The 100th Post
Welcome to the 100th post in Feminism Without Clothes. My name is Candy Poses, and this is my blog.
The decision to become a nude model is one that I don't regret. Quite the opposite- it's saved me from telemarketing, and allowed me to do much of what I consider work sitting around on the computer in pajama pants. I go to shoots and pose for artists. I happen to not be wearing clothes while I do this. I go home, and I hope that I've made enough to pay the rent and buy food. And, usually, I have, but not by much.
Yet, I wonder- has this hurt my ability to be taken seriously?
It's one thing to be praised among the sex-positive feminists of the internet. But what about the other feminists?
Would the women at NOW be proud of me? What about the staff of Ms. Magazine? What about the gals over at Feministing? Do they like me? I see myself as one of them- but how do they see me?
I've considered dividing this blog into two- one for the feminism, and one for a photoblog. That way, I could blog about feminism all I liked- and have a chance that my blog might actually be seen in the same light as other awesome, feminist blogs out there.
By adding pictures to what I write, I sometimes feel as if I'm taking away from my point, whatever that is.
I'm linked on foreign blogs full of masturbating women- but I doubt I'll ever be linked from I Blame the Patriarchy.
Here's a naked picture.
Photography by Gary, taken in August, 2006.
The decision to become a nude model is one that I don't regret. Quite the opposite- it's saved me from telemarketing, and allowed me to do much of what I consider work sitting around on the computer in pajama pants. I go to shoots and pose for artists. I happen to not be wearing clothes while I do this. I go home, and I hope that I've made enough to pay the rent and buy food. And, usually, I have, but not by much.
Yet, I wonder- has this hurt my ability to be taken seriously?
It's one thing to be praised among the sex-positive feminists of the internet. But what about the other feminists?
Would the women at NOW be proud of me? What about the staff of Ms. Magazine? What about the gals over at Feministing? Do they like me? I see myself as one of them- but how do they see me?
I've considered dividing this blog into two- one for the feminism, and one for a photoblog. That way, I could blog about feminism all I liked- and have a chance that my blog might actually be seen in the same light as other awesome, feminist blogs out there.
By adding pictures to what I write, I sometimes feel as if I'm taking away from my point, whatever that is.
I'm linked on foreign blogs full of masturbating women- but I doubt I'll ever be linked from I Blame the Patriarchy.
Here's a naked picture.
11 Comments:
IBTP doesn't link to anyone anyway, so that solves that problem. :)
If you're interested, I started an email discussion list to work on these kinds of issues. it's not very busy b/c I have way too much work to do and so little time, but...
http://mail.pulpculture.org/mailman/listinfo/sexpos_pulpculture.org
I'd like for us to write a book because there is so little work on sex positiveism whithin feminist thought. And it gets frustrating that it's always reduced to porn when there are so many other issues.
But, baby steps. baby steps.
Candy, I must ask... Why do you care what they think of you? Why is it important to you that they like you? Is it not more important to be true to yourself than be loved by people you don't know and likely will never meet for being someone you aren't?
Daniel-
The truth of the matter is, everyone cares what people think of them.
Fair enough... Still, the very fact that you chose to create this blog and share these pictures is evidence that you chart a different course from those feminists who see all nude photography as degrading to women everywhere.
You are a strong, powerful woman. Should those others choose not to take you seriously due to your choice to model nude, that is their mistake.
Well, I read feministing, IBTP, and your blog. If blogs like that won't link to you, I suppose that's unfortunate, but I guess I would see that as a problem, and probably not one to be solved by creating another blog more like theirs.
I can't speak for the other Feministing gals, but I love your site!
To me, Feminism is simply the freedom for women to do what they want as individuals, make their own decisions, ideally in an environment of equality. I think you are the living embodiment of that. I think there can be equality between the sexes while maintaining the differences. Every culture values beauty, however it is defined. And you making a living based on your beauty is not really any different than if you had the strength to work construction, the grace to be a dancer, or the endurance to be a mail carrier. Settling into the wage slavery of a telemarketing job sitting on your butt in a cubefarm 60 hours a week would be a whole lot less "liberated" than posing and celebrating your beauty as a work of art. Feminists would say it's objectification because it sort of turns you into an "art object" but the photo is the object, and you are the subject. Big difference.
Congrats on 100 posts, and keep up the great work!
[begin sarcasim]
Stop forcing us to confront the fact that your a woman with breasts, sexual identity, etc., with these pictures of yourself, be a true woman! [end sarcasim]
Feminism should be honest, thats my standard.
On your "porn" post I said not to be "unatural". If you dont normally stick strange objects in your orifices or other common porn activities then depict yourself in your natural way. But if you want to explore unatural activities state your motive to do so. Basically Im just asking you to be honest then you'll become a feminist.
(honest men are masculine too)
Protagoras: it's not that they don't link to me(I don't link to them)- it's more of a question of how people, especially feminists, see me.
gary and jessica: Thanks!
regi: I'm already a feminist.
Take it from another perspective, Candy: will you ever be supported by the fine people at Concerned Women for America?
Oh, and I don't think that splitting the blogs is a good idea. I like seeing your pictures in context, they help me to think about feminis and empowerment of women. I'm afraid that if there was just the photoblog, I would see the pictures as masturbatory material instead of inspirational material. That isn't your problem, I know. I'm just saying.
You shouldn't be expected to change your standards because other people, with their own elitist ideas of what it means to be a feminist, do not approve of you. After all, you could claim (with all the justification in the world) that the only reason women wear clothes at all, especially over their breasts, is because patriarchical forces say that they must.
As someone relatively new to feminist circles, I constantly worry that I'll get taken to task for not being "feminist enough." Every time I post, I do so with slight trepidation, worried that one of these days someone at the Big Feminist Blogs I Love will click on the little link within my name, find my site, and find something to criticise. "Does that erotic dream I had that I really, really want to share undermine my credibility as a budding feminist?" "I'm writing a quickie -- heh heh -- about rape culture as I understand it, but should I flesh it out a little more with quotes and linkable information so I don't appear ignorant?"
So I understand where you're coming from, believe me.
The one thing I've actually come to believe, though, in the whole month that I've been surfing these places, is that it's okay. It's okay to be alternative, it's okay to come at issues from a different angle they do, it's okay to continuously meld my own definition of feminism. Nobody -- or at least, no other feminists -- are going to take away my feminist card, are going to tell me I'm not good enough to play with the others. Nobody's policing.
I like your style. It makes you approachable -- shared vulnerability, I think is what it's called. (I hope that doesn't offend you; I can't find a better word for what I mean.)
I can't speak for other feminists in saying what they think of you, but I can speak as my own feminist and say what I think of you. And I think you're swell :)
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