WHEN A PINAY DREAMS OF BEING NAKED

I wonder if it is safe to say that almost every Filipina has had a dream where she was naked, or scantily clad in just her underwear. But I am certain that somehow the typicality of such instance is very real. Perhaps the dream was in school, or in a grocery store or even just walking down the street without a stitch of clothing on her back. Maybe she suddenly found herself nude on a beach, naked on the bus or up on a stage in her birthday suit. This is a common dream pattern, yet nakedness is a complex symbol in dreams which could be dependent on the culture in which the dream occurs and who is interpreting the experience. 

Dream patterns arise from a society's shared beliefs, experiences, fears and anxieties, literally from the hopes and dreams of the people both individually and collectively. As such, these experiences which are fundamental to all peoples, will hold significant dependence upon the culture's attitude toward them. One population’s attitude toward nakedness can vastly differ from others. For example, in Pinoy culture, public nudity is a taboo and in almost all areas it is connotes abnormality and public scandal. As such, the Pinoy attitude towards nakedness is unfavorably a social humiliation.

Sigmund Freud considered the dream of nakedness as a typical dream and it fulfills an exhibitionistic wish. There are three characteristics of the dream of nakedness: shame at being naked, indifference on the part of the spectators (usually numerous), and the sense of being paralyzed. It can be interpreted as a fulfillment of an exhibitionistic wish dating back to the happy period of early childhood, when such a wish could legitimately be satisfied.  Such would be the case if a parent taught their child that nakedness and the human body are to be something hidden from the public view, or even more compounded if the parent taught that nudity is something to be ashamed of. Dreams of nakedness enable the dreamers to express their "undying longing for the return of the paradise of childhood. Dreams of nakedness, always linked to an erotic or exhibitionistic theme, are universal, and accordingly should be considered typical dreams. Despite their commonality, however, they have not yet led to a specific theorization.

However, wherever the origin of nakedness anxieties arise for an individual or culture as a whole, the human mind tends to create dreams in flashes of visual imagery which can symbolically represent our individual personal hopes and fears. For one dreamer, a dream of being naked could be a window to the inner self which indicates a fear of sexuality, being exposed or vulnerability and weakness. For yet another, it may have a more positive spin, indicating attributes such as honesty and openness (such as in the cliché "the naked truth").
Only the dreamer can interpret her own dreams of nakedness. For the Filipina, it could mean that wonderful feeling of being uninhibited, unencumbered, of being free to express herself as she chooses. For another, dream nudity will be a nightmare representing complete exposure of the deepest, most hidden parts of the self.

Dream dictionaries, interpreters and psychiatrists will all offer suggestions on what nakedness means in the dream based on their personal proclivities and schooling. You can go to any modern bookstore and find shelves of books which will tell you that one particular dream motif means one thing or another. However, you must decide for yourself how important underwear is to you, and what it means to be naked in the dream.

Dreams are a kind of entertainment and learning experience of their own at the same time. If you can figure out your dreams, you may have more insight into what needs paying attention to in your own life. In the meantime, dream well.

Related articles

• Physicality = metaphor = perception = thinking (rebeccablood.net)
• On Nudity (And Lack Thereof): Why Being Naked Isn't Always Awesome [Naked Ambitions] (jezebel.com)
• Anne Hill: Should We Fear Our Dreams? (huffingtonpost.com)