"What are we so afraid of?"

A San Diego State University Student discovers nudity on California's Black's Beach, and wonders what all the fuss is about.

Yes! It's true, fellow Americans! It's possible to be platonically nude. Fancy that. "The taboo of nudity in America partially spawns from the Puritan Christian background and capitalistic system where the body becomes an object of shame," UCSD student and nudist studying gender theory Hayley Ebersole said. "When you go nude, there is nothing left to see, and so the body morphs into something whole rather than fetishized."

Exploring the beaches of Barcelona and France, I was finally free to go topless and not get a ticket. My French friend and I tried tanning without tops in an unpopulated section of Pacific Beach last year, but were told by a patrolling lifeguard to, "Go to Black's; otherwise put on tops or get tickets."

"But, I don't get it, they're just breasts," we answered.

What are we so afraid of?

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked