Naked part 1
I had read in a David Sedaris story years ago, appropriately enough called "Naked" in a collection of short stories by the same name, that it is disconcerting to be talking to someone on the phone knowing they are naked. Circumstance sometimes interferes with things, as he referenced when they say "You caught me on the way to / as I was just getting out of the shower". In this instance, he was talking to a man at a reservations desk at a clothing optional resort in which he was about to make his reservation for a stay there. Of this I have no immediate plans to do so; but, as I have been looking at the proverbial Bucket List (although I hate that term for a goal list) as of late since I am staring at age 40 on the horizon, I began to think of nudity and situations in which I have been.
My experiences with nudity have been few and far between, most certainly, outside of the ordinary situation. Though I have a few friends who enjoy going to pagan nudie camp or Starwood or the like, I admit I was never curious to go on such an adventure. Most people who opt for such an outing will go to a nudist camp or nude beach (now called a clothing optional resort) where they play volleyball to their heart's content. Since I have sensitive skin and burst into flames rather than turn any shade of brown, I prefer not to tan in the summers. I have met a few who loved to go skinny dipping, but this never appealed to me much. I can honestly say I have only been publicly naked once. My friend K from college and I went to Las Vegas in 2003 for a long weekend for her bachelorette party. As it was just the two of us, we thought we would go all the way and make it a combination smut / nerd fest by touring the Liberace museum and the M & M store rather than the usual Vegas stuff. As Vegas gets old after two days, we spent most of the third and fourth days lounging by the pool until we ventured into the spa nearby. Once in the spa, we were asked to take off our street clothes and put on robes. In the inner sanctum, we stepped into another room and saw a giant whirlpool bath with women sitting in it chit chatting in German. One stood up to get out of the bath and we saw she was completely naked. For a second we stood frozen and tightened the belts on our robes a bit tighter. K was hesitant, we were supposed to get in naked? At that moment I decided I had to take the lead, and I said "We'll get in, don't be such a prude." I flung off my robe, hung it on a hook and got in next to the German women and K followed. When she too got in, I said this was the first time we had ever seen each other naked. (It was also the last.) The only thing that stands out from this experience is that we found out that which one of us has hair down there and which one shaves. But I won't say which, it may have changed between now and then.
I have seen friends naked before in a variety of situations. One always has that obnoxious friend who likes to get drunk and naked at the same time on more than one occasion. I also have a friend who gives and sends nude photos of himself whenever there is a gift giving occasion or on his Christmas cards. It's all in good fun of course, and slightly disturbing. Recently, I saw another friend outside of my post skinny hipster circle also naked. He and I remain two unlikely friends, to be sure. Without going into too many details as to our circumstances, we met a few years ago at a trivia night and for some reason he and I were just meant to be friends. Recently, he confessed to me in one of our late night chats that he did some nude modeling for some art classes and said I should come along and witness. As I had not picked up a pencil in order to draw a live nude figure in a long time, I agreed. I got to see A naked. I am far more experienced at this point in life, it's not like my reaction the first time when the model dropped her robe and then me and the rest in the art class attendees just stood there with frozen faces thinking "Why am I in a room with all these people and we're all staring at a naked woman?" Like everything else, you get used to it. I didn't make any snarky or smutty comments towards A before, during or after seeing him naked. I did point out to A just before that he might consider putting a towel down before he sat on the couch though, hygiene and all.
Some say that if you pose naked for anything it will hurt you professionally. Of this, I wonder. Many have presented themselves naked in media (Madonna, Pamela Anderson, Marilyn Monroe, etc.) and it ultimately helped their public personas. They used the brand in order to help their brand, or vice versa. It helped them achieve fame and fortune. But is that what I am after? Doubtful I will have either one of them, at least not at the level that they achieved. Show your goods for others to see may not bother the one showing them, but they may bother others. Hence the professional problem. Say one posed for Playboy, and then they are in a job interview and the interviewer somehow lets them know that they have seen them naked in said publication. You may offend someone’s sensibilities, you may threaten a clique of female human resource managers, you may discover your coworkers make assumptions about you personally because you were willing to expose yourself physically. Granted, these are legitimate concerns, but I don't think I am really at the point where I am worried of this either. I used to know this gal who made a career out of offending others with nudity and drunken antics, and when others became offended by these antics she would scream back at them, act ashamed of herself then stop speaking to those she had offended. This is obviously is not a consideration either.
When one sees another naked for the first time, it's a rather odd sensation. We are, after all, showing ourselves to another person in a way we didn't always expect nor want at all times. There are no barriers between you and the other, even something as thin as a layer of mass produced cotton that makes up your underwear. We feel that we have to explain certain things about ourselves that are usually not exposed out of insecurity. This is what we actually look like before there was Photoshop, air brushing, silicon, or even make up and lighting effects. Your clothes are only going to cover you up so much, and once they are gone then you must see what it is that you truly are. There is much talk about how we are to love our bodies despite the rolls of fat, scars, bruises, stretch marks, imperfections, etc. I am all for this of course, as well as about changing what we don't like about ourselves if we don't like what we see. Many things are hidden, many things are unexpected, many things are shocking about ourselves which we're not used to showing. We're ashamed, and yet this is how we came into the world.
I got an offer from a director friend who was shooting a movie and he was looking for a gal to pose naked for him in it. He extended the offer to me. I said I would think about it. What exactly is my motivation in this? There are plenty of sex tapes and sexting scandals going around, not to mention what's on the Internet and it doesn't matter how famous you may or may not be. Everyone will see me too, won't they? Probably. From what I have heard from friends who have done this before, they said it is an exhilarating feeling to do so and get past all your nervousness and let it all hang out. I am not trying to be a bad girl, I am not trying to get someone's attention, I am doing it for the fact that I am getting past insecurities and showing my fearlessness. Besides, I am sexier now than when I was in my twenties if not with a perfect body then with attitude. And with that, twenty minutes later, I called the director and said "I'll do it."
My experiences with nudity have been few and far between, most certainly, outside of the ordinary situation. Though I have a few friends who enjoy going to pagan nudie camp or Starwood or the like, I admit I was never curious to go on such an adventure. Most people who opt for such an outing will go to a nudist camp or nude beach (now called a clothing optional resort) where they play volleyball to their heart's content. Since I have sensitive skin and burst into flames rather than turn any shade of brown, I prefer not to tan in the summers. I have met a few who loved to go skinny dipping, but this never appealed to me much. I can honestly say I have only been publicly naked once. My friend K from college and I went to Las Vegas in 2003 for a long weekend for her bachelorette party. As it was just the two of us, we thought we would go all the way and make it a combination smut / nerd fest by touring the Liberace museum and the M & M store rather than the usual Vegas stuff. As Vegas gets old after two days, we spent most of the third and fourth days lounging by the pool until we ventured into the spa nearby. Once in the spa, we were asked to take off our street clothes and put on robes. In the inner sanctum, we stepped into another room and saw a giant whirlpool bath with women sitting in it chit chatting in German. One stood up to get out of the bath and we saw she was completely naked. For a second we stood frozen and tightened the belts on our robes a bit tighter. K was hesitant, we were supposed to get in naked? At that moment I decided I had to take the lead, and I said "We'll get in, don't be such a prude." I flung off my robe, hung it on a hook and got in next to the German women and K followed. When she too got in, I said this was the first time we had ever seen each other naked. (It was also the last.) The only thing that stands out from this experience is that we found out that which one of us has hair down there and which one shaves. But I won't say which, it may have changed between now and then.
I have seen friends naked before in a variety of situations. One always has that obnoxious friend who likes to get drunk and naked at the same time on more than one occasion. I also have a friend who gives and sends nude photos of himself whenever there is a gift giving occasion or on his Christmas cards. It's all in good fun of course, and slightly disturbing. Recently, I saw another friend outside of my post skinny hipster circle also naked. He and I remain two unlikely friends, to be sure. Without going into too many details as to our circumstances, we met a few years ago at a trivia night and for some reason he and I were just meant to be friends. Recently, he confessed to me in one of our late night chats that he did some nude modeling for some art classes and said I should come along and witness. As I had not picked up a pencil in order to draw a live nude figure in a long time, I agreed. I got to see A naked. I am far more experienced at this point in life, it's not like my reaction the first time when the model dropped her robe and then me and the rest in the art class attendees just stood there with frozen faces thinking "Why am I in a room with all these people and we're all staring at a naked woman?" Like everything else, you get used to it. I didn't make any snarky or smutty comments towards A before, during or after seeing him naked. I did point out to A just before that he might consider putting a towel down before he sat on the couch though, hygiene and all.
Some say that if you pose naked for anything it will hurt you professionally. Of this, I wonder. Many have presented themselves naked in media (Madonna, Pamela Anderson, Marilyn Monroe, etc.) and it ultimately helped their public personas. They used the brand in order to help their brand, or vice versa. It helped them achieve fame and fortune. But is that what I am after? Doubtful I will have either one of them, at least not at the level that they achieved. Show your goods for others to see may not bother the one showing them, but they may bother others. Hence the professional problem. Say one posed for Playboy, and then they are in a job interview and the interviewer somehow lets them know that they have seen them naked in said publication. You may offend someone’s sensibilities, you may threaten a clique of female human resource managers, you may discover your coworkers make assumptions about you personally because you were willing to expose yourself physically. Granted, these are legitimate concerns, but I don't think I am really at the point where I am worried of this either. I used to know this gal who made a career out of offending others with nudity and drunken antics, and when others became offended by these antics she would scream back at them, act ashamed of herself then stop speaking to those she had offended. This is obviously is not a consideration either.
When one sees another naked for the first time, it's a rather odd sensation. We are, after all, showing ourselves to another person in a way we didn't always expect nor want at all times. There are no barriers between you and the other, even something as thin as a layer of mass produced cotton that makes up your underwear. We feel that we have to explain certain things about ourselves that are usually not exposed out of insecurity. This is what we actually look like before there was Photoshop, air brushing, silicon, or even make up and lighting effects. Your clothes are only going to cover you up so much, and once they are gone then you must see what it is that you truly are. There is much talk about how we are to love our bodies despite the rolls of fat, scars, bruises, stretch marks, imperfections, etc. I am all for this of course, as well as about changing what we don't like about ourselves if we don't like what we see. Many things are hidden, many things are unexpected, many things are shocking about ourselves which we're not used to showing. We're ashamed, and yet this is how we came into the world.
I got an offer from a director friend who was shooting a movie and he was looking for a gal to pose naked for him in it. He extended the offer to me. I said I would think about it. What exactly is my motivation in this? There are plenty of sex tapes and sexting scandals going around, not to mention what's on the Internet and it doesn't matter how famous you may or may not be. Everyone will see me too, won't they? Probably. From what I have heard from friends who have done this before, they said it is an exhilarating feeling to do so and get past all your nervousness and let it all hang out. I am not trying to be a bad girl, I am not trying to get someone's attention, I am doing it for the fact that I am getting past insecurities and showing my fearlessness. Besides, I am sexier now than when I was in my twenties if not with a perfect body then with attitude. And with that, twenty minutes later, I called the director and said "I'll do it."
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