Nudity?

For as long as I can remember I have been a very shy person. I do not like having a lot of attention set on me. Though now that I am 18 I am accepting myself and my body. My family calls themselves shameless in that they are not afraid to let you see them naked. They never made nudity a shameful concept in my house. We did not enter this world clothed and God did not give us clothes to hide ourselves for fear of shame. Since I have a small chest something I can get away with easily is going braless and that was my first step at feeling comfortable with myself. Not many of us see it this way, but bras are purely for fashion. We do not have laws that state all women must wear bras. A personal goal of mine has been that I want to be comfortable in my own skin. If someone I know sees me naked I do not want feel afraid and like I need to hide away in a hole. I want feel like this is natural and it's okay. A youtuber by the name Adina Rivers has inspired me to feel liberated in my own skin. Her channel and Instagram gives off a positive energy and I can not help, but smile when I listen to her. I am a little awkward so getting fully comfortable is tough. 

I think my biggest issue is the sexualization of nudity. Some people equate nudity to sex, but I do not think it has to be that way at all times. The media and sleazy men do not help when sexting and sending nudes of each other is such a concept right now. Photos meant to express sexuality and how a person feels about someone else is turned into a way to blackmail and embarrass someone when a relationship turns sour. It is not respectful to shame someone by sending out their nudes meant for the eyes of a partner. This the reason why I am not a fan of sending nudes to people. Shame often remains.

In my journey of feeling comfortable in my own skin there is something I want to try. Modeling for a figure drawing class. Anyone can be a model for art and I feel that in the art world nudity is seen as normal. Things are very professional and it's not exploitive. An artist commented on why nudes are such an interesting thing to draw in the art world and an artist answered with this. "I often ask myself the same question. I think because there is nothing more sensitive, powerful, and honest than the nude human figure" When we are naked we cannot hide or pretend like we are something that we are not. We are our honest selves and there is something to be learned from that. We should be more transparent and not hide what we feel if it's our true selves. People say that they rarely can be themselves and why not? What are we afraid of? Is it manners? I think we can be ourselves whilst being polite.