This fascination of mine with nudity comes from a place deep within so you won't find any crass or lewd comments in this post. Not in THIS post....
I've always loved the human body with all it's beauty and vulnerabilities. I love the warmth and safe harbour it can bring and I love the complexities it can provide. Through the years though, I've always wondered, with a rather immature and unevolved mind, why do we snicker and get embarrassed when we see nakedness. Aren't we, after-all, all built with the same body parts in more-or-less the same places?
It appears that we have been conditioned to feel shame about that which is natural. We were BORN naked and, as children, have no fear about being naked. It is the lesson that we are taught that certain areas of our body are "private" and "shameful". It's very Adam and Eve, isn't it? Our logical brains tell us that our genitals and breasts are no different to our ears or noses or fingers. They are parts of our body that provide a function for our continued survival - no different than our mouths that take in food for the same purposes.
Yet, because of religion and culture, we have been conditioned and taught over the centuries that these very body parts are out of bounds. Insofar as I resist the urge to run up to a stranger and place my finger in his or her mouth, why do we feel that if naked, people will want to take privileges with JUST THESE parts? That we will be raped or probed and that nakedness is all about sex.
It isn't. We've been conditioned to THINK that it is but, in truth, being naked is no more revelatory than freedom of speech. The level of acceptable body exposure differs from religion to religion and thus consequently, from culture through different cultures.
I could go on and I'll spare you my soapbox rant about why I still don't get it. I don't get why we have these hang-ups about something so very natural.
I was given the most beautiful privilege of photographing two very special women, who happened to be pregnant, naked. This point was brought closer to me during those moments when, up front and personally very close to such beauty, that I didn't notice their "private parts". What really struck me was that they had the same parts as me, sure - different shapes and sizes (and colour, of course) but I was no more or less womanly than they nor they from me. I felt a very intimate sisterhood being in their company. I stopped seeing their bits - I honestly did. What I saw, however, was how they carried themselves, their grace, their femaleness, their physical curves, their quiet dignity and I was moved at such a deep, deep level at how utterly beautiful they were.......and still are.
I remember thinking how primitive societies were really more evolved than we are now. Where tribal rituals bonded women to women and men to men (in non-sexual ways). How priviliged is it to see someone as they are, free from the bonds of clothing.
Clothing is the choice we make, fashion et alia, to disguise or embellish or project ourselves as we WISH to be seen. We emulate and copy or, in some cases, project our distinctive individualities by what we wear on the outside rather than be seen as purely what we are.
Clothing, sadly, is used to identify us. We pigeonhole by first sight: She's wearing a burqa therefore she is a Moslem and therefore we make a judgement. He is wearing khaki overalls therefore he is a tradesman therefore we make judgements about that. She is wearing designer clothes therefore she is wealthy because she can afford it therefore we make judgements.
I have always loved the TRUTH. Truth is like nudity. It can be harsh and confronting but it is only what it is and nothing more. Within TRUTH and NUDITY, there is no hiding so what you see is just what is there. It's like drinking pure water or breathing in the freshest air. It's simple. It's uncomplicated.
It allows you to evolve to the next level in this life, free from the chains and encumbrances of all the conditioning and propaganda we're fed.
"The Puritan often will brood
On how horrid it is to be nude;
The absence of clothing
He views with such loathing
That the naked truth strikes him as lewd."
---D.R. Benson
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