No Nudes Ever…Ever!

I seriously wonder if most people even realize they nekked under they clothes, y’all — for realz!

I had a wild dream last night that somebody started a service for people who wanted to hide evidence they had ever taken a naked picture. Somehow it started when I took some selfies and wanted to store them safe away. By the end of the dream it was a booming business and I was the poster child for all things nudity. Of course, my pictures got used to advertise so everybody saw my goods. It got complicated and there was a lawsuit, but by then the damage had been done.

The world I grew up in made it clear as hell the body was a shameful thing. Any hint that a person had actual skin under whatever required hipness you was supposed to be wrapped in, the kids I grew up around exploded into howling ass laughter. Time I got to high school, and gym class called for us all to strip down and shower together was some barbaric shit. Fuck however much taboo nakedness was forced on me, in doctors’ offices, public athletics and a few other spots, message still came loud and clear that being nekked was damnable.

By the time sex got introduced—forget it. If we wasn’t even supposed to acknowledge nudity, for sure nobody was ever supposed to touch anybody else while they was naked. The reaction to Madonna and Miss America Vanessa Williams sealed the deal on nakedness for me. The near impeachment of Bill Clinton reinforced that sex the worst thing a person could do in the public eye. The cheating part was inconsequential if you ask me. Nobody wanted to imagine a President who had sex.

Sex and body positivity are essential AF when it comes to revolutionary work. It ain’t about everybody running around streaking and having non-stop sex in the plain of day. The horror of that image is enough though to show how much work needs to be done. Shame one of the most powerful tools used to keep humans under the thumb of the entities that want to make sure we never feel good enough to be responsible adults. When it comes to our skin, most people still children.

I’d like to get proved wrong on this one. If I’m full of shit, hit me up in the comments with why you think so. Obviously, if your ass is just triggered, nobody told you to be up in my feed!

Pink Flowers

Pink Flowers is a Black trans artist, activist and educator, whose work is rooted in ancient shamanic, African trickster, and Brazilian Joker traditions. Pink uses Theater of the Oppressed, Art of Hosting, Navajo Peacemaking and other anti-oppression techniques, as the foundation of their theater-making, mediation, problem-solving and group healing practices.

She is the founder of Award-winning Falconworks Theater Company, which uses popular theater to build capacities for civic engagement and social change. She has received broad recognition, numerous awards, and citations for their community service. She has been a faculty member at Montclair State University, Pace University, and a company member of Shakespeare in Detroit.

Pink is currently in Providence Rhode Island teaching directing for the Brown/Trinity MFA program, while also directing the Brown University production of Aleshea Harris’s award-winning What To Send Up When It Goes Down. Get performance detail here.

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