something I wrote a while back

As the title suggests, this is something I wrote a while back:

When people look at my head they see that I’m a person who has a head (like everyone else). My head is bald on the top. Not everyone is bald, but it’s not an unusual variation. There’s some little bit of hair in the front, and there’s hair on the sides, but I am basically bald. My head has a mouth and nose, two eyes and ears (like almost everyone else). My head usually has glasses on it—not that strange. And it has a beard. Not every head has a beard, but, like being bald, it’s certainly not all that unusual. My beard is sort of reddish-brown (or brownish-red?) and has some white in it. If you look closely you’ll notice a couple of spots that don’t quite fill in.

People see my head all the time. It’s not the most handsome, but it’s okay, I suppose. It’s a lot like all the other heads that people see on a regular basis. The same could be said of my body, that is, if people saw bodies on a regular basis. I have arms and legs and skin. I have some hair, not a lot. I’m thin-ish and pale and not very muscular. I have some freckles and moles. Oh yeah...also, I have a penis.

(AH! NO! OH-MY-GOD!)

That’s right, a penis. As far as I can tell, it’s a lot like other penises. It’s not a giant porn penis. Much like the rest of my body it’s on the smaller side of “normal”. (It’s not a “big deal” ha!)

People seeing a penis is the real issue here. You can see almost every other part of a male and not call it “nudity”. You could see a man’s nipples and not call it nudity. Arms, legs, chest, back...not nudity. You can see buttocks, and you might call it “brief nudity”. But to actually see a penis...ahhh! Freak-out time. 

No, people. No. Just like nudity does not equal sex, a penis (or a vagina or breasts) does not equal sex.

Just as people see my head, with its reasonable variations, and accept it as part of me—okay that’s his head...he keeps his brain in there... hm...I’m okay with that—I really wish they could see my body, with its reasonable variations, and accept it as part of me—that’s his body...he lives inside there, with his bones and muscles and organs...hm...I’m okay with that. Those are his shoulders and knees and skin. There’s a little belly, not big, but bigger than it was when he was 20. You can see that gravity has an effect (just like with everyone else). And yes, there’s a penis, and guess what? We’re not having sex. (Just because I can see it, doesn’t mean that I have to do anything with it.)

It’s a body. We all have one. Mine’s not perfect. I wish it were better, but it is what it is. I’m okay with it, and you don’t have to freak out about it. Whether you ever see it or not, it’s always there. It’s part of me. If you do happen to see it sometime, I hope you think, “Well, that’s his body... hm...I’m okay with that.”