On Election Day 1984, most people are glued to the TV set. Instead of tracking the polls, two ladies pay their fee for an open drawing session at the University of Arkansas. The model, a first-year college student, would strip down for the first time ever in this session, kickstarting a decades-long career.
Dan Hawkins, now 58, celebrated 40 years of nude modeling on Nov. 6 of this year.
Hawkins has spent the past 40 years between community colleges and universities all over North Texas, modeling nude for all but one Dallas College campus. Each modeling session can last a few hours with breaks in between, with each pose lasting anywhere from three minutes to three hours. “Generally, it’s 20 minutes then you take a break,” Hawkins said. “A lot of classes start with gestures, they’re like one-to-two-minute poses.” Professors usually give models creative liberty when it comes to these poses, with Hawkins prioritizing asymmetrical, lifelike stances.
“He’s a great model. He’s very professional,” Maria Haag, who teaches the life drawing course at Brookhaven, said. “And I really appreciate the way he can take a scene and pick up a few objects and kind of make it into a narrative.”
Hawkins does nude modeling sessions a few times a semester, becoming a part-time job for him. In his professional career, Hawkins worked in corporate IT positions while keeping his part-time job hidden away from friends and family. This would work out until 2001, when he made the Hot Seat on ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” where game host Regis Philbin took an interest in his modeling.
“He didn’t ask me if I was a nude model, he made me say what my part-time job was,” Hawkins recalled on the New Nudist Podcast earlier this year. In his panic, he was not worried about the $2 million jackpot: “The only thing on my mind was, ‘Oh my god, my mom’s gonna hear me talk about being a nude model.’”
Hawkins would later consider this his “coming out of sorts,” returning to work the Monday after to an office of bewildered coworkers. It was after the show’s airing that he felt he could be open about his modeling and his nudist activities outside of work – a privilege not available to most nude models.
Hawkin’s modeling career stems from an early interest in nudism. Since his youth, he sought out opportunities to be nude outdoors. “Maybe it was just my way of rebelling,” he said, “When you feel the sun and the breeze on you, there’s nothing like it.”
Hawkins has been visiting nudist resorts since 1985, allowing him to engage in the community. He considers himself a nude activist, recently being elected regional president of the American Association for Nude Recreation. During his presidency, he has explored the intersection of nudism within a clothed society.
As society represses nonsexual nudity, the sexualization of the nude body increases. Hawkins notes this change in his modeling career, as many professors no longer keep the door open through a session. Brookhaven’s figure drawing classroom has recently added curtains, supporting this narrative.
With adult media becoming more varied and accessible, some members — even ministers — have found solace in nudism to curb addiction. “It desexualizes the body,” Hawkins said. “You see people as human beings, not objects.”
As membership declines and the community grows older, Hawkins said he hopes to inspire a new generation of nudists. Attending nude-optional events such as Bay to Breakers and Dragonfly Fest in the nude, others have followed his footsteps in curiosity. Writing under the pen name D.H. Jonathan, Hawkins expands his reach in nude activism through his books and interviews.
Today, Hawkins has long since retired from IT and began hauling RVs, which has taken him through 48 U.S. states, allowing him to explore nudist resorts across the country in his free time. He hopes to one day live off modeling and writing but until then is picking up smaller jobs in retail and substitute teaching when available. Brookhaven, being the first Dallas College campus he modeled for, continues to be his favorite of all seven.
