Ivy League Students Apply Liberal Arts Training to Being Naked

Nudity is a very simple concept that’s been made wildly complicated by a mess of social historical, and cultural pressures. We emerge into this world wearing nothing but bits of amniotic sac (and a very beautiful baby wig, in the case of Suri Cruise); however, once a human has reached late childhood, the freedom to frolic naked without raising confusion, shock and panic vanishes.

Enter some students from Brown University (side note: one time I visited Brown and I saw a young man dancing around outside of a frat, balancing a dildo on his head, while everyone cheered encouragingly). They’ve decided to establish a Nudity Week, a week-long bacchanal in which they all take to the woods in orgiastic glee to shed their mundane concerns. JUST KIDDING — it’s a very thoughtful series of performances and panels meant to facilitate “an open and honest discussion about power, privilege, race, class, gender, ability, and other isms how they intersect with nudity, body image, nudity in relation to (de)sexuality, etc.” (which is the liberal arts student’s equivalent of a gleeful forest-orgy).

According to the event’s Facebook page:

Nudity in the Upspace is a week that discusses and explores nudity in all forms. It is also intended to confront stigmas that can often attach themselves to the naked body and to open up a safe space for discussion about these issues.

The week of nudity will include performances, body painting classes, nude yoga, a panel on privilege, and “a devised piece of nudity, filled with personal testimonies, movement, reflections, and more nudity.” According to Camila Pacheco-Fores, one of the masterminds behind the event, “It’s been incredible to learn that being naked is just fun! Penises, vaginas, boobs, butts—body parts that used to make me feel awkward and uncomfortable before now I just see as another part of another beautiful body.”

Hear, hear! More naked events! Let’s wrangle this devil known as the bra and his evil minion, the torso-garment, once and for all.