In the UK it is legally permitted to be naked just about anywhere you want so long as your “intent” is not to shock, cause offence, or to exhibit sexual behaviour. The wording of the law was designed to permit naturist and nudist activities whist prohibiting sexual offences such as flashing and using nudity as a weapon, and in theory this should work well. But proving “intent” can be tricky at times, and the old adage of “you know it when you see it” does not work in a legal context.

Over the years and in many jurisdictions there have been attempts made to ban pornography. My personal opinion is that this is a very bad idea for many reasons, and that pornography has its place in any society. Just like everything else it can be a bad thing or a good thing depending on how it is done, but banning it because some of it is bad is completely the wrong way to go. But I digress. Pornography bans in legislation – some of these have been more successful than others at least on the surface, but successful or not they all suffer from one key problem. What actually is pornography?

For some people pornography is limited to the close-up filming of sexual acts. For others it is anything involving nudity. In some societies they consider outfits that many of us would wear to the shops to be as unacceptable as anything found on the spicier end of the internet. Some see nudism and naturism as the ultimate sin. Others only start to invoke the “P” word if there is something less vanilla going on than just sex. And with our ever-globalising diverse population you will find people who believe all of those things (and much more) in any given country. So how do you define it? How can you possibly legislate against it in a way that matches what your population believes?

Even if you do find a way to define it there will still be edge cases that escape, and there are likely to be things that are caught that should be broadcast as public knowledge rather than restricted. Years ago I worked at the UK Meteorological Service, and had a call from HR asking why I was trying to view “erm… prohibited… erm… content” on my work computer. I was trying to access the Australian Weather Department site to check on the data that we had been sending to them, but someone’s keyword filter found something it did not like and flagged the whole site as pornographic. In some states in America at the moment it is illegal to view material that any normal country would consider essential to public health; contraception advice, information dealing with menstruation, sexual education to stop teenagers getting pregnant or catching anything, and more. Whist some of these things are deliberate, much of it is blocked because – under current legislation – it is indistinguishable from pornography, and America is deeply hypocritical about pornography right now.

But how does this relate to getting naked?

This website, my social media posts, and my paid content are all intended as non-sexual. I post photos and videos to show that you can do normal everyday things naked without it being anything other than just a different outfit choice. But to some people the simple act of posting nude photos is extreme behaviour, and so they will automatically see it as sexual regardless of my intent.

My intent when I post is non-sexual, but I am well aware that some people will view my content with one hand on the mouse and the other hand… er… busy. And I am fine with that. Really. If anyone chooses to view what I post as something sexual then that is down to them. Some naturist creators get upset when that happens and keep telling people that “my content is non-sexual, dammit, and you should be ashamed of yourselves!” but honestly if that’s how you see my posts I really don’t mind. If what I post makes you happy and turns you on a bit then that’s more than fine by me. Enjoy, please! It actually makes me smile a bit knowing that there are people out there enjoying my content like that, so carry on!

But what I won’t be doing is posting any content that deliberately crosses that invisible and subjective line. I know what counts as simple spice-free nudity to me, and that is what my content will be. But if you request that I post anything that I am not comfortable putting on the internet then you will be politely refused or ignored (depending on how many messages I have to deal with).