When I was at university working on my BA -- this was long ago in the era of hippies and in a rather conservative area -- the art department had no funds for hiring nude models and the conservative environment was a challenge.
But of course life drawing/painting is absolutely required for art students. So their first option was to try to have college girls who were working as strippers at local clubs to be life drawing/painting models during the day classes, and students would contribute at the door, so to speak. But most of the strippers declined. They could make much more money per night stripping. This would be pennies for them and eat into their day.
So, another alternative was students in the courses (and other impoverished students on campus) could volunteer to be the nude model for the day. Of course, the students in the classes were often among those impoverished students, so their contributions at the door were rather paltry. But some of the students in the courses volunteered anyway, just as a way of contributing to the course.
Okay, so I was a student making some money at night playing music (door fee). And one of my girlfriends was as poor as I was. She was majoring in fine arts. So she began doing nude modelling even when she was not in the life drawing/painting courses. She was a very popular model. So she'd come home every day with some coin to supplement her scholarship. Enough to eat and drink and smoke.
This was a much different time and place than art education at major universities and in more liberal areas where nudity was more acceptable. And much different frombig cities where art clubs or societies would pay for nude models. This was like "the rest od the world" where an extra $5 (at that time) was real money.
Was she uncomfortable about being starkers for an hour or two as students inspected every detail of her anatomy? No. She said it was like any other job. (She also worked as a night auditor at a local hotel and a fast food worker at times to supplement her income.) She said, in effect, "I just smoke a joint and take my pose and zone out for awhile. Nobody ever hits on me or makes crude remarks. It's not sexual."
So, ya know what? I married her. Am I embarrassed that she spent hours totally naked in front of dozens of other university students? Not one bit. Is she embarrassed that she did that? Not one bit.
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