As a man of a certain age, and then a bit older, there is no question that all of the parts of my body aren’t in the best of physical conditions. For many, if not most of the men in the age range of 50s to … well older … virility often becomes the subject of critical focus. Let’s face it, though we can “get it up” after a fashion, there is no ability to “wow” anyone, let alone ourselves. I am approaching this subject with a bit of trepidation as almost any and every conversation that touches upon “manhood” riles up both men and women. And too often, the topic itself is prone to have too many feel that they have been invited to share their “dick” pics, usually at full mast.
In the world of naturism/nudism, there appears to be more tolerance about casual nudity that is full frontal, at least among those who self-identify as naturists/nudists. Yet, for all of that casual attitude to full-frontal male nudity, there is more that lays beneath the surface. I have noticed that images often speak for themselves. So what do the images tell the viewer? To be honest, I don’t have any answers despite my extensive background in psychology. The biggest reason for not being able to answer my own question is the fact that it is uniquely viewer dependent.
As readers here know, the very rare appearance of a penis in one of my blog post images is about as far away from sexual stimulation or intent as one can find when a man’s genitals are visible. Yet, despite my objective of #NormalisingNaturism, I get sexual comments from men who would like nothing more than to engage in sexual activity with me. I know I’m not alone in this, as I have heard the same from quite a number of naturists/nudists, both male and female.
Yet, I wonder about these “innocent” images. Just how innocent are we? What drives us, unconsciously, to post images of ourselves, images that don’t leave anything to the imagination? And, perhaps more importantly, why do we even take these photos or have them taken of us? Do people need or want to see me drinking tea, coffee, beer, or a glass of wine? Does it matter if I am eating toast as in the image above? How many times do we show via our images that we have gone for a walk, or a swim, or mowed the lawn?
These aren’t just questions for men, as women who are naturists/nudists as well with images that tell stories of who we are, stories that often we are not aware of being told. Is a certain photo to record the honest fact about our body as we age? Is the photo more of a visual record for “Self” or is it to be shared with others?