Nudity
Nudity or
nakedness is the state of wearing no
clothing. It is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular
culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare
skin of
intimate parts and has analogous uses.
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Nude. Peter Stenzel, 2005 |
Although
nude,
naked and
bare have the same objective meaning (i.e. not covered by clothing), they have differing subjective connotations, which partly match their differing etymologies
("nude" originally had a meaning of 'plain, bare, unadorned' in a broader sense when introduced into English from Latin
nudus, originally only as a legal term 'unsupported by proof' since 1531, only used an artistic euphemism for physical nakedness in 1631, while "bare" and "naked" derive from the common early English words, with many cognates, for 'uncovered'). Some consider one term more appropriate than the other. The book
Nude, Naked, Stripped suggests that these three terms define a continuum ranging from
artistic or tasteful absence of clothing by choice at one end, to a forced or mandatory condition of being without clothes (e.g.
strip search) at the other.
Various synonyms refer specifically -often as a negative- to the absence or rather removal of clothing, such as denuded, divested, peeled, stripped, unclad, unclothed, uncovered, undressed and dis- or un-robed.
Another euphemism for the embarrassing nudity is 'exposed' to glances, no less than to the elements; not only the expression 'to show skin' refers to nudity in terms of the
dermis, in Manx Gaelic
jiarg-rooisht and Scottish Gaelic
dearg rùisgte 'stark naked' is literally 'red' naked as either exposure makes one 'blush'.
Partial nudity
As the concept of nudity often refers more to perception by the observer than the mere description whether someone's body is covered or not, there can be a grey area, known as partial nudity. Thus, while someone exposing 'private parts' is often called 'naked' regardless of garments on other body parts (indeed, an 'undressed' state is even considered by some more
sexually arousing than full nudity) hence the terms
half-naked and,
a fortiori,
near-naked refer to a body that is not completely exposed, but showing more than is customary or considered quite acceptable, at least in a given context. However the quantity of skin exposed is not the determining criterion, it's the "quality" that counts for perception.
In the Old Testament (
Leviticus, Chapter 16) God orders the prophet
Moses, about the high priest:
He shall be vested with a linen tunic: he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre upon his head. For these are holy vestments, clearly differentiating between the 'strategical' zone which is the criterion of 'nakedness' and the more presentable parts of the human body.
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swimwear with massive, yet fairly inoffensive male skin exposure... |
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...but mooning, quantitively barely the counterpart, is perceived as far more exposing |
Today even wearing
boxer shorts, sufficient to guard the modesty of a
shooto fighter, is described as near-naked in Japan because the appropriate
kimono-type uniform associated with traditional martial arts is missing. Half-naked is also used for a degree of skin exposure that is not offensive (as no delicate zone is shown) but still barer than 'fully dressed', such as a man in
bare torso. Yet for swimming the Japanese man feels comfortable in a most revealing
fundoshi.
As the exposure of specific, usually intimate, skin zones suffices to be offensive and/or sensual, it is not surprising that specific terms are commonly used for such cases. More specifically:
* Terms like
bare balls (not to confuse with
freeballs) and
bollock-naked are used to explicitly emphasize the naked exposure of the most private parts, often as a dysphemism for total male nudity, even in a context where another part of the anatomy is functionally more relevant.
* Terms like
bare-butt and
bare-arse or
kaalgat in Afrikaans (literally 'bald [arse-]hole', also an illustration that one's own dense body hair is considered to undo or at least mitigate nudity; animal furs are probably the oldest form of warm clothing) focus only on the
buttocks; apart from the literal sense (which may be functional, as in the case of a spanking) this is also a popular metaphor (also in other languages) for full nudity, at the same time more explicit than most euphemisms and yet avoiding to mention the genitals.
* The term
topfree or
topless is sometimes used — especially in reference to females — to describe the lack of clothing covering the
breasts; for men, the same state of undress, however less strategic, is rather called
bare chested or shirtless.
* See also
cleavage (breasts) and
cleavage (buttocks)* Even a term referring to an apparently less revealing skin zone can be significant in a functional context, e.g.,
bare-knuckle in certain martial arts, or even sometimes have strong cultural associations, as with
barefoot. In the case of
bare hand(s), the expression is even commonly extended as a counterpart to handling something with gloves to protect the hands, or even with a mechanical device, whether operated manually or not, allowing to keep the hands at safe distance. The
naked eye is a similar figure of speech referring to human visual perception that is unaided by optic equipment.
Full Nudity
As a counterpart, some expressions specifically express total nudity. Apart from the confusing use of terms literally referring to the most 'provocative' forms of partial nudity, these include such abstractions as 'the nude', 'the bare' or 'the buff', a reference to leather (i.e. the skin, notably de^pilated unlike fur), just as 'buck-naked'.
A special case is
stark naked or
starkers, as these terms were erroneously changed from 'start naked' (
start is an old Germanic word for tail, as above fixating on the buttocks) to 'stark', an old Germanic word meaning 'strong' but used as 'utter(ly)'.
Euphemisms may be used, such as
birthday suit and
au naturel (French for 'in the natural state') or the Dutch terms
Adamskostuum ('Adam's suit', i.e. the original naked state in Paradise after Creation),
spiernaakt ('muscle naked', since one sees every muscle under bare skin) and
poedelnaakt (refers to the often ridiculed shaving of
poodle dog breeds). The French
à poil "to the hair" emphasizes that human hairgrowth is generally too thin to be less than naked without clothes (while the
pubic hair is often thicker, this zone is also most critical in the Christian tradition; in a few Germanic languages, the very word for pubic literally means 'shame', its English Cognate:
skam- in Danish,
schaam- in Dutch,
Scham- in German); still in French,
nu comme un ver 'naked as a worm' phrases to absence of visually shielding hair by a disphemistic metaphor.
Full frontal nudity -no clothing and facing the observer- shows the
genitals, as opposed to only showing
toplessness or bare
buttocks. It is usually considered the most far-reaching form of nudity, with exception of a close-up of the most erogenous zones, especially the genitals. Also, sometimes people avoid full frontal nudity by turning their back to other people when changing clothes in sight, or by lying on the beach completely nude only on their belly.
The distinction "frontal" is meaningful for pictures and movies. In many cases it is avoided by purposely placing inanimate objects obscuring a view of an actor or actress' genitals or the shot is 'defused' by deliberately hazy lightening or focus. Such techniques not only make some actors more comfortable but usually aim to pass censorship or prevents the film from receiving an NC-17 rating from the
MPAA film rating system, which often leads to commercial failure. Thus revealing shots may be cut during the editing; sometimes a more liberal version is released separately, e.g. as director's cut. Few
American films show full frontal nudity, while (sometimes therefore longer) more complete versions may be distributed in other countries and/or on video or DVD, media which generally are more ready to distribute productions offending various taboos.
Analogous 'nakedness'
In biology, names like
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron,
Naked Mole Rat or
Nude mouse are used to indicate that certain animal species or at least specified skin zones on them are not covered by any hair (or plumage, scales etc.), which is however a permanent (or cyclic, in the case of
moulting) and involuntary condition of their anatomy, since man is the only species that wears (removable) clothes. Similarly, plant names like
Eriogonum nudum refer to the lack of foliaga.
While the above definitions of full and partial nudity are all positively defined by physical exposure, there are also analogous subjective concepts, where actual skin exposure is not essential or even non-existent.
Thus
bareheaded refers to the absence of any hat, which would only cover the skull, which is normally not bare skin since it is naturally covered by hair (
baldness being the exception confirming the rule, for which there actually is a different word, like the non-organ-specific
glabrous defined solely by the absence of significant hairgrowth), yet it is called 'bare' because the hat in many cultural traditions is considered an essential part of clothing, in symbolical terms, e.g. as a status symbol, and the gesture of removing it a sign of respect or even an admission of one's inferior position.
By a kink in human psychology, the act of revealing skin or even removing clothes, even when only to show another covering layer, is often regarded at least as sexy or offensive as the actual sight of bare skin. Thus one often feels the need to use a dressing-box etc. or at least retreats into a
lockerroom with restricted access in order to change, even if one is already wearing underneath once's cloths the swimwear that will be shown without gène after emerging, so not an inch of embarrassing exposure was involved in the disrobing. This very suggestive power of divesting is the basis of
striptease, the very word rather referring to such a 'tease' by partial stripping off, rather than the 'full monty'.
Similarly attitudes quite like those concerning nudity are often displayed towards clothing which covers the skin, but suggestively follows the contours of a sensitive body part, such as the male member in tights. Wet clothing which sticks to the skin, e.g. the buttocks or a female breast (as in a wet t-shirt event), can thus also be regarded as if it had become truly transparent.
The taboo by association can go even further: garments which prevent any exposure of strategic skin zones can themselves be given a subjective status rather fitting a revealing one, especially
underwear - thus a man whose open trousers fly reveals nothing more than the colour of the underwear, no skin, is nevertheless considered embarrassingly exposed. Thus euphemisms are used for undergarments, notably those in touch with the intimate parts, or even, as in the case of the word unmentionables, the trousers worn above these. The word
dishabille (from the French
déshabillé 'undressed', which still refers to a
negligee) uses a common euphemism for nudity to refer to being partially or very casually dressed, a matter of comparison with the fashion-sensitive 'proper' dress, not to an actual revealing characteristic of the 'lesser' garments worn.
Finally the 'image' of nudity and the notion of vulnerability are used for various absences of clothing and other symbolical objects where no body visibility is required- thus people see they 'feel naked without...' about uniform, a badge of office, even a weapon.
Anthropologists logically presume that humans originally lived without clothing as their natural state. They postulate the adaptation of animal skins and vegetation into coverings to protect the wearer from cold, heat and rain, especially as humans migrated to new climates; alternatively, covering may have been invented first for other purposes, such as magic, cult and prestige, and later found to be practical as well.
Some religious cosmogonies exhibit analogous constructs; e.g. the story of
Adam and Eve describes the alleged first humans after their transgression against
God's rules (the
original sin), being ashamed of their nakedness and making aprons of
fig leaves. Nudity itself was not the original sin, but some people take it so, perhaps explaining the taboo against it.
In various Ancient cultures nudity was held to be humiliating, as attested for Pharaonic Egypt and the Hebrews by the Old testament: "So shall the
king of the Assyrians lead away the prisoners of Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, young and old,
naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt".
[Isaiah, Chapter 20 : 4.] Similar images occur on many bas-reliefs, also from other empires.
In some ancient Mediterranean cultures, even well past the hunter-gatherer stage, such as Minoan, athletic and/or cultic nudity of men and boys â€"and rarely, of women and girlsâ€" was a natural concept.
The civilization of
ancient Greece (Hellas), during the Archaic period, had an athletic and cultic aesthetic of nudity which typically included adult and teenaged males, but at times also boys, women and girls. The love for beauty had included also the human body, beyond the love for nature, philosophy, arts etc. The
Greek word
gymnasium means "a place to train naked". Male athletes competed nude, but most city-states of the time allowed no female participants or even spectators at those events,
Sparta being a notable exception. In Greek culture, depictions of erotic nudity were considered normal, including sexual act, even
pederastic practices. The Greeks were conscious of the exceptional nature of their nudity, noting that "generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute in which philosophy and naked sports are held, because they are inimical to tyranny;"
[Plato, Symposium; 182c] In both ancient Greece and
ancient Rome, public nakedness was also accepted in the context of
public bathing. It was also common for a person to be punished by being partially or completely stripped and lashed in public; in some legal systems judicial
corporal punishments on the bare buttocks would persist to or even beyond the feudal age, either only for minors or also for adults, even till today but rarely still in public. In
Biblical accounts of the
Roman Imperial era,
prisoners were often stripped naked, as a form of
humiliation.
In the
6th century,
Benedict of Nurcia advised the monks in his
Rule to sleep fully dressed in the dormitory. Until the beginning of the
8th century, Christians in Western Europe were
baptised naked, emerging from the water like Adam and Eve before the fall. "The disappearance of baptism by
immersion in the Carolingian era gave nudity a sexual connotation that it has previously lacked for Christians" (Rouche 1987 p. 455). About the same time it became common to represent Christ on the Cross wearing a long tunic, the
colobium. European men wore long tunics until the
15th century, when
codpieces,
tights, and tight
trousers gradually came into use; these all covered the male
genitals but at the same time drew attention to them.
During the
Victorian era,
public nakedness was considered obscene (though reports that this prudish obsession led to the covering up of piano legs which suggested bare female limbs are fictional exaggerations). In addition to
beaches being
segregated by
gender,
bathing machines were also used to conceal the naked body. In the early
20th century, exposure of male
nipples was considered indecent at some
beaches. Ironically, as in the
Middle Ages, the
bathing suits worn by
men, while covering the genitals, often nonetheless made them quite obvious.
In
Judaism and in Jewish communities, men and women use ritual baths called
mikvahs for a variety of reasons, mostly religious in the present day. Immersion in a mikvah requires that water covers the entire body (including the entire head). To make sure that water literally touches every part of the body, all clothing, jewelry, and even bandages must be removed. In contemporary mikvahs for women, there is always an experienced attendant, commonly called the "mikvah lady", to watch the immersion and ensure that that woman have been entirely covered in water.
As a general rule,
public nudity is not considered "proper" in most societies. There are, however, many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted, or even encouraged.
In general and across cultures, more restrictions are found for exposure of those parts of the human body that display evidence of
sexual arousal. Therefore,
sex organs and often women's breasts are covered, even when other parts of the body may be freely uncovered.
Nudity in front of a
sexual partner is widely accepted, but there may be restrictions â€" for example, only at the time and place of
sex, or with subdued lighting, or covered by a sheet or blanket.
Another common distinction, also considered by censoring authorities, is that
gratuitous nudity is perceived as more offensive than the same degree of physical exposure in a
functional context, where the action could not conveniently be performed dressed, either in reality or in a ficticious scene in art. The intent can also be invoked: whether the nudity is meant to affect observers, e.g.
streaking can be considered inacceptably provocative, nude
sun tanning viewed mildly as rather inoffensive.
Western culture
[[image:Maleshower.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Group nudity is commonly accepted insingle-gender showers in European and Pacific Asian cultures]]Nudity in front of strangers of the same gender is often more accepted than in front of those of the other or both genders, for example when bathing, in common changing rooms, etc. Gender-specific changerooms and toilets serve to prevent accidental partial nudity in front of the other gender.
Urinals may have partitions between them to avoid the partial nudity of men to be visible by other men. In some cultures, even for people of the same gender to see each other nude is considered inappropriate and embarrassing. Also, the implication of
homosexuality among naked members of the same gender can discourage this type of nudity.
Functional nudity for a short time, such as when changing clothes on a beach, is sometimes acceptable when staying nude on the beach is not. However, even this is often avoided or minimized by a towel, going to a changing room, or changing at home before and after going to the beach.
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Art model posing in a French painting school |
In certain structured settings in which nudity serves a practical purpose â€" such as providing access to a patient's body during a medical procedure, examination or therapeutic
massage, or providing
figure drawing students or artists with unobstructed views of the human body â€" an individual may be naked in front of one or several clothed people. In most such situations, the exposed individual will be given a loose robe or cloth to cover themselves partially, even if their "private parts" must be exposed. Total nudity for the
model remains the norm in figure drawing studios, however. Similarly, pornography is typically photographed with the models fully nude and the crew fully dressed. None of these settings are routinely experienced by most members of society, however, so they are not normative; attempts to have subjects pose in the nude in public view as
Spencer Tunick stages all over the world are often received with more mixed feelings, if not repressed as indecent exposure.
Although exposure of women's breasts is considered perfectly acceptable in most western countries in appropriate settings, such as while suntanning, in the
United States of America exposure of female nipples is still considered criminal by many states and not usually allowed in public. Public
breastfeeding, since the exposure it involves is functional, may be looked upon more mildly, but still it is sometimes considered problematic. However, courts in some of these jurisdictions—including
New York State—and other North American jurisdictions—like
Ontario—have legalized the exposure of women's nipples on
equal protection grounds (see
United States Constitution/Amendment Fourteen). The movement of "
topfree equality" promotes equal rights for women to have no clothing above the waist; the term "topfree" rather than "topless" is used to avoid the latter term's sexual connotations. However, there are still extreme reactions on the parts of many to exposure of the full breast, as in
Janet Jackson's
partial breast exposure during the half-time show of the
2004 Super Bowl.
Nakedness (full or partial) can be part of a
corporal punishment or as an imposed
humiliation (especially when administered in public). In fact,
torture manuals may distinguish between the male and female psychological aversion from self-exposure versus being disrobed.
Nudity is closely associated with
sexuality in most cultures where some level of body
modesty is expected. This is evidenced by the existence of
striptease in these cultures.
Sexual dimorphism when depicted in the
main stream media of these cultures is often seen as sexually related. As an effect of
Catholic cultural heritage, in Latin cultures the common definition of modesty does not generally admit genital nudity, but the definition of what is lewd has changed and women's breasts are now commonly exposed or depicted without scandal.
The trend in some
European countries (for instance
Germany,
Finland, and the
Netherlands) is to allow both genders to bathe together naked. Typically, older German
bathhouses, such as
Bad Burg, remain segregated by gender. On the other hand Finnish
saunas can be mixed and are always attended nude.
Some people enjoy
public nudity in a non-sexual context. Common variants of the
clothes free movement are
nudism and
naturism, and are often practised in reserved places that used to be called "nudist camps" but are now more commonly referred to as naturist resorts,
nude beaches, or clubs. Such facilities may be designated topfree, clothing-optional, or fully-nude-only. Public nude recreation is most common in rural areas and outdoors, although it is limited to warm weather. Even in countries with inclement weather much of the year and where public nudity is not restricted, such as the
United Kingdom,
Germany and
Denmark, public nude recreation indoors remains rare. One example is
Starkers Nightclub in
London, a monthly nude-only disco party.
Others practice public nudity more casually.
Topfree sunbathing is considered acceptable by many on the beaches of
France,
Spain and most of the rest of Europe (and even in some outdoor
swimming pools); however, exposure of the
genitals is restricted to nudist areas in most regions. In the United States,
topfree sunbathing and
thongs are common in South
Miami Beach, Florida. There are a number of
nude beaches up and down the
West Coast of the U.S., as well.
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Nacktradtour, German nude bikers |
Even where the general public is fairly tolerant of public nudity, it is still notorious enough to be used as a deliberate, often successful means to attract publicity, either by naturists promoting their way of life or by others for various purposes, such as commercial
nudity in advertising or staging
nude events as a forum for a usually unrelated messages, such as various nude biker tours demonstrating for different causes or celebrities revealing their natural state by removing a fur coat to support a campaign against fur sales.
Children
See: Issues in social nudityNudity in physical education
=In the United States
=
In the
United States, public school students historically have been required to shower communally with classmates of the same gender after
physical education class. In the United States, public objections and the threat of lawsuits have caused a number of school districts in recent years to choose to make showers optional for students
[http://www.aclu-wa.org/detail.cfm?id=180]. However, many US
secondary [http://www.scolumbiasd.k12.pa.us/scahs/studenthandbook2004-2005.htm] and
elementary [http://www.southmont.k12.in.us/WalnutElementary/PE/walnutpe.htm] schools continue to require all students to shower as part of their school's required physical education curriculum.
Several popular
television sitcoms
[http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=18809] [http://www.allyourtv.com/shows/b/showguidebadnewsbears.html], as well as children's books
[http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0142404365&itm=1], have portrayed the embarrassment sometimes caused by compulsory communal showering in a humorous light. Still, many students find the adjustment to school showers to be quite uncomfortable, and some teachers and parents
[http://www.bganssle.com/tsshowers.html] [http://www.unlv.edu/projects/ohpsp/p/133pleacher.html] [http://www.woodgreen.oxon.sch.uk/wgs_50/memories_staff_pupil/mr_pooley/early_years1.htm] attempt to be understanding while enforcing this often unpopular policy. Most students who did not like the idea of taking a communal shower after class usually become comfortable with the practice after the first couple of days or weeks of classes. Some, however, still do not. Introducing school showers at the early elementary grades is generally a much easier adjustment for children than waiting until middle school, where students are probably more shower shy, as well as having to deal with
adolescence for the first time.
Requiring school showers remains controversial. Many
naturists and parents who believe that nudity is both physically and emotionally healthy for children, object to required school showers due to their compulsory (rather than voluntary) nature in a government school setting. Instead, many would advocate encouraging, but not requiring, students to shower together after PE class.
The US courts have held that all students, not just student athletes, also have a reduced expectation of personal privacy. All students participate in "communal undress" in the required physical education classes
[http://lw.bna.com/lw/19980721/97sc124.htm]. Notably, a majority of traditionalists who favor continuing required school showers are not known to favor nudity outside this limited situation. Despite this precedent, most schools and teachers prefer to encourage rather than require showers for economic reasons (lack of towels or facilities) and/or concerns over potential parental complaints.
For religious reasons, many
Muslim parents strongly object to communal school showers and demand privacy partitions
[http://www.angelfire.com/ca/IslamicInfo/MuslimRights.html]. Other parents have raised objections that the inclusion of compulsory showers in the physical education curriculum conflicts with the privacy beliefs of their families. An increasing number of schools have responded to these complaints by allowing students to shower in swimsuits or by constructing some secluded showers to allow a privacy option for any student who so chooses.
Other school boards, however, have still resolutely declined to provide options for privacy accommodations during PE showers. Four common reasons are used by these schools to justify requiring communal showers as part of the physical education curriculum:
* Some public schools believe that all students should learn to feel comfortable entering open dressing and showering environments
[http://www.bganssle.com/tsshowers.html], and part of the school's mission is to educate the entire child
[http://groups.google.com/group/misc.education/browse_frm/thread/a72a9ac29dae131a/3a64d4a9f68e5ec9?hl=en#3a64d4a9f68e5ec9].
* Budgetary and logistical constraints often make privacy options too expensive
[http://www.cphpost.dk/get/57790.html] to be managed with available time and funds. Other schools have argued that since adding privacy accommodations involves spending substantial tax money simply to meet the belief systems of particular religious groups, that public schools are prohibited by the
establishment clause from making these changes
[http://www.angelfire.com/ca/IslamicInfo/MuslimRights.html].
* A small percentage of students have always objected to communal showers; however, after the first few days of school showers, these students very frequently overcame the initial embarrassment and were fine
[http://groups.google.com/group/misc.education/browse_frm/thread/76504a0b75573a20/ab8d556cb3731aa8?hl=en#ab8d556cb3731aa8]. In most cases, the objections to school showers are actually from the student's parents, while the student in question does not object to having to take showers
[http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/faculty_archives/principalship/p/133pleacher.html].
* Students within the school environment have less
expectation of privacy than members of the population generally
[http://lw.bna.com/lw/19980721/97sc124.htm]. It is socially acceptable in the United States to be nude in the company of others of the same gender. Requiring school showers within the boundaries of social acceptance is not beyond reason. The fact that a student or a student's parents may be religiously or morally opposed to an open locker room environment does not make that activity socially unacceptable, and schools cannot change every policy according to each student's personal comfort level.
Compulsory communal showering remains a controversial subject for many worldwide. However, throughout much of the world, students in physical education classes undress and shower together on a daily basis. For better or for worse, school showers have been most youths' introduction into communal nudity.
=Outside the United States
=
Europeans have generally been more insistent that all students shower communally
[http://www.alislam.org/library/links/nudity2.html].
In certain cultures, nudity in public, such as all male locker rooms or showers, is considered appropriate, and is commonly accepted. In saunas or steam rooms, men may be nude around strangers of the same sex as well. Some people, however, may experience difficulties while being around men in the nude, things such as involuntary erections or sexual attraction. In most Scandinavian countries, erections or other male-related affairs occurring between men are most often considered natural and therefore perfectly normal. However, this is not valid all over the globe. In the United States, for example, teenage boys or children may not feel quite as comfortable around older naked men due to the differences in their sexual organs.
Non-Western attitudes
Attitudes in
Western cultures are not all the same as explained above, and likewise attitudes in non-western cultures are many and variant. In almost all cultures, acceptability of nudity depends on the situation.
Cultural and/or religious traditions usually dictate what is proper and what is not socially acceptable. Many non-western cultures allow women to breast feed in public, while some have very strict laws about showing any bare skin.
In some
hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, near-complete nudity has been, until the introduction of
Western culture, or still is, standard practice for both men and women. In several
African tribes, men going completely naked except for a string tied about the waist are considered properly dressed for hunting and other traditional group activities. In a number of tribes in the
South Pacific island of
New Guinea, the men use hard gourdlike pods as
penis sheaths. While obscuring and covering the actual
penis, these at a longer distance give the impression of a large, erect phallus. Yet a man without this "covering" could be considered to be in an embarrassing state of nakedness. Among the
Chumash Native Americans of southern
California, men were usually naked, and women were often
topless.
Native Americans of the
Amazon Basin, usually went nude or nearly nude; in many tribes, the only clothing worn was some device worn by men to clamp the foreskin shut. However, other similar cultures have had different standards. For example, other native
North Americans generally avoided total nudity, and the Native Americans of the mountains and west of
South America, such as the
Quechua, kept quite covered.
In the ancient culture of Southern Asia, there is a tradition of extreme ascetism (obviously minoritarian) that includes full nudity, from the
gymnosophists (philosophers in Antiquity) to certain holy men (who may however cover themselves with ashes) in present Hindu devotion.
In
Islam the area of the body not meant to be exposed in public is called the
awrah, and while referred to in the
Qur'an, is addressed in more detail in
hadith.
*For men, interpretations differ. Some interpretations state the
awrah to be from the navel to the knees. Others state that only the genitals and the anus need to be covered.
*Some strict interpretations of
Islam require women to observe
purdah, covering their entire bodies, including the face (see
burqa), on threat of severe punishment. A perhaps more common interpretation, however, is to cover everything but the hands and face.
Still very different traditions exist among, for example, Sub-Saharan Africans, partly persisting in the post-colonial era. Whereas some tribes and family-groups including some Togolose and Ethiopian (e.g.,
Suri) tribes still commonly parade fully naked or without any covering below the waist (especially at massively attended stick fighting tournaments, where well-exposed young men can hope to catch the eye of a prospective bride), amongst Bantu people there is often a complete aversion from public nudity— thus, in Botswana when a newspaper printed a photograph seen here:
[http://www.corpun.com/bwj00507.htm#16132| CorPun website on corporal punishments] of a thief suffering lashes on the bared buttocks imposed by a traditional chief's court, there was national consternation, not about the flogging (actually extended soon to age 50 and to women) but about the 'peeping tom'. The Ugandan
Kavirondo tribes, a mix of Bantu and Nilotic immigrants, traditionally went practically naked, but the men adopted European dress.
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Boys skinny dipping in a sacred tank of water in India. |
In various cultures children can go publicly naked (fully or strategically) while adults don't, usually till an age or ceremony considered the start of adolescence or of adulthood. An example of a
rite of passage in a Benin tribe, traditional body
scarification on the head is performed on a small child while completely naked, but a boy being initiated as an adult bares only the torso (where the scars are made).
Attitudes toward nudity vary greatly within East Asia: China and Korea tend toward the conservative side by Confucian tradition, while highly westernized Hong Kong is much more liberal. Gender-segregated communal nudity is acceptable in public baths, in countries including Japan and South Korea. North Korea tends to be more strict compared to other countries when it comes to exposure of skin for women, such the exposure of a shoulder.
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A Japanese man wearing a traditional swimwear Fundoshi -red rokushaku |
In Japan, most public baths were mixed gender until the
Meiji period. The stricter gender separation rules were introduced during a time when Japan was taking various steps to modernise itself. Most of the newer
sentos (Japanese bathhouses) are gender segregated, but the popularity of public baths in general dropped considerably, with mixed public baths becoming more rare, except in rural areas that still permit it by law. Unlike some western countries,
Japanese public schools generally don't have showering facilities, only cold pool showers, where children generally take off their
swimsuits to rinse off chlorine. Japanese boys and men feel comfortable in traditional thong-type wear that shows the buttocks in public, such as the
Fundoshi (besides underwear, also used as swimsuit) or the
sumo wrestling equivalent.
Despite the relative prevalence of traditional attitudes for adults in China, however, children continue to wear open shorts, permitting them to more easily relieve themselves. In the preparations for the
2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, some have called for the end of the traditional permissiveness for adult males to go shirtless in public during warm weather.
See public nudity |
An artistic photograph of a nude woman |
In softcore
pornography, which was originally presented mainly in the form of "straight men's magazines", it was barely acceptable to show a glimpse of nipple in the 1950s. By the 1970s, in such mainstream magazines as
Playboy,
Penthouse,
Hustler, and
Playgirl no region of the body was considered off limits. Meanwhile, a growing business of hardcore pornography has developed, including photo magazines and motion pictures, in which total nudity (and any variety of sexual activity) is commonplace.
Originally, nude dancing was mainly presented in the form of the "strip-tease". This was generally a stage show in which the dancer progressively removed his or her clothing while dancing to music. Prominent early- to mid-twentieth century "strip-tease artists" such as
Gypsy Rose Lee rarely included total nudity as part of their sometimes quite elaborate acts. Now most "exotic" dancers perform topless (independent of gender, of course), perhaps wearing a thong bottom. In the 1970s, on an official level, men entered the strip club field, performing partially-unclothed dances primarily at clubs (the
Chippendales being the most common example). Both genders had been unofficially dancing at clubs for many years (at least since the 1950s), and today at clubs catering to gay, straight, and everything in-between clientele.
See Nudity in art. That article also discusses depictions of nudity in general.
Nudity in combat is rare, because apart from the social aspects of nudity, one lacks even the basic protection and practicality (e.g. no pockets) of clothes, e.g. when diving for cover, or crawling. On the other hand,
Robert A. Heinlein suggests in
Tunnel in the Sky that among scouts, the sense of anxiety and vulnerability created by complete nudity (besides body paint) heightens the scout's senses, thus enhancing his or her ability to avoid detection.
In
Julius Caesar's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Celts were reported to charge into battle completely in the nude, only carrying shields and swords. Sometimes the soldiers wore no clothing but were covered in war paint, a custom that allegedly gave the
Picts their name.
This practice was maintained up until at least the
18th century in
Highland Scotland. Highland soldiers routinely came to battle fully dressed, however coming onto the field, they would discard their heavy woolen
plaids, and wore only their
leines (shirts). This made them much more agile, and also protected their plaids from damage.
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king Achilles in battle-gear; Athenian artwork (c. 240 CE) |
In warmer climates, sparse clothing and even (virtual) nudity was not so uncommon, even among such refined cultures as the Etruscans. While the social elite (and some crack units) would often wear characteristic armour (expensive, so rather exclusive; in some societies the soldier often paid for his own, not the state, so
hoplites for example were from the wealthier classes) the common men in "light" units were often deprived of (full) protective clothing; apparently in other cases tradition saw to equality taking care of the military (dis)advantage.
Even in some present martial arts which continue techniques fit for military fighting, full or partial still occurs, e.g. the traditional styles of
stick fighting practised by the young, now bearing firearms, warriors in the
Omo Valley of the
Suri (
donga, often entirely naked; serious injury not uncommon, occasionally fatal) and the neighbouring
Nyangatom (bare-chested, aiming to mark the adversary with visible stripes on the back).
*Rouche, Michel, "Private life conquers state and society," in
A History of Private Life vol I, Paul Veyne, editor, Harvard University Press 1987 ISBN 0-674-39974-9
*Brandom, Robert, "Critical Notice of Blind and Worried",
Theoria 70:2-3, 2005.
*
Etymology OnLine- various lemmate & [
1]
*
Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures by Aileen Goodson (This chapter excerpt is from Aileen Goodson's Therapy, Nudity & Joy)
*
Combat nudity in Ancient Greece*
Steve's Nudes Letter Single nudist's views & observations about nudity in the media.
*
Nudity inspired poetry*
Storey, Mark Social Nudity, Sexual Attraction, and Respect Nude & Natural magazine, 24.3 Spring 2005.
*
Storey, Mark Children, Social Nudity and Academic Research Nude & Natural magazine, 23.4 Summer 2004.
