Nude Awakening

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.