Going public

Andy Tabbat explains his decision to bare it all in the public domain

Editor’s Note: this article contains images of non-sexual nudity for the purposes of illustrating the author’s point. If you are offended by mere nudity, please close this page.

Andy on the streets of San Francisco

“Having nude pictures of myself floating around has never worried me much. Letting my body be seen is just putting my money where my mouth is.”

Photos are among our most powerful tools in the uphill battle to "normalize" nudity. The more nakedness people see, the less it seems remarkable. One picture of an unclothed person clearly consenting to be photographed can fight body shame as effectively as a well written pro-nudity manifesto. In terms of online nudism, a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s important that non-glamorized, non-sexualized, nude images of ordinary people should be ubiquitous and easy to find.

The photographs here are of me. I used to own the copyrights, meaning it was illegal to publish or alter them in any way without my consent. Now, at my own choice…