Two Sides of One Coin: Naturism, Sexuality, and Showing Up This Pride Season

There are two versions of me that people meet, and which one shows up first depends entirely on the door they walked through.

Through one door, I'm the naturist. Calm, outdoorsy, talking about body acceptance and how good it feels to swim with nothing between me and the water. Through the other door, I'm a sexual person with a full, unashamed, very active intimate life. Same body. Same person. Nothing about me changes between the two rooms except who's asking.

For a long time I thought I had to pick one. Naturists, I assumed, were supposed to be the wholesome kind of naked — the kind that reassures nervous beginners that it's really not about sex. So I sanded myself down. I talked about freedom and never about desire, because I was afraid that admitting the second would make people doubt the first.

That was a waste of years.

Naturism did teach me something true: nakedness isn't automatically sexual. Context and consent decide that, not skin. A crowded beach, a sauna, a friend's backyard — those are places where the body is just a body, and that's the whole point. What naturism didn't do was make me less sexual. It made me more honest about when, where, and with whom that part of me belongs.

So: naturist and highly sexual being. Two sides of one coin, not a contradiction I need to apologize for.

Which is why this Pride season feels heavier than usual.

Taiwan Pride is on October 31. Kaohsiung Pride is December 5. I'll be at both, and I'll be honest — I've gone back and forth about how visible to be. The raids on queer spaces this year landed on a lot of us like a cold hand on the back of the neck. Places that were just rooms where people got to exist without explaining themselves, suddenly turned into a public problem to be managed.

When that happens, the message underneath it isn't really about any one venue. It's that your body, your desire, your way of loving — all of it is up for debate. Naturists know that feeling from a different angle. I've had strangers decide what kind of person I am because of how much skin they could see.

The answer isn't to get quieter. It's to be seen. Not necessarily loudly. Just visibly, in the way each of us can manage. Show up if you can. Repost the things that matter. Tell your own story if telling it is safe for you. Stand next to someone whose body or desire has been treated as a public argument instead of a private life.

And if you're new to all of this: the same rules that make naturism work make community work. Consent. Context. Respect for where you are and who's around you. Pride is a place for costumes and glitter, not for getting naked — that's for the beach, the resort, the sanctioned spaces, where everyone there has agreed to it. Knowing the difference is what keeps any of us free.

If you see me at Pride, come say hi. I'll be the one with too much sunscreen and a camera I don't fully know how to use.

Thank you for being here with me on this naked journey. #TaiwanPride #KaohsiungPride #naturism #sexualfreedom

Two dates for your calendar: Taiwan Pride on October 31, Kaohsiung Pride on December 5. If you're going and you'd like company, send me a message — and if you can't make it, reposting still counts for something.