My body is Not Obscene is a new documentary film that examines western society’s view of the naked body. The film explores the subject through the eyes of a photographer and a model and the experiences of people who struggle with body image, and social pressures placed on their  view of their bodies. The documentary has a running time of 1 hour and six minutes.

There is a historical overview of how social norms regarding nudity have changed including a brief mention of naturism and supporting the freedom of women to go without clothing. There is an examination of the concept of obscenity and the ways that has shifted over the the years, including in movies and the U.S. Supreme Court definition of obscene.

Though a few men are present in the documentary (a naked yoga shoot) the main focus is on women and the way that cultural ideals impact they way the female body is viewed. Issues of what defines female beauty and cultural norms of age and beauty as well as body size are considered. As often happens in a sexualized society the conversation eventually shifts to sex. It seems impossible to get away from the association of the nude body with sex. The main character does eventually make the point that nudity doesn’t have to be associated with or lead to sex. This is the only redeeming part of what seems to be an out of place segment that drags on for an unnecessarily long time.

The participants appear genuine authentic and believable. Their stories are relatable with the exception of the fetish model who works too hard to convince the viewer that she does more than tittilate . I wish they spent more time on the contribution naturism made to normalizing social nudity. It could have replaced the fetish model section, that I doubt inspires most people to embrace simple nudity. There is a diversity a of bodies  shown. But only one brief glimpse of racial diversity. A black woman whose body is mostly covered and she is paired with a white woman. It would have much more powerful in this day and age and given the recent release to have more diverse bodies of different racial groups and the perspective of BIPOC people as well.

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Stream My Body is not Obscene on TUBI, PLEX and Goodtv.