Shame

According to https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-shame-5115076:

Shame is a feeling of embarrassment or humiliation that arises from the perception of having done something dishonorable, immoral, or improper.

I heard the word 'shame' a few times in, yes, a podcast. A Dutch one, this time, from the Dutch Naturist Federation (link).

Shame is a powerful tool to keep people in check. Telling someone they're doing something improper or immoral is a perfect tool for that. Does that ring bells? I'm sure many of us have heard that, being clothes free people. Shame on you for not wearing clothes!

Many of you may remember this scene in Game of Thrones, where Cersei Lannister has to walk through the streets naked to be shamed.

It's a powerful religion thing, but other demagogues can use it to perfection too.

Shame can be problematic when it becomes internalized and results in an overly harsh evaluation of oneself as a whole person.

Here we reach the area of body shaming, also something many folks out there like to use to shame people for being nude. It's a disgusting thing to use, to only look at how someone looks instead of what beauty may lie inside. And I've seen a lot of beauty, clever, smart, funny etc in many bodies that aren't supermodel-ready. (And how many are, I ask you. Even supermodel bodies aren't because they are touched up using graphics tools. Talk about mission impossible...)

And people who do that have no idea how deeply those words can hurt someone who's already aware they're not the physical beauty of the ball. They probably feel like someone's hammering another nail on that coffin, assuring they'll never get out.

This is why I love naturism, nudism, clothes-freeism. 99.9987% of the people I know don't utilise this kind of nastiness. They look for the person inside. For the person in there, the one that matters. Let's keep our friends healthy. Because body shame can affect a person's health.