My wife Sarah and I were at the home of our good friends, Joanne and Steve. It was a normal Saturday night out for us, good food, plenty of wine, and some heated conversation about current events.
Joanne always had very strong viewpoints about any current issue. Steve and I would always take the opposing side of the argument; we would do this more out of fun than anything else, because we always loved stirring things up a bit. My wife Sarah didn't really get into the whole conflict thing, she knew we were just trying to stir things up, and was constantly trying to calm things down. This generally went on for hours as Joanne was always well versed in current news topics, and knew both sides of an argument well.
After a few such arguments the conversation turned to work as it always seemed to. Joanne was a primary school teacher, so we would often comment on the long holidays and short days. She would obviously always refute this, claiming there were lessons to plan, and painful kids to deal with. Somehow the conversation turned to life art; apparently Joanne had been drawing nude models for some time. I knew she was very much into art, but didn't know how good she was. This sparked my interest, so I started asking questions.
"So, you have some nude guy in the front of the class?" I asked.
"It doesn't only have to be a male. We draw females too!" retorted Joanne.
"So who is we?" I responded.
"Why not model yourself and see?" Joanne dared.
"Funny! So who is we?" I asked, not giving up on my question.
"Any of us teachers really, it's a Board of Education event that I organize. I find the model, and then around 3 or 4 of my teacher friends show up," Joanne explained.
"Board of Education?" I questioned.
"Yes; its real art, being a Board of Education sponsored event, means that they pay the model. We are supposed to advertise the event to all teachers. However, since we do it here at the house, and space is limited, I only tell a few of the teachers." Joanne continued.
"So it's not just a perve then?" I asked, trying to be funny.
"Well, Steve showed up once when we had a female model, but that would have been the last time someone treated it as a perve," Joanne answered.
"And you can take photos!" added Steve.
"Photos?" I questioned.
"Only so that you can finish your drawings afterwards at home," Joanne added, pretending to hit Steve, "Two hours is not long to produce a work of art... So are you up for it?"
"I'll think about it," I sarcastically commented.
A few drinks later, a lot of pressure from all sides, including my wife, somehow I agreed to be the next nude model. I'm sure the drink had plenty to do with it.
I was due to do the event the next Tuesday night, but had to meet Joanne the day before to go through the paperwork.
The night before, I turn up at Joanne and Steve's place to run through the night's proceedings.
"OK, so as I said," Joanne explained, "This is a Board of Education sponsored event. They pay you $200 for the two hours work, and there are some conditions."
The details just started to hit me then. I will be naked in front of a bunch of women, "Event?" I asked.
"Yes," Joanne answered, "But as I said. It's only 3 or 4 women. We don't advertise it."
"So who will be there?" I asked, feeling nervous as to who would be there.
"We'll get to that, "Joanne continued, "We need to go through some specifics first, you need to understand that you will be completely naked," Joanne let silence fill the room, then continued, "We're also having themes, the three or four artists that attend choose a theme, and go with it. Themes are there to break up the boredom a bit for us artists, and allow you to have something else to focus on. A theme may be something like Swimmer, Football player, or Doctor, just to name a few. You then have some props like a swimmer cap and goggles. It's good for first timers as it means you're not totally on show. We pick the theme out of a Board approved theme list. We get the list on the night," Joanne lectured on.
"All sounds ok so far," I concurred.
"Next thing is that there is a contract to sign," Joanne added, "Yours is about 25 pages long. I'll take you through the main points, it's mostly there to protect the Board from getting sued, the participants also need to sign a separate agreement, and I'll go over that with you also."
"Okay," I answered.
"So your agreement has the following main points," Joanne lectured, "You get paid $100 per hour. This is not declared by the Board to the Tax department; as such you need to do this on your tax return. The payment is treated like a tip in the hospitality industry. Secondly, for this money you will pose naked for the group in the theme chosen, or lack there of, for the time specified, which is two hours. There will be a break after the first hour. Thirdly, you are not allowed to touch any of the participants. If you do, a fine can be imposed of up to $1000 by the Board. This does not restrict the participants right prosecute you. Finally, only the Board representative is allowed to touch you. This is to allow poses to be changed, modified, or to help you follow instructions. Does all that make sense?"
"Yes, all sounds rather formal," I answered.
"Now to the participant's agreements," Joanne continued, "This one is much shorter, it says...You are not allowed to touch the model. Non compliance results in a fine of $1000, and does not restrict the right to prosecute. Any pose requests, changes etc need to be applied by the Board representative. Pictures can be taken for the purposes of completing your work. They may not be distributed or used for any other purposes without the permission of both the Board and the model. Still make sense?"