Anna
2012-01-14 00:17:39 UTC
This is from the blog of someone who was actually in the documentary.
http://nakedvegancooking.com/2012/01/13/thoughts-on-my-daughter-the-teenage-nudist/
http://tinyurl.com/6rllpt3
I thought I would jot some thoughts on how our recent brush with fame
in “My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist” went whilst it is still fresh in
my mind! First of all, I’m really glad about our portrayal in the
documentary, and I think we came across pretty well. We were filming
with the documentary crew for a long time and talked a lot about the
politics of feminism and body image, and I’m glad that at least some
of that comes across. The production company were pretty cool
throughout, considering they could have properly screwed us over if
they had wanted to! For those of you who have seen it, you can catch
it on 4OD if your in the UK and here if your are from overseas.
I feel to a certain extent that the some parts of the documentary
seemed a little de-contextualised, and it’s a shame that overall the
result made the documentary less political than it could have been.
The production company must have a lot of footage of me, Luke and Alex
ranting about feminism, capitalism and body image on their cutting
room floor! Although I think we always knew that going on a mainstream
telly was always going to involve a bit of a compromise on politics,
so overall I think we’re pretty chuffed with how it’s gone.
My biggest bugbear is probably the title – “My Daughter, the Teenage
Nudist” along with being largely misleading (at least half of us were
male and over 20), it seemed to promise furtive glimpses of underage
feminine sexuality which ran contrary to what the documentary was
about – being comfortable in your own skin. I guess that was Channel
4’s way of hooking in the punters.
Reading through some of the reviews in the papers, almost every one
picked up on a conversation between Luke and two girls whilst flyering
in Manchester, about how Darryl and Alex were pretty attractive, and
whether or not this made them good adverts for body-positivism. I
don’t want to speak for Alex or Darryl, but I’d wager that every
person, no matter how conventionally attractive, has had doubts about
their body image and self esteem at some point. This is pretty much
the basis of the beauty industry – fostering hang-ups in order to
profit from cosmetics, creams, and cover-ups. As such, going publicly
naked represents a big step for anyone, regardless of how pretty other
people think they are. And frankly, as astute as those girls
statements were, I imagine the media’s reaction would be much more
scathing if this was a documentary about older and well-weathered
nudists, sadly. It’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you
don’t.
Another thing I’m surprised hasn’t been raised much in criticism of
the documentary is about how white we all are. There is a serious lack
of diversity in the show, and the naturist movement/community as a
whole. We talked about it a fair bit with the production crew (which
didn’t make the cut), and have jotted down a few of our own thoughts
on the subject, but would love to hear your thoughts on how this
situation can improve – get in touch if you want to contribute
articles to the blog, or have any good resources to share.
I hope I can speak for all of us when I say that we have been really
overwhelmed with the positive comments, tweets and emails that have
flooded in. Some comments have been amusing, others filled with anger
(of the good sort), and more so have been incredibly touching. I’m
sorry that we won’t get chance to respond to them all, but thank-you
for them all the same.
Whilst I’m on the subject of thanking people, I’d like to give a shout
out to my best friends and naked vegan comrades, Luke and Greta.
You’ll probably recognise Luke from the documentary, and heard how his
body-positive attitude has helped me come to terms with some of my own
body issues. Greta wasn’t in the documentary as her family was worried
about the potential of it being sensationalised and sexualised in the
media (which in hindsight was well founded) but has really been a
powerhouse behind making this project work, as well as doing some
really fantastic campaigning around the media and ad industries
perception of women and bodies.
We’ve met some good people through doing this documentary, and have
come a long way since the documentary was filmed. Naked Vegan Cooking
also has some exciting projects coming up, including naked clubbing
and a pop-up restaurant which you can hear about if you subscribe to
get email updates or to our events mailing list. Other ways of keeping
in touch with us include facebook and twitter. And don’t forget if you
fancy giving naked vegan cooking a try in your own kitchens you can
submit your own recipes to go on the blog here.
With love, Jess
http://nakedvegancooking.com/2012/01/13/thoughts-on-my-daughter-the-teenage-nudist/
http://tinyurl.com/6rllpt3
I thought I would jot some thoughts on how our recent brush with fame
in “My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist” went whilst it is still fresh in
my mind! First of all, I’m really glad about our portrayal in the
documentary, and I think we came across pretty well. We were filming
with the documentary crew for a long time and talked a lot about the
politics of feminism and body image, and I’m glad that at least some
of that comes across. The production company were pretty cool
throughout, considering they could have properly screwed us over if
they had wanted to! For those of you who have seen it, you can catch
it on 4OD if your in the UK and here if your are from overseas.
I feel to a certain extent that the some parts of the documentary
seemed a little de-contextualised, and it’s a shame that overall the
result made the documentary less political than it could have been.
The production company must have a lot of footage of me, Luke and Alex
ranting about feminism, capitalism and body image on their cutting
room floor! Although I think we always knew that going on a mainstream
telly was always going to involve a bit of a compromise on politics,
so overall I think we’re pretty chuffed with how it’s gone.
My biggest bugbear is probably the title – “My Daughter, the Teenage
Nudist” along with being largely misleading (at least half of us were
male and over 20), it seemed to promise furtive glimpses of underage
feminine sexuality which ran contrary to what the documentary was
about – being comfortable in your own skin. I guess that was Channel
4’s way of hooking in the punters.
Reading through some of the reviews in the papers, almost every one
picked up on a conversation between Luke and two girls whilst flyering
in Manchester, about how Darryl and Alex were pretty attractive, and
whether or not this made them good adverts for body-positivism. I
don’t want to speak for Alex or Darryl, but I’d wager that every
person, no matter how conventionally attractive, has had doubts about
their body image and self esteem at some point. This is pretty much
the basis of the beauty industry – fostering hang-ups in order to
profit from cosmetics, creams, and cover-ups. As such, going publicly
naked represents a big step for anyone, regardless of how pretty other
people think they are. And frankly, as astute as those girls
statements were, I imagine the media’s reaction would be much more
scathing if this was a documentary about older and well-weathered
nudists, sadly. It’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you
don’t.
Another thing I’m surprised hasn’t been raised much in criticism of
the documentary is about how white we all are. There is a serious lack
of diversity in the show, and the naturist movement/community as a
whole. We talked about it a fair bit with the production crew (which
didn’t make the cut), and have jotted down a few of our own thoughts
on the subject, but would love to hear your thoughts on how this
situation can improve – get in touch if you want to contribute
articles to the blog, or have any good resources to share.
I hope I can speak for all of us when I say that we have been really
overwhelmed with the positive comments, tweets and emails that have
flooded in. Some comments have been amusing, others filled with anger
(of the good sort), and more so have been incredibly touching. I’m
sorry that we won’t get chance to respond to them all, but thank-you
for them all the same.
Whilst I’m on the subject of thanking people, I’d like to give a shout
out to my best friends and naked vegan comrades, Luke and Greta.
You’ll probably recognise Luke from the documentary, and heard how his
body-positive attitude has helped me come to terms with some of my own
body issues. Greta wasn’t in the documentary as her family was worried
about the potential of it being sensationalised and sexualised in the
media (which in hindsight was well founded) but has really been a
powerhouse behind making this project work, as well as doing some
really fantastic campaigning around the media and ad industries
perception of women and bodies.
We’ve met some good people through doing this documentary, and have
come a long way since the documentary was filmed. Naked Vegan Cooking
also has some exciting projects coming up, including naked clubbing
and a pop-up restaurant which you can hear about if you subscribe to
get email updates or to our events mailing list. Other ways of keeping
in touch with us include facebook and twitter. And don’t forget if you
fancy giving naked vegan cooking a try in your own kitchens you can
submit your own recipes to go on the blog here.
With love, Jess