It’s been a week now since Orlando Bloom went paddle boarding naked, so there’s a good chance the majority of the internet has seen the naked celebrity’s penis (or at least the shadow). The bottom line (pun intended) is that Bloom must have known that getting his kit off in such a public place would end up being photographed and put online.
Similarly, given that Justin Bieber is perpetually hunted by the paparazzi, the chances of him skinny dipping with two models and it not all being caught by a long lens are slim to none. As the singer would have known. In a matter of days, two huge stars have both stripped down and seemingly not cared that the world might get an eyeful.
They’re far from alone. A simple Google search brings up images of plenty naked celebrities: Kim Kardashian, Gigi Hadid, John Legend, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, Amber Rose, and Kim Kardashian again, all sans clothes, courtesy of the stars’ social media accounts. They’ve all stripped to next-to-nothing and shared the sexy shots with their millions of followers.
Then there are the pregnant naked celebrity selfies, which pretty much every self-respecting knocked up actress/musician/reality TV star offers up. Along with shots of their over-the-top baby showers (“why yes, that is a cupcake fountain”) and squiggly ultrasound pics, the boobs’n’bottom shot of the mum-to-be has become a social media staple. (And why not? An artful nude bump shot posted to Instagram offers a lot more control and positive PR than a pap shot taken down at the local supermarket.)
And yet men’s nudity remains far less politicised than women’s naked bodies. When Justin Bieber and Orlando Bloom strip down there are no frenzied think pieces about the male body and the public gaze, just jokes and plenty of googling. (Or maybe that’s just our office).
It’s easy to understand why all these celebs – men and women – are getting their junk out – it gets them headlines and clicks and likes and shares. (Particularly, in the case of some, ahem, actors experiencing a career dip.)
However, with each revelation of curves and skin, the shock value diminishes. The headline font gets smaller. The coverage is less shock and awe and more ‘ho hum, another bum’.
All of which sets a dangerous precedent. Because – for people for who crave attention – the challenge to really shock the Internet gets that much harder. We now face the prospect that it’s more a question of when, not if, a celebrity decides to offer up a shot with the sort of view only their gynaecologist should see.
Maybe the most shocking next step would be, gasp, a celeb keeping their clothes on for an extended period of time.
