Posing nude in youth -- a rite of passage?

I realize that there are many age groups shown on this site, but lately I am noticing a preponderence of young males between the ages of 18 and 21. I have been surprised by the willingness of some young men, of all orientations, races, sizes, to just drop their pants and bear all. I then remembered that when I was between the ages of 18 and 21 I could hardly keep my clothes on. I went from posing nude for a famous art photographer, to posing nude in art classes, to even showing up in the "Real Men" section of Playgirl magazine. I wonder, is this nudity during these years a rite of passage or something? I remember being that age and just feeling like I couldn't show my naked body to enough people! lol :biggrin1:

(I remember Genine Garafalo's comments on the show Dr. Katz: "I don't understand how Playgirl magazine stays in business. Women don't need to pay to see men naked. I could just walk up to any guy on the street and tell him to get naked, and he'd do it right there on the street!")

 

Yeah, the young bucks are in awe of their increasingly adult bodies and don't have some of the hangups some more seasoned folks would have about displaying so much in such a public place.

 

I think that's exactly it. You're just in awe of your new body. You think it's the greatest thing in the world. That's what's so god-damned beautiful about youth: all the joy of this body -- without concerns of upcoming repercussions.

 

I think there may be an element of rebellion, an interest in getting approval/acceptance, a dose of bravado and machismo, and maybe even some peer pressure. When I was a kid [back in the eighteenth century], there was no internet to show off to...though I did find ways to show off. I think the element of anonymity of the internet makes it a lot safer than it used to be.

How many guys would think its cool to hear another guy tell them "Hey, you have an awesome body/dick". Some of us never age out of that...

 

It's getting thecompliments you don't have in daily life. First i showed off my dick here and got complimanted by that, then showed my body and was suprised that people said I was okey with my looks, so eventually I wondered what they thought of my face and that was positive too. So all nice to hear, but pitty enough you don't hear that in daily life, so this is my reason to show off and also because it's cool to do

 

id agree, i was curious to what ppl would say especial;ly here were the bigger man is praised and then when ppl were giving me good comments i kept doing it.

 

Bro, you must hang out with a lot of blind people.

 

For me it has always been something I was ok with. I was taking fine art classes at fifteen and drawing from nudes. Nudity, for my seemed natural and it was stupid for people to find it embaresing or distasteful. As for the rigid penis, that is natural too. I also have to say that I was picked on as a kid for being very scrawny and now I am six foot+ and hung. (Whos laughing now.) I think that it was such a change it made me proud of my body and penis, and suddenly I was being complamented and people were coming on to me. That is my personal experience.

 

Young men are so thrilled about what they have and what they are that they bare all, whether they are bear cubs or smooth twinks or something in between. And Playgirl, which increasingly catered to gay men in its photos if not its text, is now out of business--because gay men can get an infinite amount of porn on the 'net and don't need a magazine.

 

I think its a right of passage while your young....

I'm 30 now, but still look pretty young (or so people keep telling me :smile and I've never

had naked fotos taken but I'd like them done over the next couple of years but

tastefully (glamour type ones)....

I mean why the hell not it's something to show ur Grankids isn't it!!! lol!

 

I have heard of kids, both guys and gals, taking nudes of themselves and sending them to friends etc. There is a 15 year old girl here in OHIO being prosecuted for sending nudes of herself using her cell phone. It is getting to be a complicated case because of her age etc.

I have not rcvd any cell phone nudes....nor had any taken, but then I am not one of these younger kids

 

For me it has always been something I was ok with. I was taking fine art classes at fifteen and drawing from nudes.


Ha,ha,ha!!

I was doing life drawing at 16 for Fine Art...The first time was one of the funniest moments of my life...

Everyone thinks it's kinky or something they don't realise it's not even remotely sexy!!! lol

 

I never heard of this. I took my shirt off in the summer when it was hot, but I wasn't obsessed with showing people my body. I didn't really get any comments on my body when I was young even though I was lean and fairly muscular, but about 15 pounds lighter than now.

So I really don't understand what you are saying. Maybe it's because I grew up before the Internet and everyoine posting pictures of themselves.

 

Exactly what I thought. How could someone like Pieter not realize that he is beautiful? He either hangs around with blind people, or comes from an area full of beautiful people where the standard is just unimaginably high.

 

If you are around people that never tell you that you are good looking then you won't know. It's just like if no one tells you that you are a good worker, then you have no idea. It's all about feedback. Some people are not great but their parents always told them they were, so now they have high self-esteem.

 

eighteenth century, eh? so by your avatar i see you must be aging backwards. there's a film coming out, "the curious case of benjamin button"
about such a case. i've seen an advance screening. it's good. theatrical
release on christmas day.

 

That could be the title of my autobiography! :wink:

 

also for me, life has been strange.


sorry to digress mr. miller. am out of this thread now.

 

I suppose the human experience is just quite varied. For example, I grew up around many people who told me I was good looking. I refer to working with a world famous photographer at one point, Paul Dalhquist. (Benham Gallery | Affiliated Artist) He told me I was good looking. I was told very often that I was good looking, and I didn't believe it because I had low self-esteem.

There could be any number of reasons that Pieter didn't realize he is beautiful. And, of course, he's not obligated to tell any of us what those reasons are.

 

My thoughts exactly.

That could be; but from what I understand your upbringing was atypical at best.