The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #39495   Message #563431
Posted By: Jim Dixon
02-Oct-01 - 11:24 AM
Thread Name: Nudity In Public
Subject: RE: Nudity In Public
Many years ago, I was an actor in a college theater production. Male and female actors had separate dressing rooms. Each had an attached shower stall which some of us used to facilitate removing makeup. There were several female staff members who frequently needed to enter the men's dressing room to deliver a message, or to pick up a costume that needed mending, and so on. They would always knock to give us warning so we could cover up as needed.

I was one of very few married students, and my wife was one of the aforementioned staff. Once when I was coming out of the shower, one of my fellow actors asked a very thought-provoking question: "If your wife needed to come in here right now, would you cover up?"

I had to laugh. Logically, there was no reason I should cover up, but practically, I supposed I would. Paradoxically, although I had no problem being seen naked by other men, and no problem being seen by my wife, the idea of them both seeing me naked at the same time seemed somehow obscene. I know it's not logical, but feelings of propriety or impropriety are not based on logic. Those who want to try to analyze this situation, feel free.

Of course, I was in my early twenties at the time, and newly married, and today my feelings might be different.