White's statements terming them "ludicrous and
unfounded accusations."
While I'm not taking sides in the argument, the truth about YNA is
likely somewhere in the middle between the respective positions of
White and YNA founders. Reading the forum thread referenced above in
its entirety, as it goes along, YNA does not in my opinion seem to
distance itself strongly enough from embracing a policy of excluding
those who may be attracted to YNA membership and hosted events for
reasons other than wholesome, non-sexual nudity. The tone seems to be
that the sexuality of others is not their business or the business of
White, and that excluding people from participation at YNA or from the
nudist lifestyle just because they may also embrace swinging or other
non-traditional sexuality is prejudicial and old-fashioned.
In fairness to YNA, I have followed the group since becoming aware of
the organization in November 2010. Based on the information presented
both on the YNA website and a companion blog owned and published by
"Felicity" I have to say I was impressed with the pureness of the
motives and intents of YNA in the beginning. I think they sincerely
wanted to introduce young adults in greater numbers to traditional,
wholesome and non-sexual Nudism & Naturism. In a way perhaps, YNA has
simply become a victim of its own success.
The Internet can be a powerful tool for any movement, including
Nudism. The problem is that even legitimate nudist & naturist websites
that provide social networking attract more than their fair share of
perverts and predators, along with a good number of swingers who for
some reason feel the need to try and co-opt Nudism to garner
credibility. The fact is, Nudism and Naturism is about enjoying nudity
for the sake of the joy and freedom of being nude, either alone or
with others. Swinging on the other hand is about sex, having sex with
a partner or partners other than your own. Nudity within the swinger
lifestyle is simply peripheral to the lifestyles true focus. I am not
condemning swingers, I just wish that as a nudist they would identify
with their own lifestyle instead of trying to be considered a part of
non-sexual Nudism & Naturism. Certainly, there are likely many "true"
nudists who also participate in swinging but the fact is a nudist
engaged in swinging is participating in the swinger lifestyle not in
traditional Nudism.
Visiting the YNA website just today, while visiting the community page
I saw a number of photographs uploaded to the site that were nothing
but crude "crotch shots." I also found on the Facebook page and forums
a number of posts by YNA members expressing the opinion that since
sexuality was a private and individual matter there was nothing
inherently wrong with a person mixing sex with Nudism and Naturism. If
YNA wants to be a respected and credible voice for the nudist &
naturist culture, they should spend less time on public denouncements
of their critics and more time ferreting out the undesirables and
swinger lifestylers within their membership. Crotch shots are not
appropriate, especially the ones like I observed that sported a
disembodied erect penis, have no place on a legitimate nudists &
naturists website. No forum posts should go unchallenged by site
moderators that proclaim that mixing nudism with sex is an individual
decision and there is nothing wrong with it.
I think YNA has accomplished some positive things for nudist culture
and has the potential for being a positive force among young adults.
Yet if the organization does not take effective steps to address the
issues that unfortunately all legitimate nudist websites face, the
will simply continue to lose respectability and credibility among real
nudists & naturists. If any nudist website is allowed to remain too
all-inclusive then soon it becomes just as slimy and lacking in
credibility among true nudists as a site like "Pure Nudism" that is
nothing more than a garden-variety porn site.
here.
http://emergingnudist.blogspot.com/2011/04/young-adult-nudist-groups-at-odds.html
http://tinyurl.com/3fg8okk
No one inside the nudist & naturist community is unaware of the
difficulty our culture has in attracting young adults. Much has been
written about the "aging" demographics of the nudist culture. A number
of theories have been put forth that attempt to explain why young
adults, ages 18 to 30 do not embrace Nudism in large numbers.
Everyone from the national nudist organizations to individual clubs
and resorts have sought ways to attract the younger generations in
larger numbers. The assumption is that unless the nudist lifestyle
gets a reasonable inflow of new blood, the nudist & naturist lifestyle
may eventually disappear altogether and at least as far as the
traditional AANR-type nudist clubs go. Given the realities, it stands
to reason that all nudists & naturists would applaud a new, vibrant
group founded for the very purpose of promoting the benefits of nudist
lifestyle to young adults by seeking to raise the general awareness of
what Nudism & Naturism have to offer to those between 18 and 30.
Young Naturists and Nudists America Arrives on the Scene
On November 28, 2010, a press release announced the founding of just
such a group with the express aim to promote naturism to young adults
in the area encompassing New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The
stated goal of the group, Young Naturists and Nudists America, was to
educate young adults about what naturism & nudism have to offer them
and to raise their awareness of the positive benefits of the
lifestyle. The organization began by putting up an educational website
in October 2010 and then began planning and hosting nudist events in
the greater New York - New Jersey area to garner more participation
among young Americans in the naturist & nudist lifestyle. The group
sought to "show the AANR how its done" when it came to garnering
interest in Nudism among the "younger tech savvy community" by
creating a fresh, relevant and informative website and by harnessing
integrating the powerful social networking tools available with the
Internet.
Controversy Erupts
The organization has since enjoyed some rather phenomenal success in
attracting young Americans to become registered members of the web-
based group, attracting participants to the hosted events and
followers on the organization's Facebook page. Yet recently, YNA has
come under fire from the founder of another young adult nudist group,
Florida Young Naturists. That group's founder, Robbe White, published
on the FYN website, a Public Statement regarding YNA (Young Naturists
America), dated March 3, 2011, in which he stated, "I do not support
YNA." In the statement, White justifies his non-support by explaining
that the YNA Facebook page contributes to the linkage between social
nudity and sex by seemingly welcoming "self-proclaimed, proud voyeurs,
exhibitionists and swingers" to the folds of YNA and thus does a
disservice to the naturist community. White went on to say that, "From
what I can gather YNA is a lifestyle [swingers] group" that harmed the
reputation of respect and wholesomeness that traditional naturists had
worked hard to build.
The YNA Response
Understandably, perhaps YNA founders were outraged by White's public
statement and a "war of words" began via posts to the YNA website and
Facebook page. An entire forum thread on the site titled, "Robbe White
of Florida Young Naturists Attacks YNA - Again," was started by one of
the YNA founders, J. Blum. Another YNA founder, "Felicity" posted a
scathing response to White's statements terming them "ludicrous and
unfounded accusations."
While I'm not taking sides in the argument, the truth about YNA is
likely somewhere in the middle between the respective positions of
White and YNA founders. Reading the forum thread referenced above in
its entirety, as it goes along, YNA does not in my opinion seem to
distance itself strongly enough from embracing a policy of excluding
those who may be attracted to YNA membership and hosted events for
reasons other than wholesome, non-sexual nudity. The tone seems to be
that the sexuality of others is not their business or the business of
White, and that excluding people from participation at YNA or from the
nudist lifestyle just because they may also embrace swinging or other
non-traditional sexuality is prejudicial and old-fashioned.
In fairness to YNA, I have followed the group since becoming aware of
the organization in November 2010. Based on the information presented
both on the YNA website and a companion blog owned and published by
"Felicity" I have to say I was impressed with the pureness of the
motives and intents of YNA in the beginning. I think they sincerely
wanted to introduce young adults in greater numbers to traditional,
wholesome and non-sexual Nudism & Naturism. In a way perhaps, YNA has
simply become a victim of its own success.
The Internet can be a powerful tool for any movement, including
Nudism. The problem is that even legitimate nudist & naturist websites
that provide social networking attract more than their fair share of
perverts and predators, along with a good number of swingers who for
some reason feel the need to try and co-opt Nudism to garner
credibility. The fact is, Nudism and Naturism is about enjoying nudity
for the sake of the joy and freedom of being nude, either alone or
with others. Swinging on the other hand is about sex, having sex with
a partner or partners other than your own. Nudity within the swinger
lifestyle is simply peripheral to the lifestyles true focus. I am not
condemning swingers, I just wish that as a nudist they would identify
with their own lifestyle instead of trying to be considered a part of
non-sexual Nudism & Naturism. Certainly, there are likely many "true"
nudists who also participate in swinging but the fact is a nudist
engaged in swinging is participating in the swinger lifestyle not in
traditional Nudism.
Visiting the YNA website just today, while visiting the community page
I saw a number of photographs uploaded to the site that were nothing
but crude "crotch shots." I also found on the Facebook page and forums
a number of posts by YNA members expressing the opinion that since
sexuality was a private and individual matter there was nothing
inherently wrong with a person mixing sex with Nudism and Naturism. If
YNA wants to be a respected and credible voice for the nudist &
naturist culture, they should spend less time on public denouncements
of their critics and more time ferreting out the undesirables and
swinger lifestylers within their membership. Crotch shots are not
appropriate, especially the ones like I observed that sported a
disembodied erect penis, have no place on a legitimate nudists &
naturists website. No forum posts should go unchallenged by site
moderators that proclaim that mixing nudism with sex is an individual
decision and there is nothing wrong with it.
I think YNA has accomplished some positive things for nudist culture
and has the potential for being a positive force among young adults.
Yet if the organization does not take effective steps to address the
issues that unfortunately all legitimate nudist websites face, the
will simply continue to lose respectability and credibility among real
nudists & naturists. If any nudist website is allowed to remain too
all-inclusive then soon it becomes just as slimy and lacking in
credibility among true nudists as a site like "Pure Nudism" that is
nothing more than a garden-variety porn site.