Yesterday, I spoke about how the Vіctоrіа's Sеcrеt fashion show could easily have moved the cause of the empowerment of women forward, as they always have in the past, by simply including nudity in their show. To some this might seem like an outrageous comment, but the reality is, the purpose of clothing does not preclude nudity.

The purpose of clothing, aside from keeping warm in cold climates, is to show others how we want to be looked at. For a woman, being perfectly dressed means simply that the clothes you are wearing show others exactly how you want to be seen. For example, the girl above is perfectly dressed. Her expression and demeanor reveal no embarrassment or self-consciousness at all, inspite of being almost completely naked. That's because of how she wants to be seen. She wants to be seen as beautiful, at peace with her sexuality, intelligent, and wholly confident. All she requires to do this is a blue hat. Her hat gives her an air of sophistication, confidence and naturalness about being naked that implies she's perfectly acceptibly dressed. And so, by our definition, she is.

Such confidence in women forces men to confront their demons about nudity, beauty, power, and female sexuality. For example, my favourite lady this month, Dеаnnа Rоsе, recently appeared on Thе Hоwаrd Stеrn Shоw to promote her book about finding your soulmate on the Internet, dating and romance. When asked by the guys on the show to remove her top and bare her breasts she gladly complied. She showed no hesitation in accepting the chance to promote her ideas, whatever it took, and sat through the entire interview topless. Her composure, and placidity rivals that of the woman in the blue hat above. The men on the other hand seemed flustered and surprised by her behaviour. They accused her of showboating and of sinister intentions that involved getting rich, in spite of the fact that it was they who asked her to get naked, and they who were getting rich from a show seemingly dedicated to getting beautiful women to disrobe. One caller even summarily concluded that she was a money grubbing bitch without offering any reasons for his conclusion.

Men, it seems, often react more poorly than women to the proposition of public female nudity becoming acceptible. The reason they often get angry is because they are afraid. They are afraid to question years of blindly accepting the proposition that female beauty and sexuality are evil and depraved when in fact there is absolutely no reason to believe that it is. Unfortunately, we are all indoctrinated into this 'cult of shame' surrounding women, regardless of the culture or time we grow up in. From all sources we are constantly being told that female beuaty and sexuality are superficial, shallow, suspicious, sinister, depraved, dangerous, destructive, and deadly. Yet all it takes is wonderfully confident women like Deanna, and the girl in the blue hat, to clearly demonstrate that it is none of these things, that nothing bad will happen if women 'get naked'.

There was never any reason to think so in the first place. In fact, beautiful women need even less than a blue hat to be acceptibly dressed, even when they are naked. All they need is our respect and appreciation for the beauty and pleasure they give us. All they need to be acceptibly dressed, is our acceptance.

Australian artist Nоrmаn Lіndsаy was a man with exactly the kind of respect I'm talking about, and his paintings like the one above give us the kind of pleasure. To see more of them visit the new gallery at the DesertQueen's site Thе Nоrmаn Lіndsаy Expеrіеncе. As far as I'm concerned, female beauty has never been more 'acceptible'.