Category Archives: nudism

beliefs, current affairs, freedom of speech, medical, nudism, science, sexuality, thoughts

Nudity, Sex and Sex Education,

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I started this post with a dilemma. Do I write it as one long “review” post or split it into several so I can write more in depth about each topic. In the end I decided on the former if only to ensure that the articles I highlight actually get air time and not consigned, by default or laziness, to Bin 101.

In the last week or so there have been a number of items on the intertubes about nudity, sexuality and sex education. Regular readers (What? You mean I have regular readers?) will be aware of my liberal views and my belief that we need to break down society’s taboos in these areas (very much in the Dutch-mode) so my choice of items should come as little surprise.


We Need to Stop Circumcision
Written by Christine Northrup, herself an obstetrician and gynaecologist, this item in the Huffington Post makes a passionate case for not circumcising infant boys, as well as girls. Here are few extracts:

In the weeks ahead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are likely to publish a recommendation that all infant boys undergo circumcision. This is a huge mistake. Circumcision is an unnecessary procedure that is painful and can lead to complications, including death. No organization in the world currently recommends this. Why should we routinely remove normal, functioning tissue from the genitals of little boys within days of their birth?

[C]ircumcision was introduced in English-speaking countries in the late 1800s to control or prevent masturbation.

Routine female circumcision, which has been practiced in some cultures, is completely unacceptable … the United Nations has issued a decree against it. Circumcision is a form of sexual abuse whether it’s done to girls or boys.

[M]isleading medical information has begun to surface (yet again) in support of circumcision. This information supports the belief that men with foreskins are more likely to get viral or bacterial infections and pass them on … these are justifications that science has been unable to support. Nor is there any scientific proof that circumcision prevents sexually transmitted diseases.

The United States has high rates of HIV and the highest rate of circumcision in the West. The “experiment” of using circumcision to stem HIV infection [as has been done in Africa] has been running here for decades. It has failed miserably. Why do countries such as New Zealand, where they abandoned infant circumcision 50 years ago, or European countries, where circumcision is rare, have such low rates of HIV?

Circumcision also has profound implications for male sexuality. Studies document that the amount of pleasure a man can receive during intercourse is greater in uncircumcised males. That’s because the male foreskin, like the clitoris, is richly innervated for maximum sexual pleasure. Sexual researchers have determined that men with [their foreskin] are more likely to feel the most pleasure when they make love.

More Sex Education Please, we’re British
This was an article in the Times on 24 February, in which Alice Thomson argued that we (the British) have the highest rate of teenage STDs, abortions and pregnancies in Europe and that the only way this will be reduced is by very open and frank sex education conducted in an adult way. Sniggering behind the bike-sheds, as we British always have done, has gotten us into this mess and won’t get us out of it. Again a telling quote or two:

British children shouldn’t be getting their sex education from Ashley and Cheryl [Cole] but from their parents and teachers. I was once one of those prissy, prudish parents pussyfooting around the question until I was sent to the Netherlands by this newspaper to discuss procreation.

As I walked to De Burght junior school in Amsterdam to talk to the headmaster about his policy, I bumped into eight-year-old Carla carefully balancing a dish. It was a sample of her father’s sperm for “show and tell”. [I bet that had Tunbridge Wells choking on its Shredded Wheat! – Ed.]

In the Netherlands, sex and children aren’t a taboo subject. As pupils play mummies and daddies in the playground they know exactly what they might have been doing last night … a 12-year-old at the senior school showed me how to roll a condom on to a broomstick while her friend asked me if I masturbated.

The British, meanwhile, expect their children to learn about sex and relationships from the playground, internet porn, WAGs and celebrities, and are amazed that we have the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases and abortions among the under 21s in Europe.

We need to talk about the subject until we can say various anatomical parts without sniggering.

For the first time, I found myself agreeing with Ed Balls [same here – Ed.], the Schools Secretary, on the Today programme yesterday [23 Feb] that sex education should be compulsory in all schools. Of course five-year-olds need to learn about sex, the earlier the better, and from parents as well as teachers.

The Dutch are more religious than the British and still manage to reach consent among Calvinists, Catholics and Muslims that children should be provided with all the facts to make their own informed decisions, not just lectured on morality and the missionary position.

Thoughts on the “hook-up culture,” or what I learned from my high school diary
This appeared on Scarleteen (an excellent site which addresses all sorts of sexuality questions and is aimed at teens and young adults, in a mature and adult way) and elsewhere on 2 March. In it the female writer discusses dating, sex and relationships and how they relate to our current views of feminism and gender roles. A couple of comments particularly struck home with me.

We need to admit as a culture that teens are sexual beings, and that more often than not, sexual maturity has a completely different timeline than emotional maturity. This is, to be sure, skewed by sexism and restrictive gender roles to make sexual coming-of-age worse for girls. But beyond that, maybe discovering what you want sexually and emotionally is just part of growing up – and that’s okay.

Girls deserve to discover themselves sexually at their own pace, to be neither rushed into having sex nor shamed into not having it. They deserve to have their very own “This is bullshit” moments without wearing a chastity belt.

My only comment is something we’re in danger of forgetting: that (despite all the machismo) just the same applies to boys!  If anything it is more important for boys as they first have to slough off that machismo.

Psychology and the Shock of Nudity
This item on the Academic Natuirist weblog addresses the problem of guilt surrounding being discovered naked. For most people the one discovered appears to carry the guilt, which in the view of the writer (and me) is stupid. Again a couple of excepts:

Naturists have a different attitude … You’ve seen me naked? Good! That means I don’t have to get dressed next time you come over …Why should Alice feel bad about seeing Bob naked, if Bob didn’t care at all about it? Alice is not guilty of embarrassing Bob. 
[Equally why should Bob feel guilty at being seen naked if Alice doesn’t care about it? – Ed.]

Getting textiles to not feel guilty about seeing nudity would be a good step for general acceptance [of nudity] … Maybe we’re wrong about how we notify others? The signs … warn “ATTENTION – BEYOND THIS POINT YOU MAY ENCOUNTER NUDE BATHERS” Perhaps the right approach is something like “There’s friendly naked people beyond this sign, and we won’t mind if you stop over and chat with us!”

Naked People – Your Version
Finally a challenge. On 18 February Dairy of a Nudist invited us to take part in a new phase of Sebastian Kempa’s ongoing Naked People project: Naked People Your Version. All you have to do is to submit a pair of identically posed photos of yourself, one clothed the other nude. The idea is, of course, “to help further break down the barrier of clothing which society has imposed to imprison our natural bodies”. I’ve not yet submitted my photos, but I have every intention of doing so in the next week or so. Dare you? – For each one of you who convinces me you’ve submitted your photos (I may ask you for evidence; depends how well I know you!) I’ll make a small donation to charity.  Who’s up for it?

amusements, nudism, quotes

I Don't Believe It!

Surfing the intertubes, as you do, I have just happened upon an Australian men’s underwear and swimwear company called …  

COCKSOX

In my defence I was actually looking for swimwear! 

I can’t help feeling that only Australians would get away with it!

books, food+drink, medical, nudism, personal, photography, pleasures, quotes, science, thoughts

Outlook for 2010

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Jilly over at jillysheep has prompted me to think about what I might want to achieve in 2010. This is not something I normally do, as I have always been content to drift with the tide and see what washes up.

But in 2010 I would like to:

  1. Win the lottery jackpot (minimum £2m)
  2. Lose 50 kilos (I keep telling you I’m hugely overweight)
  3. Do all the cooking (like I used to)
  4. Get the bathroom rebuilt (probably requires as a prerequisite)
  5. Get the house rewired (also requires as a prerequisite)
  6. Get the whole house tidy, uncluttered and clean – and keep it that way
  7. Get the two-thirds of the house which badly needs it redecorated (another that requires as a prerequisite)
  8. Go on at least three 2-week holidays, one railway-based, one to Europe and one naturist in the sun
  9. Travel from Thurso to Penzance by train.
  10. Have a good sunny summer and be able to walk skyclad all summer around my garden

That list was a joke! Yes, I would like to do all those things but the chances of achieving them are at best 1 in 14 million (ie. the chance of winning the lottery at any one attempt. If I win the lottery (odds over the year probably 300 in 14 million) all except , and #10 become relatively easy.

OK, so let’s be realistic. What do I stand some chance of achieving?

  1. Lose 15 kilos
  2. Get out to the shops (even the dreaded supermarket) at least once a week (ought to be easy now I’m retired)
  3. Cook 3 meals a week
  4. Go out to take photographs at least once a week (also should be easy)
  5. Write 2 weblog posts a week
  6. Get the heating fixed (like Jilly, we have an annoying intermittent and unsolved problem)
  7. Grow a year’s supply of chillies – on the study windowsill (given that we use a lot of chillies and said windowsill space is limited this will need a very prolific variety)
  8. Get my Anthony Powell Society work up to date, and keep it that way
  9. Get the sitting room and dining rooms properly tidy and inhabitable
  10. Rejuvenate my fish tanks
  11. Go away on holiday for 2 weeks
  12. Make some major progress on my family history (yes that’s vague; first I have to take stock of what I’ve got)

And if I actually manage to achieve half of that lot I should be satisfied.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions – that’s just setting oneself up to fail, because they are always so unrealistic – so I’m not going to start this year and I’m not even going to commit to trying to achieve any of the above. They are what I would like to achieve. It’s a “wants list”, not a “must achieve or else list”. One reason I took early retirement was to get away from the incessant round of unachievable “must achieve or else” objectives. That way come madness and depression. 2010 is about relaxing and finding a life again.

Happy New Year to everyone!
Please don’t go out celebrating and get frostbite. 🙂

beliefs, current affairs, freedom of speech, medical, nudism, personal, science, sexuality, thoughts

Taboo!

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I’ve been thinking recently about our taboos. What I find curious is where we individually draw the boundary lines between what’s acceptable, what’s unacceptable and what falls in the grey area between. This is partly because some of my views are diametrically opposed to the norms of our society, but also because as a society, and as a collection of individuals, we seem to be sleep-walking into far too many important decisions.

We can probably all agree on a common set of things we think should be outlawed: child abuse, female circumcision, rape, gratuitous animal cruelty. And a set of things which are (generally) OK: sweets, alcohol, blood transfusions, prison for offenders. Although I know there are people who will abhor even these.

Most people would not discuss – and are not comfortable with – pornography, nudity, sex, bodily functions, incest or death. And then of course there are things which are for many on the borderline: animal cruelty for food (aka. abattoirs), abortion, stem cell research.

But this is not where I, personally, would draw the line. For me there is no problem with pornography, sex, nudity, bodily functions and I think even death (it is after all an inevitable consequence of life, at least as we know it). Incest I would say is borderline at worst and under some circumstances OK – why should a brother and sister not have a loving sexual relationship if they wish, as long as they remain aware of the possible dangers.

For me – and I stress this is just my personal opinion – there are far more important things to worry about and which I find at best questionable and at worst objectionable; some I would probably class as obscene – not a word I use lightly or often. The above list of common taboos is a good start to this list with most of them, at least some of the time, being in the obscene category.

However my questionable or unacceptable list contains other things most people find OK: IVF, male circumcision, genetic modification, airport expansion, a federal Europe, positive discrimination, religion, capital punishment, cosmetic surgery (for the sake of personal vanity rather than as a real medical necessity). And my jury is still out on stem cell research.

What I find interesting about this is not that I have different opinions (I’m an eccentric; I expect to have my own, different opinions) but that so few people appear to do likewise.

Society’s taboos, taken as a whole, are essentially the aggregate set of beliefs the majority of individuals find abhorrent – at least as enacted by the great and the good we elect to speak on our behalf and make law (politicians, religious leaders, etc.). It is only by people with differing opinions questioning and challenging this status quo which eventually results in the shift of the agreed set of taboos. Such is how we make progress.

All of this has so far left aside the more personal things. Do you have to be totally private, behind a locked door, in the bathroom or bedroom? Why is sex with the light on such a no-no? Are you OK with sleeping in the nude? As many will realise by now I am pretty open. We’re comfortable with social nudity – indeed any nudity. We both sleep au naturel and prefer it that way. Doors are never shut (except possibly to exclude the cats, and even that is rare). We actively dislike net curtains. We share the bathroom. In fact I think the only thing I have any possible hang-ups about is someone watching me wipe my arse – and even that isn’t a discomforting as it used to be. I was also wary of seeing my late father’s ileostomy – I felt this was intruding too far onto something private to him, although it didn’t seem to worry him; and let’s be fair it is not the most tasteful of things. Why I felt like this I don’t know; it surprised me. Indeed having been brought up to be slightly bohemian, think for myself and have my own opinions, I find it rather odd that I have any taboos at all.

As one of your “working thinkers” (to quote Douglas Adams) what I find distressing is that the majority of people don’t think about such things. There was a research finding a few years ago, which I now cannot place, that found 5% of people are unable to think; 5% of people can think and do so; the remaining 90% of people can think but just don’t. Even sadder is that many of this 90% are content to be told what they think by others, and that means mostly the tabloid press, politicians (who usually seem to have a vested interest) and religious bigots – plus a few cranky academics and do-gooders who manage to get “air time”. But then, despite the fuss some of this “silent majority” make, they probably don’t actually much care as long as someone keeps them in the credit card debt they’ve become attuned to.

Come on guys, wake up at the back! If you want things to get better you need to engage your brains and think through the consequences of your (our) actions. Think about the long term consequences of IVF, air travel, stem cell research. Use what brain cells you have; engage in dialogue with other people. Nobody asks that you are high-powered philosophical thinkers, just that you think as best you can about what is right and make up your own mind. If you then decide you’re happy with the consequences of these things, that’s fine. If you’re not, then you need to be heard. Doing nothing leaves those who do think to fight it out with those with vested interests – and the outcome may well not be the right one – or the one you actually want, whatever that is.

memes, nudism, personal, photography, thoughts

Summer Dreaming Meme 2


Summer Dreaming Meme 2, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme was to choose 12 things you would find at the beach (or round the pool). Just in case anyone thought that I thought beaches were almost entirely composed of dog crap and broken glass here is another selection to hopefully prove the contrary.

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

1. Beachgirls, 2. Top Twenty – Beach Girls #13, 3. Eyes wide shut…, 4. Smiling sister one, 5. Girl on Pattaya beach, 6. Jane Lecza (21), 7. Missing!!, 8. The blue towel…, 9. beautiful Volleyball, 10. Sandbox, 11. No Dear!, 12. beach topless 05

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

nudism, personal, thoughts

Figleaves or Not?

There’s another sensible item on nudity, especially as relating to one’s children, over on The Political Naturist. Here’s a taster …

For many parents, allowing a child to run around naked at home is perfectly natural, an expression of physical freedom that represents the essence of childhood, especially in the summer. But for others, unclad bodies are an affront to civility, a source of discomfort and a potentially dangerous attraction for pedophiles. […]

There is no rational reason for ordering a toddler to put on clothes. People will always tell you that it’s “indecent”, or “inappropriate”, but they cannot tell you why. It’s transference of adult shame, built up over years of cultural mores and religious teachings. […]

Around the age of 3 or 4, children begin to differentiate between what’s private and what’s public, experts say, and they usually begin to feel modesty soon after. But parents’ attitudes play the largest role in determining whether children are comfortable being naked at home … If someone has what appears to be an overly strong reaction to seeing young children running around naked, it tells us about their own hang-ups, their own inner conflicts […]

What is it about the sight of naked children which causes people to bristle and turn away? I would think most people would smile, or laugh, at the sight of children at play, clothed or unclothed. Bottling up the natural instincts of children to shed their clothes only teaches them body shame, that there is something wrong and repulsive about their flesh. Adults should not be transferring their own guilt, false modesty and irrational fears to their children. We are all born with nude bodies, we all see ourselves when we change clothes or bathe, so why is it so shocking when we see someone else’s nude body? […]

Thanks heaven for another dose of common sense. More please!

arts, beliefs, current affairs, nudism, thoughts

Nudity Does Us All Good

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Picture: BBC

I’ve written before about my attitudes to nudity and our bodies (see for instance here, here and here) and I return to the subject quite unashamedly especially as Channel 4 TV’s “Life Class” (which I admit I have not been watching) has created a bit of a backlash in certain circles. So it was good to see a couple of articles last week coming out in favour of nudity and trying, quietly and sanely, to redress the balance.

The first was written for BBC News’s online magazine by life model Sarah Snee (who is herself also an artist). The piece went under a banner Starkers for Art; here are some snippets of what she has to say:

As a student strapped for cash the allure of making money modelling for art was too much to resist. But there was another motivation – self exploration.

“I was intrigued by the idea of being naked in front of strangers,” says Sarah. “Especially at the age of 20 when you’re still getting to know your own body and developing your own sexuality. It was a very romantic idea, a bohemian idea […] My first time was daunting. I was wondering what people thought of my body. Was I attractive enough? Did my bum look big? The things most people would be concerned with.”

Despite being under the intense scrutiny of a room full of pupils, male and female, Sarah found she quickly became used to being under the artist’s gaze. “It made me feel more confident about my body. I felt liberated. I feel more self-conscious wearing a bikini on holiday with friends than I did when I was naked in front of strangers.”

“People say to me isn’t life modelling really weird? Isn’t it a bit sexual? Of course there are men who have this idea they’re all going to draw these naked women and it’s going to be thrilling […] But the artists don’t view you sexually. They see the body as a series of lines and shadows, a piece of art.”

The second piece, titled Nudity does us all good, was by Jemima Lewis in last Saturday’s Daily Telegraph. Again Jemima Lewis has a refreshingly down to earth view of nudity, and echos my view that nudity is not only normal but we would all be better adjusted if we grew up with nudity and understanding our bodies. This is (part of) what she has to say:

[…] who are these children who have never seen a naked body before? And more importantly, why not?

Going naked in front of your offspring is one of the duties of parenthood. Studies show – and common sense suggests – that children from households where nudity is commonplace grow up to feel more comfortable in their own skin. We need the background scenery of other people’s bodies – dumpy, scrawny, dimpled or lean – in order to be reassured that our own peculiarities are normal.

Especially now, when most public images of the human form are airbrushed into a preposterous lie, children ought to know what actual people look like under their clothes.

Some of my favourite memories of school feature middle-aged men and women disporting themselves in the buff. Our A-level teacher, like many artists, preferred her life models on the well-fed side, their rolls of fat allowing for plentiful chiaroscuro.

Although it is a long time since I picked up a sketchpad, those life classes, combined with the tireless domestic nudity of my parents, are proving more useful to me now than ever.

As my wife’s uncle used to say: “If you see anything God didn’t make, heave a brick at it.”

food+drink, medical, memes, music, nudism, personal, photography, science, sexuality
3 Comments

Katyboo posted this meme the other day, and as she didn’t tag people, preferring us to elect or not, I’ll take the bait. Well it’s better than doing whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing.

The rules of the meme are: Respond and rework. Answer questions on your own blog. Replace one question. Add one question. Then tag eight people.

What are your current obsessions? Depression. I don’t know why I’m so depressed at the moment (I’ll blame work, it’s as good a scapegoat as any, but it almost certainly isn’t the only factor) but it is taking over and stopping me doing things.

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? The Emperor’s new suit. Nudity and getting fresh, cooling, air to the body is actually good for you; it stops you getting all sticky and sweaty in places you don’t want to. I do wear a pair of shorts or jeans (more if I need to) during the week, if only so I can get to the front door quickly. Otherwise I follow the maxim “Nude when possible, clothed when necessary”.

What’s for dinner? Vegetable Crumble, I think. Well we are trying to be good and reduce our meat intake for the sake of our health and the planet. And Noreen does a mean veggie crumble with mushroom, onion or cheese sauce. Yum, yum!

Last thing you bought? In a shop? Not a clue; I hardly ever got to shops these days. Online? Some scented geraniums.

What are you listening to? The hum of my PC. I can’t take continual background music (let alone talk) these days. I suspect that’s related to the depression.

Do you have a pet and if not, why not? Yes, two cats and lots of fish (both tropical and in the pond). And no, the cats take no interest whatsoever in the fish.

Favourite holiday spots? Dorset and South Devon, by the sea. Well anywhere quiet by the sea really.

Reading right now? My PC screen, stoopid! 🙂

Four words to describe yourself? Fat, grey, snotty, depressed.

Guilty pleasure? Why do pleasures always have to be guilty? Erotica. Yes and I’m unashamed about it. In the words of Jean-Luc Goddard, “Eroticism … is consenting to live.” If no-one ever found anything erotic we’d none of us be here!

Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? edartr at Flickr‘s photographs of his hilarious two dogs; see here for example.

First spring thing? Zebedee

Planning to travel to next? Norwich to see my mother. Don’t know when yet, but it should be soon.

Best thing you ate or drank lately? East Green

Do you have any weird phobias? No. There are things I dislike intensely, like maggots, but nothing which turns me into a complete gibbering wreck.

Favourite ever film? As I don’t do films I’ll change this one. My question is: What time is it now, and what time would you like it to be? It’s currently 1150 hrs, and thus fast approaching lunchtime. What time would I like? The time I can drink beer freely again.

Care to share some wisdom? “It’ll pass, Sir, like other days in the Army.”

Favourite song? Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly. Well that’s one of them anyway.

What’s your favourite meal you make without sticking to a recipe? Curry. But then I almost never use a recipe for anything except cake – and I never make cake.

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Who would be stupid enough to even consider it? Maybe Harpo Marx? Actually Woody Allen probably suits my personality better. 🙁

Facebook or Twitter? Other or Neither? For preference neither. I do dabble on Facebook from time to time, mainly as a way of not quite losing touch with people. But as far as I can see Twitter is a complete waste of time and everything else; no-one has yet managed to explain the point to me. The same goes for Second Life and YouTube.

What is your favourite word? What do you mean I’m not allowed that one? It’s a perfectly good Anglo-Saxon word. Oh OK, let’s have something boring then, like corvid.

OK, so here’s the question I’ve added: If you were to have one piece of luck this week, what would it be? To win the lottery so I can afford to retire.

Like Katyboo I don’t like tagging people – although I’m always happy to be tagged – so you can all choose to take part or not. If you do, just leave a message and a link in the comments, please. Enjoy!

arts, history, nudism, personal, photography

OMG Aren't They Horrible!

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There seems recently to be a trend for displaying photos of oneself in youth, and as is traditional adding the refrain of “OMG aren’t they horrible”. Far be it from me not to join a sinking bandwagon when I see one, so here are a selection of the pix I’ve so far found of me.

First off, on the right, here I am aged 7 (in 1958) with our dog, Suzie (Sue for short). This is clearly taken in our back garden during the summer, probably by my father with his Box Brownie.

And next a couple of years later (I’m guessing I was 9 or 10) while on holiday camping at a nudist club somewhere in Essex. It was a hot summer and in this I’m pouring cold water over my mother. This would have been taken by my father on his Box Brownie.

Next we have some from when I was in the Scouts.

Here I am (in the centre) at the age of about 12 (so 1963) preparing to take part in the Scouts annual St George’s Day Parade, which our troop led with drum band. I can roughly date this as Vic, the guy with the “leopard skin”, was our troop leader and left a year or so later at 16; the big gormless-looking lad helping him is Eric Castle who was (I think a year) younger than me, so he must have been 11 to be in the Scouts. Apart from being somewhere around Cheshunt I’ve no clue where this was. Again probably taken by my father on his Box Brownie.


In these two I must be about 14 (so 1965) as I’m the one leading the drum band at the St George’s Day parade. I definitely remember this as I know we did this route at least two years running; I suspect this was the first year we used this route and the first year I was “drum major”as I think it is still Vic with the bass drum. Again probably taken by my father on his Box Brownie, although it must have been around this time he started using 35mm.

Now we’ve jumped to summer 1971 and a professionally taken photograph of the University of York Cricket Tour at the end of the Summer Term (so the end of my second year as an undergraduate). We spent a short week playing around Ipswich and Cambridge; this was taken outside the Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge pavilion before a match. I’m in the back row, third from right and badly in need of a haircut. And no, I can’t name all the other guys; except I know the guy front right is Eddie Pratt who was doing Chemistry with me.

Finally we’ve jumped to 1984. I don’t know who took this, but it’s in my family history collection. This is me (centre, with hands in pockets and gold-rimmed glasses) with my parents at the opening of Noreen’s blockbusting exhibition “Jolly Hockey Sticks” at Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood (now V&A MoC). I was (almost) down to weight in those days as I had not long recovered from glandular fever. I was 33 and we’d been married not quite 5 years. Eeek; that’s a lifetime ago! I wasn’t grey then either.

I’m sure I have other photos but they aren’t to hand. I’ll have to raid my mother’s files next time I go to see her; there should be some more of me in my teens and maybe twenties although I doubt there’ll be any of me under about 5 as I don’t think my father had a camera then; and of course, yes, there are wedding photos somewhere.

Are they horrible? Well actually, apart from the one of me as a student (horrible glasses and in need of a serious haircut), no I don’t think they are horrible. Photos of me now are far worse: very unfit, seriously overweight and going down hill rapidly into senility. I wish I was as fit now as I was in that nude photo of me at 9 or 10! But that, as they say, is life.

nudism, thoughts

The Right Balance

It sounds to me that model, novelist and actress Sara Stockbridge has the balance about right. In a curious piece in The Herald, she admits to having no problem with her body and once having walked the catwalk nude (except for her boots):

“I’ve never had a problem with my body. I went down the catwalk naked once. There was an encore and I’d already gone off and started taking all my clothes off and I was naked, and they were like, come on, come on, there’s an encore’, and so I ran back on in just boots with nothing on. I have no problem with being naked. There are much more scary things than being naked. Like singing karaoke.”

Why is it that everyone isn’t so well balanced? After all we all know, give or take the odd scar, what’s underneath our clothes.

Hat-tip Diary of a Nudist