Dare to bare?

Watch out, ladies: Your locker room behavior is causing Internet debate, thanks to this recent Marie Claire piece.

In it, writer Lea Goldman criticizes "public displays of undress" common in gym locker rooms. An excerpt:

I am baffled, even horrified, by women who treat the locker room like their own sandalwood-scented boudoir. I've seen gals, still flushed from a workout, slather lotion on their haunches like they were being filmed for the Spice Channel.

The essay has attracted an overwhelmingly negative response from online commenters, many of whom criticize Marie Claire for including Goldman's essay in a publication that's supposed to exude a "you're beautiful the way you are" vibe.

Here's a sample of the backlash:

It's creeps like you who want to keep women wallowing in self-hatred, stupid with body-obsession and compulsively consuming worthless products to ward off the pathetic neuroses that you feed.

In her defense, I don't think Goldman wrote the piece to criticize or endorse a specific body type.

I think it was more of an etiquette thing.

Yes, you can be nude and linger in the locker room, but do you really have to do it in front of the mirror everyone wants to use? Do you really have to obstruct the only major walkway while you're slathering your body in lotion?

Maybe I should feel ashamed -- or insensitive -- for asking those questions.

But I hope we haven't gotten to the point where any discussion of body-related etiquette is immediately interpreted as an attack on female empowerment.