One time, when I was a young and inexperienced bald man, I told a naked woman that I was afraid of her. After that, she never missed an opportunity to jump out from behind large objects and yell “Boo!” at me. Needless to say this was very traumatic. To deal with the trauma, and to help other emotional cripples, I have developed Dr. Oldbaldguy’s Naked Woman Anxiety Treatment Program. (Warning: this may not be covered by all insurance plans.)
Week One: Introduction.
The old bald man responds to danger in one of three ways — he flees, freezes, or drinks shots. While these responses work well when the perceived danger is a large predator (like a dinosaur or a bouncer) they are completely ineffective with the naked woman. The reason for this is simple. Bouncer = bad. Dinosaur = bad. Naked woman = good. The old bald man’s primitive wiring is entirely overwhelmed by that which pleases and frightens at the same time.
So what’s to be done? The first step, of course, is to admit that you have a problem. Let’s begin.
If you’re not sure whether or not you’re showing symptoms of Naked Woman Fear Syndrome (NWFS), ask yourself the following questions:
1. If you are afraid to speak to naked women in public, do you try to overcome this fear by imagining that your audience is naked?
2. When conversation becomes awkward, do you create elaborate post-it note presentations and/or slide shows to communicate with a naked woman?
3. Have you postponed your mid-life crisis because you are afraid to speak to a naked woman?
4. Do you think that naked women will find you irresistible if you wear your “lucky shirt”? (If so, your problem is beyond the scope of this course.)
Next week: effective treatment strategies.