h3h.net

What a singular fact for an angel visitant to this earth to carry back in his note-book, that men were forbidden to expose their bodies under the severest penalties!

—Henry David Thoreau

There is a dreadful anxiety surrounding nudity in some modern countries, most notably the United States. The prevailing popular opinion is that nudity is negative and deplorable, best left behind closed doors, under the sheets, and in the shower. People in these countries are warned not to “expose” themselves because it would offend others, implying that it is reasonable to associate emotions like disgust and shame with nudity. As many other countries across the world know and many societies in the past have proved, this is simply not true: nudity is a natural and normal state of being that should be embraced and supported in all of its good forms.

Like pretty much every other activity or state of being, nudity has good and bad forms. Good forms of nudity and nude activities include (but are not limited to): art, sunbathing, relaxing, domestic duties, swimming, socializing, philosophizing, blogging, romantic evenings, and moral sexual encounters. Bad forms are just as innumerable and include most of what the mass media ties to nudity: harassment, molestation, immoral sexual activities (defined in the article linked above), and many other incidences of mal intent or neglect.

Much of the fear and sensationalism surrounding nudity in American society stems directly from the publicly held belief that nudity is somehow necessarily or at least usually connected with sex. Most advertisers make this situation worse by producing risqué commercials and popularizing bare sex appeal as a virtue among the younger generation. For the most part, these advertisers and large companies cling to the “sex sells” mantra and disregard the effects that their messages have on the people who see them and the conceptual images of nudity and sex in the eyes of those people. There is, of course, no necessary connection between nudity and sex, but rather a coincidental one like that of wearing a bathing suit and swimming. Nudity does not need to imply sex in the least; there are forces in American society that have made a fortune endorsing and reinforcing that causal link, but that doesn’t make it any more true.

Besides the mass media, another common source of negativity surrounding nudity is the group of American Christian conservatives and evangelicals. This group of people is typically combative, perhaps rightfully so, when it comes to the aforementioned risqué advertisements and baseless sex appeal in the popular media, but for the most part they fail to recognize the distinction between good nudity and bad nudity, casting all nudity aside as negative and/or sinful. This is a mistake that has been passed down from the Victorian traditions of prudence and etiquette, most of which were disposed of in the past century as unfounded and useless. Traditional religious views on nudity were natural and pure, respecting and revering the body as something created in the image of a divine being. It would be wise for modern religious followers to examine the non-Victorian roots of their religion in order to recognize and accept the distinction between the good and bad forms and to restrict their battles to the arenas where they are appropriate.

We’re still talking about fighting and recognizing distinctions though; why should we worry about allowing good nudity? Frankly, for the same reasons that we allow people to drive cars, travel across and out of the country, visit day spas, go to the beach, own property on lakesides, and attend major sporting events: freedom. The freedom to be happy, healthy, active, productive, sane, social, bold, unashamed, and alive. There are no sound reasons against permitting the above listed activities when they are practiced with freedom and good intentions in mind and the same goes for nudity. Being nude and comfortable is a serene and wonderful disposition, reserved for every human being on the planet, not just some über-sexy subset of sex-crazed megalomaniacs on TV.

So what are my intended calls to action? First, I implore all opponents of nudity to stop attacking and criminalizing a state of being for which there is absolutely no defensible reason to attack. Second, I call for recognition of every human being’s right to be nude in a comfortable and relaxed situation. I am not calling for an all-nude society, legalization of obscenity, or a reduction in penalties for sexual offenders. Instead I only bring the sane, rational argument that there is nothing wrong with nudity in itself, nor with the several good forms of nudity as defined by a moderate and responsible person.

I have no delusions that perceptions of nudity will change overnight and be treated in a proper and rational manner, but I have hope that the younger generation can appreciate the facts at face value and pave the way for a country where people are not persecuted or exiled for their enjoyment of a healthy and natural life.

After all, living a lifetime without being comfortable in the nude is like going to Hawaii and never visiting the beaches.