The bare facts about nudity

Julie Day gets her kit off for £8 an hour - but it's all done in the best possible taste. The 36-year-old from Bicester is an artist's model and a size 16-18. She poses for students of all ages and can understand why some people would shake with fear at the prospect.

"No-one thinks their body is nice. What is perfection? It is all in people's perception and we are very uptight about nudity.

"It fascinates people and they go all silly but you get a favourable response from the men.

"I got into it because I wanted a part-time job and there was an advertisement in the job centre for an artist's model.

"I went along and it was quite scary but if it's something you want to do, it's a case of going in there and doing it. You have to have the confidence and say, this is what I'm going to do," said Julie, who models for an art class in Banbury Road, Oxford.

"It's very nerve-racking the first time. You're taking your clothes off in front of strangers and they are really looking at you and you know they're looking at every lump and bump. "But you soon overcome that and realise it's an art exercise and nothing to be frightened of."

While it's not a full-time career, at £8 an hour it's not a bad way to earn a crust. Julie is also studying art and works as a night cook for Tesco.

"When I have been in a relationship, the reaction is first surprise at what I do, but then they realise there's nothing remotely threatening about it.

"I'm a bit ambivalent and there are pressures to conform to and I'm aware of that. You build confidence from doing it and a number of people have said to me it was a pleasure to draw me. I may not have a gorgeous catwalk model's body but people do appreciate me."

When posing, Julie thinks about all sorts of things, and not just the fact that everyone can see her private parts. "I can entertain myself! All sorts of things go through my mind. When I was doing my degree and had to sit for a long time, I sometimes went through revision. It's time for me to think quietly. The times I would be feeling a bit apprehensive would be if I think the class are going to react in a giggly sort of way, like teenage boys. Julie tries not to get cold as she says you can tense up which affects her pose.

"Not everyone can be an artist's model because your body language shows everything. I'll continue to do this when I get older. Models come in all shapes and sizes - old, young, pregnant. It gives you a passion for the human form."

EDWARD Pope, 50, got into life modelling through a former girlfriend who wanted him to pose for her art class a year and a half ago.

Edward feels like he is just an object sometimes but can normally just get on and do his job.

"I wasn't embarrassed when I did it for the first time but there's a certain feeling to being naked in front of people as they all focus on you.

"For me it is not an issue, and being naked is perfectly normal. You are not supposed to move until you've become an object.

"I did an A-level class the other day and that was hard because they were 16-year-olds. They weren't silly but I thought they were going to be. "In one class I did there were mostly girls and they drew me from behind - they didn't dare come round the front!"

But the one question male life models always face is the one about what happens if they're "physically affected" by any students.

Julie Day is more at an advantage when she poses nude because if she spots someone she is attracted to, there is no physical evidence.

Anyone who has seen the advert for Impulse body spray cringes with embarrassment for the poor male model who was visibly excited by a beautiful art student sitting right at the front.

Edward, who lives in Oxford, admitted there was nothing to be done but let it pass.

"I'm a male model and there are noticeably more women who come to the classes. Normally I would expect there's an inhibiting factor and that you wouldn't have a problem," he said.

"But if you are keeping completely still and it does happen, there is nothing you can do. I just let it happen and that has only been twice." STRIPPING FOR THEIR ART

Four hunky actors are about to whip girls into a frenzy as male strippers at a hen night.

But the quartet have no problem taking their clothes off. In fact, they find it quite liberating.

Girls' Night Out, at Oxford's Apollo Theatre from Monday to Saturday, stars Andonis Anthony, Darren Hudson, Mark Folan Deasy and Matt Healy.

Andonis, 26, who plays Tony the novice stripper, said: "I don't have a problem at all with taking my clothes off. I think the human body is a beautiful thing but I think there are certain lines you have to draw with what you do with your body.

"We are actors and are only playing strippers but I'm really enjoying it and it's quite liberating.

"Initially, taking my clothes off bothered me, but I would never go the Full Monty. In the play we show our behinds and that's OK.

"I have never worked out as much as I do now and I think I have become a lot vainer!"

Darren, 28, added: "Initially, it was difficult to take my clothes off because I didn't have a great deal of confidence about my body." HOT ENOUGH TO GO NAKED

Jenny and Leonard Harris love being naked - provided the temperature is right.

Jenny, 51, and Leonard, 57, who have five children, became interested in naturism ten years ago after discovering a nudist beach on holiday.

Jenny, who lives near Wittenham Clumps, said: "We just thought, 'what the hell'. If the temperature is right, we will go gardening in the nude, because fortunately we have a secluded garden.

"Leonard was doing some gardening once and a woman came round the back and started talking to him - I don't think she even noticed Leonard wasn't wearing any clothes and he had forgotten."

The couple appreciate that everyone has his own opinion on nudism.

But she added: "I wouldn't want to embarrass or offend anyone. I'm not a crusader, trying to convert people, but we would like people to accept there are naturists.

"When you grow up in your family home, you get used to walking around naked and naturism is just an extension of that - it is like a big family," explained Jenny.

"I'm overweight but naturists are less concerned about their bodies. The idea that people strip off all the time, regardless of the weather, is a lot of nonsense.

"I think naturism is really good and it gets rid of inhibitions." WHAT YOU SAY TO TOPLESS SUNBATHING AND NUDITY IN GENERAL

I don't go topless sunbathing because I don't have the confidence to do it and I would think everyone was looking at me but I don't mind other people doing it. I think other women have a lot of courage to sunbathe topless - my mum does it!" (DAWN EDWARDS, 16, from Risinghurst).

I have never sunbathed topless as I wouldn't like people seeing me. As for nudity in general, if people are doing it in their own houses, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. (ELINA FALCON, 17, from Carterton)

I do sunbathe topless but I don't know if I would do it on holiday over here. When I went abroad, I started off with a top on but I got white boobs. so when I started sunbathing it took a while to tan them!

It's up to individual people what they want to do. (FIONA BRYANT, 19, from Eynsham)

I have never gone topless on the beach but I might if it was a foreign country. Nudists don't bother me at all. (DEANNE STONE, 18, from Tackley) I have never sunbathed topless but it's OK because it's nature. I'm too shy to do it but if other people are comfortable with it, then fine. If people want to do it and they respect themselves, then others shouldn't judge them. (JODIE MASSINGHAM, 16, from Wolvercote)

I don't sunbathe topless but my mum does. I don't have enough self-confidence to do it. I'd never consider going topless and Nudity does bother me sometimes - I think if I saw a naked person on the beach then it would bother me and I would feel uncomfortable. (HAYLEY CULLIMORE, 16, from Marston)

I have never sunbathed topless and never would. I really don't think I could. I have just come from an art class at Oxford College of Further Education where I done a drawing of a female life model but . It was a female model and it didn't bother me but I think I'd feel uncomfortable if a male life model turned up. (LAUREN REVILL, 16, from Oxford)

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.