One of the most common questions non-Pagans ask Pagans is “Do you dance naked, then?” The other one is about sacrificing virgins. B-movie images of lurid sexual ritual are no doubt in their minds, or at least, that’s what they rather hope we do. That way, they can have fun thinking about it, or get righteously indignant about us, or both.
For the record, no. Never have, probably never will. For a start I like working outside and mostly the UK is cold, damp and not a good place to get your kit off. The bigger issue though is that I’m deeply uncomfortable with nudity. There’s a confession. Here we are, nature based spirituality, body as your own personal expression of nature and sacredness, and it makes me really uncomfortable. I don’t mind other people being as unclothed as they like, so long as I can stay securely wrapped up. Of course that’s mostly about an illusion of being less visible, less available, and I know that, but it’s still what I’ve got. I don’t much like being looked at. I really don’t like the idea of being judged, of being visually icky, or for that matter appealing. To be appealing is to be vulnerable, and I’ve had my nudity and the appeal of my body used to justify things happening to me in the past. Still got some baggage there.
I’m guessing that anyone who is so inclined can figure out what shape I am by looking, and that the clothes don’t really hide me. If I was a peacock person, it might be another issue, but I’m not that dressy either, I do clothes for practical reasons of warmth and comfort, and for camouflage, very seldom for any kind of display.
I’m wondering what it would be like to be in a social, ritual or spiritual context where people either casually didn’t have clothes on, or were very intentionally naked as part of the process. I wonder what it would be like to have that so much a normal and natural part of culture that’s it’s not excessively sexualised (at least in my head) or weird, or anything like that. Tricky to picture.
I think I was born with the sensibilities of an elderly Victorian spinster. If anyone had told me about covering up chair legs as a child and not flashing your ankles, I’d have been right there. As it was I just had to make do fashioning appropriate undergarments for bears. Toy bears that is. I used to have panics about guys who bared their chests, so all things considered I’ve made a lot of progress, but I’m a long way away from dancing naked round the fire in the woods in the middle of the night. Mind you, given how much rain we’ve had, I doubt anyone else danced naked round here this winter either.
February 7th, 2013 at 11:26 am
Right there with you, girl!
Thanks for the big courage needed to voice the unvoiceable in a culture that so confuses and emphasises the connection between freedom and sexualised display.
February 7th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
I view clothes as a natural extension of oneself which adds to and not detracts from your personal nature . I am a prude by nature and never judge those who are not .
Your blogs always speak to the issues that I ponder the most .
February 8th, 2013 at 2:39 am
“To be appealing is to be vulnerable, and I’ve had my nudity and the appeal of my body used to justify things happening to me in the past. Still got some baggage there.” – I can totally sympathize. At least it shines some light on my own uneasiness to go completely skyclad and to know that those of us who feel that way are not “weird” or “up-tight” and are not alone.
February 9th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
The only time I’ve gone skyclad in public was in a communal mudbath at a Druid camp many years ago. I had previously avoided taking part in any collective nudity primarily out of fear of my own sexuality: the possibility, especially as a young man, that part of me might show more interest in the naked young women than is socially acceptable
. Nevertheless, it was a very safe space and eventually I plucked up the courage to join in and found it reassuringly asexual and beautifully liberating. (Of course, I was more mudclad than skyclad). It was a rewarding experience, and I’m glad I faced that fear. There is something magical about the touch of earth, air and sun on bare skin. But you have to feel comfortable about it. The most I bare outside these days is my feet on a walk around the garden! That’s quite enough nudity, I find, to reconnect with nature 