Losing The Towel and Being Naked...

As 2016 begins to fade away, one of the things that come to mind when I think about this year are the number of brothas that I met who always admired the fact that I'm naked but who were so insecure with their own nudity. Too many Black men have negative body images of themselves. They allow this issue to prevent them from even trying out social nudity. 

I know the psychology of us being the products of our upbringing and how what we are taught growing up often influences us later in life. I understand that if a dude learns that it's wrong, dirty or sinful to let others see them naked, then they're more than likely to "fear" being nude, especially socially nude, when in the company of others. 

What I've done is adopted this logo above as my own personal "mantra" or chant. Actually, it's probably becoming my personal philosophy. I decided about a month ago to make this one of my goals for the New Year, 2017. Maybe a week ago, around the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought, Why wait?

I've instead begun using this logo as my motto for what's left of this year and, at least, for all of 2017. I've already added it to this blog, Black, Gay, Nude and Proud!, in case any of you have noticed. I've printed a wallet-sized copy of this and have laminated it to carry around with me. I'm shopping for some decent card-stock paper that is compatible with my printer so that I can distribute them when I meet guys who are just too ashamed to try social nudity. 

Sometimes, the idea of change needs to be nurtured. If I offer men that I meet a subtle reminder that it is okay to be naked, either in private or in public, then maybe the concept will begin to germinate in their minds and they can eventually learn to overcome their fear of nakedness and appreciate the joys of nudity.

All it really takes is to "lose" that towel, just let it fall off your body, one time. When that happens, maybe then they'll come to realize that lightening didn't strike them dead, the earth didn't fall out of the sun's orbit and that when the towel was discarded, life itself didn't end.

A new life, a life of nude pride, just replaced the old life of guilt and shame!  

Author's Note: Just so all of y'all know, that's not me in the photo above! LOL!