Gee, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you repeat yourself. But thank you for showing me the quote! So she discarded her clothes because they represented what she was before?
Oh no worries. I don't mind showing or re-explaining but I was a bit tired. I figured that if you hadn't seen that. It would answer many questions at once too! And essentially yes. She became evil in her mind thus she discarded things that reminded her of being her good self. Though @Laurus had a neat idea about it perhaps being a culture/religious thing.
I'm glad you said this, because I was about to ask. I think this has already been touched on, but what are the readers supposed to feel towards this culture? There's room to play with nudity. People have mentioned shame, though pride could be used as well with the right criteria. I think the whole problem concerning sexuality is that, as people have mentioned, it's inescapable. And as people have also mentioned, in-book character reactions would help contextualize this. I don't know their names, so I'll just refer to as them Nude Lady and MC for this. What culture does the MC belong to? Are her thoughts about the nudist culture folks in line with her culture's views? What is Nude Lady's culture's basic history and justification for the nudity thing? And how does her culture control for the nude people? Sexualized in prose or not, nudity is sexual to other humans and needs to be dealt with within the story itself.
I see, neat! Yes that post saved you from a bombardment of questions I had for you. A cultural thing you say...?
Tricky questions. Strong ones. But tricky ones. I mean, she is seen by two different characters I think. Not sure how exactly I would do that. In the case of the first. Nudity is probably a meaningless facet to the person. I imagine the culture would be similar to ours. But just more of a "she was trying to kill me. sorry I wasn't staring at her tits. The whole not dying thing took priority." The other character, since it isn't as much of a battle situation, might take in the nudity a bit more but since she is explaning herself and essentially cries at what she had become. I doubt that will be very sexual either. If anything it is more like a victim. The nude lady's culture. Well, I never fully designed it. But I knew it was based on war! In the sense, that fighting would resolve most any disputes. Nude lady's name is Gemma for the record. Her Queen status had nothing to do with royalty, She was simply that strong. No one in her kingdom could dare challenge her. And most didn't even want to(not because they would lose, but because she was loved.) She was a just ruler. Very mindful of what she did. The kind of ruler, to be as mean as she needed to be. Someone who could switch between the grace of a queen you wouldn't even think could fight, to a warrior that would rip your throat without any hiestation, and she could make this switch in meer moments. So how her kingdom looked at nudity? Never thought about it before. But it could be fair to say they were prideful, or maybe even very well dressed. Which could add to why naked feels like a self form of punishment to her. And since this is getting buzz. Figured might as well share a picture. lol If writingforums would let me. Don't worry it is the pre-naked one I feel like I sort of answered your question in the above part of this post. So, if I didn't let me know.
Okay so, my question is: is there ever a time when she is seen naked that she is not rampaging? Is she publicly visible in any capacity to the members of her culture? Judging by her picture, she's quite beautiful. A beautiful naked woman walking down the street is going to attract all kinds of attention in western culture. It'll also attract all kinds of attention in Islamic culture. Do the people in Nude Lady's (please tell me her name) culture simply ignore her because they know she toss cars? And what historical period is it in or similar to? Also, because I'm not sure this has been asked -- how often will we as readers be reminded that she is naked?
To me, sexualization is when something is made lewd, provocative, or "tantalizing", that doesn't need to be. Particularly with the following intentions: -The writer satisfying their own desires in a way that doesn't flow with the rest of the narrative -Attempting to appeal to a perceived reader-type (usually, heterosexual men), again in a way that doesn't mesh well with the rest of the story. I can think of a lot of female characters who liked to be nude/mostly nude, and even if there was an explanation or justification in the story that "worked", it's still super clear that the REASON the creator wanted that character to be nude, was for the sake of a sexy lady being nude. 99 times out of 100, it's not something the story needs, so its existence is useless except for the people who are willing to overlook that and enjoy it, but even "generic heterosexual male" can tell when his entertainment is being interrupted for mindless pandering. I had some excess male nudity in one of my books (guy randomly tearing off shirt before a fight, or commenting on details of his anatomy when he didn't need to), and when I realized it served no purpose to the actual story, I removed it. Ultimately, it's your book, and your freedom to do what you want with it. But try to be conscious of why YOU want them to be nude, as much if not more than, why THEY want to be nude.
I am confused. I don't know what you mean by this. Well, ideas are always subject to change sometimes based on threads just like this but currently just the once. With the seen between her and the chosen one(sort of. long story.) And that is done alone. And yeah, I think "that" picture is beautiful. Once you cut her hair and remove her clothing, I think she is ugly in all honesty. lol. Well, she never returns home. People from her culture don't really see her. she left to join this guys attack force. His attack force never goes after the place he already owns. And historical period? Eek, that is a tough question lol. My work is technically set in the future. And again hard to say how much I will focus on an aspect I haven't written yet. But no it isn't my plan to write her like porn by constantly referencing her bouncing boobies(she doesn't really have enough to bounce anyhow lol.)
To me, sexualization is using the narration to manipulate the reader to see a character as an object of desire. Sometimes the author gets it across, other times the reader just won't 'feel' it, either because the description is inadequate or the reader doesn't find the object attractive. Not all nudity is sexual. I've grown up in a culture where nudity is/can be non-sexual in certain contexts (public saunas, beaches, on TV), but someone outside of the culture would probably see things very differently, perhaps even act inappropriately or be offended (e.g. find it homoerotic to bathe in a sauna with other men). Depending on individual attitudes, your scene could be seen as shocking, exploitative, fan servicey, misogynistic (yes, even that, trust me), interesting, puzzling... I'd try to stay true to my vision regardless. If it's something the character would do, you just need to convey their motivation to the reader so they can begin to understand and symphatize with the character, which at least for me are key to wanting to join fictional characters on their journey. (Sorry, that sounds pretentious but that's kinda how I feel so...)
I'm confused. She is naked - she is naked throughout the entire story, even when she walks on the street or goes to battle or whatever? Eats dinner with friends, naked, while everyone else is appropriately dressed? I dunno because if that's the case... well... indecent exposure is a thing and you could get arrested for it lol. I'm sure even in the middle ages there are some restrictions on this, perhaps more lol. In a world where other people are normally dressed and she alone isn't, she would come across as absurd, and this very deliberate absurdity would need to have a point to it. A symbol for something that's integral to your novel. Unless you just wanted it to be absurd for absurdity's sake... but if it's the only absurd point, then I think there needs to be a point to the presence of the absurdity... If I'm making any sense It would take a certain kind of novel, in a certain tone, for this nakedness to be perceived as both absurd and normal at the same time, I think. A reason why the rest of society sorta turns a blind eye and isn't shocked at all.
Well, yes and no. Yes she is naked throughout the entire time she is seen in the book. But she gets like 4-6 moments. So, it isn't like she is naked for 500 pages lol. The thing about the issue you mentioned. Doesn't really apply to her because she doesn't live a normal life. She has become a slave essentially. And when she is out and about, she is on average killing. So, if a cop saw her. They'd probably be more concerned with the murder part. lol. Though, if she was on her way somewhere and a cop tried to stop her. She'd probably kill them. She murders a lot of people. lol But yeah. Absurd is part of why I like the idea. But also I think it is tragic. Her fall from grace.
We have clothes for a reason, not just for "decency." Someone naked is going to be dirty and unprotected, and walking barefoot on all kinds of crap. It's pretty much anti-sexy.
Care to elaborate? Don't agree with the premise of her being dirty? Or you think that dirty is sexy? Lol
Sorry to confuse you, I was just saying that...you know what, I don't really know how to explain it. Don't worry about it.
Apparently nobody reads National Geographic. More to the point the issues about primitive tribes in the modern day. They are usually naked, or just barely wearing anything. Not moving the mercury Charlie. So how does nudity alone make one sexualized? It doesn't, it is the individuals perception that it does. The more immature your audience is the more likely they will consider it 'sexy'. So don't mention it until it is relevant to bring it up, bit of the MC not being the one to point it out. If it is normal for them then they won't notice it. So sure you can have a naked women running through the woods with bears as an MC. Why not? You have to remember most people don't think about the fact that it is not meant to be seen as sexy, because most people are highly immature. My fist thought would be: "Is that a naked woman in the woods running with the bears?" Not : "Ooh there is some savage babe, letting it all hang out." While the human can be pleasing in bare flesh, it isn't all that amusing. However, what you do to it is.
Dirty can be sexy. I'm with Napoleon on this one - a bit - not a lot. When people haven't washed they get that rotten sweetness, that aura is not so sexy, although I could work on it. I'm not into 'my women,' heh heh, heh - looking like dolls, no offence intended.
