Why I pose nude: virtual shyness?
July 3, 2007 by London Spengler
A new record, two posts of a serie in the same day :-p. Even more, no promotion and no pictures, only words.
EnCore Mayne (whose blog I had never read but I’ll check with interest later) wrote a comment to the previous post that someway shows my own doubts: “we are talking role playing here aren’t we? am i missing something or are you actually, in the flesh, like, in your rl self, inhibited to show your avatar’s shape and skin in some provocative (or not) pose?”.
If I understand you right, no, we aren’t talking roleplaying and yes, I am inhibited.
I can assure you that the RL and SL identities of London Spengler are different. The SL one is much more uninhibited, daring, and charming (modesty doesn’t seem to be one of my strengths, anyway :-p). The difference is clear when I have to talk in spanish, my native tongue… then my RL self takes form and spoils the SL one.
That doesn’t means I am roleplaying… I am both entities. If you think it is strange, look at yourself and think about how you behave with your boss, parents, friends, etc. Each one of us is a colective, and that arises easily at SL.
About the shyness; the initial decision of posing nude didn’t seem hard, I lived at a SL nudist beach for almost six months and even if we rarely where naked, I never had problems with it; it was appropiate.
Even if I rarely do it now, I never had problems to been naked in public sex places; I simply felt annoyed when the typical creep appeared to have a look. Consider it, they stand there, looking at two static avatars, while everything important happens in IM… boooring and creepy.
So, no shyness until now, but…
If I change clothes in public I always take care to do it “bit by bit” or at least drag a fully equiped folder. I always port home before trying lingery, even if I have to port back to the shop after it. I really hate when somebody ports and and cams near my house and they catch me while trying clothes, half naked.
Maybe you don’t feel attached to your avatar, you consider it a toon that moves on the screen at the orders of your keyboard… but maybe it has its own identity… maybe you tweak, dress, and generaly take care of it, and feel what it happens to it, happens to you, because it is you, in a way.
That is how I feel.
I know I don’t have problems being naked when it is proper, and that I don’t like it when it isn’t… it seems I still trying to decide if posing at the Herald is. Maybe it is half-way between one and other, and that makes it slightly forbbiden.
One of my favorite games is when one of us (my partner and I) ask the other to wear something outrageous in public… that is too half-way between the do and don’t and, maybe there, in the middle, we find a sweet naughtyness.
thanks for the mention london, glad to have sparked another post.
as far as i can see, i am as attached to my avi as you are to yours. if you’ve read my blog, i confessed in a recent post that i was in love with my avi. but, relating that emotional connection to my creations, creativity, and art to “outsiders” (those who have not caught the bug of sl) is not something i find myself capable of doing. we all have our hangups to total freedom of expression.
as it befits my earlier comment, my fascination with the nude female form (whether it’s sl, video, or print) is a predilection of mine from adolescence. i’m still all agog at the incredible specimens we craft inworld. the viewing and shooting of them is a past time i truly enjoy and i relish the opportunities as they arise.
as a photographer (rl and sl) there can never be enough opportunities to depict my love for the beauty of women. i’m sure marilyn will show you off at your best. don’t be shy. enjoy the adulation.
I wasn’t suggesting that people that doesn’t have problems getting naked in public aren’t attached to their avies, as my last post about Katrina explains; is good to know you are.
And yes, I understand the problem about explaining your relation with it… the strange is how some people simply dumps in public their inner feelings :-p.
And, about the pictures… let’s hope there will be adulation *smiles*. Thanks for your comment :-)
“some people simply dumps in public their inner feelings”
i only wish more people would open up. seems there’s a lot of inner turmoil guiding people’s actions. it’d be nice if everyone wasn’t so demented. my prescription: second life account.
London: What a delight to find your blog, and to find someone else jello-wrestling with similar thoughts!
I’m a Digital Person, existing only in SL, and deeply real (to me and my family at the very least!). Something crystallized for me when you suggested griefers dis-identify with their SL bodies. It’s interesting to see the people who resort to the comeback “it’s only a game.” I fear atomic world culture encourages that kind of ironic disrespect of self and other, and that it’s spreading in SL (and that voice will make it worse).
I think I’m closer to your friends - I revel in my self, and in safe times and places, love to show off - from striking fashion to daring outfits to the occasional public nudity. A friend teases me about a time from my second week or so, when I got my first bikini, and *no way* was ready to wear it in public - and that was because my self was too unformed, too unsure to face that kind of scrutiny.
I’m completely rambling - just chalk it up to, I’m delighted to find someone else writing about the questions, the experiences, shaping my existence. If you’re inclined, I’d love for you to drop by my blog, or IM anytime -
Yes, yes, everybody goes nude easily but me *laughs*.
But you are dead right about what happened to you and your bikini… I don’t like when people get me changing clothes… but I hate if they don’t match… and if I am bald because the prim hair failed while trying a new folder… Arrrrgh!.
And about your blog, I usually whould had readed it before writing the post, but this day is a bit crazy, so I’ve stored the URL and I promise to have a look at it tomorrow and leave a salute *smiles*.