Ok, I feel like it’s possible that the whole idea of naked = bad came from The Bible and maybe even other holy books, but I know that, in The Bible, the book of Genesis says that Adam and Eve were allowed to roam around the Garden of Eden naked until they allowed Satan to bring sin into the garden. Once that happened, they were required to cover up their bodies due to sin. Now, I usually take holy books as metaphors, rather than word-for-word. But, depending on your own personal perspective on it, this could mean one of two things: 1. We really should cover our bodies, because now that there’s sin in the world, it is sinful to run around naked, or 2. We used to run around naked, but at some point, people started clothing themselves for whatever reason (such as, due to sin being added to the world, we became self-conscious of their bodies,) and that’s really why people cover up now, but it’s not actually sinful to run around naked. That’s just a biblical standpoint that I wanted to throw out there, but that’s not anywhere near the full discussion.
So, maybe people did become self-conscious of their bodies somewhere along the line, whether it was from sin being added into the world or not. (I mean, I’m sure a lot of people reading this don’t buy The Bible’s take on this, so of course, I’d like to explore more possibilities.) But maybe people really started clothing themselves simply for warmth. That certainly makes sense to me. And then maybe it became such common practice that people wore clothes for warmth, that people started becoming self-conscious about their bodies when they weren’t clothed. Or maybe when people started criticizing other people’s bodies, that’s when people started to become self-conscious and covering themselves up. Using the theory previously mentioned, that would make sense; when sin entered the world, people started criticizing each other’s bodies, thus making everyone self-conscious about themselves and covering up. I have no clue how it all started, but the whole concept seems a little silly to me. I mean, during the winter, of course I want to cover up as much as possible. But I live in Georgia, where the temperature reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, so it’d be really awesome if it was common practice to just be naked all the time during the summer. But see, I’m wondering what this whole “indecency” thing is about. I mean, it’s natural! And our bodies are nothing to be ashamed of.
So here’s what I think it boils down to, at least at this point. People look at human bodies as being sexy, provocative, and only for intimate relationships and settings. What I’m thinking is, I have been to a nude beach, and I never saw a single person that “provoked” me with their nakedness. While I thought it was freeing to see so many people able to free themselves, I also was not turned on by anything I saw. To me, they were normal human bodies. No one was attractive enough for me to be “distracted” by them. They were just normal people who were naked and tanning on the beach. (This was in Greece, where nude beaches are pretty common.) So here’s what I think: People are not receptive to the idea of letting people be naked where ever they want to be, because they view it as “indecent.” But it wouldn’t be indecent if it were common practice! We hide ourselves from the world, and that’s why it’s intriguing, sexy, and provocative. If we saw it all the time, we wouldn’t look at human bodies that way. Hopefully we’d still look at our significant others’ bodies that way, but as for the general populace, we wouldn’t, because it would be normal to us. We’d see normal people out there – naked as a hairless cat, and we wouldn’t think a thing of it. We think of it as provocative and indecent, because we have made it that way ourselves. We have forced people to cover up, and you know what happens when you tell someone not to do something: It becomes naughty and taboo. But if it is common practice, then it loses that reputation. See, a lot of people maintain that allowing people to run around naked will cause distractions, like distracting people from work. I think it would be like that in the beginning, but once it became viewed as normal, I think people wouldn’t even notice it anymore, because it will have become common practice and no longer taboo. There has even been a study done on this: http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/7154-what-our-office-learned-working-naked-for-one-month-ironically-nsfw-. In this study, a company decided that everyone would come to work naked for a whole month. All employees did it, and in the beginning, it was weird, but by the end of the month, it was completely normal to them, and no one was distracted or self-conscious about it. It even INCREASED productivity, because everyone was so comfortable!
So if we allowed people to run around naked and free, would that increase productivity in the workplace, and even in other aspects of life like school, for example? Would it become common practice enough that it would be viewed as normal, and therefore, wouldn’t cause distractions? I’m thinking it’s quite possible. I’m also thinking it might make people more comfortable in their own skin. You might think that it would make people more insecure about themselves to have everyone looking at their naked bodies and seeing their flaws, but think about how many flaws you’d see on other people’s bodies. You’d start to realize that everyone has bodily flaws, not just you. You’d start to realize no one is perfect, and that might make you feel better about your own body. I think it might make people more happy and comfortable, and maybe if it feels normal, then people wouldn’t look at other people’s bodies as being so tantalizing.
A lot of people hold a view that men are so primal that they would not be able to control themselves if women walked around naked in front of them, and that that would cause an increase in sexual violence. I do believe people would be beside themselves for awhile. However, I also hold the view that, if you’re the type of person who will commit rape, then you’re going to do it, whether you have a naked body staring you in the face or not. And if you’re respectful, then you won’t, no matter how big the temptation. I also believe that, given time, this would become so common practice that everyone would get used to it, and people’s bodies wouldn’t be hugely tantalizing, and therefore, sexual violence might even decrease. Now, I could be wrong, and it might not decrease, because rape is more about power than a sexual experience, but I certainly don’t think it would increase.
Now, I’m going to take this blog entry to a completely new level. Body-shaming. It seems to be a thing these days. Women are shamed for publicly nursing their babies that would die without being fed. Women are forbidden to show their nipples in public, even though men do it all the time. What is the difference between male nipples and female nipples that makes showing female nipples in public so detestable, while men run around in swim trunks all the time? People are shamed for having a few extra pounds on them, even by complete strangers who have no business judging them. There’s even a Facebook page where moms, specifically, are being shamed for having tattoos. These crazy people are calling inked moms bad moms, irresponsible, etc. and otherwise shaming them for personal choices they’ve made for their own bodies. Literally these people post memes that tell people that their babies will become felons, simply because their moms have tattoos, and this is only geared toward women. Another thing. The new trend this summer is for women to refrain from shaving their underarms. Women are shamed for that, while men are off the hook. Apparently, it’s only gross for one gender, but not for the other, causing a double-standard. As a matter of fact, all of the things I've just mentioned are typically geared toward women specifically. STOP. I don’t want to hear it anymore. Everyone needs to leave everyone else alone and mind their own business. For crying out loud, if it’s not your body, don’t worry about it. If you think hairy underarms aren’t sexy, then don’t date a girl with hairy pits, and don’t have hairy pits yourself. If you don’t like tattoos, then don’t get a tattoo, and don’t date someone with tattoos. It’s the same with carrying a little extra weight or pretty much any other body-related thing you can think of. But women and men alike have a right to do with their bodies as they please. Women don’t owe men anything. With the public nipple-showing and hairy underarms situations, there shouldn’t be a double-standard there. Personally, I think pit hair is gross on both men and women. But it is natural, as all mammals have hair, so I would never penalize someone for not shaving their pits. Their bodies are their bodies. I shave, because I feel uncomfortable with hair there, but I don’t penalize my boyfriend for not shaving his, so I would never penalize any woman for not shaving hers.
It’s the same with everything else body-related. What’s with all the body-shaming lately? She’s too fat. He’s too short. She’s too hairy. He has zits. She has an ugly birth mark. He has man boobs. She’s ugly. We have got to stop this battle against people with bodily differences, especially with things that are perfectly natural! It’s just like anything else. Everyone looks different, and no one should be treated badly for that. You shouldn’t send a random woman you’ve never met a message on an online dating site shaming her for the way she looks. When you’re at a coffee shop, and you see a random guy you’ve never met before, you shouldn’t make snide comments about his body. Everyone has flaws, and I think bodily flaws can make people even more beautiful. It reminds me that we’re all human, and that I’m not the only one with flaws. Besides, it’s just plain rude. Besides body-shaming, I think we should also realize that everyone has the right to do what they want with their own body. If we’re speaking of a loved one who is dying from heart disease due to obesity, then it’s a little different. You actually care about the person and want him/her to stick around longer, so I don’t blame anyone for bringing that up to your loved one and trying to make a difference in their life, but lay it on them easy. But if it’s a stranger and/or it’s something that person can’t help, then let it be! This is a huge reason why I think people don’t want to run around naked and do want to cover themselves up. For no reason at all, they are ashamed of their bodies. But this is nonsense! I believe every single person’s body has its own kind of beauty, and no matter how much you try to look like a super model, you never will. Because super models don’t even look like their photos! That’s the work of Photoshop and airbrushing. Even Cindy Crawford once said “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.”
So let’s stop worrying about what we look like and just live our lives…NAKED! What do you guys think? If we passed a law that everyone could be naked in public if they please, would you agree with it? Would you exercise that right?
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