Hand-Me-Down Fashion Show

I recently received a bundle of clothes from a family friend who is supportive of my fashion interests, and who has a good sense of style (she's not afraid to wear sexy clothes), so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a "fashion show" (albeit for your eyes only). This batch consists mainly of some strapless/tube dresses, and a few sheer nighties - in other words, very sexy.

[description: video montage trying on a series of dresses and lingerie]

My favorite is the black tube dress. It fits more comfortably than the orange one, which is very tight - good for fetish balls, maybe, but not much else - and is rather more discrete. Plus, it glitters like diamonds - it's even more impressive in person. I love it. I could totally see me wearing something like it to prom. I just need to find some strappy heels to go with it.

I also really like the white dress, but it's very snug - prohibitively so. It would need some modifications for me to be able to wear it. Which is a shame, because I like its style. The leopard print top is something I could definitely wear, though - perhaps in the summer. The nighties are sexy, of course, though I don't know how much I'd actually wear them. Having dangly bits kind of throws off the fit.

Waking Up

Normally, it would be considered narcissistic to wake up, get one look at your body, and think, "damn, I'm hot - let me take a selfie." But when you really are hot, it's actually a public service to document that so the rest of the world can enjoy it, too.

[description: series of handheld nude selfies in bed with an erection]

It's old news now, but I didn't get started modeling because I had an overinflated opinion of my own appearance. It started out with me sending flirty pictures to my girlfriend. But I enjoyed the process, and I liked the results. This won't be the first time I've quoted Elle Fanning's character in The Neon Demon, but "I know what I look like - what's wrong with that, anyway?" Too much beauty in this world goes unappreciated as it is. I'm not going to contribute to that kind of wastefulness. Everyone is so critical, but if you don't like it, you can just not look.

In law, there's a saying that goes along the lines of, it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than to let one innocent man be wrongfully accused. It's not the way that modern law works, unfortunately, but it's something I happen to agree with. I don't care if the whole world develops narcissistic personality disorder (which is really a lot more than just thinking "I'm hot"), if it'll prevent even one beautiful person from going through her whole life not realizing how beautiful she is, and not selflessly sharing that beauty with the rest of the world, it will be worth it. I'm just doing my part to make that world a reality.

X-Ray Screening

Here are some shots on a theme that's always fun. I tried this six years ago [broken link], but I think my skills have improved since then. (The back shot didn't line up quite as nicely as the front, though).

[description: a clothed figure stands in front of a screen which renders the clothes invisible]

Obviously, real X-rays don't quite work this way (to the chagrin of every little boy who's ever purchased a pair of "X-ray Specs"). They use a form of electromagnetic radiation (high energy light) that [mostly] passes through your body, revealing the outline of your skeleton. But what if we could design a special material that appears transparent only under specific viewing conditions? Like the polarizing filter in a pair of sunglasses. We could design clothes using this material, so that when you put the glasses on, you could see right through them!

Think of the boon this would be to voyeurs and exhibitionists! Obviously, people wouldn't be forced or tricked into wearing this material, but those who don't mind could opt in. It would be like a special little treat for perverts. All would appear normal under regular viewing conditions, and only those who are "in on the secret" would have any idea what's going on. Voyeurs and exhibitionists alike could get a thrill, right out in public, and it wouldn't disrupt anyone or violate anybody's consent!

I think this is a brilliant idea, and it would be such harmless fun to play with. I'm doubtful about the likelihood of this kind of thing even being possible, though. And if you could get it working, there are bound to be some unforeseen problems, like stepping under a fluorescent light of a particular wavelength, and finding that your clothes have unexpectedly been rendered transparent to all onlookers! Still, it's a great idea - worth keeping in mind as our technology advances.*

*After reading an insightful article in Wired magazine, I'm thinking that maybe this sort of thing will be more practical as Augmented Reality becomes more widespread. Technology is a fascinating thing, and the future rarely develops quite like anyone expects it to (as a host of now out-of-date science fiction literature can attest to).

[description: a nude man stands behind a window screen propped up on two chairs]

Here's a behind-the-scenes shot of my setup - a window screen propped precariously on two chairs, with a couple of wooden practice swords for stabilization. Hey, you gotta work with what you have!

Birthday Suit Bash

[description: four nude figures in party hats celebrate a birthday]

This should come as no surprise, but I always like to celebrate my birthday in my birthday suit. I'd love to throw a "birthday suit bash" one of these years, but I don't have nearly enough friends who are nudists. This is one of those times when I think nudity should be permitted, even in an otherwise textile society. It's your birthday, after all - you should be able to wear what you want!

I may fantasize about living in a nudist utopia, but I'm willing to make compromises. I can even live with nudity remaining a taboo, just as long as it's not considered criminal. It doesn't have to be common or well-liked, just tolerated. I don't mind being considered an eccentric (at this point, I'm used to it), I just wish I weren't so often compelled to be someone I'm not in the presence of others. Trust me, most people have habits I don't like*, yet I never feel like I'm in a position to just ask them to stop, for my sake. I choose my friends accordingly, and with family, you just have to grin and bear it. So how come nobody grins when I bare it?

*(I'm trying to think of a good analogy, and the first one that comes to mind is smoking. People could make similar arguments about nudity and smoking being "offensive". But while smoking is becoming less tolerated in society these days (the opposite sort of reception that I want nudism to receive), it does involve harmful chemicals - and not just for the smoker, but anyone in the vicinity. Nudism, on the other hand - contrary to popular opinion - can actually be healthy. Even just being exposed to other people's bodies, and not participating yourself, can have a positive effect on body image. So, it's really not a good analogy after all).

As for how old I am, a lady never tells. :-p Actually, I've stopped counting. Age is just a number, anyway. What does it really matter? Unless I'm running for president or trying to get a senior discount, the answer is "old enough".

SGO Notation

[description: infographic depicting the head, the heart, and the genitals]
sex, gender, and orientation -
paralleling the trio of mind, body, and heart (or soul)

This is something I've been sitting on for a long time. I should have shared it a while back when it was still fresh, but I thought it needed more work. Still, the harder I try to invent a comprehensive system of notation, the more I come to the conclusion that nothing can ever capture the full range of human diversity (as social media sites that keep expanding their sex, gender, and/or orientation fields are learning) so well as a blank field. But I like organizing concepts, and finding patterns, and a blank field is just too open-ended to enable any kind of systematic categorization. So I'm just going to show you what I've got, because (if you'll excuse my self-aggrandizing behavior), I really think it's pretty clever. I don't think it will ever actually catch on, but it can still be fun to play with, and maybe it will open some people's eyes to just how wonderfully diverse human gender and sexuality is.

So, I've been talking about sex, gender, and orientation for years. After reading the original Kinsey reports, I was inspired to imitate Kinsey's work on deconstructing the sexual orientation binary (i.e., his discovery that most people exist on a spectrum between gay and straight, rather than sitting at one or the other extreme), but applied instead to the gender binary. In 2014, I introduced my gender scale, which allowed for a broad spectrum of gender identity/presentation between girly girl and macho man, while also acknowledging the existence of transgender individuals whose sex doesn't match their gender.

In 2016, further inspired by the increasing visibility of transgender individuals in popular culture and media, I began to consider the limitations of our language describing sexual orientation, in relation to non-cisgendered individuals. To help illustrate my point (about the often confusing diversity of sexual pairings in a post-cissexual world), I expanded upon the symbolic notation used previously in my gender scale, to allow for the inclusion of both sex (determined by symbol) and gender (determined by color) simultaneously. There was just one thing left missing - a way to depict a person's sexual orientation.

Enter SGO Notation (which I hinted at here, and am only now following up on), a form of visual shorthand. Using a little magnet symbol (to symbolize attraction), a person can illustrate their sex, gender, and who they're attracted to fairly simply (at least to the extent that their identity isn't too complicated). As I alluded to before, this notation isn't comprehensive, but it's far more inclusive than anything else I've seen, and there is certainly room for you to get creative with it. How does it work? Here's the standard format:

The character on the left describes your sex and gender. Your sex is determined by the symbol used - because it describes your body. Most people will use either a male or female symbol, but you could hypothetically put anything here, even Prince's symbol, if you like.

How the symbol is colored in determines your gender. Blue is for masculine, pink is for feminine, and purple is androgynous. You could color it half blue and half pink, or use stripes or a gradient - whatever you want, provided it's not counter-intuitive (or at least comes with an explanation). You could use a different color altogether (green, for example) to denote a third gender or something else entirely. You could leave it blank or color it grey to indicate that you are agendered. It's up to you.

The next symbol in SGO Notation is the magnet. This is pretty much universal (although you can modify it to indicate asexuality, or to distinguish romantic versus sexual attraction), and indicates who or what you are attracted to. The magnet is intentionally pointed left (towards your symbol), because it indicates what draws you in. There is no assumption that who you are attracted to will necessarily be attracted to you, too (i.e., that the attraction will be mutual).

On the other side of the magnet you can put whatever it is you are attracted to. This is where you can get creative (or, keep it as simple as you like). It doesn't have to be a single symbol. It doesn't even have to be an anatomical symbol - you could put a toaster symbol there, if you're sexually attracted to toasters (hey, the point is to be inclusive, not judgmental). You could even replace your symbol with a symbol of a dog, to indicate that you're a canine furry. (You can see this is where the system "breaks down" - there's just too much diversity for it to be comprehensive. But I tried). It's all about expressing who you are, so that others can determine if they're your type (and vice versa). I can envision this being a sort of badge you would put on a social media profile. Or, maybe it's a little TMI. In any case, it could be a fun little quiz to take, or something to produce for yourself privately, to feel like you have a concrete identity, no matter how unique you might be.

Why Nudism? (Part 18)

[description: portrait of a nude man sitting impatiently on a dryer in the laundromat]
Because doing laundry is a chore.

I like to say that irony is a nudist doing laundry. But, of course, even nudists have to wear clothes some of the time, and in a perfect world, would still have towels and sheets to wash. But you can significantly reduce the amount of laundry that needs to be done by not wearing clothes any more than you have to. Lounging around the house on a weekend? Don't bother putting on pants. Gardening or yard work? Let your skin absorb some sunshine. Going on vacation? Lighten up your suitcase by spending it at a nudist resort.

There are times when it makes sense to wear clothes, and other times when it doesn't. In my mind, a nudist paradise wouldn't necessarily be one in which everyone was naked all the time. It would just be one in which people would be free to go naked when it makes sense to. Some activities lend themselves very well to nudism - like outdoor sports and swimming. I think doing the laundry is another one - all laundromats should be clothing optional. There's nothing more satisfying than putting everything - even the clothes off your back - into the washing machine and starting fresh. If I'm still dressed when I hit the button to start the cycle, I feel like I've missed something.

A Sex-Positive Brief

[description: portrait of a male torso in brief underwear, erection exposed]
(See what I did there?)

I've spent a lot of time trying to hammer out the finer details of a Sex-Positive Platform (in my conception) - and I still believe this is a worthwhile exercise (maybe you'll see it someday, if I ever finish it) - but I think that it all boils down to this. It goes without saying that someone who is sex-positive takes a more positive than neutral (opposed to negative) stance toward sexuality. But more often than not, it's as simple as giving sexual matters the benefit of the doubt. In other words, not always assuming the worst, and leaning instead a little bit more toward the side of tolerance and forgiveness. Whether or not you think this is a better approach than a straight-up neutral or more critical perspective is up to you (and certainly the zeitgeist right now seems to favor heavy suspicion, which leads more toward the negative end of the spectrum, which I oppose). But that's what being sex-positive is about, and that's where I stand.