My attention was also grabbed by the photograph of the nude torso used to illustrate ”Paint it nude.” Unlike the 10 or 15 readers who wrote in to complain, I am writing to praise, and I can guarantee that there are many, many more like me who either approved or were not offended.

I have never been able to figure out what scares so many Americans about the nude body. Europe has much more lax attitudes about the human form. Any visitor to Great Britain quickly observes partially or fully naked bodies in all their media, yet there does not appear any great moral decay there. Unlike many Americans, the human body does not embarrass them. They do not always feel compelled to truss it up under clothes, or pretend we do not have bodies.

I also find it a bit pathetic that some people think that a depiction of the human form is pornographic. The only reason I can think it might be construed as such is the fact that it is typically so tightly hidden away, and to actually see it revealed in this most modest country is abnormal. I feel particularly bad for those children whose parents did not ”want their children seeing these images in their family newspaper.” Those children are learning that the human body is something to be embarrassed about, that our body is a bad thing, that nudity is naughty. What a terrible shame!

Chris Jones

Bend