Seeing the nude male form as
I was having a discussion via email with a long-distance friend of mine. We were chatting about the Lady God1va who spent a full hour atop the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, as a way to promote peaceful nudism.
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(See her video here... https://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Lady-Godiva )
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I made a comment that if it were a man doing that, he would probably be branded a pervert, or even worse. I've never understood why a nude female form is regarded as a work of art, while most people regard a nude male form as an aberration; something to be covered up and hidden away from sight. I've always thought that this was a terrible double-standard. Speaking just for myself, I do enjoy looking at nude females, and while I don't get the same level of enjoyment from seeing nude men, I don't think there's anything shameful or disgusting about seeing a man nude. To me, being naked simply means that you have nohting to hide your true self behind. It means open-ness, honesty, truth. Here is her response:
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I think there is a double standard because for years and years, men often portray their bodies as a source of strength, as a weapon, so that when they are naked they are seen as a threat, and wanting to force their way into things, whether it be a woman's body or their personal space or their sight. I think it is seen as a threat for men too, where they see a naked male body as a source of competition for their mates, and a threat on their sexuality, their virility. That sounds bizarre, I know. But I think men's bodies elicit not only fear in some women, but in men too. I might be waaaay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off....
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That made me stop and think for a while. In the end, I think she may be mostly right. As mankind was evolving, certain traits had to be more useful than others, from a survival standpoint. One of those traits could well have been the ability to force your penis into any woman's vagina, whether she was willing or not. The man that cold force his seed into more women, more often, probably had a greater chance of fathering offspring than the man that got shoved out into the cold at night. Looking at it this way, it would make sense that a nude man may be seen as more sexually threatening, and therefore an anti-nude-male taboo could easily have come about, enforced both overtly, and covertly, by both women AND men that happened to be lower ranked in whatever heirarchy existed at the time. Any opinions?
I agree with much of what you said but I have to disagree with the paragraph in bold face. But then, thats what the Forum is all about, right?
I have felt for some time that the friendly atmosphere found in social nudism can be somewhat attributed to the venerability which we feel when nude. Regardless as to how long we have been nudists, deep down we still feel a little naked and venerable. This venerability sublimates aggressive tendencies found in textile society.
If there is, in fact, any validity to this theory, the United Nations should be required to meet while nude. Our last hope for world peace?
I was having a discussion via email with a long-distance friend of mine....
I've never understood why a nude female form is regarded as a work of art, while most people regard a nude male form as an aberration; something to be covered up and hidden away from sight. I've always thought that this was a terrible double-standard. Speaking just for myself, I do enjoy looking at nude females, and while I don't get the same level of enjoyment from seeing nude men, I don't think there's anything shameful or disgusting about seeing a man nude. To me, being naked simply means that you have nohting to hide your true self behind. It means open-ness, honesty, truth.
I occasionally model for an art class at our local art museum. Nearly every time I have been there, I have heard the female artists mention that they would love to find a good male model. Some people do see the male form as art.
It seems to me, that the rules over the ages have been written mostly by men of power.
Straight men prefer to view women.
Weaker men see other men as threatening, so it makes sense that in order to limit competition, an attitude would be promulgated, through coercion, threat, or subversively.
Except, of course, for the ancient Greeks.
If there is, in fact, any validity to this theory, the United Nations should be required to meet whie nude. Our last hope for world peace?
Now there's an idea if ever I heard one .... in fact, let's make it a general rule for all policticians?
Certainly would make "Question Time" a LOT more interesting
On another social network, one that is supposedly dedicated to world peace, Iasked a question on my profile page. I wondered aloud; "if everyone around the world suddenly took their clothing off and walked outside, would there still be wars? Would we be too busy laughing at each other?" My question gets a lot of positive attention.
I was having a discussion via email with a long-distance friend of mine....
I've never understood why a nude female form is regarded as a work of art, while most people regard a nude male form as an aberration; something to be covered up and hidden away from sight. I've always thought that this was a terrible double-standard. Speaking just for myself, I do enjoy looking at nude females, and while I don't get the same level of enjoyment from seeing nude men, I don't think there's anything shameful or disgusting about seeing a man nude. To me, being naked simply means that you have nohting to hide your true self behind. It means open-ness, honesty, truth.
I occasionally model for an art class at our local art museum. Nearly every time I have been there, I have heard the female artists mention that they would love to find a good male model. Some people do see the male form as art.
I have posed nude for college art classes. Some of the women actually left the genital area blank.
As an anniversary present for my wife, I hired a photographer to do a "boudoir" shoot, and then make the photos into sort-of a coffee-table book for her enjoyment. Where I live, there are literally thousands of professional photographers - hundreds of whom advertise boudoir photography. Of this number, less than five advertise their willingness to do a "male boudoir" shoot. Of those, only one actually responded to my inquiries. Whe we finally DID arrange the shoot, the photographer was adamant that she had no desire to actually see me nude. Most of the shoot was conducted with me being dressed in some form or another, and for the few nude shots, she would describe for me how she wanted me to pose, and how she wanted me to conceal my genitals. She would then turn her back while I assumed the pose, and she would shoot the photos, with everything she didn't want to see fig-leafed somehow.
I thought this was extremely odd, for a so-called "professional photographer", but she was literally the only game in town.
Cottontail, it sounds like the lady photographer wasn't qualified to do the photos you wanted.
There is a Yahoo group TakeMyNakedPicturehttps://groups.yahoo.com/group/TakeMyNakedPicture/. You can get on a list for emails from amateurs willing to take nude photos.
If there is, in fact, any validity to this theory, the United Nations should be required to meet whie nude. Our last hope for world peace?
Now there's an idea if ever I heard one .... in fact, let's make it a general rule for all policticians?
Having witnessed some arguments at a nudist resort, I suspect that any improvement would be short lived.
BUT, it would have a positive impact on how nudists are viewed ( pun intended ) the world over !!
I agree, the naked male form should be seen more in an artistic sense and not as a weapon, pardon the pun,or as an agressor. To achieve that I think some significant changes in our world from a fear perspective and religious angle would need to occur as well as some serious eduction of communities about what our bodies are about.
The ancient romans and greeks used to paint the naked male form much more than the female. I think if you search the web you will find reference to this as well as the roman prefernce for small penises whereas the greeks liked larger ones. Somewhere later on the whole attitude to the naked male form fell out of favour and it may be due to religion or puritanical interpretation of religion or maybe it was just part of a cycle that then admired the naked female form in preference. In recent times it seems the naked male form has been kept well hidden except in the gay community, maybe this could help in recognising our bodies for their artistic worth and not just for a sexual or power type purpose.
I am straight but like both naked forms and admire and respect people for who they are and not only how they look. I admire the naked female form but am comfrtable talking to naked men. Community education about this is necessary or we won't move on. The body should be celebrated.
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