You might think that shedding your clothing in front of a group of art students and holding poses, warts and all, in a chilly classroom would only promote the idea that your body was less than perfect. But according to the Idaho Argonaut, the truth is exactly the opposite: After stripping naked in front of fellow students, the women find that they are much more comfortable with their bodies.

Former U.I. student Jessie Faulkner found that posing nude was an incredibly positive experience. After recovering from bulimia, she began posing nude at age 21, and recommends it.

"Modeling seemed like an avenue of growth for me," Faulkner told a reporter. "Seeing the drawings of myself showed me that some things I thought were flaws in my body, like my hips, were actually rather pretty."

Big hips, hairy legs, flabby thighs -- none of that matters on a nude model because the result is art. Students must learn to draw the human figure in all its varieties, said art professor George Wray.

"The art department tries to recruit people of different sizes, ages and backgrounds, because we don't want our artists to only be able to draw one type of figure," said Wray.

Another former nude model and U.I. student, Rochelle Collins, reiterated that the experience was great. Before posing in the buff, Collins had modeled (wearing clothes) for department stores and a car magazine. But once she got bare-ass naked, she found that she felt better about herself than when she posed fully clothed.

"In modeling for the commercial industry there is only one standard, and everyone is supposed to fit into that mold. However, only a few people in the world can, and they are supermodels," said Collins. "Figure modeling is not about fitting into one standard; it's about being raw and natural."

But while posing nude is empowering to the models, it's not really that sexual, said art student Katy Cannon.

Cannon added that drawing the human body is extremely difficult: "You really have to carefully study a human to be able to draw them, and there are not a lot of people willing to be examined for the sake of other people. It's a service."

Indeed, the world offers many services that involve looking at young nude women. This one just happens to be positive.

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