I love Bettie Page. I loved her as soon as I discovered her back in college when I was intellectually, though not physically, exploring my sexuality by soaking in as much information as I could, including a lot of visuals. I love her because she is unabashedly sexy. She’s not shy or reserved about being nude — even after her Christian conversion, she never felt any guilt or awkwardness about it.
I love that she was just being herself because she didn’t know who else to be or any other way to be than herself. She posed for pictures sometimes in little outfits that she made herself and thought it was a hoot the things men wanted photos of her doing. She didn’t think it was pornographic or disgusting — she found it amusing. She had fun! Completely herself — unreserved and lacking self consciousness, she was herself, and I think that’s what makes her so incredibly sexy.
In an era when women didn’t have the freedom we do now, she did her own thing. And she was way ahead of the curve with her attitudes about nudity and sexual desire. I wish everyone felt so comfortable.
I hope she got the financial reward she deserved in her later years when she finally realized the cult following she had. And will always have. RIP Bettie Page.