Nudity... what’s the big deal?

Watching last Sunday night’s report on Sunday about Burning Man. I was struck by the show’s reaction to nudity at the event. It began with “and for parents in particular, a warning in part of this report there’s partial nudity”. During the report on the art event and festival held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, we did get to see quite a few boobies, and even a few bums. Gasp!

This year's theme at Burning Man was fertility

inspiring many-a-work of art.

Obviously, clothing is also allowed...

The reporter, P J Madam, seemed a little unnerved by it all too. It made me wonder, why is it so shocking? Earlier this year I watched an episode of Tribal Wives (screened on the ABC) where a British woman lived with a South American tribe for a few weeks to experience life as tribal woman. The men and women seemed to spend most of their time completely naked, except for a protective shield that the men wore over their groins - although even this was quite scant, more like a loose fitting condom attached with a piece of string. Curiously, there were times when they did wear clothes. I didn’t figure out why they did sometimes and other times not, but there was a rather comic scene where the other tribal women wanted the British woman to go completely naked for a ceremony, and couldn’t understand why she would only go down to her undies.

All this nudity made me realise how little we see the naked body in our society. Although we are used to seeing a lot of skin both in the media and in certain contexts like the beach, we don’t often see people fully naked, baring breasts and bums, or more. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a naked adult, other than yourself or your spouse? Better yet, when was the last time you were naked in front of people other than your spouse?

A trip to the Post Office in the nude? At Burning Man you can!

I can tell you exactly when the last time was for me. August of 2005 when I was a life model for art students. Don’t worry, this is not secret I am choosing to publicly confide in you all, I openly tell people if the subject ever arises. Actually, now that I think about it, that wasn’t the last time. After that I did go topless at the beach when I lived in France. Ooh la la!

Anyway, ever since that episode of Tribal Wives (some months ago now), I’ve been pondering the subject of nudity and how we see it in our culture. Maybe it’s because we’ve just emerged from what felt like a very long winter, but I suddenly have this feeling that I’ve been covered up for so many years, and I want to break free. My parents raised me and my siblings to not be ashamed of being naked. In most of our family photos from when I was little, I am either naked or wearing no pants. I have a feeling most kids are like that. What happens to us when we grow up? Why do we become so modest?

Now don’t get the wrong idea – it’s not that I want to be a nudist. I don’t have the desire to do the ironing in the nude (although there’s nothing wrong with that either!). And I like clothes. But sometimes I wish we could be a little more… tribal.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Snow White: Not just a pretty face

"Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony"

I still remember my teacher reading these famous words in primary school. I have always loved fairy tales. In fact, I love any sort of magical story. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a kid, just so I could read my favourite stories again: Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe... If only Harry Potter had existed when I was a back then. Although it did bring a bit of magic back into my adulthood, for which I will be eternally grateful to J.K. Rowling.

As the story often goes, I grew up. I got an education, went to university where fairy tales got a bad wrap. Especially Snow White. I couldn’t help getting into the feminist readings of texts, but I began to judge every book or movie on its portrayal of gender. When it came to fairy tales I always felt torn. I can’t help feeling like they are a part of our culture that I don’t want to lose. Does that make me a bad feminist?

Recently I watched the Disney version, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with my niece. She is four, and hopes to one day grow up to be a princess. She’s often asks her Mum (my sister), if she will be okay when she marries the prince and goes to live the castle.

It’s not hard to see why fairy tales receive so much criticism. But watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with my niece I saw something I’d never seen in the story before. Snow White in the Disney film is loved by everyone. She’s a bit like Cameron Diaz’s character in There’s Something About Mary. Anyone who comes near her just can’t help falling in love with her. When the prince first notices Snow White he thinks she’s just a servant girl working in the palace. She is so lovely that all the birds in the castle flock to her as she draws water from the well, singing as she goes. Even dressed as rags, she is radiant.

The dwarfs are equally besotted with her. They are essentially seven dumpy little bachelors, just hard working miners with a bad case of personal hygiene. And in exchange for shelter and protection, she takes care of them; cleans their filthy house, cooks them a hearty dinner (before which, she makes them have a bath) and keeps them company. She gives their lives meaning when before things were dull. Even Grumpy can’t help blushing at her warmth.

It’s not just because of her beauty that everyone loves her, it’s because of her personality. She’s nice. And not only is she nice, but she is nice to everyone, regardless of their looks or their status. She’s compassionate and caring to whomever she meets, completely unaware of her beauty and the effect she has on people.

The Queen however, is described as beautiful, but very vain. And no matter what she does, she can never be as beautiful as Snow White, because she does not have her heart. Perhaps she is aware of this on some level, because she orders the huntsman to bring back her heart as proof of her death.

Sadly, the very qualities of kindness and compassion that make Snow White so appealing are what lead to her ultimate demise. It’s the Achilles heel that leads to her downfall, when she takes pity on the old woman with apples at the door. The classic tragic hero. Except that it’s not a tragedy, it’s a fairy tale, and fairy tales always have a happy ending! Good always triumphs over evil.

So what do I hope that my niece will learn from Snow White? That above all, it’s your personality that counts. Kindness and compassion are valued over looks and being yourself is the most important thing. The Queen only becomes ugly when her true self is revealed as a witch, whereas Snow White’s heart never falters and she remains to the end, the fairest of them all.

By the way, when my niece asks my sister if she’ll be alright when she moves to the castle, my sister replies, “I’ll be okay. As long are you’re happy I’ll be fine.”

Ladies, Lock Up Your Vaginas!

Last week there was a lot of talk that The Australian Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) has received a number of complaints about the recent Carefree ad for Acti-Fresh underwear liners. The complaints were regarding the use of the word vagina, as well as the woman being depicted as naked behind a flower, but my complaints are with the marketing product of the product itself.

Although I don’t have a problem with using the word vagina, I have to admit that I too was confused by the woman being naked. Why does she need to be naked? Carefree have said they want to encourage women to feel comfortable talking about their bodies, so possibly they were trying to depict the female body in normalised way. The message is contradicted by the fact that woman’s body is hidden behind the flowers. If we’re so comfortable with it why do we need to hide it?

But it also doesn’t make any sense. You can't wear liners when you're naked. If the ad had shown a woman in her underwear, it would have put the product in the context of being part of a woman’s usual routine of getting dressed, an every day routine. Wearing underpants is not hiding your body. It’s just a normal part of life – many people wear underpants. I think they just wanted to be different. But they were already achieving that by simply saying the word vagina. They didn’t need to do anything else outrageous.

Which brings me to my particular problem with the ad. I’m not offended by the word vagina. I think it’s good that Carefree used the word and spoke openly about its healthy functions. What offends me is the implication that we need to do something about it. If discharge is a healthy thing, what do we need the liners for?

The ad says the liners have '…an absorbent core to lock away wetness and odour, helping you feel clean, dry and fresh every day’. To me, this says that the wetness and the odour is a negative thing; a problem. So although it’s healthy to have vaginal discharge, it’s not acceptable? Of course, there may be women who experience large amounts of discharge or have particular issues that worry them, and they should feel comfortable in dealing with that. But it should not be presented to us something we all need to do something about.

It seems Carefree aren’t the only ones preaching this message. Recently I bought sample pack of U products t came with a free clutch!) Included was a booklet with lots of good information, obviously aimed at girls going through puberty. It also recommended using liners throughout the month for discharge. Personally, I find wearing liners for too long can lead to chafing, which in my opinion is much worse for your feminine hygiene. I won't be taking their advice on that one.

Mamamia recently published 'Dear Makers of Feminine Vagisil Wash', criticising the makers of Vagisil Feminine Wash for making women feel like it is not normal for their vaginas to have an odour. Unfortunately Carefree must have missed that one. The writer even used the word vagina a few times.

I thought that if you were a clean and hygienic person, the usual monthly discharge, wetness and odour should not be a problem. I learnt long ago from Dolly Doctor that vaginas have their own cleaning system, and that you shouldn’t use soap at all in that part of the body.

On an episode of Embarrassing Bodies a young woman was so worried about her odorous discharge that they took a swab and sent it to the lab, only to find the sample devoid of pretty much any bacteria, even the good ones that control things like smell. So the final diagnosis was that she was washing it far too much and the best thing she could do was to leave it alone!

Carefree claim they want to encourage women to talk openly about their bodies, but how many women and teenage girls out there now think the healthy functioning of their bodies is actually something dirty and unclean? Carefree seem to be more concerned with locking our vaginas up than liberating them.

Drilling the Arctic Circle: The Truth is In Here…

Do you ever wonder if there really is life out there? What would happen if Barack Obama announced today that an alien race had contacted us? What would we think? Would we be scared?

Sometimes I think that while it’s just a conspiracy theory, it can’t be proven. And while it can’t be proven right or wrong, it’s safe for us to think about. Safe for us to make movies about or write books about. But imagine if it really were true. It would change everything about the way we see ourselves and the universe. We can’t even get along with our own kind, let alone an alien race.

It makes me think the same thing about the planet. I remember when I first learnt about environmental issues in school. There was a certain optimism; that as the future generation we were the key to solving the problem. And I believed it. Captain Planet always had a happy ending.

That was 20 years ago. And when I look around at what is happening today, things have only gotten worse. It appears that what I once thought of as off limits, no longer is. Will Finding Nemo be enough to save the Great Barrier Reef from coal mining? Malcom Douglas couldn’t stop copper mining in The Kimberly. No one could save Kakadu. And now Shell are planning to drill for oil in the Arctic Circle.

When I heard about it this morning I had an ‘Aha moment’. Oil and mining companies will never stop. They will mine and drill every last bit of oil or mineral that they can find on this planet, until there is none left. That is there job. It doesn’t matter what we say about these resources being precious – not only to the planet but also to our society; where would medicine be without plastics and metals? It doesn’t matter how much we say about any of it because it is their job to get oil and they will keep doing it anywhere and everywhere, until there is none left. I’m not saying this in a sad, save the world kind of way. I’m just saying it in a, this is the truth of the matter, kind of way. It’s like I’ve suddenly grown up and seen the world for what it is.

And that brings me to the next question. What is going to happen to us? Because as long as we keep arguing about climate change - whether or not it’s actually happening, and how we can stop it - it means that it’s not real. It means we don’t really have to think about it.

But cutting down old growth forests and digging up world heritage listed national parks to mine for resources is real. And the future is real. We talk about the future all the time but do we really think about it? Because for me the future has already happened. And it will happen again. But will it be any better than the present? My guess is that if we continue the same way as now, it will be exponentially worse, and in another twenty years time I will probably be saying the exact same thing.

The Shire: Australia’s answer to Jersey Shore, The Hills, The City, Keeping With The Kardashians…

After watching the latest reality show from Network Ten I now understand why every one always bags out The Shire, or should I say ‘God’s Country’.

Watching it I felt shocked, disturbed, a little violated… More like watching Chris Lilley’s The Shire. Even a fictional Ja’mie is a breath of fresh air compared to Sophie and Vernesa. At least she had some level of intelligence. And rapper Rif Raf from the Shire has an uncanny likeness to rapper S.Mouse from Angry Boys. If it wasn’t for the social media frenzy it stirred, one could be forgiven for mistaking the show for a fictional satire.

Funnily enough, I actually watched The Hills for weeks before realising that it was a reality show. I didn’t know anything about the show or its stars and just assumed that it was a teen drama shot in a documentary style. You can’t imagine how shocked I was to find out they were all real people, and that all the storylines on the show were also real, that is, until Heidi got a boob job. 

But in The Shire, even the so-called locals aren’t real. Sophie and Vernesa are apparently from Bankstown and now living in Homebush. That’s about as far from the Shire as you can get without leaving Sydney. It baffles me. Did the producers think we wouldn’t notice? Perhaps they just thought they were too good a talent to miss? Or were they worried about the show not being multi-cultural enough for the modern Australian audience? Whatever they thought, they have demonstrated once again, that you can’t fool the audience. Audiences know crap when they see it.

What really matters is that nobody believed them. Even if a reality show or dramality’ as the show has been labelled, is semi-scripted, it still has to be believable. It’s not about what is real or not, it’s about what is believable. The producers made a fatal mistake including Sophie and Vernesa in the show because just as the mayor of the Shire, Carol Provan said, they were merely cardboard cutouts of Kim Kardashian. Caricatures, not characters; some sort of disfigured specimen of the ridiculous.

But Beckaa? Now there’s an interesting character. She was real enough for me. Sadly she’s been so overshadowed by Sophie and Vernesa that no one’s even mentioned her. If they’d just stuck with her I reckon they would have gotten the trash TV factor just right. She was juicy enough for the whole show.

Cut to:

Beckaa, a spoilt little rich girl with possible daddy issues, two gay best friends who play with her boobs on camera and then say behind her back that that her new fake nose makes her look like a pig.

Now that’s great TV!

Can I have a piece of climate change please?

The ABC’s new show I Can Change Your Mind About Climate Change, which aired Thursday Aril 26^th, asks the question ‘Would you ever change your mind about climate change?’

My answer is yes. I would love to change my mind about climate change. I wish I could change my mind about climate change. I would dearly love to be wrong about climate change.

But for me it’s not just about climate change, it’s about the environment as a whole.

I can really relate to climate change advocate Anna Rose because like her, I grew on a bush property in the Central West of NSW. As a result, I have a true appreciation for the natural world that is our home. I think one of the things that many people miss in this whole debate is acknowledging that any animal, including humans, has always and will always have an impact on the planet. It’s just that previously in history there were so few of us that we didn’t have to worry about it.

In David Attenborough’s documentary How Many People Can Live on the Planet Earth?, he poses some serious questions about the planet’s ability to sustain the growing population of 7 billion, taking into consideration the four main resources that humans need in order to survive; food, energy, water and shelter. Attenborough explores these problems, along with the practical ways in which people around the world are attempting to solve them in their local areas.

Perhaps this is a much more tangible way to approach issue than trying to solve only the climate change aspect, which is what sceptic Nick Minchin, former Liberal party politician, suggests at the end of I Can Change Your Mind About Climate Change. And I can see the why the sceptics have a problem the arguments of people like Anna. She disagreed with the idea of investing highly in research into renewable energy, because she claimed it was a risk to focus solely on this without trying to cut emissions. But how can we cut emissions without having alternatives? Wouldn’t research and development into renewable energy help to achieve this very goal?

But on the other hand, some would argue that the Australian government are not interested in alternative resources other than fossil fuels. In the middle of a mining boom, would the government really want to stop mining fossil fuels? And if we did find renewable energy sources, how can anyone make money off it if is renewable? Perhaps I am being a little sceptical here by implying that we are only driven by money. But if you really think about it, why would people like Nick – that is the people who are running our country, be interested in investing in a renewable energy source that won’t make them money, especially if they don’t believe there is a problem with fossil fuels in the first place?

A few years ago I saw a story on Catalyst about a new technology using polymer to make solar panels. This is the same material used to make plastic bank notes, and it has actually been patented by Australia. It would solve the current problem of solar panels being difficult and expensive to produce. I remember watching it thinking how inspiring it was that here in Australia we are actually coming up with workable solutions to the problem. I have heard nothing about it since. Of course, there could be a number of reasons for this, but in a world that is obsessed with technological progress, you’d think we’d be hearing about these sort of breakthroughs all the time. Computers are getting faster every day; shouldn’t environmental technology be getting faster every day too?

Making Social Media History

I have been on Pinterest for about six months now, although I'm not a prolific user. But just in the last few weeks, it seems to have exploded. My pins are getting repinned all the time and more and more people are following me. And there are a couple of pins that have been particularly popular. It's kind of amazing to see social media history happening before your eyes! 

I wonder if it will become like facebook soon and people will spend months swearing they'll never join, then eventually give in and join, suddenly realise how much they like the novelty of it and start pinning everything they see, then when it begins to take over their life, say how much they need a break from it, disable their account then suddenly reappear again a few weeks later with half their pins deleted and their followers drastically culled. Or maybe that's just a totally warped view of the social media world!