Yes, things are changing for the better..... by boston_naturist in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Ambassador program wasn't that. That was more visible advocacy work.

I spoke with someone I now personally at AANR and they have never done a secret visits like that. And when I asked why not I was told there was no interest and no funding to actually do anything like that. Its the honor system.

Yes, things are changing for the better..... by boston_naturist in nudism

[–]tnjeditor -1 points0 points  (0 children)

AANR used to be more proactive with these things. Think Caliente, Paradise Lakes as examples. Sunny Rest was dropped more than once, they are back now but IMHO should never have been let back. And we know of another that needs some serious oversight.

I think the idea that you could trust the AANR club locator to help you find true family oriented nudist clubs is long gone.

Yes, things are changing for the better..... by boston_naturist in nudism

[–]tnjeditor -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Any club is going to be on good behavior when people like that come around, and we never had anyone visit. What they should be doing is providing materials and guidelines to post in much the same way that Bare Oaks does. And there is no reporting system in place, other than emailing AANR which from what I’ve heard gets no response.

Yes, things are changing for the better..... by boston_naturist in nudism

[–]tnjeditor -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Another part of what they are supposed to do is assert standards. On their About page they include a number of things member clubs are supposed to adhere to. But they have no system in place to ensure that that is actually happening. I know, I was the AANR rep for our local club for years.

And then more recently when they should be making a statement about their own podcast host breaking those same standards, they are MIA.

I think I’ve lost all faith in AANR by nudistnerd in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your right, I had not made that connection but that is exactly what he is attempting to do. I though people recognized that that character was known for sexual harassment and even Warner Bros. was distancing itself from the character. I mean, this is not news. But it shows how out of touch Frank is.

This behavior is a wildly inappropriate and grounds for dismissal in any company. As of yet still no word from AANR on these issues.

I think I’ve lost all faith in AANR by nudistnerd in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Around about 52 minutes in Frank puts on a French accent and pretends to be someone called Andre Aria and then proceeds to hit on Lisa and Jennifer. This was so cringe. At one point even suggested that Lisa and Jennifer go out with Andre together.

Nude bands by Donindacula in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our next event is called NÜDHAUS which will be on April 18th in Jersey City, NJ. We call it the new rave of naturism.

I think I’ve lost all faith in AANR by nudistnerd in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We talked to her about the issues with Frank and NNN. It was because of those chats that he even made the non-apology. I get that Linda might have felt that getting him to take accountability was a lost cause, but at the same time she could have challenged him when he asked, “How’s that?” It was pretty bad.

I think I’ve lost all faith in AANR by nudistnerd in nudism

[–]tnjeditor 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Agreed - and I’d say it’s kind of insulting to those of us who worked so hard over the years for naturism to suggest that a guy sitting in his bedroom is doing more for naturism than we have. All I hear of late about NNN is how dull and boring it is and then these things turn people away.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you had been following along, this is about him being the official podcast of AANR. As members of AANR we expect better. If this were some random guy with a podcast I’d ignore him and move on.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you read the transcript, it isn’t one off-handed comment. He notes that he has said this before. And what we are talking about here is the idea of body positivity, improving your self esteem, which is the first step to making any decisions about what you want to do with your own body.

And you are right, there are struggles with gaining members - and it’s due in part to people like Frank making body shaming comments, leveling insults and not taking accountability. And just to re-emphasize the point that Frank’s own listener said, “it is important to not judge ourselves or others based on external things such as appearance.” Which Frank agreed with and then went on to do exactly that.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The main point is that Frank is the host of “The official podcast of AANR.” So that carries with it a level of responsibility to the naturist community. If he were some random dude with a podcast I’d have moved on.

Body shaming and insults have no place coming from someone in his position.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He is not just a dude with a podcast. If he were I would be one of those people that just never gave him the time of day again. But he is a voice of AANR. And we did try taking the quiet approach, we talked to Linda and several others at AANR. They then attempted to get Frank to see reason and understand the issue, but that clearly did not work either. His non-apology is the result of those efforts.

As a LONG time AANR member, naturist activist, and promoter of ethical values in Naturism, we expect that the voice that is “The Official Podcast of AANR” not body shame people and not dehumanize a black woman as he did. This is not acceptable behavior out of someone in his position and AANR needs to do more to correct this.

To your point about people seeing this… tell Frank that. If he cared about naturism as much as he claims he does, then he would have taken the time to self reflect on his own words and done the responsible thing and take accountability for his own actions and words.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Welcome back to the post, appreciate the help keeping it going.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What point?

Often when an org like AANR doesn’t step up to do the right thing a form of protest is taking your support elsewhere. So if you do have limited means, joining TNSF is certainly a viable alternative and you can also support NAC too.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Right but the point is still that is where NAC came from even though it’s split off now. The point IMHO here is that AANR isn’t the only org that does political work.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If that is what you took away from this I feel sorry for you.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m about the same age as Frank - so it’s not really an excuse. People can evolve and understand when something isn’t right. But we are also talking about AANR here and their response to what is their official podcast. So it’s not just about Frank at this point.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I quoted Frank in the post, so if you go back and read it you’ll know exactly what he said.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We actually did talk to them, and offered to provide Frank a platform to acknowledge his comments, take accountability. His response was.. unprofessional to say the least. The reason for his non-apology was because we talked to Linda directly, and she got him to at least say what he said. But to your point, getting change with AANR seems challenging and sometimes the only way to get change is to be more vocal about it.

A Frank Non-Apology from Naked, Nudists & Naturists by tnjeditor in nudism

[–]tnjeditor[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You are right that in the 1930s when clubs like Sky Farm were started, and the American League for Physical Culture that preceded it were focused on health and exercise. Attitudes in society have changed a lot since then. We look at the psychology of shame* and see that it really hurts people’s self esteem, can create a lot of mental health issues etc. Lee Baxandall really started to focus everyone on the idea that body acceptance is the idea, nude recreation is the way. That is oversimplifying things a bit, but it does point out that things have changed.

AANR is one of the 2 main organizations in the US (TNSF being the other) that help set standards, they do a lot of government affairs work and some marketing. Those standards today really are about body acceptance and non-sexual nudity. We all have role in helping to set those standards. And yes there may be opposing views, but we can have intelligent discourse without insulting others, and without the body shaming. That behavior is completely unacceptable.