Seniors, Are You Comfortable Being Naked in Front of Others?

bobcat said:
Yes, I think trust has a lot to do with it. When we let down that guard or mask, it allows us to be in a vulnerable situation. I would think that you just wouldn't do that with someone who hasn't earned that trust.

I remember from the movie Avatar, where Nitiri said to Jake: "I see you", by which I believe she was saying that she saw his soul. She saw who he really was inside, and it allowed her to put her trust in him and to feel a special bond between them. That's the emotional nakedness I was speaking about. I guess I was thinking that people in nudist resorts (Regulars) would need a certain level of trust to allow themselves to be seen unclothed, and that might lead to the emotional nakedness as well. But maybe that's not how it works. I wouldn't know.
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Now that is a whole different thing, isn't it? Opening up emotionally in a relationship is quite different from opening up to a naked stranger you've just met on vacation.

"I see you." Seeing who someone really is, hopefully, makes you like what you see. Only then can you truly trust. Sometimes, when you "see" someone, they might not be who you thought they were or who you expected them to be. Then it's going nowhere.
bobcat said:
I think that can also happen, and probably needs to happen if one has a therapist, but I think it is a lovely thing that happens between two people in a relationship, where you get to know the person so deeply that emotional nakedness is the most intimate interaction between their souls. It's risky to expose that much of yourself, but if the trust is strong enough, then I could see it happening.
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As you know, it takes time, but when you've established mutual trust in a relationship, that enables you to feel safe and secure enough to be able to allow yourself to be emotionally vulnerable. That's real intimacy. I've been fortunate and very blessed to have experienced what it's like to reach that level of trust, and, yes, it's a beautiful thing.
 
Ina said:
Sea, I must be your mirror, on this subject anyway. Even in a swimsuit, I felt strangely vulnerable, except around my kids while teaching them water sports.
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I remember Ina in the chair, what a treasure and insight into life that reading was. "My father was a Minister who thought I was the spawn of the Devil.........."

Once I was very happy being naked in front of other people, the more often the better.
 
Bella said:
Now that is a whole different thing, isn't it? Opening up emotionally in a relationship is quite different from opening up to a naked stranger you've just met on vacation.

"I see you." Seeing who someone really is, hopefully, makes you like what you see. Only then can you truly trust. Sometimes, when you "see" someone, they might not be who you thought they were or who you expected them to be. Then it's going nowhere.

As you know, it takes time, but when you've established mutual trust in a relationship, that enables you to feel safe and secure enough to be able to allow yourself to be emotionally vulnerable. That's real intimacy. I've been fortunate and very blessed to have experienced what it's like to reach that level of trust, and, yes, it's a beautiful thing.
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It would be enlightening and perhaps even shocking if one could go to an emotional nudist resort, where you remove any societal mask and check your emotional clothing at the door, and all were expected to reveal who they truly are inside, so everyone would be on the same level of exposure.

We have become so accustomed to wearing the clothing that conceals our true self, that is just becomes something we simply aren't aware of. How many people are out there that are fighting some sort of battle behind a facade of unhappiness. Look at the life of Anthony Bourdain. On the surface he had so much, and embarked on so many adventures. But behind the mask, the demons in his life would haunt him till he hung himself.

I suppose in some way, the emotional clothing we wear is about control. If you control the clothing, you control the image (Or at least you think you do). Self-protection is a very human experience. We all have an innate fear that if others could see us as we really are, there would be judgment. Since we all want to be accepted, the thought of other's rejection pushes us to keep hidden some questionable facets of our personality.

I like the Hall & Oates song: "Whatcha See, is Watcha Get". (🎶 Some people, are made of plastic.... some people are made of wood .... some people have hearts of stone ...... some people are up to no good ..... but baby, I'm for reeeal ..... I'm as real, as real can get.
Anyway, cool song with a message.
 
There was a famous artist named Alice Neel who did unique portraits of friends and neighbors. (Although she thought the word portrait was too stodgy and she called them people pictures.) She was not in top shape but did a nude self-portrait at age 80 which I thought was very brave but so much like her. You can probably Google it if you are interested.
 
Alizerine said:
There was a famous artist named Alice Neel who did unique portraits of friends and neighbors. (Although she thought the word portrait was too stodgy and she called them people pictures.) She was not in top shape but did a nude self-portrait at age 80 which I thought was very brave but so much like her. You can probably Google it if you are interested.
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I check out Alice Neel's self-portrait. I like it and give her a lot of credit! 🙂 I also check out some of her other work.

Quote of the week: Alice Neel on painting her first nude self-portrait at 80 — That’s Not My Age

"In 1980, Neel completed her first self-portrait at the age of 80. Her self-portrait combines three subjects that Neel had previously probed: the nude, the elderly woman, and the artist. She humorously examines taboos of elderly women in the art world by depicting herself as both the female nude and the wise painter."

"According to the blurb at the new Barbican exhibition, the painting (above) took her five years to complete – and her cheeks are flushed because ‘ it was so damned hard.’ Of the self-portrait the artist said, ‘ All my life I wanted to do a nude self-portrait but I put it off until now – when people would accuse me of insanity rather than vanity.’ "
 
Alizerine said:
There was a famous artist named Alice Neel who did unique portraits of friends and neighbors. (Although she thought the word portrait was too stodgy and she called them people pictures.) She was not in top shape but did a nude self-portrait at age 80 which I thought was very brave but so much like her. You can probably Google it if you are interested.
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Love it!
Good for her. :)
 
Best Reasons Why To Go To Work Naked:
1. Your boss is always yelling, "I wanna see your ass in here by 8:00!"
2. Inventive way to finally meet that special person in Human Resources.
3. "I'd love to chip in, but I left my wallet in my pants."
4. You want to see if it's like the dream.
5. People stop stealing your pens after they've seen where you keep them.
6. No one ever steals your chair.

When we visited St. Maarten we went over to the French side naked beach. Mostly old retired rich folks and the sight was one that I could’ve done without. :oops:
 
Alizerine said:
There was a famous artist named Alice Neel who did unique portraits of friends and neighbors. (Although she thought the word portrait was too stodgy and she called them people pictures.) She was not in top shape but did a nude self-portrait at age 80 which I thought was very brave but so much like her. You can probably Google it if you are interested.
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I checked it out, and yes it was very brave. I wonder though, she said she did it to show what the ageing female body looks like, which I would guess is sort of a reality check, but I think most people have a pretty good idea of that. I am thinking maybe her real reason was to show that, at any age, we shouldn't be ashamed of our bodies.

We love vintage cars, and antique furniture, so why should there be shame in something we have no control over like an ageing body. It is simply embracing reality and acceptance. JMO.
 
The answer is still no and I'm not comfortable seeing others naked either. Sometimes at work patient rooms don't get closed good enough and I'm subjected to things I don't wish to see so I will clothes doors and curtains to maintain a patient's dignity as well as my eyes that have been blinded.
 
Growing up, I'd always found strange that with mega-space in their upstairs bathroom, my grandparents didn't have a bath or shower. Weird! As a school project, I'd drawn to scale an angled door full shower plus an antique claw foot bath floorplan.

One night woke up by an eerie scream coming from the kitchen. Their house was haunted. Since, I was awake I decided to go investigate the source of the scream. Maybe it was the grey Lady...

Off I went down the steps, got to kitchen but nothing there. Suddenly, from the door leading to the back shed a moan came. I ripped the door open to find grandmother nearly passed out and with huge burns on her body.

I rose the house awake. Ambulance came and took her to hospital. That night found out from grandpa, that due to her religious beliefs, she always took a bath at night and in the dark. She took 6 months to recover.

I finally understood why I was screamed at all the time for showing any skin. The vile words thrown at me one lunchtime while at primary school where we had to wash our faces with the samples our teacher gave us. It was very harsh words. I stayed away from her afterwards on grandpa's recommendation. Phew!

Honestly, I never saw anyone naked in my family other than myself for taking a bath or shower. I had to get used to it during both my pregnancies that was a learning curve...😳😳😳
 
I think I have mentioned this before on the site, I came home from shopping and there was my husband sunning himself on the lol-about in the back yard completely naked except for a sock on his p**is. He loved sunbaking and was very tanned. He used to go also to a nudist beach on the shores of Sydney. It didn't worry me, but you wouldn't see me in the all-together for quids. My sons also played in a Brass Band and to raise money to go to New Zealand for a competition they played naked on the shores of Sydney, it was a hit and made the newspapers and was on the 6 o'clock news.
 
Supernatural said:
Growing up, I'd always found strange that with mega-space in their upstairs bathroom, my grandparents didn't have a bath or shower. Weird! As a school project, I'd drawn to scale an angled door full shower plus an antique claw foot bath floorplan.

One night woke up by an eerie scream coming from the kitchen. Their house was haunted. Since, I was awake I decided to go investigate the source of the scream. Maybe it was the grey Lady...

Off I went down the steps, got to kitchen but nothing there. Suddenly, from the door leading to the back shed a moan came. I ripped the door open to find grandmother nearly passed out and with huge burns on her body.

I rose the house awake. Ambulance came and took her to hospital. That night found out from grandpa, that due to her religious beliefs, she always took a bath at night and in the dark. She took 6 months to recover.

I finally understood why I was screamed at all the time for showing any skin. The vile words thrown at me one lunchtime while at primary school where we had to wash our faces with the samples our teacher gave us. It was very harsh words. I stayed away from her afterwards on grandpa's recommendation. Phew!

Honestly, I never saw anyone naked in my family other than myself for taking a bath or shower. I had to get used to it during both my pregnancies that was a learning curve...😳😳😳
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A childhood friend told me that one of her grandmothers said it was a sin to even observe your own naked body in the mirror; so this grandmother would cover up the mirror in her bedroom when getting dressed. (Seems weird that a supreme being who created humans and the bodies they inhabit would also decide that even just looking at those same bodies was a sin; senseless.)
 
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