Celebrating being naked

Ever since we hit puberty, we are told what parts of our body are now private.

This past weekend, we got some much-needed exercise dancing to the melodic sounds of Houseboat and The Down Low. Temperatures rising as they often do in a cramped Fallstaffs party, one of us began to peel off her sweat-stained tank, when she caught the eye of a disapproving bystander. The look quickly turned into uttered words, " Please don't."

"Please don't?"

Please don't embarrass me? Please don't show off? Please don't attract potentially dangerous eyes? Please don't rub me with your sweaty flesh? This loaded request to keep the shirt "where it should be," made us think about the dissonance we feel about protecting our bodies while simultaneously flaunting them.

Regardless of whether our shirts are kept on, tossed aside or whirled around our heads like helicopters, we all know what a naked body looks like. However, when we are confronted with a nude body, in the flesh or on a computer screen in the wee hours of the morning, it is immediately transformed from a natural entity to a sexual icon.

We need to become more comfortable with nudity-and not the kind of Playboy nudity that is both revered and hated by our society. Instead of respecting our bodies for their inherent beauty, we repeatedly try to control either our "slutty" sexual urges or our "ugly" physical appearances, or both. Just look at our clothing.

Most of our clothes are made to deliberately highlight the areas they are simultaneously covering up. Bikinis are the prime example. Cut into small triangles and fastened with nothing more than a string, bikinis attempt to protect the breasts from unwanted eyes, while ironically turning them into sexual entities, or "private parts."

Clothing is not wrong intrinsically, but it is socially problematic. There is a fundamental difference between keeping warm and healthy, and sporting a push-up bra that has more metal and wires than your everyday robot.

While we adhere to these harmful norms as much as the next trendy feminists, we cannot stress enough how important it is to examine clothing and nudity with a scrutinizing eye.

The social pressure that keeps our shirts on demonstrates one of the many ways that we are taught to control, fear or hate our bodies. In a room where sweat beads drop like drum beats, no one can deny how physically uncomfortable it is to be wearing anything but skin.

But our mental constructs that make us fear the potential ridicule for being fat, being flat, being flabby, being saggy, being pale, being dark, being freckly, being an attention whore or simply being a plain ole' whore, overpowers our physical desire to consider a more comfortable state: naked.

Unfortunately, we are taught to think that there is something inherently sexual, and therefore inappropriate, about naked bodies. When somebody bends this norm by being naked, it can lead to potential punishments - varying from the tag "slut" to the trauma of sexual violence.

While we acknowledge that not every college student feels comfortable enough to take off his or her clothes, we urge you to take some things into account.

The next time you see someone with his or her shirt off, don't call him or her a "slut." Don't assume that he or she wants you to touch or look at him or her. Don't hate yourself for not looking like him or her. Don't hate him or her for not looking like you. Just notice him or her. Look at his or her body for what it is - a natural, beautiful and powerful part of his or her identity. And plus, his or her clothes are probably just making him or her sweat.

So, if you are in a safe environment … show your holes to the whole world!