Artistic Nudes Ruin Relationships

I knew this was coming. I knew this would happen.

I am an artist and I took a fine arts course through a college.

One of the primary studies practiced in the arts is the drawing of the nude form, for the purposes of understanding anatomy and developing a sense of technical subtlety.

And now I have a girlfriend who is upset- severely upset- by the fact that I was fine with this.

The fact is, I was fine with it- and still am to this day- because I don't care about our culture's hangup on nudity. Walk down the street naked if you want. It's a bad idea, but I'm not going to stop you. Have fun freezing to death, you nut case.

Furthermore, I don't think that a naked body is necessarily an expression of sexuality. Being naked just means you're naked. And nothing else.

And anyone who can't understand that is either too stupid to overcome their hormonal drive- driven to starvation for stimulation by our cultural repression- or too obsessed with the arbitrary "morality" of hiding one's body from the world needlessly, and should really do a bit of introspection as to what logical basis there is for such a destructive belief.

Nancy, I'm sorry I'm an artist. That's all I can say. There's nothing more that I can do. What's done is done. I cannot change my beliefs just to make you feel more comfortable. My opposition to all forms of repression and censorship demands that I hold these beliefs. If you cannot accept that... Then I guess I understand. But I can't believe you would let something like this stand between us. I love you. My love for you can endure through all kinds of crazy bullshit.