Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Actors Don't Hunt in Packs

136 Responses

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  • Isabel Hitchings,

    The only time I have an issue with someone else's modesty is when they are held up as an example by which to attempt to limit my freedoms. I'm thinking mostly about things like public breastfeeding where, because some women choose to leave the room or swathe themselves in blankets the position can be taken that this is the only correct thing to do.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2007 • 719 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Isabel - I truly find people who object to breastfeeding in any public venue sad sad shits. We're mammals - whereTF do they think the majority of human kids get their milk from? And as for hiding that lovely thing, the lactating human* breast - or MUCH worse - attempting to have others do so - well, 'sick' takes on new & abyssal meaning...

    *males can lactate. I have a whole people in a-novel-series-whose-name-cannot-be-mentioned where males also breastfeed.

    Mind you - I'm *conditioned*
    : my mother breastfed us all (expressing milk for her potiki) and this was never a private act. And I have 2 staunch and highly experienced midwife sisters-

    *which, in this instance, is a wholly desirable thing-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Dinah Dunavan,

    I do feel irritated when a person chooses to change in the loo when there are only two stalls available. The pool I go to doesn't offer individual changing rooms which is obviously not ideal for some people. But it is worse to use the shower as a loo than to use the loo as a changing room.

    The irony I see is that after their expression of extreme modesty the young women in question will often appear wearing very skimpy togs and then drape themselves beside the pool, on display. (Which I am all in favour of, and have been known to do myself at time.)

    Dunedin • Since Jun 2008 • 186 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    . . . hospitable drinks from home-made ginger beer through coffee - the Islay malt hoard...

    Thank you! Previous attempt to visit the big O was decades earlier. My clutch burnt out a few miles (yes that long ago) short, and I had to push a heavy motorbike back to the main road before hitching to Franz.

    Must be something in the ginger beer that keeps the beasties at bay - or quite likely the single malt. I believe Scotland has sandfly issues too.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    When I was about 3 my parents found my older brothers in the back-yard tent with a couple of neighborhood girls playing "doctors". By some curious twist of logic my parents decided that to resolve my brother's er curiosity, the family would join a nudist club. Which meant I grew up spending all my summers running around nude with my friends.

    So I was always more than a little puzzled by the boys in the swimming changing rooms who would wrap towels around themselves to avoid having any other boy see their "naughty" bits. And bemused by the attempts to see naked girls especially when we were all 10 and I knew girls looked pretty much the same as boys.

    So to see shame about nudity is kind of odd for me. It is part of our culture, exposing genitals in public is wrong in our culture, in much the same way as exposing hair is wrong in other cultures. I get clothes, I understand that clothes can make someone look good, even better than they look naked. But the idea that the naked body is somehow shameful is a pity.

    I'm very glad I grew up as a nudist, my friends and I grew up knowing that every body is different and age has real and normal consequences. I don't want to imply that there should be any shame about being body-shy. But equally these are the only bodies we have and enjoying what you have for what it is should also be something that isn't shameful.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Yay, Emma. Opening up a discussion on nudity. I'm not from a family of actors - we're all just completely immodest.

    I blame five years at boarding school, but if you're that neurotic about privacy (or so vain/sexually insecure you think everyone else lives to scope out your junk) you're wasting way too much nervous energy.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    these are the only bodies we have and enjoying what you have for what it is should also be something that isn't shameful.

    But what would beauticians, cosmeticians and plastic surgeons do for a crust? There's a recession, you know.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    By some curious twist of logic my parents decided that to resolve my brother's er curiosity, the family would join a nudist club.

    Your parents clearly rule.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    Your parents clearly rule.

    Yeah I think so.

    One issue was warning my friends from school that if they came to visit my house there was a fairly high probability (in summer) of seeing my parents naked. And unlike hollywood, my parents were normal 50 year olds with normal 50 year old bodies.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    But what would beauticians, cosmeticians and plastic surgeons do for a crust?

    Not mutually exclusive Sasha. No reason you can't enjoy something and still want to make some changes (checks love handles).

    I also knew women who were happy to be nude but would never be seen without make up (shrug).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Sayana,

    One issue was warning my friends from school that if they came to visit my house there was a fairly high probability (in summer) of seeing my parents naked.

    I wish a friend of mine had warned me of that - 'tis a bit of a shock when you haven't been 'exposed' to such behaviour before.

    Since Sep 2008 • 50 posts Report Reply

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