Human Anatomy

Human anatomy - so much controversy over such a simple thing. I try not to let myself be blinded by my own bias - as I've had the opportunity to become quite accustomed to the sight of naked bodies, and I recognize that not everyone has had this privilege. But, if you can believe it, there was a time when I was quite prudish about exposed skin - to an embarrassing extent. I consider it a firsthand lesson in how people can grow and change and evolve, and a reminder that not everyone who may be an enemy today will remain so indefinitely. But I know what it's like to be repressed. I wasn't born liberated - I had to make the journey.

Still, allowing for growth and variance, there is an element of hypocrisy that I cannot abide. Personality-wise, I can have a tendency to be picky and uptight. Rationally, I have come to the conclusion that freedom is an unassailable virtue. But emotionally, I desire to control every aspect of my environment. But you know, that has taught me a hard lesson - and it's an argument I've made before on the subject of trigger warnings. It's not possible to control every aspect of my environment. So I have had to learn, for better or worse, to live with things that annoy or offend or sometimes even traumatize me (when, as is sometimes the case in life, it is not possible to simply remove myself from the situation - although this is a strategy I wish more people would attempt to employ more frequently).

Not only have I been incapable of controlling the behaviors of other people, in order to produce a consistently pleasant environment around myself, it seems the accepted opinion that, even were it possible, to even do so would be unjust. Which is a conclusion that I agree with rationally, if only because the golden rule demands it, given that I wouldn't want others to control my behavior for their own personal reasons. (Communication and compromise, on the other hand, is healthy).

Aye, but here's the rub: they do so anyway, even as they tell me it's wrong. And the only reason they can get away with it is because their opinion on this issue (the issue of nudity) is the popular one, and I'm the one on the lunatic fringe. (And the social conditioning is so bad that even many of the people who should be on my side - other nudists - instead agree with our opposition, to avoid making waves). But like every issue of justice that was once unpopular and is now taken for granted (more or less) - be it women's suffrage, racial equality, or tolerance of certain sexual minorities (but not others) - I believe that just because it is now, baby, doesn't mean it should be. I just don't have a lot of patience waiting for society to catch up. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice, either.