Tonight, I looked at my body in the mirror for a long time. Why are we made to feel so ashamed to be naked? To show skin? I can’t understand this. Why must I hide the parts of myself that are completely natural and normal?
There is only one answer I can think of, and that is for everyone other than myself. God forbid they have to see what they very well know is there on me and everyone else. I mean, I don’t actually want to walk around naked in public, but I do want to be able to dress however I feel beautiful without losing respect or wishing harassment upon myself. Because neither loss of respect or harassment should happen to me when I choose to wear an outfit for the day.
When I looked at my body tonight, I felt guilty. Because if my blinds weren’t closed all the way, someone might have seen my nudity and felt disturbed or provoked. Or my laptop may have been open and the image of my nudity could be tracked in the cloud or something. And these would end up landing me in some serious trouble… How is it that being in my natural state, the way I entered this world (!), seems to be so dangerous?
We have ingrained this in the mind of society. We have placed quite a negative power on what is beneath our clothes— on the very thing that facilitates life itself. We are taught that the way we are without anything to hide behind is not okay. This feels terribly backwards.
If the world told me that I’m safe and respectable without any cover-ups, I think I’d feel a lot differently when I look in the mirror.
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