My views on public nudity have always been quite old fashioned. In most ways I am very liberated but for some reason public nudity has always made me squirm.
My parents are very open in that department and I remember when I was a little girl that my mother would sunbathe topless during our Mediterranean holidays so my ‘prudeness with nudeness’ certainly doesn’t come from my upbringing.
Anyhow, after I booked a family holiday in The Canary Islands I got straight on the Internet to investigate more about our chosen destination. It was with dread that I read that on the beaches the dress code ranges from a bathing suit down to nothing at all.
Oh No! All of those wobbly ‘private’ bits out in the open – the very thought was already putting me off my Paella!
On our first day on the beach I was relieved to see that not one single person was totally nude, saving me from answering any likely questions from my young daughters.
It was at this point however that my dilemma started. Most women were topless and when I thought about it the idea of not having tan lines was more than a little appealing.
I breastfed my four daughters so obviously I had no problem unveiling my breasts for that cause, why was I being so ‘chicken’ now?
I was trying to pluck up the courage to, as my husband so eloquently put it, ‘get ‘em out’! This internal struggle lasted for a mere 30 minutes and then I thought ‘oh what the heck’ and did just that!
I spent most of the holiday just ‘hanging out’ and I have to admit it felt great to feel so free!
Turns out I am ‘that kind of girl’ after all.
