I'm naked

I bet that got your attention, didn't it? Good. Because I want your full attention. I especially want the attention of those who get all hinky or make intelligent comments like "Ewwww!" when I talk about being naked.

(I'm not, by the way.)

But now that I have your attention (hopefully), go read

this

. It's perhaps the most eloquent, truthful thing I've ever read about nudity and our perception of "beauty". Diana Hartman speaks the things that I've only thought about.

"Quite suddenly we were discussing the merits of perfect bodies and how those who don't have them shouldn't show them to the rest of the world. They told stories of 300-pound female bodies donned in denim and gauze-like material. They talked about flabby, middle-aged men in Speedos. They told these stories as if the world was made up of only two kinds of people — perfect and most decidedly not perfect. There seemed to be no in-between for them. They talked as if perfection was real and wasn't the end result of physically airbrushing away freckles and healthy protruding blood vessels and digitally altering the least bit of contour out of the picture. They don't see themselves as perfect and automatically categorized themselves as not beautiful."

I got the link from

Joanie

. I tried to comment on her post, but her nitpicky filter decided that my comment was "objectionable". And I didn't even use any dirty words. Not once. Anywho, Joanie?...awesome.

No, I'm not a nudist. Not even close, really. I don't even run around the house naked all the time. But I believe that being naked is natural...no matter what you look like. It feels good. And, like Hartman says, your body is the only thing you truly own. It's yours.

Oh, it took me a looooong time to realize that. It took me a loooong time to accept my imperfect body. To look upon it as 'beautiful'. Even now, I have a hard time even typing that without snorting with laughter. Because by most standards, my body doesn't even come close to being "beautiful". Not by the remotest standards.

But, every wrinkle, every stretch mark, every saggy boobie, every scar, bump and bulge tells a story. They tell my story. Who I am, with no hiding. No shame.

"Many of us could relate to the stories these bodies tell — surgery, being pregnant with a big baby or more than one baby, walking everywhere, carrying small children, holding larger sick children, years of bending down to pick things up, and climbing stairs and hills with heavy bags of groceries. Combine the lines, scars, wrinkles, stretch marks, and varicose veins with the look in someone's eyes — wisdom, sadness, and joy — and you all but know their life story."

Anyone with any intelligence at all knows that there are very few of us who are blessed with the "perfect" body. So why do we expect to see one every time we see a naked person? And we're shocked beyond words when we don't?

Am I the only one who sees the irony in our present mindset concerning the whole self esteem/beauty issue? We're supposed to encourage our children, female children more specifically, in self-esteem issues. We're supposed to teach them that each and every one of them is unique...special...perfect in their own way; that they can do anything that they want with their lives. Yet, the minute that they're "grown", we (society) tell them that...suprise!...you're not perfect, after all. You're too fat, too short, too thin, too tall, your nose isn't quite right. You can't do that because you're too fat/short/your nose is crooked/your breasts aren't big or perky enough.

And show that awful, naked body? Gawd forbid!

It's no wonder that we're all so damned neurotic about nudity.
Frankly, I'm suprised that we don't all hide ourselves under birkas and veils because, evidently, none of us are "perfect". None of us are "beautiful". And none of us will ever be.

Unless, of course, we all conform. We all...assimilate. We all have JLo's body, Angelina's lips or Gwyneth's nose. Uniqueness, be damned. We wanna look like everyone else. And if we can't, well then, we'll go through life continuing to be neurotic, hung-up women with huge inferiority complexes who cringe every time we look in the mirror.

Now, I could get into all those sticky issues about nudity and perception of beauty and use reasons and excuses like 'morals' and 'pornography' and 'the media'. But I won't. Most adults have already been conditioned...brainwashed...to believe that nudity is bad. And it's particularly 'bad' if you don't have the perfect body. I don't expect to change any minds in that area.

But I do hope that you'll at least think about it. And maybe...just maybe...you might become just the tiniest bit more...non-judgmental?...about your perception of nudity and beauty.

And maybe...just maybe...the next time you look at your naked body in the mirror, you won't be quite so dissatisfied with it and be a little more accepting...a little kinder.

After all...it's the only body you'll ever have. It's yours. Might as well learn to love it.