so, i have quite the quagmire. i have a feeling there will be quite a few opinions about this and honestly, i'm interested in hearing them all. so i do hope that you'll share.
today, while i was walking the dogs at city creek, i had a man expose himself to me. of course, because i'm me, nakedjen, i wasn't even offended. i actually laughed. not at him, really. no, really. i was laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation. that of all the people in salt lake city, this man chose me, nakedjen, to expose himself to and had no idea that i wasn't going to even bat an eyelash! and then i tried to talk to him about it. which i think scared the hell out of the poor guy because he zipped up and went scurrying off into the woods.
yes, i know it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do to try and talk to this guy about his exposed erect penis. i get it. but i'm nakedjen. i also was with buddha and stella. and in a public park. i don't know? i didn't feel threatened. and his public display of nudity and arousal didn't offend me or bother me.
but that's the thing. i know he wanted his display to offend me. or bother me. and i know i should report him to the police.
but i don't think i'm going to do that.
and here's why.
i'm nakedjen. i get naked in public. often. and how is it any different, really, than what he did to me? i know the intent is different. but i don't go and ask all the people who are around at the time for permission to get naked before i do it. i just do it. and i don't ask if the folks who are around are going to be offended or not? i just get naked.
how is this really that different? i'm exposing my body. my WHOLE body. to anyone and everyone. on public streets. walking down them, even. waving at trains! knocking on my neighbors' doors. how is this any different?
i am not sure that it is, in all honesty.
i can honestly say i'm not doing it to get a sexual turn on from it. or to try and offend anyone. or to even try and scar anyone for life, contrary to what my niece Heather would have you believe!
i do it because i truly love being naked. but i am still exposing my naked body (which i think is beautiful and should be CELEBRATED...all of our bodies should be celebrated) to the eyes of everyone else who is present.
and our culture is such that doing so is considered OFFENSIVE.
which is more about my issue here. that this public act of nudity is considered offensive. i'm not sure that it should be. it's just a naked body. which each and every one of us have. we all have a naked body underneath our clothes. and it is just that culturally we have chosen (or perhaps more appropriately have been brainwashed) to find that naked body offensive.
i, personally, don't find it offensive. just as i didn't find the man who was naked in the dog park this morning offensive in the least.
so i won't be calling the police. because i was not offended. but i still am struggling with the fact that my body offends, that he was hoping to offend with his nudity, and that we as a culture find nudity offensive.
that's quite a quagmire. especially for someone who calls herself nakedjen.
