Thursday, May 7, 2020

Ten Years of Truth & Beauty

I've been reminiscing over the last month in anticipation of this blog's ten year anniversary. Can you believe it? I've been posting my thoughts (and a lot of my photography) on this blog for ten years, and it's still a regular fixture in my life. Then again, looking back at the first year of posts on this blog, I'm surprised at how early I was debating some of the very same issues that continue to plague me today (although it seems as though I really began to hit my stride around 2016) - such as the tenuous line between erotic photography and nudism, the inadequacy of cis-normative conceptions of sexual orientation, and the misrepresentation of voyeurism and exhibitionism. But does that mean I should hang up my hat, and call it a day? Surely, by now, I've said everything I have to say on these topics. Right?

Except that this blog serves as a therapeutic outlet for my tireless mental processes. And I enjoy writing for it. In ten years, I have posted a whopping 1,332 entries. Yet, that is a huge and intimidating barrier of entry for new readers. I wanted to compile a "top ten" or "best of" list to accompany this post, but even with a month's preparation, that would have required an inordinate amount of reading (and digestion) on my part. Still, I browsed through the archives, and tracked down some of my more memorable posts (numbering in the dozens), that I think are among the most insightful, or entertaining to read. I've split them into general categories for your convenience (with the understanding that a lot of these issues frequently overlap).

Art, Modeling, and Photography

The Principles of Exposure
Body Appeal (And Other Issues)
Construction (and Deconstruction)
The Best of Cocktoberfest
How To Clone Yourself
Four Phases
Straight Model, Gay Audience
Filtering
Rise of the Semi
Decade Comparisons

Nudism

My Life In Nudism
Spending a Day at a Nudist Resort
Contemplating a Nudist-Friendly World
Conversations with a Nudist
Nude At Home
Nudists and Tanning
Gymnophilia
Nudism's Appeal to Nature
A Nudist Survey
Clearing Up A Misconception

Voyeurism & Exhibitionism

The Illicit(?) Thrill of Nudity
Cost Benefits of Naked Exhibition
Seeking Diplomacy in a Culture of Exploitation
The Voyeur's Temptation
Flashing a Smile
Voyeurexhibitionism
Nudity in the Park
School Dress Code
Sexy Superpowers
A Statement on Exhibitionism
Peer-2-Peer Versus Broadcast Models of Internet Sexuality

Sex-Positivity

Sexual Compliments...For Dummies
For an Ethical Morality
Constructing Society
Why Care About Sex Worker's Rights?
5 Myths About Porn
Sexology, Perversion, and Asocial Sexuality
The Conventional Narrative of Love and Sex
Fetishizing Virginity
Sexual Consent - Right or Privilege?
Bad Reality, Good Fantasy
Mortality
Benefit of the Doubt
Mental Autonomy
Two Kinds of Sex-Positivity
Trafficking or Prostitution?
Three Definitions of Porn

Feminism

Speedos for Feminism
My Annual Speedo Rant
The Definition of Feminism (Note: this post turned out to be the first in a five-day series that continues in Feminism Strikes Again, Bullet Style, A New Outlook, and, finally, Further Thoughts on "Sexualization")
In Defense of Sexy Cosplay
Top Google Results - "no speedos" rule
Water Park
Teaching Girls To Sext
Why I Wear Swim Briefs
Dressed To Distraction

Gender Studies

The Gender Scale
Adventures of a Transgender MtF in Hicksville, USA
Hard To Categorize
"Gay" and "Straight" are Cis-sexist Terms
The Third Field
The Genderbread Person
Straight Male (and Related Meanderings)
What if Orientation is just a Preference?