Nude Selfie, the OG

"My first nude photography was a self-portrait in the woods, 1906, on the University of Washington campus. I set it up and jumped into it, and that was it."

--Imogen Cunningham

Imogen was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1883. When she was 18, she bought her first camera, a 4x5. But the story goes that she lost interest and sold it to a friend. When she was 23, she'd moved up to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. There she rekindled her joy of photography and took her first nude, serving as both photographer and model. 

Study Break

Taking a study break in her room is a good time to pose nude for her camera. She sets the self timer and  gives her best attempt at a coquettish look.

After class

After class, alone in her room. A little break before hitting the books.

Portrait of An Elevator Flash

While riding in her elevator, she turned to the mirror and lifted her dress. In her photography class, the professor had been discussing the history of self-portraits. He'd even shown a few early examples of female photographers taking nude self shots, such as Imogen Cunningham as far back as 1909.

Inspired by this, she decided to take a creative self portrait. 

She wondered what her professor would think.

Big Bang Theory

A fun spoof on the popular TV show, The Big Bang Theory. 

Somehow it's perfect--the tension between Sheldon and Penny. He's annoyed at her, as well as condesending. And she annoyed at him, and sees him so asexually, that she doesn't even bother to close her robe.

Life Drawing Class, 1961

There is so much to love about this image. Just as a composition and moment of captured life, it's a master work. But that's not surprising. It was made by Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, who is best remembered for his iconic image of V-Day at the end of WWII. He photographed the famous, like Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, and before is death in 1995, the first family Clintons. This image is from Life magazine. But as interesting as the photographer's fame and talent, what I love is the model. 

I love how beautiful she is, of course. So pretty, but in a natural way. With a slender, but not skinny, figure, round hips, petit breasts, and her hair back in a simple bun, like a ballerina. She looks so very much like the Girl Next Door. The "All American" girl. And maybe she was. She looks to be college-age. And this image is taken at a college. Maybe she was a student here, at University of Iowa. The Heartland. 

Today, it would take guts to be a student in Iowa, and volunteer to pose nude before an art class. But what makes this photo even more powerful is the year that this was taken: 1961.

On the radio might have played Bobby Vee, Patsy Cline, Del Shannon, or the Shirells. Or the radio news may have reported the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, or that the new president has created a new government-sponsored organize called the Peace Corps, or that he has vowed to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, or that he has sent the first of American "advisors" to Vietnam.

Somewhere in the cold snow-swept fields of the mid-west, a young, small, scruffy baby-faced kid named Robert Zimmerman, was packing an acoustic guitar to New York, where he hoped to meet his musical idol, a nearly-forgotten folk singer of the Great Depression, who had silently suffering in a state hospital from Hutchinson's disease. 

And deep in the South, a bus filled with Civil Rights protesters is firebombed. 

In this picture is America, on the teetering point of a new and tumultuous decade. 

A young woman in Iowa sits naked, on a wooden chair, before the intent eyes of sketching art students.

College Girls Hike in Colorado

When I was going to college in Colorado, I didn't fully realize how lucky I was. Youth is wasted on the young, they say. Back then, we only knew our bodies like this. We had no idea how beautiful we really were, how open, and unafraid of the world.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Women Watching Porn

Porn doesn't turn on women? Not all women, to be sure. But I count myself as one.

The old saying is that their are lies, damn lies, and statistics. I don't give much stock to the stats reported online, since usually they are either originated by a blog or online magazine with a non-statistical sample size (like one survey I read with a 300 person sample, pulled from the Facebook of a British adult toy and lingerie company). Or are just re-reported stats with no fact checking, like a post published on Fox news that had been republished from the Sun, which originally came from who-knows-where.

Also, the top hits I got on my search weren't exactly current. Seems this was a hot topic in 2010, and circulated. Why then? Who knows. But digging back over the past decade is an interesting way to try to get a larger sense of a social trend. 

A 2001 study of 506 undergraduate students found that 35% of women had accessed "sexually explicit materials" on the internet "at least once." In 2006 another study of 563 college students found that 62% female respondents had seen online pornography before coming to college. Who knows if that's from the same college, or even colleges in the same country. But if we can generalize enough and assume perhaps the two samples of approximately 500 students are from similar enough colleges, the face value of the numbers suggest that twice as many female college students had seen online porn in 2006 than in 2001. I'd say this has to be somewhat true, since it's probably equally true that twice as many students were online in 2006 than in 2001.

Speaking from personal experience, I was at college in 2001, and we were on dial-up modems, and most of us were still using the college computer labs. (This was a state school, a Pac 10, and therefore what one might consider an "average" American student body.) In 5 short years, laptops were common and people got online via wi-fi. We're talking about the years from chat-rooms to Friendster to MySpace to Facebook. As such, the amount of porn online, and the ability to download it, or upload it changed radically from the start of the milleium through its first decade.

A report in 2007 claimed that 17 million women watched porn on a monthly basis. I don't know if that's 17 million American women, or exactly who the sample population was, so who knows what percentage that represents of whom. I guess the point is that 17 million women is a lot of women looking at smut.

The survey reported in the Sun in 2010 stated that out of 4,200 women surveyed, 76% said that porn was part of their sex lives. A more recent article, just a year old, sited the Nielsen report that said one in three adults browsing adult porn sites are women. So there you have it: if you have three women, at least one, quite likely two, and just possibly all three have spent a little time looking at sexy stuff online.

The reports usually also note that its more likely that younger women (ie Millennials) are looking at online porn than older women. But that should be no surprise. I'm sure you'd also see that reflecting in which age group of women accesses and uses the internet the most. (I think my Mom literally still has an AOL account, and my grandmother adamantly refuses to own a computer.)

What is most encouraging to me is the current trends of DIY porn. The 2010 survey from the British toy/lingerie company reported that 40% of the women polled had made their own porn. As I mentioned, they only had a survey size of 300. But the good news is that in the group, at least 120 women had made their own porn. Think about that the next time you are in a public space, like having dinner in a restaurant.

One thing is most certainly true: the numbers are under, rather than over, reported. Let's be honest: not everyone is willing to share every intimate detail of their sexual lives with researchers. A lot of people skip over polls. Maybe people looking at porn would rather look at porn than take a survey about it. I'm no statistician, but let's just say that I'm a woman who loves porn, and no one has ever asked me in a poll, so I am one of the uncounted.

What can we take away from this? Lies, damn lies and statistics? Can we infer anything concrete from the numbers, or just that the numbers seem to follow what we'd expect anyway: over the last 10 years, more women are online looking at things; more often than not, those women are younger women; and at least two out of three woman are taking a moment to check out sexual content. Possible two out of three. And the third is my grandma.

I guess that isn't exactly shocking news. But what I hope comes from this is that as more and more people (men and women) are able to access the wide world of online porn, people will be able to see the variety of human sexuality, and in the viewing of such diversity, come to realize that: a) sex is fundamental to the human experience; b) everyone is different and so no one is "normal" and conversely, the thing you are into that you thought so "abnormal," you realize is shared by hundreds, maybe thousands, or maybe even millions of others; c) my personal favorite--if you don't see anything that reflects you and your experience, you can simply make your own.

Hot Lift Operator

Gotta love the hot girls who take a semester off from college so they can work the ski season. Running a lift can be pretty boring, and there are lots of ways to make it a little more exciting.

How To Survive A Long Distance Relationship

Moving off to college meant leaving her boyfriend back in her hometown. It would be hard, but at least the technology to video chat over Skype could help them feel not as far apart. 

She hadn't yet set up much in her new apartment, but as soon as she got her computer up, she was ready for a little video chat with her boyfriend.

Patricia, Back Then

Back a while ago, when she was a student in Santa Barbara, Patricia and her favorite pastime.

Study Break

College Girlfriend

College girlfriend, in her room, smiles as I snap a quick shot. A moment to remember, not because it was special in itself, but because it represented the sum of all those moments in that time and place.

Run, Jump In

Reminds me of being on the beach one night in Santa Cruz (rather buzzed).

Anal Quickie and Adidas

A fast quickie after practice. She didn't mind it this way. In fact, she requested it if we didn't have a condom. She wasn't on the pill and didn't want to get pregnent. I more than happily agreed. She slipped off her shirt and shorts. No time to unlace her Adidas. 

Ski Season Girl

Gotta love those girls who take winter term off from college so they can work at a lodge for a ski pass and pay rent in a ski house with several roommates all doing the same. She braids her hair so she doesn't have to mess with it. It'd just get tangled anyway. And shaving, fuck that. Who's got time for that BS? This girl hears the call of fresh powder...

Girl Talk In The Locker Room

A lovely frame from the classic XXX film, Debbie Does Dallas. It pretty much summarizes what every boy in high school wishes they could see.

For a complete summary of the film and some other great images, check out my post.

All American Girl Next Door

Who is America?

This girl. She's 20, attending the University of Michigan, and "living in the middle of nowhere." She likes her pets, likes camping with friend, goofing off, and studying. She likes to read, has a fascination with Japanese culture. Likes bunnies, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, listening to Kanye. has had her heart broken. She's adorably cute, smart and funny.

Who is America?

This girl.

Before and After, No Shave November

Hurray for No Shave November! Two shots at same place, but different times by Une Femme Perdue.

Flashing in the University Library