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Zaftig Pink's avatar

Good article. I want to suggest that there may be a layer beyond sexualized/non-sexualized nudity that comes back to that old adage "sex sells." I think what we need to take into account is that generally, what we see depicted in media are bodies than can be sexualized for profit. That, ultimately, the nudity we see depicted in movies and TV are unlike our true selves in exactly the same way that the living rooms and kitchens we see depicted on our screens are unlike the living rooms and kitchens in our homes. I remember when the TV show "King of Queens" was on the air there was a lot of commentary about the "attractiveness mismatch" between the two main actors, and that it was unbelievable that a "average looking" UPS driver would have an "absurdly hot" wife. But when I watched the show I was more struck by seeing a UPS driver in bed underneath a $2,000 duvet. It seems like the "aspirational" nudity in media is not so different than that "aspirational" duvet. In a world where everything is for profit, the line between good nudity and bad nudity may really be between profitable nudity and unprofitable nudity. Good naked, we are told, is naked that you can spend lat least a King of Queen's duvet's worth of money annually to achieve for yourself. If there is a solution to be had, it may be in working to restore public spaces where communal nudity is accepted and where not everything has to always be for sale.

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Edward Bionic's avatar

This really is an important conversation to be had with non-nudista in society, even if most of them can be standoffish at first. Planting that seed can often begin working even if it doesn't seem to at first. I have dozens of people on my life that, while they will probably never become nudists, have at least come around on their thinking and accept my part in it a lot more than when they first learned about it...

What strikes me though, is how many NUDISTS still have this line of thinking. How many proclaimed nudists still only follow or promote 'attractive' imagery on their social media. How many will still comment negatively on bodies that are not 'classically' attractive, but comment positively on those that are. How many that go to lengths to put filters on their own photos to cover body 'flaws' etc.

The idea and societal issue runs super deep... And I don't know how many more children and adults lives we have to lose to eating disorders, abuse and suicide (to name a few) that are a direct result of this addiction to attractiveness before we even begin to learn.

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