Collection 1 - Nude – Pure – Us!

262 KALTBLUT
„Exquisite, healthy, quite nudity in nature! O, if only the
poor, sick, lustful city slickers could truly get to know
you once more!“
Walt Whitman, Diary, 1877
Advancing technology and, resulting, the growing
civilization did the rest. They spread shame and
refusal of one own’s nudity into the most remote
places on our planet and deep into our hearts.
According to the thesis by German socioligist
Norbert Elias the growing self-control (also called
self-discipline) – the retention of a reaction to
emotional impulses – is the enhancement of the
super-ego and therefore a higher focus on the
centralization inside of a society and not on one’s
own. In accordance with his famous work „About
the process of civilization“ (1939) this longterm
change of personality structures goes along with
the „advancement of shamewaves“, which means
being scared of individual actions which leads to a
more controlled and tabooed sexuality.
He thought that breaking out of this spiral on
short term was not possible, but only long term
actions would help to change our perception.
All in all it is interesting to see how this advancement
of shame boundaries shaped our whole civilization
progress – it enhanced the separation of
genders: to males, this sense of shame became
an expression of our culture, whereas for females,
it works as a symbol of the limits of a sexuality
that ought to be tamed.
This advancement of shame boundaries lead to
the denial and hiding of genitals and the resulting
oppression of our sexuality. Mankind even
learned how to use the sense of shame as a tool
of torture, just think of the recent events of Abu
Ghraib.
Luckily, the history of shame made a progressive
change, at least on first sight. The nudists, emancipation-
and anti-war-movements of the 60s
brought along some kind of sexual revolution and
the liberation from the claws of conventions and
morals and therefore at least partially stopped
the denial of the individual ego. But with the resulting
commercialization of nudity and sexuality
brought another disaster. Our media started to
use the thitherto scorned display of women and
brought along a new sector of commerce and
economy. This permanent exhibition and display
did not bring the sought unification with oneself
and one’s naked body, because now it was not
only important what one was wearing but rather
how one looked like under one’s clothes. A new
ideal of beauty was born that was so disconnected
from the natural, which is now only achievable
with (plastic) surgery.
Interestingly enough we didn’t pounce about eachother
like wild animals, what happened was rather
the opposite of it. Somebody once said to me:
„Our society is so oversexed and so underfucked
at the same time“. I find this expression pretty
accurate when trying to describe the Status Quo
of our modern society.I’m looking at the future in
curious anticipation which progresses and changes
will our sense of shame undergo? Finally I’d like
to add that nobody should be ashamed of their
sense of shame - it is a feeling that is indispensable
for social intergration. Maybe everyone should
just rethink their indivual, inner attitude towars
nudity and one’s body. And as thephrase goes:
We all came to this world naked, and naked we
will leave it.