Benefits of nudism

Imagine if IU was a nudist colony.

Imagine the students, the faculty, police officers and anyone else on IU’s campus naked as the day they were born.

To some of you this may be an old nightmare, a fleshy childhood daydream that branded images of body hair and spider veins into the area of your brain that recalls adolescent tragedy, but I think we would greatly improve our community if clothes were
removed from the picture.

Like any university, IU is filled with students suffering from self-esteem issues.

To battle this someone within the University has resorted to writing pick-me-ups on the Student Recreational Sports Center’s mirrors. After I’m done using the urinal, a mirror tells me to “love myself” and to “dig the skin you’re in.” Thanks, mirror.

But instead of throwing optimism like salt on an old wound, I think it would be significantly more effective to treat the system that keeps the wound open in the first place.

Nudity brings a significant handicap on one’s ability to manipulate their own body image. If people were less able to change how they look then they would be less likely to search for the things society has defined as “flaws,” leading to less shame, more
acceptance and happiness with one’s body and less graffiti on mirrors.

During the winter, we would have to bundle up to avoid hypothermia and rescue our nipples from hardening, but on the warmer days, we can naturally benefit from being exposed to the sun.

Most have probably heard of at least one study about health issues caused by exposure to the sun’s rays, including sunburn and cancer, but  the sun does more good than its given credit for.

The body naturally produces vitamin D when exposed to the sun. In addition to promoting cell growth, calcium absorption and immune function, vitamin D has a major effect on the mental health of person.  Those who are vitamin D deficient usually suffer from depression. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that places like Alaska, where people experience almost 24 hours of darkness during the winter, have some of the highest suicide rates.

Let us dance the shameless dance of the naked people and celebrate this by
exposing ourselves to the world and the sun.

Let’s make our community a more intimate one by writing President Michael McRobbie and local politicians about the benefits of nudism. Don’t forget to include pictures.

­— ktgragg@indiana.edu