Moms of daughters, do
you parade around in the nude at home? This is something that I have been
pondering lately, since I do occasionally dress or lotion in my bedroom with my
door open, and therefore have little ones witnessing me in my various stages of
dress or “undress.” I never thought much of it- because I’m a woman and they
are girls, soon to be women as well. My husband, on the other hand is not as
open with his nudity- being the father of three girls, he feels more comfortable
keeping his parts a mystery. The weird thing is that I was not raised that way,
my mother was also a mom of all girls, and although this afforded her the right
to walk around our home scantily clad, she hid her nudity from us.
I think my feelings
about nakedness and nudity formed when I began taking dance classes. At first I
was shocked to see fellow dancers of all ages strip off their leotards and seemingly
have no shame displaying their full frontal and “back-all,” nudity. At first, I
felt ashamed and awkward witnessing what seemed to be their most intimate taboo
parts. After some time, I became accustomed to it, I learned some rules of “naked
etiquette,” that made the experience more comfortable, like keeping glances
short and above the collarbone, for the most part, keeping the look of shock
and awkwardness off my face, etc…. I also noticed that real bodies looked a lot
different than those that I’d seen in movies and in those dirty magazines that
my dad swore were left in his desk by his best friend.
Then one day, with
back-to-back dance classes and no free bathroom stall to change in- I was
forced to fully change from my pink leotard to my black tap ensemble. I could
have waited, but for a dancer, being late to class may be just about the worst experience-
as it is not well received by most dance instructors (to say the least.) For
such a seemingly small act- it made a huge impact. I noticed that no one else
noticed or judged, it officially marked my initiation into the crew of fearlessly
nude women. Now don’t get me wrong- I haven’t joined a nudist colony or been to
a topless beach, but I am able to put bodies including my own into perspective.
As a dancer my body was an instrument used to express the art of movement, as a
mom, I am an example of what a real woman’s body looks like- when my children
point to the small crescent shaped scar on my belly with wonder- I can say- “this
is how you came into the world”- “these breasts are what nourished you.” And in
society in which overly sexualized, fake bodies reign supreme- my nude body can
be a grounding force.
