Author: David Heulfryn

There have been over a thousand complaints about the programme. Well, there were bound to be some. One person was concerned about four adult men showing their naked bodies to a group of schoolchildren. They said they do not need to see naked strangers to learn about the body. I somehow think they haven’t understood the point of the programme.

Growing up, I learnt about the body and sex from diagrams. At no point did we ever learn that the male body comes in all shapes and sizes. In a conversation with the kids, they thought the male body was perfect pecs, abs and muscles.

Looking at muscular bodies on social media often bears no resemblance to what they look like in the mirror, and there is growing pressure on boys to look like this ideal image of a man. More boys are growing up with body dysmorphia, leading to severe mental health issues.

There was also a part of the programme where Luke, a nine-year-old quad-amputee, who lost his limbs to meningitis, talks about losing his limbs and what helps him keep going. He talks to an adult quad-amputee who doesn’t let it stop doing anything. Listening to him speak, he sounds so inspiring.

It’s great to see that Channel 4 has done it again. The new series is called “Naked Education”; the first episode deals with body hair. The programme wanted to dispel myths about body hair and had a small group of teens discussing it.

One young teen, Elliot (15), said he shaved his armpits to avoid smelling bad. He also said he thought shaving pubes was more hygienic and helped protect you from STIs. Thankfully they dispelled this myth, even saying that shaving could increase your risks of contracting an STI as shaving can damage the skin.

They had four models show their naked bodies to the teens. One lady said that an ex-boyfriend demanded she shave her pubes off. She refused, and they broke up. Hence why the presenter commented, “Pubes before dudes”. I’m a massive fan of pubes; the bushier, the better.

Personally, I think the obsession with body hair stems from porn. The vast majority of porn has performers with little or no body hair (gay and straight), and porn with body hair is considered a ‘fetish’.

The main thrust of the programme is to love who you are, no matter what body shape or how much or little hair you have. “The Naked Brigade” helps one young lady come to terms with herself. Being tall, she was teased mercilessly, and the group reclaimed all the insults thrown at them by writing them on their bodies.

I didn’t expect any full-frontal nudity as the programme aired at 8pm, before the UK’s 9pm watershed. Nothing unsuitable for children should be shown before 9pm, so it’s nice to see that the naked body is acceptable, in all its forms. As I try to espouse in the Cockaigne Chronicles, all nudity is not sexual, and sex does not always mean nudity.