What's the deal with Americans and nudity? [WORK-SAFE AGANE HURRAH]

It's more like "Tom" of Finland, since his real name was Touko.

FAP, anyone?

by my above comment i mean that, fucked-up as the circumstance may be, female nudity holds a kind of power over men. and the reverse, male nudity, ALSO holds a kind of power over men, because it cuts their power-of-looking-at out from underneath them, like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain - "oh, all that noise and smoke for THAT little shrively thing?" somehow i don't imagine the group of buck-nekkid guys being all porno-style randy and confident

*feels rather small all of a sudden*

*rummages in pocket, pretends to look for "photo"*

(mine would probably approve, and she's my mum)

I'll bring a handful of dollar bills and some tassles if it would make you more comfortable.

Also, I may yell "wooo, take it off cowboy" if I have a beer or three first.

holy xpost

I will say, having done a bunch of Spencer Tunick's many-person nude mixed-gender photo shoots, that the atmosphere really isn't sexual, but it is pretty hilarious--there's a mass everyone-amusedly-checking-everyone-else-out vibe, but not in a creepy/unnerving way.

I want to keep myself covered up and want to see others covered up. I wear shirts and blouses that have as high a neckline as possible without making them into turtlenecks or shirts that choke the neck. The last time the top parts of my arms have seen daylight in public was when George Bush Sr. was president. This is how I choose to operate. Don't give me any shit about it, understood?

You've not seen a week on Jerry Springer, apparently.

Going into a sauna during a party??? I don't get it.

Sean, the sauna is the party. At least, there isn't any messy cleanup, afterward....

Okay, apologies. It's just that I'm feeling a bit touchy today and it seemed as though this thread was being totally disparaging to those of us who have more conservative mindsets in this aspect of life. Lord knows how unsurprising this will be, but I generally live a very conservative sort of life overall. But I don't attribute it to being American -- it's because of how I was raised, and I know my parents were/are never gung-ho "I'm proud to be American" types.

But:

I wouldn't even want to show someone I thought was The One my nude self because I think my body looks disgusting

No it's not. I mean, unless there some gaping sores problem I'm not aware of, your nude self looks like what a nude body looks like. (Not that I've seen it, of course, but I've seen pictures of you and I have seen women of your general build naked before.) It probably doesn't look all that different than most people's nude bodies. What's so disgusting about it? Or, more to the point, why are you so turned off by what normal people look like nude?

I mean, if you want to argue that it isn't a "hot bod" then that's one thing (although I'm sure there are plenty of people who would appreciate your body more than some anorexic bony covergirl's) but I can't see how you'd argue that it's "disgusting".

(My tiny two cents)

Lisa & I have twice done a photo project where we've taken regular & Polaroid photos of people (about 300 people total so far), all of them wearing a fish mask to cover their face & nothing else; then we write one specific, honest compliment about each person's body on their Polaroid, and give it to them... we did it at a big party a couple of months ago, and it was a MAJOR hit.

This is OTM. My guess is that Americans wouldn't have nearly as many body hang-ups, nor would they idealize certain body types, if they were simply exposed (haha) to more "normal" bodies.

Douglas, that photo project sounds like fun.

And I'm equating these words and feelings with the statement that my body is disgusting and why I won't display it to anyone. I like my fellow human beings and don't wish to have negative experiences foisted upon them. :)

I suppose the whole conservative/liberal schism happens when I limit the range of people whom I'd show my total outer self to (to people whom I'd be involved in long-term relationships with) and when I think about what I'd wear should I move out of the plus-size department and into the regular sizes (a lot of jeans and t-shirts outfits and conservative dresses).

Nichole, you are also being far too kind here. If indeed this is part of the thing that is bigger than I am, I would need to talk this over with someone professional in order for me to find a way out of this way of thinking.

I would say that everyone has at least one positive attribute.

But bodies are lumpy. That's what they do. I mean, it's OK to want to reduce the lumpiness, but it'll never be totally gone, and it's ok!

Also, check this out: http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/digital.html

Anyway, Tuomas seems to have fled the thread.

And the general reaction we get when people see the pictures is "wow, you're right, they actually are all beautiful if you give them permission to be!"

(n.b. if there are regulars here who would like to see the URL where we've got a bunch of them, email me privately--I just don't want it posted/circulated in public.)

Don't know about that. I've never seen any of my male friends naked, but every girl I've ever known has seen every female friend of hers naked.

Call me a modest American, but I don't ever want to see my dad's cock. It has nothing to do with religion or morality or whatever. It has everything to do with the fact that it's my DAD for chrissakes.

But why do you feel this way? Such an attitude doesn't come from nowhere.

We don't know why, but we think nudity is always about sex (speaking of the population in general).

Because in America that's the only time people ARE nude, in everyday life and in TV/movies. The two are so closely associated because there is no other situation where two people are nude around one another than during sex.