What are your thoughts on boudoir shoots?

I don't know... depends why and for whom you are taking them. I have some ... scantily clad... black and white pictures of myself in the woods a female friend of mine took. They are really beautiful and precious to me and have kind of an etheral, fae vibe and are not porny or objectifying in any way (no sexualized poses, no lingerie or anything). Not all nudity is sexual. She used an old camera and I own the only physical copies (my friend developed them herself) and all the negatives. Nobody has ever seen them but me and her. They were never intended to be seen by other people but are for me and me only. I love looking at them every now and then because they capture my essence very well and feel almost spiritual to me.

To me this is extremely different from going to a random photographer and getting sexy pictures taken to give some scrote a calender with wank material for his birthday. I would never even think of doing that.

Swimming against the tide here, but ever wonder why women do boudoir photos but men don’t? Women internalize the male gaze, derive pleasure from viewing themselves through it and then call it “expressing their creativity” or self expression whatever bc they don’t want to admit it. Kind of like the sex work is empowering mantra. However, unlike the sex work example, this behaviour is relatively harmless if the photos are taken by a female photographer and not shown to the world so live and let live I guess… No one’s a perfect feminist, though if you’re really serious about it you would at least attempt to strive to follow most tenets

if it was shot by a man then gross. generally i think it's fine as long as no one else sees the pics. i would never though.

I'd tell her the photos are beautiful but to keep them to herself so that she doesn't end up as a revenge pornstar on the internet and doesn't give men more porn to wank off to. You can't post a picture of yourself like that without having hundreds, maybe thousands, of men download it, save it, and jerk off to it. But it's fine to have them for herself, obviously.

Nothing wrong with them, keep them for yourself and don't show a soul (except maybe a close female friend). And get a female photographer. I had some done after a serious back injury where I thought I might not walk again, so I thought, fuck it, my body might change considerably, I want memories of now. It was a mix of fashion and lingere and I love them. Also nice to look at if you're just not feeling yourself that day. Women get them done for a variety of reasons and that's fine.

If taken by a woman then I would like it more and be likely to do it.

Girl, why? It's easier to hike your swimsuit up and get a hot tub pic than to do a boudoir shot. Also, swim pics have a potential of an excuse for being what they are -boudoir doesn't and literally has only one interpretation. Idk, I'd probably say something mean like "I didn't know you paid tribute to Hugh Hefner"

Woman internalize so much hate for themselves based on cultural misogyny. As long as it's a woman photographer and it's private, it's another way of loving your body. I can't see it being pornofied if it's done by women for women, to only be viewed by yourself. Men weaponize our bodies against us, so if this is something anyone wants to do, it's probably wise to keep in private.

I see no problem with them because they're for her and her self-expression. Personally, I would do them for myself because 1) I do not take/have many pics of myself, and 2) I do not see them as pornographic. You can do these with fabulous sexy clothing and makeup that leaves things to the imagination. Most of all, you can keep them locked up somewhere and find them years later. Unpopular opinion probably but I do not care.

I'm going to be turning 40 in 6 months and just went through a breakup. I want to do some boudoir photos for myself for exactly the "old and wrinkly" reason listed above. In my 20's and 30's I always just saw all my flaws and wasted too much time hating my body. Now that I'm about to be 40 I realize how damn good I look and I want to honor that.

Trust me when you get old and wrinkly, I'm talking 70s/80s, you're going to wish you took more sexy pictures of yourself showing off your youthful looks. Take them for yourself. Not anyone else.