2008 Woodie Awards
Nude in the News
Eryk Salvaggio
Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Style
The whole world is abuzz about collegiate nudity. The New York Times recently ran an article about so-called "Naked Parties" at Yale University. The trend has made it to Maine as well, reaching Bowdoin and - for all I know - the University of Maine.
The basic gist of the party is self-explanatory. Someone throws a party, usually off campus, where nudity is a requirement. They are free of coercion and pressure but open to all body types. Commenting on your own or other peoples' nudity is forbidden unless you're commenting on a tattoo. At Bowdoin, which faces a winter as unforgiving to naked flesh as Orono, a changing room ensures that no one risks frostbite in places that defy explanation. In the room, typical party activities go on like normal, though with dimmer lighting. Students play beer pong and card games and desperately attempt not to glance down.
Naked parties defy the stereotypes of those "Girls Gone Wild" bacchanals cable television outlets force-feed us in between "Daily Show" reruns. The Naked Party view of nudity is actually healthier than most of the body-image messages people typically have to endure.
"I think a lot of people feel much more comfortable with and confident about their bodies and feel very liberated after attending a naked party," Bowdoin senior Anna Troyansky, a founder of the Bowdoin naked party phenomenon, explained in a December interview with The Bowdoin Orient.
Comfort and confidence are the name of the game. Far from being about sex, the Naked Party is truly about "sexy," a condition that comes after figuring out your body is just as awkward and strange as anyone else's. You'll never get that sort of realization from television or movies, where everyone glows with the gorgeous radiance of the never-strange and seldom-awkward. Insecure women and porn-damaged boys hold on to this mythology of the perfect human form, but in a roomful of naked strangers that myth dissolves rather quickly.
Naked events aren't just for college students. Just ask the experts, Old Town's Bare Nekkid Mainers. According to a report in the Bangor Daily News, the nudists have over 30 members on their Naked Bowling team. Hessa, an organizer for the event who goes only by her first name, clarified to the Bangor Daily that "there's no sexual overtones in any way," which is something Naked Bowling and Naked Parties have in common. But why?
The basic gist of the party is self-explanatory. Someone throws a party, usually off campus, where nudity is a requirement. They are free of coercion and pressure but open to all body types. Commenting on your own or other peoples' nudity is forbidden unless you're commenting on a tattoo. At Bowdoin, which faces a winter as unforgiving to naked flesh as Orono, a changing room ensures that no one risks frostbite in places that defy explanation. In the room, typical party activities go on like normal, though with dimmer lighting. Students play beer pong and card games and desperately attempt not to glance down.
Naked parties defy the stereotypes of those "Girls Gone Wild" bacchanals cable television outlets force-feed us in between "Daily Show" reruns. The Naked Party view of nudity is actually healthier than most of the body-image messages people typically have to endure.
"I think a lot of people feel much more comfortable with and confident about their bodies and feel very liberated after attending a naked party," Bowdoin senior Anna Troyansky, a founder of the Bowdoin naked party phenomenon, explained in a December interview with The Bowdoin Orient.
Comfort and confidence are the name of the game. Far from being about sex, the Naked Party is truly about "sexy," a condition that comes after figuring out your body is just as awkward and strange as anyone else's. You'll never get that sort of realization from television or movies, where everyone glows with the gorgeous radiance of the never-strange and seldom-awkward. Insecure women and porn-damaged boys hold on to this mythology of the perfect human form, but in a roomful of naked strangers that myth dissolves rather quickly.
Naked events aren't just for college students. Just ask the experts, Old Town's Bare Nekkid Mainers. According to a report in the Bangor Daily News, the nudists have over 30 members on their Naked Bowling team. Hessa, an organizer for the event who goes only by her first name, clarified to the Bangor Daily that "there's no sexual overtones in any way," which is something Naked Bowling and Naked Parties have in common. But why?
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Dr. P. Rapoport
posted 2/26/07 @ 5:11 PM EST
This excellent article hits it right on. The phenomenon of naked parties is really part of the wider movement of nudism/naturism, which has been going on a really long time. (Continued…)
Don Cline
posted 3/03/07 @ 8:56 AM EST
This is an excellent step on the path to a real epiphany about nudity and sex: Like most articles previous, it discusses the fact that nudity and sex are separate concepts and that a certain enlightenment results from considering them separately. (Continued…)
Tina Perez
posted 9/16/08 @ 4:17 PM EST
I would pay to watch Surya Bonaly skate nude.
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