Teri's Writings

Nudity

Copyright 1993 philg@mit.edu Even though each of our bodies are unique, and no two bodies are really alike, nudity is the great equalizer.  People dress in "costumes" in the clothed world.  The "costume" is designed to present an image.  That image may be as a successful business person, or to boast of wealth, or perhaps to label the person as "down-to-earth", or sexy by accenutating certain aspects of the human form.  Perhaps possessing a great ability to be stylish and chic.

These "costumes" also have the ability to create walls between us, they say "I am of a particular socio-economic class, or educational status… we most likely have nothing in common… think twice before approaching me."  When nude, none of these image promoting factors are in play and we are all on the same footing.

With regard to the imperfections of the human body, I have told many of my nudist-phobic friends who feel they would be ridiculed for an imperfect body, that once you see a multitude of naked bodies, you realize that the perceived perfect bodies are few and far between, and that we all are perfectly imperfect in one way or another, again a surprising equalizer.

Being liberated from this media driven indoctrination that we must look a certain way to be acceptable to society is incredibly beneficial.  Too many of us go through our lives with a sneaking suspicion that we are not quite good enough.  Nudism can help to relieve at least one very large facet of that insecurity.

A joke.  You may have heard this one.  Two men are laying nude, sunning themselves at the nudist beach, and a beautiful naked woman strolls past them.  The one nudges the other and says, "Dang, I bet she'd look great in a bikini!"