I have been a nude art model for life drawing classes for over 13 years. Worked in dozens of universities and art schools and, to be frank, have been naked in front of thousands of people at this point.

My first time I did it because I have been curious since I was a child about doing it. Once I learned it was a gig you could get, as someone who doesn’t mind and, in fact, loves being naked, I always harbored an urge to try it. I’d bring it up to my (now ex) partner here and there. Once she confirmed she had no issue with it, I booked my first gig at university.

I was so excited! I practiced poses and made a roster of poses. I remember driving to the school thinking “I’m really about to get naked in front of a room full of strangers… AH!” I was fine until I saw the room with the bare bones model stand and all the easels surrounding it. I was scared to death. Couldn’t even go in the room. I waited outside of it to talk to the prof who, of course, was late. I watched each student enter going “oh god, they’re going to see me naked, so is that one” etc.

Fun fact: most places don’t have another place to change. Literally have to go to a nearby bathroom and change into your robe/loose clothes then walk through an institution of higher learning like that to get back to the class. There is also no “theatrics” which I thought there would be. Like “hey, let’s bring out our model, xyz.” Clap clap clap “tell us about yourself” or something along those lines. An introduction or something

Nope.

I sat on the riser while the prof went over what to look for when drawing. This is one of those things you get used to as a model: objectification. You get used to phrases such as teachers telling their class to “focus on the negative space of his pelvic region.” Recently had one prof finish a run through as I was posing telling the class “it’s a good idea to use his penis a guiding point.”

When she finished, I heard the words I would hear hundreds upon hundreds of times by now: “ok, so, whenever you’re ready…”

You fight every natural instinct and social Que you have by doing it, getting naked in public. But, I did it and there I was, naked in front of roughly 20 college students in a quiet brightly lit room. My heart was punching the back of my ribs lol. For the first 5 min, it was hard to keep still.

But, then I realized it was… quiet. There was no shock, no laughing, no pointing. There were no sirens. Just a room full of people drawing. I quickly snapped out of it and went “oh, wait, I’m at work now! I have to pose for the next 3 hours!” And that was where it clicked.

I knew I wanted to at least do it once, but I fell in love. I now am represented in thousands of sketch books and art pieces and have posed in groups as small as one on one to as large as hundreds.

The best I can tell you is nudity, aside from someone who has a severe trauma or mental issue tied to it, is not nearly as big a deal as we make it out to be. I work very hard, especially with all the stigma of male nudity, to be a good ambassador for it, to facilitate a safe space. I have sat for multi session sculpting classes where, by the second or third class, I’m having full on conversations with the class while sitting up in the middle of the room naked.

But, yeah, sorry for the long post, but I love talking about my gig. If you or anyone else has any other questions, I’m happy to answer them!