There’s something quite liberating about swimming naked. Whether it be the the sun’s embrace on body parts that rarely see the light of day or the feeling of freedom on your lady bits as you dive into waves, skinny dipping is a carefree way to be ‘one with nature’.
Swimming with hundreds of other people though, well that's a different story. Stripping down to your birthday suit in front of strangers, family and friends, and in our case, colleagues can conjure up a bit of anxiety. Despite the nerves though we're stripping down, and for a good reason.
The annual Sydney Skinny is an event that unites naked bodies, no matter your age, shape or size. 1 Million Women will be embracing all of our wobbly bits and swimming for the empowerment of women and for the protection of our planet.
Why get naked?
In addition to all the aforementioned perks of swimming naked, for us skinning dipping together with hundreds of other people is a stark (no pun intended) reflection of humanity at its core. Underneath all of the makeup, designer clothing, shiny cars and material possessions that are so prevalent in our society today, we are all the same. We're all human in all of our fleshy glory.
Unfortunately in our society, as women, we're continuously bombarded with messages indicating that we're not good enough. We're reminded by flashy advertising that we need to consume to be beautiful. We need to buy the latest clothes to look trendy and wear the newest makeup to appear the 'best' version of ourselves.
Stripping away all of these things though is the only way we can find our true beauty. All the imperfect bumps, spots and lumps that make us unique from one another are the things that make each of us beautiful. Nudity is the form in which we all emerged upon this planet, so why should we hide it?
Advertising is not only to blame for a feeling of low self worth amongst us women. It is the major culprit in our culture of rampant consumption, a culture that is one of the largest drivers of climate change today.
Gone are the days of the traditional four-season fashion year. Many clothes stores now advertise 52 fashion seasons a year, compelling people to stay on top of the newest trends and buy new items every single week. Because of this, in Australia 6 tonnes of clothing waste is dumped in landfill every 10 minutes.
This abundance of waste is not the only problem emerging from our fleeting material desires. The emissions produced when making these short-lived items is having a detrimental impact on our atmosphere, contributing to global warming. The fashion industry is the second largest polluter, only second to the oil industry.
How can we reject our culture of consumption?
Knowing that we're enough and that we don't need material things to feel beautiful can help us to reject excess. If we only buy what we need and consider where each item will end up when we no longer require it, we can consume less, waste less and contribute to healthier planet.
Image: Sydney Skinny
The Sydney Skinny is on Sunday the 19th March 2017 at Cobblers Beach, Sydney Harbour National Park. If you'd like to just us, visit the event website.
Read this next: Empowering Future Climate Heroes Through Female Education and Family Planning
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