Meet Natan: He gets naked in front of strangers for money

This is Natan: a Maths student and proud exhibitionist who makes money as a life model.

We sat down with him to find out what it’s like to get naked for strangers, if he’s ever tried to work Blue Steel and why his penis was once described as “mournful”.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m a Maths student but I’m doing a supplementary year. I fill my life with loads of random extra-curricular stuff and spend most of my time playing stupid sports and volunteering, which is probably what you’re meant to do at uni if you don’t do a degree.

How did you start life modelling?

One of my friends from home did stuff for Art Soc and I bumped into her at freshers’ fair. She said they were looking for life models and I was like, “I wanna do it”.

I actually got with her when I was 14 in spin the bottle at this random house party so I thought it would be kind of great if I ended up getting naked for her about six years later…I think true love is based on such stories.

Who do you model for?

It’s mostly students. I’ve had a lot of awkward eye contact with people on campus and I end up thinking, “You’ve seen my penis and I know that, but we’re not gonna talk about it”.

Because I did it at uni I thought, fuck it, maybe I can do this and earn more money. So on the myBristol careers page there was one [ad] that was looking for a life model and paying £60 an hour. I sent them an email, and then I got there and it turns out they were male strippers, they were just…all male strippers! Everyone there was 6ft, ripped, huge, gigantic bulging muscles…and I was there thinking “I don’t fit in here”. I mean I could maybe fulfil someone if they had a fetish for small Jewish boys…

What about the first time you took your clothes off, how did it go?

Getting naked in front of people wasn’t that scary, you forget you’re naked immediately. You have to bring a dressing gown and the only dressing gown I own is one I’ve had since I was 8 which is blue with white moons and stars on it. It was horrible.

I imagine it was quite intimidating…

I don’t think I’ve ever been that small in my life, ever. The fear is definitely there. What if I shit myself for the first time in my whole life? It’s not something I do EVER but what if God chooses this moment when I’m naked in front of 30 people…that would be disastrous.

What’s your favourite pose?

In real life, I’d say… the nervous schoolmaid. For life modelling, I’ve tried Blue Steel but then my face just hurts for a while. Which one do I like? I think the awkward sighting of gooch. Not a day goes by that isn’t made better by gooch.

Has anyone ever reacted in a funny way when you’ve been naked?

After the class, I go round and look at what people have drawn. There was one guy who had drawn 46 different drawings of my penis but in some of them he had, made them like human or something. He’d given them a personality, personalities I didn’t know my penis had. I didn’t know my penis could be mournful before that day.

Would you recommend life modelling to others?

“Absolutely, it’s completely freeing. It’s such an amazing thing to be able to do and it’s really got rid of a lot of insecurities I had with my body. Plus, you get to have drawings of you naked, that’s a dream!