In my Social Change and Literature class I did a presentation on the sex ed movement, from its beginning to where it is today. The aspect that stuck out the most to me was this: Everyone wants to control what is said, but no one wants to actually teach it. The general messages of: “Let’s talk about sex” and “What’s the big deal with sex?” work in harmony for those open to being open about their bodies and their sexuality, but clash with those who aren’t.

Outside of sex education, the subject is not easy to avoid. Everything from cars to hamburgers is advertised using skin. And you can find nudity in the more personal areas of society, such as social media. More and more, I’m seeing celebrities post nude (or nearly nude) pictures of themselves or pose in magazine photo shoots mostly nude, or at least with the implication of it.

There is an innate curiosity that comes in a culture where we celebrate fashion and usually (hopefully) wear clothes around each other. Being naked comes from trust and understanding between two people. I’m not trying to make it sound religious, but we tend to not show the crown jewels to the royal public.

And as uncomfortable as they might make us, I think that these photos are important, though I can definitely see how they could be viewed with scorn.

Two clashing arguments on this subject are, “They’re setting a bad example” and “They are proud of their bodies; this is a form of self-expression and it promotes positive body image.”

For all of the salacious headlines that will follow a “dirty pic,” photos like these are important, simply because the intention behind them. The execution and ramifications are where things get tricky.

The intention, which can often be deduced simply by the caption of the photo, is honesty. People are presenting themselves as they are, and provided that the photos aren’t enhanced, the message can be tremendous. Honesty is the best policy, even if we are taken aback by it.

But the right message might not be received. While we love to soak up confessionals and hear about the hard times of celebrities, we tend to view this sort of confessional with a different lens. The punch line becomes titillation, not opening up.

Suddenly, the person is setting a bad example. Viewers might look longingly at what the picture poster has and decide to take drastic measures to get there themselves. And some, who are living in a world of bikini magazines and internet porn, will just sexualize the body and not think of the deeper message.

Many argue that nudity is not inherently expressive to begin with. If you aren’t obviously touting a political message, or something else that explains why you are naked, then aren’t you just being naked to be naked? What is communicated then?

I don’t think that we should abandon other forms of communication, but dismissing and discouraging these kind of pictures is an egregious misstep. There are obviously laws, parameters, age restrictions and countless other things that should be addressed before someone considers posting a pic like this. But just because they may cause us to do a double take as we scan through our news feeds, doing anything to block them from happening is countering the very honest intention that spawned them in the first place.

Jeffrey Langan can be reached at lang5466@stthomas.edu.