Acorn

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Jennifer Richter

Nudity has never been a big deal for me. When people freaked about the Janet Jackson Super Bowl exposure, or when TBS manages to cut an hour-long HBO "Sex in the City" episode down to 20 minutes by taking out all the sex scenes, I just have to shake my head and wonder why. What is it about our bodies that we are so afraid or ashamed of? I don't understand why being naked is such a big deal.

My friend Jen is one of the few people I know who is more comfortable with nudity than I am. She's an art major, so drawing and painting naked people is part of her everyday academic life. And when Jen decided that her final project for this semester's painting class was going to be nude models, it was only natural that I was the first one to volunteer. Actually, for a while, I was the only one to volunteer.

Sometimes, I forget that not everyone is as comfortable with nudity as I am, but I just couldn't believe how hard it was for her to get people to model.

Our male friends were completely out of the question. After several weeks of poking and pestering them, it became clear that none of them were interested in taking off their clothes-such a shame.

That's when Jen changed her concentration to exclusively female nudes. No more dealing with immature giggling or weird looks. No more potential for awkward misunderstandings. After all, why would a woman want a man to take off his clothes if she doesn't want to have sex with him?

For some reason, when it comes to nudity in art, girls are just easier.

Even afterwards, guys reacted far more negatively than gals when they found out that I had posed. I was shocked at the mixed reactions I got. My female friends seemed either amused or neutral on the topic. My male friends, on the other hand, seemed so uncomfortable with it. One of them decided that it was weird because I knew Jen so well-because posing for a total stranger is completely normal. Another guy immediately perked up and asked if he could see it.

I just can't believe way guys reacted. What did they think we were doing up in Jen's room for hours? I mean, true, now my friend Jen can close her eyes and imagine me naked, but the painting process was actually much less exciting than it sounds. I had to hold the pose over the course of several hours, with a couple breaks to make sure I didn't lose my limbs to lack of circulation. It wasn't all bad, though. I did get to watch several episodes of "Fraggle Rock" and the second half of the third "Star Wars" movie, not to mention hang out with one of my best friends. In the end, the biggest problem wasn't the nudity at all, it was learning how to laugh and hold my pose at the same time.

I had expected to have a problem getting women to agree to pose, considering the strong stereotype that girls are self-conscious and shy about their bodies. Apparently, however, when it comes to art, issues with your body image do a quick 180. Personally, I found the entire experience rather liberating. As much as I talk about it, I had never really been naked in front of someone for that long, at least not in front of someone who still had their clothes on. I appreciated the chance to prove to myself that being naked really just isn't a big deal.

Every human body is beautiful-for the most part. We should be showing off our bodies, not hiding them. I suggest we all take a page from Ms. Morissette and start walking around naked in our dorm rooms. Trust me, it'll make you feel better.

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