So I know that the title of the phobia sounds like a fear of the gym but it's actually the fear of nudity, either fear of yourself being nude or others being nude. I don't know if anyone else on here suffers from gymnophobia but I have the unfortunate fear of myself being nude.
I've found that I'm too scared to even tell anyone about it because I feel so stupid for it. So I'm hoping that by sharing on here I can kind of lift the burden a little.
I can't even shower some days because I don't want to take any of my clothes off. I live my life as covered as I can be ..which sucks in the summer I have to say and can be a strain on my relationship.
I've been thinking hard about why I have this phobia and I've come up with a few reasons. 1. Bullied about my weight from the age of 7 until 22. Through school and an abusive relationship.
2. Sexually assaulted at the age of 14 and the guy then spread rumours around the school about me which ended up with me losing all of my friends.
3. My own mother telling me after I came back after university 'you look like someone else has eaten my daughter and have merged together to make one whole person'.
4. Being raped constantly in the abusive relationship and thinking it was "my duty as a girlfriend" to let him do those things to me.

I am now in a loving relationship with a guy I'm going to marry next year who is very understanding but he gets frustrated sometimes (understandably) when I don't want him to touch me or see any part of my body and it can cause arguments.. which then makes it all worse as I feel guilty because I know how I should be but I know that I can't be that way.
Please if anyone else suffers from something similar, do you have any ways to cope? Any shortcuts to your day to help? Because I'm really struggling. #gymnophobia #struggling