I visited the “Celebrating Women, Celebrating Bodies” exhibit in Smith Union. Though I believe Julia Mead made some strong points in her March 27 op-ed, I still found the exhibit to be clever, funny, provocative and empowering. Intrigued, I went on to read Laurel Varnell’s and Emma Johnson’s responses to Mead’s article. I came to the conclusion that Mead’s attitude is too often overlooked, but that the exhibit did good for the Bowdoin community. Then I revisited Jesse Ortiz’s February 20 op-ed on male body image.
When I stood in the Lamarche Gallery, I felt vicariously happy for the women in the pictures. I thought it was beautiful that they could feel as confident in their bodies as they appeared. I also felt excluded.
On the one hand, I don’t consider myself a terribly masculine guy. Like Ortiz, I’ve felt that the male forms presented by heteronormative, patriarchal culture often limit what men can be, just as its female forms do. Of course, I still acknowledge that patriarchy privileges male roles. On the other hand, within the gender binary, I’m male. No one offered me the chance to participate in a photo shoot to enhance my body image.
My point is not to whine about the purported evils of reverse sexism. Instead, I’d like to ask that the next time a similar exhibit is planned, everyone gets invited to the photo shoot, even if multiple shoots become necessary. After getting her photo taken, Johnson writes, “I found myself fully nude in front of my roommates for the first time.” Like Ortiz’s argument, I’d suggest that such body awkwardness is not a female-specific issue. Moreover, I’d like to suggest that awkwardness around group male nudity stems from different sources than awkwardness around group female nudity.
I perceive heteronormative discomfort to be a more significant issue surrounding male nudity than female nudity. Conversely, anxiety around group nudity for women may have more to do with perceived promiscuity than it does for men. I also believe idealized physical forms play a role in anxiety around nudity for people of all genders.
To put it another way, participants in the “Celebrating Women, Celebrating Bodies” exhibit confront two primary questions: “Am I fat?” and “Am I a slut?” Instead of answering those questions, however, it undermines the meaningfulness of both questions as gauges of a woman’s worth.
Anxieties, by their nature, diminish in the face of rational consideration and public dialogue. The two anxieties mentioned above—negative associations with weight and promiscuity—are a case in point. Participating in a nude photo exhibit doesn’t alter one’s weight or promiscuity; rather, it lessens one’s anxiety over those issues. I believe participants in a nude male photo shoot would confront different questions—namely, “Am I weak?” and “Am I gay?”—but such an exhibit would similarly lessen its participants’ anxiety surrounding those questions.
If men at Bowdoin become more comfortable in their bodies, regardless of their musculature and regardless of where they fall on the spectrum of sexualities, our entire community will benefit. As men spend time being photographed with other men in various states of undress, they will become more comfortable with their physical forms and sexualities. The wider variety of men who are photographed, the more successful the exhibit would be.
Considering people who don’t subscribe to the gender binary further complicates the picture. Perhaps the best route would be to hold photo shoots open to all, not both, genders. I don’t want to pass judgments on which sources or manifestations of body awkwardness are more problematic than others. I would just like to note that any movement toward social change should try to incorporate as many people as possible. Everyone has a body worth celebrating.
Woody Winmill is a member of the Class of 2016