Underpants or Car Cover?
The Recent Naked Blog Controversy You know it’s really interesting - this controversy that is beginning to swirl around about my “Naked Blog: Whoops!” video. In it I had just signed on to blog, while sitting starkers in my office, which used to be a living room but it seemed silly to give up all that space and keep my office crammed in the hallway when, in fact, I spend most of my life in my office. That of course is not the point. My mind is wandering and I’m 54 and there is simply nothing I can do about it. I consider myself lucky to be able to find my way home. Back to the controversy. In the video I was sitting, wearing nary a thread, just starting to blog when I heard Barry’s key in the door and had to make a quick getaway so I didn’t get caught with my ass draping over the furniture. The response has been surprising and is running the gamut from “What’s wrong with Barry that he doesn’t want to see it,” to “What is wrong with you that you don’t want to show it.” Which is weird to me. Unless everyone else is sitting on the edge of their seats desperate to whip out their equipment? Is that possible? Is it just me that would prefer to be clothed at every living moment? Are people riding the subway wishing they could tear off their underwear and stick it in their purses? Do people want to flap it out at the Burger King? Wow. I don’t even like it in the shower, but I put up with it. Needless to say, I have a wardrobe for sleeping. I can think of nothing more uncomfortable than sleeping without reasonable attire. Lying there with the sheets all over you. Yuck. I hate that. I like a nice silk nightgown – full length always. Fluted if I can find it. I LOVE clothes. I wish we still had fashion from the forties. I loved this one robe that Myrna Loy wore in After the Thin Man – I think…unless it was some other actress in some other movie – but the point is, it was a heavy silk dressing gown with a sweeping three foot train and long sleeves with cuffs so wide they reached her knees. Not only was it gorgeous – it’s a real hip hider. Again, I’ve wandered. I know a lot of you do enjoy sleeping in the suit god gave ya, but I don’t think all that many people dream of walking into the office, stripping down, and going to the copy room to fax. I suppose a lot of people do enjoy flapping it out in a romantic setting. And I’m certain that’s wonderful. I’m sure that’s a lovely thing for everybody who likes it, but that’s why I say you have to stop deciding on what’s right for you according to what’s right for everybody else. I enjoy an outfit. (It can be a cowgirl outfit or maybe I could be Spiderwoman…but I still need an outfit!) But I can’t be alone? Surely some of you dress in the walk in closet as I do? My goodness. It just seems like the polite thing to do. I mean, he might not be prepared for it. It could shock him and cause a stroke. I have feelings. I’m not callous. Hrmph. Then some people are wondering if I’m really embracing my BFA if I don’t want to wave it like a flag at Barry the minute he walks in the door. But that has nothing to do with it. Really the whole embracing your BFA thing is about accepting yourself as you are. It’s about stopping the inner criticism and the boiling down of your self-worth to a number on a scale. The point is to embrace yourself and your body and your life exactly as you are even the parts that aren’t perfect. It doesn’t mean you pretend those parts are perfect. It means you accept them as they are for what they are. Let the world judge us if it needs to but the best thing would be to stop judging ourselves. That said, I can stop judging it without wanting to parade it like I was Lady Godiva riding through town with a buzz cut. I’ve kept one hundred pounds off for over twenty years. I have skin for friends. Did I mention I’m 54? I’d like to introduce you to my varicose veins. If it hasn’t happened to you yet my younger friends, it’s going to. The time has come when I find silk a little sexier than spider veins. So what? Does it have to ruin anything or make me feel that there’s something wrong with me or horrible about me or something? No. If I paint a room and arrange the furniture and hang some artwork in my apartment – why wouldn’t I want to do the same thing with my carcass? Every single thing in life is all about how you look at it. I like to look at my lumps swathed in silk or layers of linen. But I don’t mind if you want to take a lawn chair and lay out naked in Times Square. I think we all just need to do what feels best for us. That’s what I embrace. All of it. Fighting it is a pain in the ass. Which is why I’m doing a naked blog. Here, I can be naked in private where I’m comfortable – for about 3 minutes unless there’s a draft – and explore what it feels like to be comfortable in my skin – regardless of whether or not it’s a little baggy here and there. But thanks for all your opinions and reactions! PS: Barry really doesn’t care about the size of my massive under-drawers. I just think it’s funny and of course he’ll see this blog and find out that they DO fit! |