The code and the message of naked charity calendars

This study investigates popular nude fund-raising calendars (naked charitj') which are renowned for presenting non-idealised bodies of women that do not conform to the Classical standard. This tactic results in inordinate public curiosity, and, in some instances, astonishing fund-raising success. Though naked charity is apparently transgressive in its celebration of non-idealised bodies, I argue that it ultimately operates as a law-enforcement mechanism. That is, naked charity reinstalls strict discursive codes governing both what is acceptable, and what is not, in terms of the female nude in normative contexts. It is my contention that the code and message (the logic) intrinsic to successful naked charity is controlled by three deterministic conventions. These conventions ultimately ridicule and debase the bodies of women in the name of good causes. While, on the one hand, naked charity is presented as innocent fun, at the same time, perhaps unwittingly, it remains within paternalistic boundaries connoting powerlessness in association with the bodies of women.