August 30, 2010
August 22, 2010
Labiaplasty (What do “normal” labia look like?
Should you be concerned?
Many of us hold secrets about our bodies that we’re reluctant to share with anyone, yet they haunt us everyday, especially when we look at ourselves in the mirror. Many men think their penis is too small, or curves too much, or has an undesirable shape. For a woman, concerning her most private parts, it’s the size, shape and color of her labia.
And since this site is about body acceptance, the subject is clearly on-topic. My first post on the subject generated lots of interest, so I thought I’d revisit the subject, this time from a different slant.
Fact is, labia are like snowflakes … every one is different. As a girl goes through puberty, her genes deliver Mother Nature’s artistic creativity to various parts of her body: the curve of her hips, her breast size and shape, patterns of hair, the design and size of her labia. She has preconceived notions of what her body should look like, and she compares her body to other girls, all too often believing she comes up short. A little surfing on the Internet and the silent suffering often worsens. All those beautiful, perfect girls! Why does my labia stick out?
She wants to look like the other girls, and if she’s old enough to be sexually active, she worries about what her boyfriend thinks, or will think if she allows him to turn the light on.
Typical self-analysis:
“I think my vagina lips are not normal. My inner lips are way way bigger then my outer ones! It wasn’t like that when I was little! It really bugs me. I won’t even let my boyfriend touch me there, cause I’m afraid he will think I’m not normal or something. My boyfriend has asked me if I wanted to have sex but I turned him down because of this. Is my vagina normal?”
“My inner vaginal “lips” stick out, is this normal? I’m insecure about it, and embarrassed to let my boyfriend see.”
“I’ve read a lot of your articles on labia but I still can’t seem to get the thought of my own out of my head. Mine are big and noticeable which I know are normal but still bother me. I think it looks gross in certain underwear and I am very insecure about it. At times I even try to tuck them in so you can see them. I am 16 and started noticing this about a year or so ago. I am not sure if I was always like this or not. I’ve been with this guy for about 8 months and hes been down there with his hands and what not but I am a virgin and I was very skeptical about even letting him preform oral sex on me because of the reaction that he might have thinking it’s disgusting. About a week ago at his house things started to get serious but kept my hands covering my vagina because I was nervous. He was confused at why I would do that and told me he really want to give me oral sex and I really wanted to. I eventually let him and he did not say one thing bout my larger labia. I was very surprised and pleased but couldn’t shake the idea of what he really thought. I still consider surgery when I turn 18 for myself. I just cannot get the thought that I look gross out of my mind. I really need help on what I should do.”
“Being sexually active, I have become more conscious about my vagina. I am very concerned about the physical appearance of my vagina. It’s really embarrassing. There’s extra skin on the left side of my vagina that hangs down, it’s kind of wrinkly, and it’s stretchy. It did not appear out of nowhere, I’ve had it for a long time. Is it normal? or is something bad that I should have removed? Please help me. I’m very confused and embarrassed.”
July 28, 2010
Simon Aaron James: Model/Photographer
What a man chooses to share will sometimes reveal his soul. Posing for the camera, Simon is sharing his body with the whole world. He’s telling us he is comfortable in his own skin. He’s telling us the male form is a beautiful creation. He’s telling us nudity is a natural thing and should be enjoyed by all. He’s telling us he’s a thoughtful, interesting guy we would like to know; and someone in the United Kingdom, Manchester to be exact, has this good fortune.
Charles Atlas? No, he’s not, which is, in my mind, exactly what makes him so beautiful. He’s like most of the rest of us, simply playing the cards he was dealt. What a memorable time it would be to spend a secluded summer weekend with him and a camera.
If you are as enchanted by Simon as I am, you can learn more about him, and say hi or purchase one of his prints at Deviant Art.
May 15, 2010
May 11, 2010
Nude Yoga for Men: Interview with Per Erez
It’s not about being gay or straight or bisexual. It’s about being a man and a man’s natural desire to be with those like him. The nudity simply makes the experience more prophetic. It’s about being a thoughtful man, uninhibited by the shackles imposed by homophobic mores and society’s misguided strictures of shame. Thanks to Per Erez, male body acceptance is alive and well in Chicago.
An Interview with Per Erez . . .
From chicagoist.com
Despite their initial reservations, men in Chicago are turning the other cheek and joining all-male nude yoga classes, an exercise the Associated Press calls “a form of sensualized yoga practiced nude.” Per (pronounced “Pear”) Erez, who teaches the classes in his private Rogers Park studio, limits the number of men who attend the sessions in order to “establish clarity of intention” and to provide a more “individualized approach to teaching.” Erez, 43, a well-established yoga instructor who has taught traditional “clothed” yoga for over 20 years (Oprah Winfrey is a former client), believes practicing nude yoga offers men a chance to be less concerned about “how they show up physically on their mat,” and gradually reduces “their own inner critical voice about what the male form should look like in others.”
Chicagoist: What is the number one question you get asked by beginners?
Per Erez: Oddly enough, it is probably not what most people would think. When I first began teaching these classes, I got much of what I called the “Big E” question from men who were concerned about bodily responses during classes. You will find frank discussions of erections commonly labored over on almost all the nude yoga Web sites across the country—including mine. The most common question I get these days, however, revolves around men who want to join, but who happen to hold positions of authority or esteem in their local communities. On several occasions, rabbis, pastors, teachers, doctors, and even a few politicians have asked what happens if a patient, congregant, student, etc. comes to the same session they plan on attending.
C: And how do you calm these fears, Per?
PE: I don’t, in particular, have one answer, because I think students concerns about disclosure and revelation of nude yoga practice don’t all come from the same place. Some realize they won’t have to worry about losing their jobs for example, but social ostracism is more the issue. Some prospective students are more concerned with how co-workers or friends might think them unconventional or downright silly for even considering yoga like this.
Ultimately, I encourage members not to share anything more about themselves than their first name (or a name they would like to use) if they are uncomfortable; like all transformations, at some point, one has to be willing to step to the edge of current self-knowledge in order to explore the unknown self on the other side. Practicing this way is about taking that first step with lots of support and safety.
C: What were your initial concerns related to teaching an all-male nude yoga class?
April 28, 2010
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. April 7, 2010
Scared to Death of the “Dangly Bits”
From Factoidz
By Michael A. McGrath
(Photographs not part of the original article)
In every language around the world, there is a word for the male reproductive organ, which we call the penis. Tembo. Kisi cinsiyy?t orqani. Im-keng. Kalc’h. Utin. Pidyn. Bod. Peniso. Pene. Suguti. Zakil. Siitin. Zipfa. Allu. Peni. Zipfe. Schwanz, etc., etc., etc. The British sometimes call them “dangly bits,” an obvious throwback to the Victorian era.
On the male body, the penis is about one head lower than the navel. Underneath the penis is a sac, called the scrotum, and inside the scrotum are two ovular organs called the testes or testicles. These small oval-shaped organs produce the sperm necessary for human reproduction. Most of us would admit that the function of said organs, including the penis, is quite a marvelous thing. However, the process of reproduction isn’t the subject of this article. I want to focus on the simple fact that we, as a purportedly “civilized” society, are scared to death of the male genitals! We are phallophobic in nature.
To us Westerners (Americans in particular), the male genitalia are the representation of a bloodletting sword or knife or a reprehensible act of violence perpetrated on women. To us, they symbolize everything perverse and disgusting about the male gender. Through our misdirected symbology and misrepresentation, we have grown to fear the male reproductive organs.
When we study history and various cultures down through the pages of time, however, we see quite the opposite: our ancient ancestors celebrated human sexuality, both the male and the female, as something wonderful, beautiful and nothing to be ashamed of.
One of the earliest known sculptural representation of the female form, known as the Venus of Willendorf, clearly depicts a robust female likeness, carved out of stone and small enough to fit into a man’s pocket. The earliest known representations of a masculine nature include the phallic pillars of Ireland and Great Britain, many of which leave little to the imagination as to what their makers were thinking at the time of their inception.
My guess: Most men are quite happy with their “dangly bits”. And as you can see by the men in this picture, some of us aren’t so homophobic, and don’t deprive ourselves of the joy of getting naked.
This isn’t the case, as far as we are concerned. In American culture, the nude female form is much more likely to be classified as a “piece of art” than the nude male. It’s perfectly acceptable to see the breasts and vaginal cleft of a woman as the subject of a piece of artwork, but when the penis and testicles of a man are revealed or exposed, in art, this (strangely enough) somehow transforms the artwork in question into something we deem pornographic.
Exposure to the male genitals is said (by some) to cause permanent psychological damage in adults and children.
Today, I saw the film, “Watchmen,” a movie that was released in 2009, based on the graphic novel series by the same name. In this film, one of the characters (called Dr. Manhattan) is completely naked in more than one scene. And, yes, folks, everyone can see his modest penis and testicles. They aren’t anything scary or perverse in the least. Dr. Manhattan’s character, in the film, was (at the beginning of the movie) a flesh and blood human male who was transformed into a being of brilliant blue energy through a fluke research accident. In the transformative process, though, he didn’t lose his gender identity, including his penis or testicles. In spite of the non-spectacular nature of Dr. Manhattan’s modest genitalia, people everywhere have been complaining about it. Some even said that the filmmakers did a “disservice” to the original character in the graphic novel by making Dr. Manhattan’s penis “too large.”
As a professional illustrator and fine artist, I have to say that I thought the artists who created the film version of Dr. Manhattan did a remarkably tasteful job of making this character’s gender members so non-threatening. It seems strange that no one of note complained about Malin Akerman (who plays Laurie Juspeczyk and the Silk Spectre II) showing her nipples and breasts in a graphic sex scene in the film.
April 6, 2010
Hippie Hollow
You might be surprised to learn one of the most scenic and accommodating nude swimming holes in America is in central Texas, Hill Country to be exact, just north of Austin.
Situated along the north shore, its a steep shoreline of limestone cliffs that stair-step to the lake. Over six hundred feet deep and formed by the Colorado River, Lake Travis will remind you of the natural beauty found in such places as Lake Tahoe.
You follow an asphalt trail that runs along the top of the cliffs until you see a spot you like, climb down among the cedar trees, find a flat place on the limestone, spread your towel, take off your clothes and settle in for hours of sun, swimming and people watching.
The water is deep, clear and clean.
Boats large and small often collect offshore, some operated by nudists, other sporting binoculars taking in the sights.
There’s a popular saying in Austin … KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD … and Hippie Hollow is part of that open-minded tradition.
