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on nudity and beauty in american culture













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i love the human body
















i truly do. i don't see anything dirty or shameful about the naked body, and i'm not sure why we're so uptight about it here in america. in america, if a body is not displayed as a sex object, we feel uncomfortable. i'd like to live somewere where society is more relaxed about nudity. in america, nudity=sex. i don't see it that way. i see nudity as perfectly natural state of being, perhaps the best state of being. we came into this world naked. ther's nothing wrong with it. i like to be naked when i meditate or do yoga, unless i'm cold or something. i think that resorting back to a natural state of body helps me get into the natural state of mind that is needed to enter deep meditation.
 
i had a book or artistic photographs that i checked out of my skoll library. some of the pictures were of nude or half-clothed people. it got passed around my english class and caused quite the controversy. people said "that's gross," or "wow, she's kind of a slut,", or "that's disgusting!"
 
people.
 
it's just a penis.
 
it's just breasts.
 
if someone is deviod of garments, it shouldn't automatically imply anything sexual.
 
i also disagree with the standard of beauty here in america. to me, someone's beauty is not defined by their outward appearance, but by the beauty of their character. i don't think beauty comes from cosmetics or clothes. it comes from personality, from a person's soul. i know one guy who is quite overweight, but he's one of the most beautiful and confident people i know. i also know waaaaaay too many "pretty" girls that are absolute witches. i don't think an overweight body is ugly, either- give me someone chubby to sketch over the the skeletonesque waifs i see in my skool any day, what with thei plastic surgery and eight layers of makeup. plastic surgery is asinine to me. in the words of ani difranco:
"all these plastic people
got their plastic surgery
but we got a big big beautiful
and we got it for free"
if anyone is considering plastic surgery (obviously i'm not talking about burn victims or "reconstruction" surgery), i say get some self-confidense. embrace your body and love it. it took me 3 years and a battle with an eating disorder to accept mine, but i did and now i'm the happiest i've ever been. a body is only a shell anyway. it's a house that you live in in between your birth and death. a house for YOU- YOU are your mind, your spirit, your personality, your soul. You are not your body. so why does it matter how it looks anyway?
 
and thus i conclude.  
















please, we don't need another micheal jackson. good lord.