🚨 Newsflash 🚨: Nudity Is Natural
I lived in Germany for 5 years in the early 2000’s and developed a real appreciation for the Modern German’s cool, sexy, relaxed vibe. So much so, I’ve attracted a cool, sexy, somewhat-relaxed German partner.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that both of my daughters were born there too.
Nudity in Germany
When we lived there I could take my infant and toddler babies to the public Schwimmbad (pool) where little kids have the freedom to run around naked without a care. No creeps stared at them. No one scolded me to tell me to put some clothes on my kids. It’s just little naked babies splashing in the fountains and splash pools. How could they do that? Here’s some news: the naked body is not s-e-x. Nudity is natural.
In addition, Germans have a wonderful subculture called FKK — freikörperkultur, which literally translates to Free Body Culture. Americans might relate to the term Nudist Colony. People go to FKK beaches and camps to simply be naked. It’s not a place where people are overtly sexual. Just free. And as I observe it, this freedom translates to a real comfort in one’s body and appreciation for individuality.
Nudity in America
This concept of FKK throws many Americans for a loop because we learn naked bodies are wrong. Or ugly. Or those naked bodies somehow equal “s-e-x” just on their own.
Numerous American men (and some women) have complained to me about how “gross” nude beaches are, saying something along the lines of, “it’s never who you want to see.” Ugh. Look at how entitled this is: to think that people exist to visually please us? No. The images you do see are curated, edited and photoshopped. Everywhere. All around you. It’s important to acknowledge that real people aren’t picture-perfect as they’re portrayed in media. Our kids deserve to know this, as well as the young adults who seem to grow so critical of their own bodies when they don’t match up with what they see out there.
(Tangent — check out this Dove video about how much we can change images.)
Seems that’s changing…
Since I moved back to the states, I’ve had the opportunity to go back to Germany a few times and I’ve learned of a big change since the early 2000s. Social media has had an undeniable impact. What really made me sad on my latest trip was this news headline :
The headline roughly translates to:
“Free Body Culture — End of an era. Naked people can pack up. The trend is over, researchers say. One reason is the terror of the prevailing beauty ideals.”
To me, this means Germans — who are some of the least hung-up about the body and sexuality as a population — are falling victim to the awful virus of insecurity and body shame that colonial cultures have had for decades or even centuries. And with photoshop and seemingly “perfect” Instagram influencers, I fear that’s only getting worse.
My questions for you
How can we change the general temperature around nudity to remove the “sexualization” (that “it’s not who you want it to be” feeling) and just accept bodies as bodies, not inherently sexual? Does the change have to come with religion? I mean Adam & Eve were supposedly sent out because they ate an apple and realized they were naked, so I don’t hold any hope for change to come from the Catholic Church. It’s like the first story we learned. Does the change start with us as parents? What do YOU think? Let’s start a dialogue about this. It’s time to examine these fears and what’s behind them.
Xxoo Lanae
More to read, if you dig the original German.
Freikörperkultur in Deutschland : Die nackte Wahrheit: FKK ist altmodisch — Panorama — Gesellschaft Nix mehr mit Nacktheit: Die Ära FKK endet
Originally published at https://www.themamasutra.net on January 9, 2020.
