It’s not every day that a book about nudity is reviewed in the stately “Economist” of Mother England http://www.economist.com/.
UK writer and psychologist Philip Carr-Gomm http://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com/ has this distinction with his “A Brief History of Nakedness” that even has an enchanting section about “Godiva”…thank you very much. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=8919256
Carr-Gomm’s intensely researched book, questions whether there really was a “Lady Godiva,” riding naked through the streets of Coventry to protest the excessive taxation of her husband in the 11thcentury. Whether true or not, Carr-Gomm writes: “The evidence is stacked against it having take place. But like all good stories, if it isn’t true it ought to be, and people have found the incident inspiring from the moment in was recounted.”
One intriguing observation made by Carr-Gomm is that males are the gender that employs nudity for religious purposes, while women more often utilize the undressed state as a form political protest.
”To understand how nakedness has become political we must start by exploring the way we get naked: by being stripped of clothes,” Carr-Gomm wrote. “Stripping can be an active or passive activity. When we are passive and someone strips us, this can be thrilling or terrifying, erotic or humiliating. Intention and context are everything. When a lover tears off our clothes because they want us naked it is exciting – flattering even.”
The book even offers the six different desires behind active stripping: The skinny dipper strips to enjoy the sensual experience of water on skin; lovers strip to feel and excite one another as much as they can; the ascetic strips to mortify their flesh (see the “DaVinci Code”), the mystic strips to commune with their deity and with Creation; we also remove our clothes to get into bed or the bath or to be examined by a doctor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code
“Most naturists believe that it is also essentially functional: for why wear clothes when you feel more comfortable, less hot and sticky, when wearing nothing? Not wearing clothes when sunbathing or swimming is simply sensible,” Carr-Gomm wrote.
The central theme of Carr-Gomm’s book is summarized in the last sentence on page 264: “We need to see and to be seen.”
Taking this conclusion further, one realizes that exhibitionism and voyeurism should not always be seen in a tantalizing or condemning light.
“Some people dismiss streakers, naked protesters and even nudists and life models as ‘exhibitionists’ without fully appreciating that we are all, to a greater or lesser extent, motivated by exhibitionism,” Carr-Gomm wrote. “We learn to be that way in order to stay alive. A baby needs to be seen and to be noticed by its mother, and this need continues to operate in us throughout our lives…Every human being is motivated by this deep desire to be seen, to have attention paid to them, to be noticed and to be heard.”
Exploring the other side of the equation, Carr-Gomm also offers that we as humans have an urge to see. “There is a natural voyeuristic tendency in all of us that in some cases can become distorted…”
But it can also be healthy: “…times in which lovers take pleasure in simply watching each other being naked or engaging in sexual activity. As with exhibitionism this only becomes pathological when it becomes obsessive or the only means whereby an individual can achieve satisfaction.”
Carr-Gomm separates nudists, who respect the time-and-place rule, from those who engage in inappropriate activities. “Naturists make a lifestyle choice: they prefer living without clothes and just want to be left in peace to swim, sunbathe and socialize in the nude.” Amen.
For Godiva, there is too little acknowledgment in the missive about nudists, those who enjoy going without clothes in their backyards, at nudist resorts or naturist cruises. The couple wanting to enjoy a tropical destination in the nude together is to be celebrated and encouraged.
Carr-Gomm’s book barely touches on this reasonable activity and instead explores in exhausting detail nudity in fringe religions, shocking protests, streaking, off-beat performances and behavior that results in arrest by orderly societies. Godiva’s biggest fear is this well-done book will only add fuel and encouragement to those who want to denigrate the desire to not wear clothes, even in times and places where this activity is perfectly appropriate.
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