Last week we saw a movie called The Sessions. The film is based on a short story written by Mark O’Brien.
Mark suffered from polio as a child, remains immobile and visits a sex
surrogate. I had never heard of sex surrogacy but let’s just describe it as physical
therapy for other parts…Helen Hunt plays the sex surrogate and while I have all
sorts of thoughts about this profession, I was more intrigued with Hunt’s
nakedness. Helen Hunt doesn’t have a nude scene in the movie, she’s nude for
most of the movie and seemingly totally at ease.
On the Today Show Hunt said, “all right, all right for
God’s sake, I’m naked. People keep saying this is a ‘brave’ performance and I
keep thinking ‘brave’ means ‘naked’”. I’ve written before about the naked locker room people (and how I am sooo not one of them) but while naked for covered-up
types like me is “brave” I am thinking for the naked-and-happy club naked is
sort of natural.
Hunt also said “my role in this movie is to come in and
give the audience a glimpse of what it would be like if we dropped all our
strangeness about sexuality.” Where does this strangeness about sexuality or
nudity come from though? Is a comfort level in the buff tied in with body
image? If you feel better about your body are you more apt to sleep naked or
parade around without clothes? A piece on Mind Body Green actually suggests
time in front of a mirror naked as a way to reduce body hatred and improve self-esteem.
I haven’t tried it yet.
I’m also intrigued by whether growing up in a naked house
makes you more comfortable naked. Interestingly, I have a mother who was very
comfortable (and still is) about her body. She didn’t parade around when I had
friends over but didn’t ever seem in a rush to cover up either. You’d think
that would make her children “free” in this sense but it didn’t. Is that our
personalities or do you pull away from what you’re used to? Again not sure.
Matt Lauer said to Hunt something to the effect of as the
film goes on you sort of forget she’s naked. This may just be really good
acting but it would be really nice if we could all forget the discomfort and awkwardness
that nakedness presents. There will be no “sessions” in my future or group
nakedness (I didn’t mean it like that) but I do think body comfort is something
to aspire to. Do you?
Have you seen The Sessions or heard about it? Are you a naked sleeper or locker room person? Why do you think some people are naked-and-happy? Is it from your family, where you were raised or is it individual? What do you think of the naked time suggestion from Mind Body Green?
