Very interesting thoughts. You are right Michael & Sue there is a need for the magazines to sell  particularly if they are on the supermarket/newagents shelf. I suppose it depends greatly on where the customers come from and where the magazines are sold.  If ANW for example produced a magazine and sold it to members it would seem much more bizarre to have the more glamorous shots in it than a magazine sitting on a shelf in a newsagent waiting for someone to notice it among many other magazines showing "beautiful" people from porn to puzzle books. When the likes of H&E under some previous editors sat on the top shelf surrounded by magazines that had a completely different attitude to nudity it was probably much harder to ignore the need to sell the glamour of nudity and even it's most ardent fans would admit for a while it failed to do that. Probably as top shelf magazines got more extreme and the move towards many newsagents stopping selling them H&E found itself lost and went through a period of reinvention appealing more to genuine naturist tastes - though it still has to try and sell naturism to the newbie and like it or not some model usage is a way to do that. I guess there is a balance to be found - does it find it?

I completely agree that more average naturists need to get their stories out there and get involved - whether that is here, or in magazines, or anywhere else. There is another balance that needs finding. The more the average Joe and Josephine and their littles Joelings promote naturism the better it will be trusted and understood and the more chilled people will become about their naturist photographs. But how do we get more people to do this while society as a whole remains untrusting of naturism and sees nudity as (I would say) more and more sexual and perverse with every passing year. Nudity on the internet is far too sexualised which is why sites are usually either either full of sexual sharing - like Twitter - or cannot even deal with a celebrity breast feeding - like Facebook. There are few places for the middle ground and proper attitude towards nudity. 

Sam I know what you mean - and that is an interesting idea - Steve and I appear in H&E every month and particularly this year we have been aware of our chubby bodies and increasingly pale skin and the aging process. Parrtly that is fantastic and power to H&E for allowing our bodies onto its pages - but and this is a problem across naturism - where are the youngsters and the future of the lifestyle - and sometimes it would be nice to appear a little more attractive. We take our own photos and ignore many - but for many people the idea of being placed in print without make-up, lighting, airbrushing and a professional level of image would be quite frightening. Many starlets would never do it - even though they may be so much more attractive and atheletic than I am naturally - they still rely on the "tricks of the trade" to aim at a fake reality. 

As I’ve noted in my most recent blog post (https://www.anaturistworld.com/blog/45824/a-better-way-of-living-mystr-d), I think this relates to a bigger social problem that isn’t unique to naturism, but most definitely impacts and affects it.

 

On one level we know that we live in a world of superficial artifice. We’re accustomed to being duped at every turn by every product advertisement out there. On a whole other level we know we’re not okay about it, but we’re just not sure where to direct that rejection in an effective manner.

We should vote with our feet, but all too often many of us don’t. We continue to buy into the charade by being swayed and pursued by false and misleading advertising.

 

I think the biggest problem with the way naturism is being portrayed by many advocates meaning well, is that it comes across as a thin facade for a peep show.

 

I’ve realised recently that if you look at imagery with even a slightly more cynical eye, you can see it’s a poor, misleading representation of naturism.

 

Think to yourself about a typical naturist venue. If you compared it to any other camping venue you’d find people are doing much the same things.

Reading books, socialising in groups and participating in some kind of physical activity like walking, swimming etc. All in all it’s a fairly holiday camp, resort type of vibe if you’re lucky.

It’s equally possible everyone is hankered down in their own little spot on devices, vegging out and not doing much socialising at all.

 

Consider a nudist beach. Compare it to a regular beach and aside from beach attire, not a lot is different.

 

Now think about a lot of imagery that’s presented as naturist. A naked women or couple in an exotic location looking gorgeous or voluptuous.

 

Is this an accurate portrayal?

 

It’s selling an illusion that just doesn’t exist.

 

I think one ends up in a catch 22. By focusing on nudity rather than a healthy wholesome lifestyle, naturism sells itself as a voyeuristic experience with people posing in obviously staged conditions.

 

Compare this to the images that Steve and Anna recently posted. A family enjoying a day at the beach.

This could be anyone at any beach and it’s an image people can relate to. This is the image naturism should be promoting. A family inclusive, fun day doing what people and families typically do.

 

I think so long as woman artificially posing nude are predominantly used to promote naturism it will continue to be seen skeptically.

As a naturist I can’t defend that kind of imagery to my friends and family as a legitimate representation of naturism. At best it forces me to explain, “this isn’t what it’s about. We’re not a bunch of voyeurs and exhibitionists admiring each other.”

 

To look at some social media accounts that’s fairly difficult to prove.

 

There’s always a sensible balance to these things but as it stands, I think 80-90% of it is skewed the wrong way.

Thanks for the recognition of our photos. we totally agree. Naturism should reflect what it is, natural, family friendly and just getting on with life but opting sensibly out of clothes. Nothing is easy, presenting naturism as a family things includes balancing off the interest from perverts but also (and probably much more prolific) the interest of people who feel that they are safeguarding children by protecting them from nudity - well intentioned or just trouble makers - their attention is foolish, damaging and actually completely counter productive to any chance of real safeguarding ideas. 

Hopefully we find a balance and ANW succeeds to present a close faximile to the naturism we all enjoy in real life. 

Good point being made, MystrD.  I have noticed that every time the new issue of a naturist periodical gets posted, the image is a female, kneeling in the flowers or posing unnaturally by a sign or something.
I seem to remember once, seeing a married couple, standing together and smiling, something being held strategically in front of his genitalia. 
I do not remember seeing one with a nude male in any pose or state of undress. It just screams out the old, worn out inferrence that a man cannot be legitimately and innocently naked unless accompanied by an approving woman. 

It is just one of the reasons I will never waste my money on those publications.
Forgive me, if I have miscalculated something; it's not that I've seen hundreds of covers...

As a naturist photographer (ie. someone who takes professional photographs of naturist singles and couples - and I'm often nude while doing so!) the topic of images to illustrate naturism is one I am keenly interested in. My images have appeared on five front covers of H&E Naturist over the years and I'm happy to say that two were of male / female cpouples, one was of two females and two were of single females. All but one of the females were folks I had met at a naturist resort ... ie. they were naturists who were happy to be photographed. One was, I admit, a model who was happy to illustrate my article in the nude but time was of the essence and I had to get some photos (or worse still resort to using stock photos). I much prefer to use naturists as models and believe this gives a much more authentic view of naturism. 

Funnily enough, years ago I showed a copy of H&E to a lady at a naturist club we were visiting. "Typical" she blurted out - "pretty young model on the cover!". It wasnt one of my pictures I hasten to add. "Why don't they ever publish pictures of regular (& older ) naturists?" I challenged her to allow me to photograph her and submit for publication. To her eternal credit she did, I captured her and wrote up her story. She made it into the magazine and proved that you don't have to be young, attractive with an hourglass figure to make it into the pages of a naturist magazine. Check out H&E July 2014 for her story and pictures. She didn't make it onto the cover ... but as someone previously stated, there is a balance to be struck between appealing for sales and keeping the pictures authentic. 

I do get disappointed with the number of models who simply pose nude to front naturist magazines - in my experience almost every naturist I have discussed being photographed for an article has readily agreed. There are "cover naturists" out there - they just have to be brave enough to step forward.