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Dear Level
A Foolproof Guide to Sending Nudes
We’ve all sent at least one. Here’s how to make sure yours only reaches its intended recipient.
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
In the early ’90s, my boyfriend often borrowed his parents’ camcorder to tape athletic events at our Division I school. This thing was practically the size of a rifle. You had to hoist the device onto your shoulder and balance to see through the viewfinder. It recorded onto full-size VHS cassettes, with enough batteries and cords to make it an ergonomic nightmare — all for footage that was grainy, pixelated, and not much better than your mind’s eye.
During the school year, my boyfriend and I crisscrossed campus, spending the night at each other’s place when our schedules allowed. But in the summer, while we were both living with our parents, we had to improvise, which meant scraping money together from our summer jobs to get a hotel room.
The next morning, back at my parents’ home, I was putting away laundry when the idea struck me: There was a recording out there of me in my underwear dancing to “Rumpshaker.”
On one of those Friday nights, he picked me up and I noticed the huge black camera bag in the backseat of his car.
“Why are you bringing that,” I asked.
“Why not?” he replied.
An hour later, I’m doing some incredibly awkward sexytime poses in a grungy hotel room off the New Jersey Turnpike. He can barely hold up the camera, has no idea what he’s doing, and has to stop to recharge the battery. I’m annoyed, not feeling sexy at all. But it’s totally consensual, and somewhere in there is even a little bit of humor.
The next morning, back at my parents’ home, I was putting away laundry when the idea struck me: There was a recording out there of me in my underwear dancing to “Rumpshaker.”
I called my boyfriend to find out the whereabouts of the tape. He swore to me it was safe and sound beneath his bed. “If I tell…
