BODY ACCEPTANCE
Can baring it all actually make you feel better about your body? BY KARMA BROWN
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ould you like me to leave so you can undress?” While the person asking the question waits for an answer, I remind myself that this was my idea. I wonder if it’s too late to change my mind (yes) and if the shoes I’m wearing go well with naked (Mary Jane Crocs, so, no). I’m not about to disrobe for my doctor or for a massage. But here I am in the office of Stéphane Deschênes, owner of Ontario’s Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park, where I’m gearing up to spend an afternoon with strangers... in my birthday suit. I believe some of us are happy-to-be-naked people: the ones who undress without closing blinds, change sans towel at the gym, or leave the lights on during sex. I’m not one of those people. But I should be.
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I grew up in the ’70s, raised by hippie parents in a nakedfriendly home. As a child, I probably spent more time out of clothes than in them—until the age of 12, when my dad strolled down the hallway nude one day and I said, “Can’t we all just put some clothes on?” My clothing-optional era was over. Now in my 40s, I don’t hide my body from my husband or daughter, but I don’t flaunt it either... though perhaps I should. I’m as slim (albeit softer) as I was in my 20s. I’m proud of my scars from the cancer I beat. I’m also wise (old) enough to know I’ll look back on this body and think it looked pretty damn good. My six-year-old is getting older and I know that the messages she’s exposed to will soon be out of my control, so the time to teach her to love her body is now. CANADIANLIVING.COM | AUGUST 2014
