By Rebekah Schulz
The vast majority of students work at some point during their college careers, whether they genuinely need money for school or just want a little extra in their wallet. Obviously, some jobs pay more than others or are more glamorous. But what if you could get $12 an hour to essentially sit around? All you have to do is take off your clothes. Would you do it? Many students in the bi-co do. And not just for the money.
“My motives for nude posing were never purely monetary,” explains Emi Bryant HC ‘06. “They did start out as largely monetary because I’m on work-study and really need money, but I went through high school with a reputation as a big prude and someone not very brave. I entered college in much the same way and I was tired of that image. I figured that since I’d already forbade myself alcohol, drugs, and sex that I may as well let myself go for the sake of high culture. Also, I thought that if I could sit naked in front of a room full of strangers, I’d feel a whole lot more comfortable with myself and wouldn’t be so scared about taking risks and trying new things. It really works. After you take off your clothes in front of strangers, nothing ever seems scary again.”
“I initially did it because I wanted more self confidence,” says Diana LaFemina BMC ‘05, “I’m a pretty confident person, but who isn’t worried about being completely nude in front of other people? I signed up to help out with life modeling and once I was nude no one cared. There was nothing: no judgment, tension or acknowledgment. I was an object, no longer a person, and in that moment I had to feel the most confident I’ve ever felt.”
Mia Vergari BMC ‘05 points out, “It’s good pay. I think it’s pretty sweet when I can get twice as much an hour hanging out being naked as I do at my work-study job. I hang out naked in my room all the time, too bad no one pays me for that!” She also admits, though, that “the truth is I’m vain. I can be pretty self-conscious but when I’m naked I like my body and want everyone to know it. I guess that’s how I got interested in nude modeling. I get some strange egotistical high knowing people are drawing my body.”
Bryant agrees, “I can’t describe how amazing it is to watch drawings take shape. You get an entirely new perspective on yourself from how these people see you. I had this one kind of creepy experience, though, when I was doing a standing pose and some sketchy-looking middle aged guy set up his stuff right in front of me and began to sculpt. I was a little freaked out - I was naked, and here he was so close to me. I thought he had some kind of beyond-art interest in seeing a college girl naked. He stayed in front of me like that for the full three hours. Then when it was over, I found that he had created an incredibly detailed sculpture of my head. The piece stopped at my shoulders. He’d been looking just at my face the entire time.”
It’s obvious that nude posing has a capacity to build confidence and boost body image, but what happens when the clothes go back on and students get back to their lives? After all, the bi-co is a very small place.
“Sometimes it was a little weird running into people from art class,” concedes Bryant. “I remember I was in the DC once just after I started posing, getting some bread, and I looked up and there was this guy who’d been sculpting at my first session. I just thought ‘he’s seen me naked.’ One girl who lives on my hall was the one person in the class my first day that I’d ever seen before, so I felt kind of uncomfortable getting naked in front of her. I ran into her in the bathroom that night, though, and she teased me about it, ‘So Emi, did you have fun today?’ And since then I’ve run into or even spoken to people who’ve seen me naked and it doesn’t seem to faze them, so it stopped bothering me.”
Vergari says, “There have been no interviews or reviewing processes of my body, all my posing appointments have been done over the phone. They don’t know what I look like before I arrive and I love that about the places I’ve worked [Haverford and Harcum]. It reminds me again that all bodies are beautiful, not just Chasey Lane’s or Jenna Jameson’s.”
Some people argue that nude posing, even in the context of high art, objectifies women’s bodies. Jessica Fleming BMC ‘07 couldn’t disagree more. “I consider myself a feminist so some people question how I validate this but I just don’t consider it objectifying. Particularly in an artistic setting the human body is being cherished. It’s also very much about reclaiming the things that others try to use against you. Self-consciousness is something that can only affect you if you allow it to. Just as words hurt people, so can looks. If you allow yourself to be looked at then that gaze doesn’t seem so harsh and intruding.”
This article is © 2008 The Bi-College News. The material on this page is free for personal or educational use, but may not be reproduced, reprinted, republished, redistributed, or otherwise transmitted to a third party without the express written permission of The Bi-College News, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041.
Editor's note: Articles that appear in the Last Word section are works of satire.
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