Over the years I have been wondering where the fear of nakedness has come from. Have our own body issues caused younger generations to be even more embarrassed seeing a naked body, and just linking nudity to sex?

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For as long as I can remember I have always preferred to be without clothes, as a child going to the beach, I would always be the first to throw my swimming trunks in the bag, and enjoyed the freedom of running around without a care in the world, but back then it wasn’t frowned upon for us youngsters to run around with nothing on and keeping cool in the summer sun.

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Now approaching my 50’s, I am lucky to have pretty good neighbours, should they look into my garden, chances are they will see me wondering around, sitting and relaxing with nothing on.  Sometimes gardening, sometimes just sitting drinking a cup of coffee. They have my number, so can easily ask me to cover up. But thankfully they don’t, so I take from this, I don’t offend.

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More and more people are now aware that I prefer to at one with nature, some are fine with it, some struggle, we are all different after all... I found it really interesting that someone who I classed as very open minded, found it uncomfortable that I was cloth less, so I covered up, yet someone I thought was uncomfortable with nudity, I ended up just being me, them being them and we chatted for a few hours. Personally, I think it was probably one of the most relaxed times in my life. For me, being able to strip down to my bare skin, and feel the cool breeze on my skin, I feel relaxed, all anxieties I feel disappear. I feel as if I am reconnecting to myself, others and nature, and all the false pretence of “Society” and trying to fit slips away.

 

Without the constraints of what some parts of society impose on us, who we should be, what we should look like and what we should wear, I generally feel so much happier.

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Was I lucky because I grow up with two brothers, and my parents weren’t that bothered about nudity?

I guess I started questioning my body when I hit my teenage years, back then, there were communal showers, and it was clear I wasn’t developing as quickly as the boys of my age, this caused me embarrassment as I “wasn’t” the same as the other boys.

Through my teenage years I struggled a great deal with my body image, as I didn’t have the physique, that according to fashion magazines and other media, a man should have. (One of My images – “It’s Ok to be different” was to try and encourage people to be happy within the skin they are in).

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In my 20’s my circle of friends was very small, and nudity to them, was an embarrassment, something that only lovers should share, some refused to let even their partners see them fully undressed, but for, most of my friends at that time, Nudity = Sex, which for me it didn’t. After a few beers, I was normally in my birthday suit, and in all honesty, I was so much happier. I found that I preferred being at home on my own, just so I could be me.

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In my 30’s I became more open about my clothless lifestyle, (Half the time I can’t find clothes that fit properly or that are comfortable) which then reignited my passion for figure art and photography, which then lead me into life modelling. Through this platform I was hoping to promote a healthy view point on the human body, proving that we all come in different shapes and sizes, and to show that one skin doesn’t fit all.

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My frustrations with social media platforms still remain as the images that are at the full front, are the images that made me feel inadequate growing up. With more and more youngsters, and teenagers using these platforms, shouldn’t we be sharing more diverse images of bodies? After all, nipples, viginas, penises come as standard... Out of all the social media platforms, Twitter seems to be the most honest especially when it comes to nudity, and you can see people’s openness or closed mindedness. But there is also this huge stigma to break when most feel Nudity = Sex.

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• Why do we fear the naked body?

• What is your biggest fear about being naked?

• Could you comfortably sit naked with a friend?

• Would being naked around others cause you embarrassment?

• Do we rely too much on fashion to hide the person we are, and the insecurities we hold about ourselves?

• Would being more open with nudity break the barriers of self-body image and the perceptions of what a “Perfect” body should be?

 

 

 

Here are just a few thoughts from people I know in regards to nudity.

 

NM -  I have no issue with it, but if we were going to spend an evening together and you wanted to be naked, then pre-warning and a discussion would be good. Once the initial, “ooo, your naked” had past then, normality resumes.

 

NG -  It’s great that you feel comfortable enough to be naked, it’s something I could never do, as far too self-conscious about my body.

MC - It's not for me, but not bothered by it. If your happy then I'm Happy.

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TK - So, I think you raise some very valid and some very interesting points. It's also something that I have pondered for various reasons. You mention about how we shouldn't only have the "idealised" bodies and forms on show, be that on social media or magazines etc. I agree, and it is something that I still find myself to battle my own brain with. I don't care who someone is or what they look like, how they look should be their choice and nobody else can say they shouldn't. That said, I still have found myself on occasion wondering to myself why someone has chosen a particular look, unflattering or otherwise. Sometimes I think it is a perfectly reasonable reaction because said person simply may be wearing something (or not) that draws attention for the wrong reasons - like if it was meant to be a formal environment and someone clearly missed a memo, no beuno. If however it's just a nice hot sunny day, why shouldn't someone wear something a bit more revealing or casual? I still have to remind myself sometime that this is the case, I think part of it is the way we tell people what is "good" or "bad", but also some is our unconscious bias that we have adopted as we grow up and reinforce our ideas as a society. Something that we can undo, but needs active effort to say things are fine.

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Why do we fear the naked body?  

I think part of this is it's unfamiliar, uncommon for us. If we were simply more often around people that were wearing less clothes, that          would change a lot. Otherwise part of it is security, comfort. I love wearing boots because I feel comfy in thhem but also it's a bit like a safety blanket for me, in some situations I feel a bit empowered or protected by the clothes that I wear. Obviously weather itself can contribute to that but generally it provides an extra physical layer that is able to give that extra security.

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What is your biggest fear about being naked?

Having the control of the moment out of my hands. If it were an environment I was in that either I had control of, like being in my own home or a familiar and safe environment, that would make a large difference. If however I was in town, at best an hour away from getting hold of something I wanted to cover up with, that would cause me a significant level of anxiety. At least, if I was on my own in this situation, definitely. Bristol has the naked cycle ride once a year, I forget the name, but this sort of event where it was communal, that would take a lot of the edge off because it wouldn't just be one person standing out for a specific reason.

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Could you comfortably sit naked with a friend?

Yes, but I would likely do so with a bit of a heads up if it was planned ahead of time, like a casual catch up. On the other hand though, I have ended up stripping off with friends when we decided spur of the moment that the option was an hours crappy drive to a campsite, or a refreshing wash in the stream at 7 in the morning. At this point, we all simply decided the stream was the better idea and all being sat in a rock pool in Dartmoor in the summer morning was weirdly liberating, but the stream itself while fucking cold initially was really refreshing so in that instance, it wasn't naked for the sake of it but there was a purpose and we then all happened to find relaxation from this. win win.

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Would being naked around others cause you embarrassment?

Depends on who and why, if they were naked also or not. If the majority of people were and there was no stigma, less of an issue. If it was me and a small cohort I would likely be more conscious of the effort to do so and people looking/staring but it really would depend on the situation.

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Do we rely too much on fashion to hide the person we are, and the insecurities we hold about ourselves?

Yes, absolutely. I would relate this to my perspective on women and makeup - some feel it is necessary for any time you leave the house, rarely will I find someone who is happy to just go out without some basic level of makeup. I find this distressing because I wish that women didn't feel obliged to wear something to look or feel normal, let alone anything beyond that. However, that's not the same as someone wearing makeup (or clothes) because they WANT to. If there is a specific look or something that they like, or they want for a particular event, crack on. But we do have an overreliance on clothes for making people look a certain way. Another way to see it is womens vs mens clothes. Mens clothes, get me a 31W and 28L set of jeans and I'm set. Womens, what the fuck size does THIS shop use? Well they should be an 8, but here they are a 10, USA they are a 6, somewhere else they're an 8 but it's not actually the same as an 8? Just use the measurements, stop hiding behind upsetting people because you want to be the "right" size, that's only harming peoples perception. Also womens trousers and not having pockets is fucking ridiculous but that's another argument entirely. But yes, people use clothes to hide or present a specific view of themselves, and there are times when this is desirable or necessary. But it is assumed at the moment, and that only reinforces the idea that some things are bad. 

 

There is another thread here that some clothes overly sexualise, especially clothes for younger people it can be argued. There are multiple issues here and I know I'm not qualified to make a convincing argument but I do feel that the way clothes are used have meant that further nudity is assumed to only be bad, because people are only going to be doing it to sexualise something. Which is not always the case, but I know that I see some things that are on sale and I would be uncomfortable having a child wearing them. But, would I feel better with said child being nude? It isn't black and white for me but this leads back to your comments about a few decades ago, peoples attitudes perhaps being more relaxed. Some will point to the "teach boys not to stare" sort of argument but I would suggest again, this is not a one case covers all thing. There would be some situations where it is less acceptable than others and vice versa.

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Would being more open with nudity break the barriers of self-body image and the perceptions of what a “Perfect” body should be? 

Yes, but it would be a learning curve. People would stare, it would be new. But it would start the conversation, start to normalise things, find reasonable middle grounds and figure out what constitutes healthy mindsets as well as allow some people to identify where their personal boundaries are. Some may not be interested at all, some may be more open to it than they expected etc. But without opportunity to discuss, you're already stuck