Why so many cock shots in the gallery?

A recent response to a question about nudity (cock shots) on the Freeballing.com reader's gallery:

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject: Why so many cock shots in the gallery.

I'm new to the site and to freeballing and don't understand why there are so many pictures of just dicks in the gallery. There are a few peek-a-boo crotch shots so you know he's a freeballer - which is cool - but photos of just dick? Why? _________________  It's hot here in Hawaii! Let your boys swing free!  ================================= sunbuns    Joined: 24 Jul 2006 Location: Pahoa, HI, Nashville, TN, Tokyo, Japan  Localrice, That's certainly a fair question. The gallery states clearly that there should be 'no nudity.' But I think there are a few reasons - which may not be obvious - especially when you consider the function of the Net in our societies. First of all, I think we all have to have a little historical perspective on what this site is and was, on what freeballing means (on the surface and also in a deeper sense) and what freeballers mean to each other. Perhaps, more importantly, we need to consider the role that this board plays in some people's development (hopefully growth and growing up).

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 pm Post subject: The gallery

You need too to realize the role in plays in creating a (virtual online) community - finding balance between what attracts (draws members in) and what makes the participate in a community member - while maintaining a sense of purpose, identity, and belonging - without fear and discord (in-fighting and blame). 

 I realize you're not exactly complaining - just asking a question. You probably did NOT expect anyone to respond in so lengthy a message. What you brought up is important and lies at the heart of what makes this board work as a successful (online) community. But if you put up a fuss about it or worse, it'll probably do nothing but hurt and possibly alienate and isolate a lot of guys who freeball and who want to have some assurance that others do too. 

The nudity is only part of the 'larger' picture and once you see beyond that it'll help you understand what's really going on. (safe play and friendly boast, 'see what I got, can you beat this' - sort of male cockmanship - that's how I see the gallery). It's a technical problem too. How can you show you're freeballing' and not show any nudity (there has to be some skin at some point). So herein lies the rub (Shakespeare). 

Where do you draw the line? Breasts - but no nipples. Pelvis but not pubes? Cocks but no erections? It's a nightmare trying to police that. The gallery and nudity are also there out of practical economy - saving time and resources on the part of this forum admin. It's probably one of the things that attracts 

people to the site -- even when there is no new message on the board, there is often a new photo or two. It's also about market share (would there be anyone posting regularly if this were a text only bulletin board). We lost about half the membership when this site stopped allowing photo upload in posts (as attachments). 

Just go and take a look at the older version (there were a lot more frequent messages). Sometimes weeks go by with no postings nowadays. But such is life (and the state of the economy). Second, the site admin would be deleting half the membership if he rejected every person who has uploaded (in the gallery) or in messages a photo with nudity. The older version of this phpBB even allowed direct photo uploads. (which eventually became to costly (for web host storage space and bandwith) to support on this free site. I don't mean that all people come here just to see the cock photos -however a few do and maybe they NEED that While there are plenty of places on the Net where you can get all the nude and sexually explicit photos you could ever want -- of all sexual persuasions. Not everybody is a porn perv or wants to be consider one (even by his own standards). 

So... having a 'nude' gallery gives some guys a chance to 'try on' the merchandise - find out if the male penis has any appeal to them beyond simple self-comparison. Lord knows they get little chance to do that with a real male counterpart in today's world. (I'm well over 40 so I know what the 60's and 70's were like having lived in the South, it was more like what America was in the 40's and 50's as far moral standards and sexual mores goes.

 So.. it probably makes it a bit 'naughty' for some members (and guests) to look freely at some dudes' dick and freeballing pix - those same guys normally wouldn't be caught dead looking at a Net porn site (at least not on their home computer) and especially not viewing or having to register (or pay) for a gay porn site. Posting cock pics is not a bad thing. It's just a human body part. People are fascinated by nudity and how it relates to their own and other sexuality and sexual stimulation. Showing nude male bodies including genitals does serve an important function. 

In today's rather paradoxical sexual moral (mores) environment, we (all 300 million in the US - ages 5-105) can hear in the news about a US Senator (supposedly) cruising for sex in an airport restroom or the Pope apologizing to an assembly of thousands of young people for the sexual abuses of his priests (as he did in Australia last week), but it is now almost impossible for young men, teens, and boys to see another guy's dick and balls, or a naked body in 'real' life. 

Public facilities have only private changing rooms; adult men who used to walk around naked in the locker room now get dressed hurriedly to avoid 'offending' some (supposedly) impressionable and over-protected (and probably highly sensitized because of it) school boy - who has never seen a naked male body before. I could go on and on about the fundamentalist approach to banning the human anatomy from our society while at the same time it opens up topics and mental images for its citizens (of all ages) that are far more shocking, explicit (i.e. obscene) that any photo on this site - possibly more so than most porno sites. I know I must sound like I'm on a soap box. Perhaps I am. 

Glad you brought up the topic. I have said it before - this site is one of the very few places on the Internet where people (particularly men) of all ages, size and shapes, races, ethnic and social backgrounds, economic status, religious creeds or belief systems, and sexual preference can join together in (sometimes) meaningful discussions and exchanges without bickering over what makes up different from one another. 

It's OK to discuss the diversity and why we think, believe and feel differently. It's the repression of other points of view - (such as acceptance of nudity) that really kills a sense of community. Sort like that recent gunman in Knoxville who walked into the Interfaith church and shoot people because they espoused diversity and human rights for all religious (and sexual) persuasions. 

(NOTE* Being (possibly) from Hawaii, you should understand more than most what is valuable in preserving diversity and in respecting the individuality and uniqueness of all. It's one important aspect of the spirit of Aloha, isn't it? Freeballing truly seems to set us all free - free to be ourselves, free to be different, and free to share out sameness and diversity, and also to not fear that someone else's idea of what makes us a man (or what God is, or what is right or wrong) is the only standard that we must be judged by. It is not at all a 'gay' thing to post a naked pic or a cock photo. Perhaps you are a bit naive or inexperienced with all the social networking sites and photosharing sites on the Net. 

 The fact is (I should probably say my 'own' view of the 'facts') , some guys who decide to freeball or who are attracted to the idea and have put it into their reality (and how they define their lifestyle) have a need for bonding with other men (non-sexual). They (or others) may also have strong desires for male companionship and affection (non-gay but gender identifying and reassuring). There are others who are definitely turned on to idea and the reality of masculinity as a sexual object or preference, and still others are seeking out (unconsciously or consciously) sexual interaction with men -- in other words, homosexual (or homoerotic) behavior. I'm not saying guys who come to Freeballing.com are 'looking for a blowjob' or to get sexual partners. But in any room of males, there are always some who are interested in sex. I just think it's the nature of the beast (grin). By far, most of the people (guys make up 99% or more) are here for the camaraderie, for some fun, for some chit-chat and sometimes for some serious discussion (like me).

 Believe me.. I love freeballing but even more nowadays, I'm into to 'freebody' - complete nudity - wherever and wherever possible - NOT just blatant exhibitionism (naked under a trench coat flasher) for it's own sake (although I can see why some guys really enjoy doing that too). So you have to take what comes with the territory. I believe the guy who started this board probably realized that 'hidden' fact (whenever men gather the topic of sex and nudity will inevitably come up) and fortunately for us, he has allowed the 'rules' to be stretched and to 'be bent' with the needs of this community (online and virtual as it is). BTW, once you've realized there are dick pix in the gallery, you don't really have to go looking at them -- if you don't want to see them, right? (LOL). Let me close this 'sermonette' (I'll be on vacation from Friday and will have less chance to post for a while). Welcome to this board, localrice and the other new members. Hope you'll post messages or questions ( It seems you don't appear to want to post pics (LOL at least not nude ones). But that's OK too - by me. Aloha, Kelly