Nudity

Piqued your curiosity?

I saw an article in the Malayala Manorma about the horrible misfortune that happened to an Indian woman who was racially profiled and was asked to strip in Frankfurt airport couple of days ago. This horrible crime was committed in front of her 4 year old daughter.

I am not interested in what, why or how it happened. What I was concerned about the event was bringing a four year old in to the picture to portray the horribleness of the situation.

Question that needs to be asked is, What will really happen if your child sees you nude? Do you really have something that is so shameful that your kids can’t see it? Or if they saw it, are they going to be scarred for the rest of their life?

If I was asked to strip because the security wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t a terrorist, I will. My world won’t end because someone saw me naked  My children would be least bit concerned that their mother was asked to strip. They might ask me, if I at least had some decent undies on. (Which I do. After working in Emergency dept, I am always careful to wear proper decent undies, because I have seen what people wear under their clothes and trust me, it is not a pretty sight) Btw, if you can strip in front of a doctor, or for that matter give birth in a labor room, I don’t understand why stripping at the airport or the gaol be any different.

I go to the beach with my children. I wear a bikini just like every friend I have here. Most of the women you find at the beach wear bikini. In fact you don’t even have to go to the beach to find a bikini clad woman, My local swimming pool is near a grocery shop and on hot summer days, you will find women wearing bikini walking to the shop to buy ice cream from the swimming pool.

At home, often my kids walk in and out of my room and sometimes this happen while I am changing my clothes. I don’t have anything special that I must hide from my kids. It doesn’t bother them and it doesn’t bother me.

Coping a feel, stealing a glance, peeping etc are the phenomenon I have often seen in India where the mentality that human body that too of a female must be covered at all times.. or the sky might fall prevails.

Perhaps, we should be a bit more relaxed.

 

2 thoughts on “Nudity

  1. here is an odd one, we have a 6 year old and he has always seen us shower / dress etc when he walks into our bedroom so nudity is nothing new.

    He will sometimes go, amma u look so beautiful in that dress.

    A recent health / fitness magazine had some pictures of women scantily dressed, showing off a well sculpted figure and our kid takes the magazine and hides it under his bed 🙂 Go figure.

    We had a good laugh, and do wonder about how this came to be. And yes, he still has the magazine in his closet.

    Our thoughts are that, if we make an issue of it, and say its “chee like we have heard when we were kids” does it put the idea in the kid that nudity is something bad. We have always told him every one is beautiful regardless of their skin tone, height or shape.

    • Ra: Just because your boy kept a magazine under his bed or in the cupboard doesn’t mean that he did so because he is looking at the images of sexy women in the magazine. There could be many reasons why it is under his bed or in the cupboard. Children learn from being curious. Your son is probably going through the stages of understanding the difference between male and female bodies. (very common at the age of 6)

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