STARKERS WITH A CABBAGE...

STARKERS WITH A CABBAGE

So, I did something quite out-of-character this week: allowed myself to be photographed naked…with a cabbage. This may seem an odd life choice, but let me explain:

I was inspired. The.Naked.Farmer campaign came to my attention. The catch-cry of this organisation is ‘it takes just as much guts to take your gear off as it does to talk about mental health’. Through calendars, social media campaigns and farm-visits –The Naked Farmer raises funds and awareness for rural mental health. Their website and Facebook page is adorned with farmers of all shapes, sizes and genders tastefully ‘in the buff’, and it’s absolutely charming.

These non-sexualised images hide a dark reality though – rural and semi-rural mental health is in trouble. Traditional hegemonic masculine roles, drought-related stress, isolation and financial hardship exact a heavy toll on our farmers and miners. In Lithgow alone – self-harm rates are double the NSW rate.

In addition, ironically enough –our food production locales are often simultaneously ‘food deserts’, or areas that have very poor food security. Our farmers may be growing our food, but what are they actually eating? Again, in the semi-rural Lithgow area (more mining than farming), hospitalisation due to diet-related disease is also double the state average. Poor food choices; high energy/low nutritional content in meals is highly correlated with psychiatric distress andviolent behaviour. Takeaway food, confectionary and heavy red meat consumption result in both internal andexternal manifestations of depression in adolescents. When this is paired with a dearth of mental health services, high unemployment and a struggling coal industry –you get what the media calls a suicide crisis.

So, how does one regional woman getting her kit off help? Well, for starters –we pay attention to nakedness. It even changes our psychologicalreactions to the person in question, making them seem less powerful/controlling, and more sensitive to basic human commonalities like hunger, emotion and desire –in short, a more relatable frame of reference. It can be the same person, same facial expression, same descriptors but a hint of body changes perception entirely.

Is this just ‘sexualising’ an issue for attention? That depends entirely on you. Is nudity always sexual? Are you automatically non-sexual when clothed and then hot-to-trot when de-robed? Is having a shower sexual? Are women ‘asking for it’ when they expose some skin? What if there’s a cabbage involved? –fetishes aside, surely there are few items less sexy than a cabbage…

I’m also a Nutrition scientist, foodie and gardener, and current research is solidly behind the fact that gardening is beneficial for physical, psychological and social health. Growing and eating your own food ticks so many boxes on the positive mental-health list it’s ridiculous.

So, this week I took off my clothes and sat down with a cabbage I nurtured from seed. I allowed myself to be exposed, real, and armourless. Lest you imagine that exhibitionism is an intrinsic characteristic here…it was HARD! I really did have to confront an awful lot of my own ingrained body-issues and perceptions of ‘beauty’. I was/am frightened that some slightly pudgy white chick with a cabbage is just not at all an effective awareness tool.

 However, I live in Lithgow and young people are taking their own lives, self-harming, and increasingly embracing violent behaviour. I hope this little endeavour helps to bring awareness to an enormous and multi-tiered problem. I also hope that it makes people think –even for a moment –about the relationship between food, gardening and rural mental health. If you’re interested in supporting this initiative financially, head to The Naked Farmer’s website and purchase a delightful calendar that will make you smile in spite of yourself. Yep, it’s The Calendar Girls but with a rural Aussie twist J