Celebrating being naked
Olivia Morrow & Sarah Rosenblatt
Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: Opinions/Editorial
Ever since we hit puberty, we are told what parts of our body are now private.
This past weekend, we got some much-needed exercise dancing to the melodic sounds of Houseboat and The Down Low. Temperatures rising as they often do in a cramped Fallstaffs party, one of us began to peel off her sweat-stained tank, when she caught the eye of a disapproving bystander. The look quickly turned into uttered words, " Please don't."
"Please don't?"
Please don't embarrass me? Please don't show off? Please don't attract potentially dangerous eyes? Please don't rub me with your sweaty flesh? This loaded request to keep the shirt "where it should be," made us think about the dissonance we feel about protecting our bodies while simultaneously flaunting them.
Regardless of whether our shirts are kept on, tossed aside or whirled around our heads like helicopters, we all know what a naked body looks like. However, when we are confronted with a nude body, in the flesh or on a computer screen in the wee hours of the morning, it is immediately transformed from a natural entity to a sexual icon.
We need to become more comfortable with nudity-and not the kind of Playboy nudity that is both revered and hated by our society. Instead of respecting our bodies for their inherent beauty, we repeatedly try to control either our "slutty" sexual urges or our "ugly" physical appearances, or both. Just look at our clothing.
Most of our clothes are made to deliberately highlight the areas they are simultaneously covering up. Bikinis are the prime example. Cut into small triangles and fastened with nothing more than a string, bikinis attempt to protect the breasts from unwanted eyes, while ironically turning them into sexual entities, or "private parts."
Clothing is not wrong intrinsically, but it is socially problematic. There is a fundamental difference between keeping warm and healthy, and sporting a push-up bra that has more metal and wires than your everyday robot.
This past weekend, we got some much-needed exercise dancing to the melodic sounds of Houseboat and The Down Low. Temperatures rising as they often do in a cramped Fallstaffs party, one of us began to peel off her sweat-stained tank, when she caught the eye of a disapproving bystander. The look quickly turned into uttered words, " Please don't."
"Please don't?"
Please don't embarrass me? Please don't show off? Please don't attract potentially dangerous eyes? Please don't rub me with your sweaty flesh? This loaded request to keep the shirt "where it should be," made us think about the dissonance we feel about protecting our bodies while simultaneously flaunting them.
Regardless of whether our shirts are kept on, tossed aside or whirled around our heads like helicopters, we all know what a naked body looks like. However, when we are confronted with a nude body, in the flesh or on a computer screen in the wee hours of the morning, it is immediately transformed from a natural entity to a sexual icon.
We need to become more comfortable with nudity-and not the kind of Playboy nudity that is both revered and hated by our society. Instead of respecting our bodies for their inherent beauty, we repeatedly try to control either our "slutty" sexual urges or our "ugly" physical appearances, or both. Just look at our clothing.
Most of our clothes are made to deliberately highlight the areas they are simultaneously covering up. Bikinis are the prime example. Cut into small triangles and fastened with nothing more than a string, bikinis attempt to protect the breasts from unwanted eyes, while ironically turning them into sexual entities, or "private parts."
Clothing is not wrong intrinsically, but it is socially problematic. There is a fundamental difference between keeping warm and healthy, and sporting a push-up bra that has more metal and wires than your everyday robot.
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