I find it very sad and oppressive that our society has such a toxic outlook in regards to being openly naked. It’s not right that society shames and looks down on people simply for wanting to be seen as their true naked self. It’s a perfectly natural human inclination to want to be seen as the real you. It feels good to be naked and free.
I don’t like the feeling of having to always hide my body away out of shame or some false notion of decency. Yes, that includes my penis too! A penis is only offensive if you insist on seeing it that way, otherwise it’s just another part of the body. A man’s body isn’t more offensive than a woman’s body, there’s nothing wrong with either one. What is so bad about being human that we should shame our own bodies and make them illegal to be seen in public?
It’s quite an outrageous leap in logic that people should be arrested or fired from their jobs or not hired at all and cancelled simply for being openly naked! Why should people be punished simply for being in touch with their own humanity? That’s rather hypocritical and oppressive in my view. We accept public nudity when actors are seen naked in movies or TV shows, so why doesn’t everyone else have that same freedom? Having to be an actor in a movie in order to have permission to be seen openly naked in public is a pretty foolish and rather arbitrary standard. It’s most defiantly an elitist one.
People should have the right to be openly naked in public if they want to be, such as at the public beach or around their own house while doing yard work or sitting on their balcony. It’s very oppressive to insist that people wear clothing all of the time while outside. Obviously there is a time and place for everything. Nobody needs to be naked near a school or in a grocery store. However, I feel very strongly that cities need to provide clothing optional spaces because being openly naked outdoors is a powerful and healthy way to connect with nature, while learning to accept your body and to love yourself just the way you are.
I have chronic depression and yet I can attest to the fact that shedding your clothes and freeing yourself from society's shame to be openly naked outdoors is a very liberating and invigorating experience. The first time I tried it was in 2019 at a gay men's clothing optional campgrounds which I've been back to several times. I've also participated in the World Naked Bike Ride in Toronto in 2024. Being naked outdoors obliterates my depression and makes me happy to be alive. Yet, I can only do so while I am at a clothing optional campsite, once I return home to Ottawa I am prohibited from being naked outdoors, including in my own backyard! Medicine isn’t the only way to cure people, sometimes all it takes is permission to stroll naked outdoors in nature. A lot of people will think this is crazy, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Frankly, the law has no business governing our bodies as simply being naked is not offensive. We know this from the history of art and sculpture where nudity is a central topic because the naked human form is so beautiful. Therefore, what the law should govern is our behaviour, as whether or not we are naked or wearing clothes it is our behaviour that can be offensive. This isn’t just my view this is common sense, but our society just doesn’t seem to have much common sense when it comes to the topic of being openly naked.
In fact I find society is quite immature and foolish in this regard. For example, it’s okay to have a naked male statue in a public square, and to see images of that naked male statue all throughout our culture, so it’s perfectly okay if a statue is naked, but it’s not okay for an actual naked male, which the statue is based on, to be naked in the public square. One is seen as beautiful while the other is seen as offensive. That’s quite nonsensical to me.
Our society has a very toxic understanding of nudity and the human body which is in fact harmful to our collective well-being. Keeping our bodies out of sight and out of mind under our clothes allows us to ignore when we are overweight and out of shape, plus it prevents us from embracing the diversity of humanity, as bodies come in many beautiful shapes, sizes, colours, genders and ages.
Instead of embracing the true beauty of humanity and celebrating our bodies as virtuous, we allow the media’s perfectionist standards and overly sexualized use of nudity to serve as our understanding of what a naked human body must be. I find this very sad as we have lost the ability to accept non sexual nudity as simply being a part of our humanity, and an honest way of sharing our true selves with each other. We freak out and get offended by it instead.
Of course it goes without saying that as human beings we are inherently sexual by our very nature, but this does not mean that we are helpless to control ourselves, weather or not we are wearing clothing. The fact that it can be sexually stimulating to see a naked body or to be seen while naked does not diminish the body from being beautiful or justify classifying nudity as immoral, it only elevates the natural beauty of humanity and makes it all the more wonderful to be alive. Frankly in my view, what is immoral is to hide such beauty forever or to outlaw it and cast it away. It's shameful and very sad how negatively we think about our own human nature.
I can’t go outside naked without getting arrested, so I've decided to post my naked selfies online (yes, including a dick pic) so that I can continue to experience the feeling of being openly naked, as this is the real me. It makes me happy to know that people are seeing my naked body, because my body is no longer being hidden away as though I am some sort of hideous creature. Granted, posting photos online is certainly not the same as actually being naked outdoors so it's a compromise, but there’s not much else I can do.
The closest I can get to being naked outdoors in my city is when I go to the beach. My outlook is "the less fabric the better", so I like to wear either a skimpy swim brief with one inch of fabric at the sides, or a men's backless swim thong. That's right, despite being a little bit on the chubby side (frankly I like my cute tummy!) I have worn a backless thong at the public beach in Ottawa several times. I have a black one, a purple one and a blue one, and each one has been worn at least once. I wish more guys would wear thongs to swim in because they are super comfortable. It's quite common to see women of all shapes and sizes wearing skimpy swimsuits at the beach that show off their butt cheeks, so if women can do it then so can men.
Quite honestly, the very reason that I began to think about being openly naked in public is because I have always enjoyed taking naked photos of myself, and it made me feel badly that I could never share any of them openly with anyone without being judged negatively for doing so. I’m especially proud of my dick pic (see link below) which I took in 2006 when I was 32. I think it's a beautiful photo, both artistically and sexually. I know that it sounds odd for me to say that, but that's the truth. I have always wanted to let people look at this picture, and to be openly naked in this way, but was worried that people would think that I’m a pervert for wanting to do so.
I worry a lot about behaving the way people think that I should behave, the way I'm expected to behave. But what about how I want to behave and what would make me happy? Nobody expects me to be openly naked, or that I would want to be seen while naked, or that it would make me so happy to go to a clothing optional campsite. But it would and it's already happened, and I'm absolutely I'm thrilled about it.
The fact is, I can’t control what people will think about me, but I do know that it honestly feels awesome to have my dick pic and my naked selfies online for anyone to look at if they want to. I’m tired of feeling shame about my body and denying myself from doing what I have always wanted to do, which is to be openly naked. That's what I know for sure.
I first posted my photos online in 2023, but then the social shame towards public nudity that permeates our culture crept back inside of me and I took the photos down, but then I felt shame for taking them down so I reposted them, and on and on it went. So now I am posting them again, I hope this time it's for good. I want to be able to keep my naked selfies online and not worry about feeling shame. I want to be openly naked and be proud of my body and of being a human being, I don’t see why that’s such a bad thing. Once upon a time it was no big deal to be openly naked, now it will get you thrown in jail and end your career... unless your an actor!
To be clear, I’m certainly not advocating that it’s okay to send dick pics to people without consent, that’s just creepy and wrong for good reason. I would never do that. But there is certainly nothing wrong with a guy being proud of his penis or his naked body and wanting to show it off in a way that is not harmful to others. There's nothing unusual about wanting to be seen while naked, it's a perfectly normal way for a guy to feel about his body. Being proud of your body is a good thing.
Posting naked selfies on a website that welcomes such photos and allows people the choice to look at them or not doesn’t harm anyone in any way. Not in the least. The only person that might be harmed by posting naked selfies is myself, the person posting them, should people decide to get all self righteous and cancel me for having the nerve to be openly naked. If you don’t want to see me naked then don’t look at my photos, it’s as simple as that. And if I can't be naked outdoors enjoying the sunshine then being naked online is the next best thing.
It’s my body so it’s my choice, and I absolutely love being openly naked. It makes me happy to be alive.
- Mikey
