Body Positivity and Becoming Comfortable Naked

How Non-Monogamy Gave Me a Crash Course in Body Awareness and Confidence

Before and After is B.S.

No matter who you are, or what you look like, there is one commonality we all experience, and that is this pervasive myth, that our bodies are just not good enough the way they are. We all struggle with what we look like, and to the point of this article, how to feel comfortable naked. While there is a current movement that proudly proclaims all bodies are beautiful, does that actually mean anything when we look in the mirror? I ask that, not to diminish the amazing sentiment and one that I hope in my lifetime becomes a reality, but rather to point out its obviously flaw: because does anyone really know how we accomplish both feeling and projecting body positivity? Especially when, wherever we look, we are told the complete opposite.

Look at any influencer, media outlet, or really, anywhere outside of our homes and we are shown just how important looks really are. More than that, how they play a crucial role in the way we experience the world, for better, but more often than not, for worse. We are told it shouldn’t matter, but our experiences, and all the visuals we consume on a daily basis reinforce that it does, and the proof is in our diminishing pocketbook (wait do people today know what a pocketbook is or did I just supremely date myself?). Oh well, when it comes to body positivity and becoming comfortable naked, let us start at the beginning of the problem and by that I mean, let us follow the money.

The Cost of “Beauty”

In, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf, cracks open the startling profit machine that is the beauty industry, well for me anyways. Many of her points had me raging to the brink of nearly throwing her book across the room in helpless frustration, because it is difficult to not internalize the very real prison our bodies actually are to many of us, and just how contrived it really is. No matter how many times I read that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14, it simply can’t change the fact that everywhere I look, people have flawless skin, and perfect bodies. Her being a sex icon and the picturesque model of beauty doesn’t hold water today because we don’t idolize a single other female form that looks like her. She was an anomaly…