Nudity

"Clothes free" redirects here. For the preference for nudity in non-sexualized social settings, see Naturism.

"Birthday suit" redirects here. For other uses, see Birthday suit (disambiguation).

"Nude" and "Naked" redirect here. For other uses, see Nude (disambiguation) and Naked (disambiguation).

Nude woman and man

Nudity, or nakedness, is the state of being in which a human person is not wearing clothing.

The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations, such as a need for warmth, as well as social circumstances. In some situations, minimal clothing or nudity may be considered socially acceptable, while in others much more clothing may be expected. Social considerations surrounding nudity involve cultural issues of modesty, subjective decency and social norms. There may also be legal considerations that affect a person's choice to be nude or to be clothed.

Definitions

Although the general term "nudity" is defined as the complete absence of clothing, the legal definition includes a distinction between "full nudity" as meaning exposure of the genitals; and "partial nudity" which includes exposure of the buttocks by either sex, or exposure of the female breasts. The latter is significant regarding issues of topfreedom and breastfeeding.

Few broad academic studies have been made, perhaps because nudity takes its meaning from a particular context, with no agreed-upon definitions from one research situation to another. The social sciences through the middle of the 20th century studied nakedness, including nudism, in the context of deviance or criminality.

There is also the distinction between sexual and non-sexual nudity. Studies of naturism find that its practitioners adopt behaviors and norms that suppress the sexual responses while practicing social public nudity. Norms include refraining from staring, touching, or otherwise calling attention to the body while naked.

History

Main article: History of nudity

Evolution of clothes

The deliberate and conscious wearing of clothing is a behavioural adaptation, which among all known extant and extinct animals is a uniquely human characteristic arising from functional needs such as protection from the elements. Protection from the elements includes the sun (for depigmented human populations) and cold temperatures after the loss of body hair and the migration of humans to colder regions (around 100,000 years ago) in which they had not evolved and thus lacked the necessary physical adaptations.

According to some researchers, wearing clothes may predate early human global migrations by an additional 70,000 years. In this case, the migrations were themselves facilitated by the innovation of clothing. It is believed that earlier species of archaic humans, including Homo neanderthalensis, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo antecessor, either were not able to create true clothing, or were not able to do it as well as Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans). In a paper published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, the authors suggest that their work supports (but hardly proves) the hypothesis that Homo neanderthalensis may have only known how to make cape-like coverings and that this lack of behavioral adaptation may have contributed to their eventual extinction during ancient climate changes when they may have succumbed to hypothermia, frostbite and other cold ailments.

Researchers at the University of Utah in 2004 found that human skin contains photoreceptors like those in the retina, allowing it to mount an immediate defence against damaging ultraviolet radiations. They suspect that the protein that protects the skin from sunlight evolved following the loss of protective hair, which happened about 1.2 million years ago.

Public nudity

Main article: Public nudity

See also: Issues in social nudity

Four nude Masai tribesmen, c. 1900

People have a variety of views on nudity, both of their own as well as those of others. This would depend on their level of inhibition, cultural background and upbringing, as well as on context. A society's attitude to public nudity varies depending on the culture, time, location and context of an activity. There are many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted or even encouraged in public spaces. Such examples would include a nude beach, within some intentional communities (such as naturist resorts or clubs) and at special events.

In general and across cultures, public indications of sexual arousal are commonly regarded as embarrassing, both to the person aroused and the onlooker, and for this reason those parts of the human body that would indicate arousal are normally covered. Arousal is most evidently indicated by the sex organs and women's breasts, which are routinely covered, even when other parts of the body may be freely uncovered. Yet the nudity taboo may have meanings deeper than the immediate possibility of sexual arousal, for example, in the cumulative weight of tradition and habit. Clothing also expresses and symbolizes authority, and more general norms and values besides those of a sexual nature.

People taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride in London

While some European countries, such as Germany, are rather tolerant of public nudity, in many countries public nudity may meet social disapproval or even constitute a misdemeanor of indecent exposure. In 2012, the city council of San Francisco proposed a ban on public nudity in the inner city area. This was met by harsh resistance since the city is usually known for its liberal culture. Similarly, park rangers began filing tickets against nudists at San Onofre State Beach in 2010, also a place with long tradition of public nudity.

Means of attracting attention

Main article: Nudity and protest

Nudity is at times used to draw attention to a cause. Public nude events are at times staged as a forum for usually unrelated messages, such as clothing-optional bike rides. At times, the cause is merely a personal justification for taking part in a nude event, which are popular in their own right. Many nude calendars are produced each year featuring naked men or women. Some of these are produced to raise money for charities or other causes. Nudity, like sexuality, is also used to draw attention for a commercial purpose, such as for promotion or advertising.

Performance

Nudity may be used as a part of artistic or erotic performance, such as in nude performance art, nude body painting (ex. Fantasy Fest), sex shows, striptease, adult entertainment conventions, and in adult-only events like Folsom Street Fair and Nudes-A-Poppin'.

Private nudity

A 1999 survey by the Federation of Canadian Naturists found, besides other things, that 39% of Canadians "have walked or would walk around their house nude"; that naturists tend to have above average incomes; that urban dwellers are more likely to be naturists than country dwellers; and that people under the age of 25 are the most likely to be naturists. According to a 2004 United States survey, 31% of men and 14% of women report sleeping in the nude, while a 1996 BBC survey revealed that in the UK 47% of men and 17% of women do.

Some people are made anxious by being nude or being in the presence of nude people; if this begins to interfere with their well-being, the phobia is called gymnophobia.

Children

Attitudes toward children seeing nude people vary substantially, depending on the child's culture, age and the context of the nudity (see also the section Home above).

Television and radio regulations in many countries require broadcasters to avoid transmitting images or language considered inappropriate for children from 5:30 am to 9 pm (the so-called "watershed"). In the United Kingdom, the Broadcasting Code states, "Nudity before the watershed must be justified by the context." In the U.S., the safe harbor rule forbids depictions of nudity between the hours of 6 am and 10 pm. Violators may be subject to civil legal action and sanctions if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determines the broadcaster did not meet its standards of "decency". "Material is indecent if, in context, it depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."

A nude woman, child, and man at Lake Senftenberg in the 1980s

Attitudes to nudity vary substantially throughout Europe. Male and female nudity in Scandinavia is not uncommon. The region has a very open attitude about nudity, although it strictly prohibits children's access to pornography.

There are differences of opinion as to whether, and if so to what extent, parents should appear naked in front of their children. Gordon and Schroeder report that parental nudity varies considerably from family to family. They say that "there is nothing inherently wrong with bathing with children or otherwise appearing naked in front of them", noting that doing so may provide an opportunity for parents to provide important information. They note that by ages five to six, children begin to develop a sense of modesty, and recommend to parents who wish to be sensitive to their children's wishes that they limit such activities from that age onwards. Bonner recommends against nudity in the home if children exhibit sexual play of a type that is considered problematic.

A U.S. study by Alfred Kinsey found that 75% of the participants stated that there was never nudity in the home when they were growing up, 5% of the participants said that there was "seldom" nudity in the home, 3% said "often", and 17% said that it was "usual". The study found that there was no significant difference between what was reported by men and by women with respect to frequency of nudity in the home.

In a 1995 review of the literature, Paul Okami concluded that there was no reliable evidence linking exposure to parental nudity to any negative effect. Three years later, his team finished an 18-year longitudinal study that showed that, if anything, such exposure was associated with slight beneficial effects, particularly for boys.

Feral children

Main article: Feral child

Different regulations by sex

In many cultures, different standards have applied and continue to apply for males and females with regard to communal nudity in the presence of the same sex. Particularly in English-speaking countries, males have historically been more likely to be expected to engage in practices such as nude swimming in swimming pools, or to be mandated to have communal showers with no privacy in schools, based on the cultural beliefs that women need more privacy. Communal male nudity in the United States and other Western countries was not a taboo for much of the 20th century. Social attitudes maintained that it was healthy and normal for men and boys to be nude around each other and schools, gymnasia, and other such organizations typically required nude male swimming in part for sanitary reasons due to the use of wool swimsuits. There was less tolerance for female nudity and the same schools and gyms that insisted on wool swimwear being unsanitary for males did not make an exception when women were concerned. Nonetheless, some schools did allow girls to swim nude if they wished. By the 1970s, most schools and gyms in the United States had become mixed-sex, which put an end to nude swimming.

Depictions of nudity

Depictions of nudity include visual representations of unclothed humans throughout the history, in all the disciplines, including the arts and sciences. Nudity is restricted in most societies, but some depiction of nudity may serve a recognized social function. Clothing also serves as a significant part of interpersonal communication, and the lack of clothing needs to have a social context. In Western societies, the three contexts that are easily recognized by a majority of individuals are art, pornography, and science/information. Any ambiguous image not easily fitting into one of these categories may be misinterpreted, leading to disputes.

Nudity in film

Main article: Nudity in film

Nudity in film has, since the development of the medium, been somewhat controversial; however, there was no defined censorship of nudity in the early years of Hollywood until the Hays Code of the 1930s. Under 21st century guidelines, most nude scenes in films have had to be justified as being part of the story, in the concept of "artistically justifiable nudity". There are film scenes where nudity, in routine and non-sexual situations, such as mixed shower scenes, has been used to emphasize gender equality in the future.

In some cases, nudity has been criticized as "superfluous" or "gratuitous" to the plot, and some film producers have been accused of including nudity in a film to appeal to audiences. Many actors and actresses have appeared nude, or exposing parts of their bodies or dressed in ways considered provocative by contemporary standards at some point in their careers.

Erotic films usually contain nudity, and nudity in a sexual context is common in pornographic films. A film on naturism, or about people for whom nudity is common, for example, many societies and people who live in hot climates, or films set in times such as the 1960s or 1970s era of liberation, may contain non-sexual nudity, and many non-pornographic films contain nude scenes.

Visual media

Main article: Nudity in art

Nudity in a chalk drawing

Mainstream art generally reflects – with some exceptions – social standards of aesthetics and morality of a society at various periods of time. Beyond mainstream standards, artistic expression may be merely tolerated, or be considered as fringe. Since prehistoric time, humans, both male and female, have been depicted in all states of dress, including all states of undress. Nudity in all styles has been and continues to be found in art. Nudity is also a subject of many literary works and in film. All professionally produced works of art use stylised compositions to depict the nude body. This also applies to cinema, where even nude scenes are staged and rehearsed.

The erotic aspect of nudity in the arts has been an important factor in its attraction, and has come to be associated with certain states and emotions, such as innocence, playfulness, vulnerability, etc. Pornography does not necessarily involve a naked person, but it involves sexualized scenes, and usually it does not claim to have any artistic merit.

The visual arts were at times the only means available to the general public to view a nude body. Today, the opportunities available for the viewing of the nude body are very wide, and these include magazines, television, films, and the Internet.

Child nudity

Depictions of child nudity or children with nude adults appear in works of art in various cultures and historical periods. These attitudes have changed over time and have become increasingly frowned upon particularly in recent years, especially in the case of photography. In recent years, there have been a few incidents in which snapshots taken by parents of their infant or toddler children bathing or otherwise naked were challenged as child pornography.

In May 2008, police in Sydney, Australia, raided an exhibition by the photographer Bill Henson featuring images of naked children on allegations of child pornography. In June 2008, it was reported in The Age that police would have no basis to prosecute Henson over his photographs of naked teenagers, after they were declared "mild and justified" and given a PG rating by the Australian Classification Board, suggesting viewing by children under the age of 16 is suitable with parental guidance. Out of protest, Art Monthly Australia published a nude image of the 6-year-old Olympia Nelson taken by her mother, Polixeni Papapetrou. According to the then-11-year-old Olympia, she did not believe the photograph amounted to abuse and was upset with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's remark that he hated it. Olympia's father, Professor Robert Nelson, defended the image, saying: "It has nothing to do with pedophilia. The connection between artistic pictures and pedophilia cannot be made and there is no evidence for it."

Imposed nudity

Nudity as torture

Prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad (Iraq), including forced nudity, was widely condemned.

In some situations, nudity is imposed on a person. For example, imposed nudity (full or partial) can be part of a corporal punishment or as humiliation, especially when administered in public. In fact, torture manuals have distinguished between the male and female psychological aversion to self-exposure versus being disrobed.

Nazis used forced nudity to attempt to humiliate inmates in concentration camps. This was depicted in the film Schindler's List.

In 2003, Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad (Iraq) gained international notoriety for accounts of torture and abuses by members of the United States Army Reserve during the post-invasion period. Photographic images were circulated that exposed the posing of prisoners naked, sometimes bound, and being intimidated and otherwise humiliated, resulting in widespread condemnation of the abuse.

Strip search

Main article: Strip search

Nudity is used in strip searches to ensure that subjects are not hiding any items beneath clothing or in body cavities. In 2014 it was reported that more than 4,600 children had been strip-searched by London's Metropolitan Police in the preceding five years, with the youngest being ten years old. This was out of a total of 134,000 strip-searched. A charity described the number of younger children searched in this way as being "disturbing". At airports, more invasive forms of searching are being replaced by the use of full body scanners.

Western culture

Toplessness and "topfreedom"

Main articles: Toplessness and Topfreedom

Three topless women on a European beach.

In some cultures, toplessness is regarded as partial nudity, and the exposure of breasts or nipples may be regarded as indecent exposure. However, in many western societies and in appropriate settings, such as while suntanning, toplessness is not, of itself, normally regarded as indecent. In the United States, however, exposure of female nipples is a criminal offense in many states and not usually allowed in public (see indecent exposure), while in the United Kingdom, nudity may not be used to "harass, alarm or distress" according to the Public Order Act of 1986. Different standards apply to art, with one example being the dome of the US Capitol featuring a fresco depicting goddesses with their breasts exposed.

Prosecution of cases has given rise to a movement advocating "topfreedom", promoting equal rights for women to have no clothing above the waist, on the same basis that would apply to men in the same circumstances. The term topfree rather than topless is advocated to avoid the latter term's perceived sexual connotations.

Breastfeeding in public is forbidden in some jurisdictions, not legislated for in others, and a legal right in public and the workplace in yet others. Where it is a legal right, some mothers may be reluctant to breastfeed, and some people may object to the practice.

Naturism

Main article: Naturism

A group of naturists on a beach in Crimea, 2008

Naturism (or nudism) is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending private and public nudity. It is also a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social preference. Naturists reject contemporary standards of modesty, which discourage personal, family and social nudity. They instead seek to create a social environment where individuals feel comfortable in the company of nude people, and being seen nude, either just by other naturists, or also by the general public.

Water activities

Main articles: Nude swimming and Sauna

The trend in some European countries (for instance Germany, Finland and the Netherlands) is to allow both genders to bathe together naked. Many German spas allow mixed nude bathing. For example, the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden has designated times when mixed nude bathing is permitted. Most German (not to mention French, Spanish and Greek) beaches and swimming pools offer FKK (clothing-optional) areas. In general, continental Europeans have a more relaxed attitude about nudity than is seen in the British-influenced world. Some have attributed this difference to the influence of Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who was raised in a very restricting religious sect (see Victorian morality).

Nude men in sauna

The sauna, originating from Finland, is attended nude in its source country as well as in most Scandinavian countries and in the German-speaking countries of Europe. This is true even when a swimsuit must be worn in the swimming pool area of the same complex. Saunas are very common in modern Finland, where there is one sauna for every three people and became very popular in the remainder of Europe in recent decades. German soldiers had got to know the Finnish saunas during their fight against the Soviet Union in the Continuation War, where Germany and Finland fought on the same side. Finnish hygiene depended so exclusively on saunas, that they had built saunas not only in mobile tents but even in bunkers. After the war, the German soldiers brought the habit back to Germany and Austria, where it became popular in the second half of the 20th century. The German sauna culture also became popular in neighbouring countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. In contrast to Scandinavia, public sauna facilities in these countries commonly do not segregate genders while still keeping the rule of general nudity.

In Russia, public banyas are also attended nude, however, they are always segregated by gender, either by having separate sections, or by days of the week. Shared areas (such as swimming pools), if present, can only be attended in bathing suits.

Non-Western attitudes

Naked African man c.1900

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 breastfeed in public, while some have very strict laws about showing any bare skin.

Africa

Curse of nakedness

Nude indigenous woman in German East Africa, early 20th century

In Africa, women have used stripping naked on purpose as a curse, both historically, and in modern times. The idea is that women give life and they can take it away. The curse initiates an extreme form of ostracism, which anthropologist Terisa Turner has likened to "social execution". The curse extends to foreign men as well, and is believed to cause impotence, madness or other similar harm. The threat has been used successfully in mass protests against the petroleum industry in Nigeria, by Leymah Gbowee during the Second Liberian Civil War, and against President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast.

Clothing and nudity

Different traditions exist among, for example, sub-Saharan Africans, partly persisting in the post-colonial era. Whereas it is the norm among some ethnic and family groups including some Burkinabese and Nilo-Saharan (e.g. Nuba and Surma people) in daily life or on particular occasions not to wear any clothes or without any covering below the waist – for example, at highly attended stick-fighting tournaments well-exposed young men use the occasion to catch the eye of a prospective bride.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Yawalapiti, an indigenous Xingu tribe in the Amazon Basin, practice a funeral ritual known as Quarup, to celebrate life, death and rebirth, and also involves the presentation of all young girls who have begun menstruating since the last Quarup and whose time has come to choose a partner.

Asia

In Japan, public baths (Sentō) were once common, but are becoming less so with the addition of bathtubs in homes. Public baths are segregated by gender. Sililar establishments in Korea are Jjimjilbang.

Nude woman and man in Malaysia

Nudity is considered shameful in the conservative society of India, although nude beaches can be found in Goa and nude saints like those of the Digambara sect of Jainism and Hindu Sadhus are respected and worshipped.

See also

• Exhibitionism
• History of nudity
• Nude (art)
• Model (art)
• Academy figure
• Figure drawing
• Depictions of nudity
• The Naked Ape (book)
• Nude photography
• Nudity in film
• Burlesque
• Heroic nudity
• Nudity in combat
• Nudity in religion
• Nudity in sport
• Streaking
• Clothed female, naked male
• Clothed male, naked female

References

Sources

• Bancroft, John (2003). Sexual Development in Childhood. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34243-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bonner, Barbara L. (1999). "When does sexual play suggest a problem?". In Dubowitz, Howard; Depanfilis, Diane (eds.). Handbook for Child Protection Practice. Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-1371-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie (2014). Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 449. ISBN 9781135825096. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Collard, Mark; Tarle, Lia; Sandgathe, Dennis; Allan, Alexander (2016). "Faunal evidence for a difference in clothing use between Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 44: 235–246. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2016.07.010. hdl:2164/9989. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gordon, Betty N.; Schroeder, Carolyn S. (1995). Sexuality: A Developmental Approach to Problems. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-45040-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Higonnet, Anne (1998). Pictures of Innocence – The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28048-5. OL 705008M. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Jordan, Tim; Pile, Steve, eds. (2003). Social Change. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-631-23312-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McDonald, Gabrielle Kirk; Swaak-Goldman, Olivia (2000). Substantive and Procedural Aspects of International Criminal Law: The Experience of International and National Courts: Materials. Vol. Volume 2. Brill. ISBN 90-411-1134-4. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Okami, Paul (1995). "Childhood exposure to parental nudity, parent‐child co‐sleeping, and "primal scenes": A review of clinical opinion and empirical evidence". Journal of Sex Research. 32 (1): 51–63. doi:10.1080/00224499509551774. ISSN 0022-4499. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Okami, Paul; Olmstead, Richard; Abramson, Paul R.; Pendleton, Laura (1998). "Early Childhood Exposure to Parental Nudity and Scenes of Parental Sexuality ('Primal Scenes'): An 18-Year Longitudinal Study of Outcome". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 27 (4): 361–384. doi:10.1023/A:1018736109563. ISSN 0004-0002. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tate, Tony (2004). "Roles and Responsibilities of Child Soldiers". Liberia, how to Fight, how to Kill: Child Soldiers in Liberia. Human Rights Watch. GGKEY:BSU0ZLGQ89F. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Toups, M. A.; Kitchen, A.; Light, J. E.; Reed, D. L. (2010). "Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 28 (1): 29–32. doi:10.1093/molbev/msq234. ISSN 0737-4038. PMC 3002236. PMID 20823373. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Scheuch, Manfred (2004). Nackt; Kulturgeschichte eines Tabus im 20. Jahrhundert [Nudity: A Cultural History of a taboo in the 20th century] (in German). Vienna: Christian Brandstätter Verlag. ISBN 978-3-85498-289-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Vance, Melissa R. (2005). "Breastfeeding Legislation in the United States: A General Overview and Implications for Helping Mothers". LEAVEN. 41 (3): 51–54. Archived from the original on 31 March 2007. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wolf, JH (2008). "Got milk? Not in public!". International Breastfeeding Journal. 3 (1): 11. doi:10.1186/1746-4358-3-11. PMC 2518137. PMID 18680578. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

Further reading

• Brandom, Robert, "Critical Notice of Blind and Worried", Theoria 70:2–3, 2005.
• Etymology OnLine- various lemmate & "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. 1 July 1929. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• 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
• 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.
• Dennis Craig Smith, The Naked Child: The Long-Range Effects of Family and Social Nudity Palo Alto: R & E Research Associates (1981) ISBN 978-0-86548-056-8
• Dennis Craig Smith, Growing Up Without Shame, Elysium Growth Press, book, 1986
• Smith, Dennis Craig, Naked Fear, Ultraviolet Press, 2010

External links

• Quotations related to Nudity at Wikiquote
• 20th century nude in the "History of Art"
• Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures by Aileen Goodson at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-03-06) (This chapter excerpt is from Aileen Goodson's Therapy, Nudity & Joy)