Nudity is the state of wearing no
clothingA feature of nearly all modern human societies is the wearing of clothing or clothes, a category encompassing a wide variety of materials that cover the body....
.
It is related to the concept of
modestyStandards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a measure against which an individual in society may be judged...
and is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and situation, and in particular exposing the bare
skinThe skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds...
or
intimate partAn intimate, personal, or private part is a place on the human body which it is usually customary to keep covered with clothing in public areas, as a matter of decency...
s.
Terminology
There are many terms used to describe various states of nudity. These terms may vary between (or within) different cultures and contexts, and may change over time. Sometimes such terms are used as
euphemismA euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker...
s, sometimes as
poeticPoetic may refer to:* Poetry, or a relation thereof.* Too Poetic, a deceased rapper and hip hop producer....
terms, or humorously.
- Full nudity is used to describe a state of complete nudity, with no clothing (or covering) whatsoever
- Full frontal nudity refers to wearing no clothing and facing the observer showing the whole front side of the body, including the pubic area
A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of the anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; in mammals, these include:*Female...
- Partial frontal nudity, i.e. showing only bare breast
The breast is the upper ventral region of an animal’s torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. The breasts of a female primate’s body contain the mammary glands, which secrete milk used to feed infants....
s
- Non-frontal nudity such as showing the buttocks
The buttocks are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, including many other bipeds or quadrupeds.-Anatomy:...
, the whole back side of the body, or the body as viewed from any other direction
The term
partial nudity refers to a state of less than complete nudity, and is sometimes used to refer to exposure of
skinThe skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds...
beyond what the person using the expression considers to be within the limits of
modestyStandards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a measure against which an individual in society may be judged...
. If the exposure is within the standards of modesty of a given culture and setting (e.g. wearing a
bikiniA bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin , leaving an uncovered area between the two . It is often worn in hot weather or while swimming...
at a non-nude
beachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobblestones...
), terms such as nudity, partial or otherwise, are not normally used. If however, the degree of exposure exceeds the cultural norms of the setting, or if the activity or setting includes nudity as an understood part of its function, such as a nude beach, terminology relating to nudity and degrees thereof are typically used.
Modesty
Revealing bare
skinThe skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds...
or even removing clothes in front of others, even when there is another layer of clothing underneath, are at times regarded by some to be erotic or offensive, or as immodest under some people's standards of
modestyStandards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a measure against which an individual in society may be judged...
.
Clothing which follows the contours of the body, or clothing using transparent materials, or clothing which sticks to the skin or become transparent when wet (as in
wet t-shirt contestA wet T-shirt contest is an exhibitionistic beauty contest that typically features young women performing at a nightclub, bar, or resort. They have traditionally been a staple of college spring break celebrations at locations such as Daytona Beach and Cancún....
s), is regarded by some to be erotic, immodest and simulating nudity.
However, there are occasions when standards of modesty are waived, as in the case of medical examinations.
Public nudity
Society's response to public nudity varies on the culture, time, location and context of the activities. There are many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted or even encouraged in public spaces. Such examples would include nude beaches, within some intentional communities (such as naturist resorts or clubs) and at special events.
In general and across cultures, more restrictions are found for exposure of those parts of the human body that display evidence of
sexual arousalSexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is the arousal of sexual desires in anticipation for sexual activity. Things that precipitate human sexual arousal are colloquially known as turn-ons...
.
Sex organA sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of the anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; in mammals, these include:*Female...
s and often women's breasts are 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.
Another common distinction 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 fictitious scene in art. The intent can also be invoked: whether the nudity is meant to affect observers; e.g.
streakingStreaking is the act of taking off one's clothes and running naked through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested, at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
can be considered unacceptably provocative, nude
sun tanningSun tanning, also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds....
viewed mildly as rather inoffensive.
Non-sexual public nudity
Some people enjoy
public nudityPublic nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place...
in a non-sexual context. Common variants of the clothes free movement are nudism and
naturismNaturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
, and are often practiced in reserved places that used to be called "nudist camps" but are now more commonly called naturist resorts,
nude beachA nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public...
es, 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 KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
, public nude recreation indoors remains rare. One example is Starkers Nightclub in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, a monthly nude-only disco party.
Others practice public nudity more casually. Topfree sunbathing is considered acceptable by many on the beaches of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and most of the rest of Europe (and even in some outdoor
swimming poolA swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is an artificially enclosed body of water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest and deepest is the Olympic size...
s); however, exposure of the genitals is restricted to nudist areas in most regions. In the United States, topfree sunbathing and wearing thongs are not common in many areas, but are limited to
nude beachA nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public...
es in various locations.
Where the social acceptability of nudity in certain places may be well understood, the legal position is often less clear cut. In England, for example, the law does not actually prohibit simple public nudity, but does forbid indecent exposure. In practice, this means that successful prosecution hangs on whether there is a demonstrable intention to shock others, rather than simply a desire to be naked in a public place. Specifically, using nudity to "harass, alarm or distress" others is an offence against the Public Order Act of 1986. Occasional attempts to prove this point by walking naked around the country therefore often result in periods of arrest, followed by release without charge, and inconsistencies in the approach between different police jurisdictions. Differences in the law between England and Scotland appear to make the position harder for naked ramblers once they reach Scotland.
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 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.
Home
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 opine 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 5 to 6 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 where children are exhibiting sexual behaviour considered problematic.
A United States study by
Alfred KinseyAlfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction...
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.
Nudity of children
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 pornographyChild pornography refers to images or films depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child; as such, child pornography is a visual record of child sexual abuse...
.
In May 2008, police in
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, raided an exhibition by the photographer
Bill HensonBill Henson is an Australian contemporary art photographer.-Background:Henson's art has been exhibited in many locations, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in...
featuring images of naked children on allegations of child pornography. Though these incidents were not proceeded with and the photographs were returned, they sent a strong psychological message to the community of the embarrassment that can be caused in this ambiguous but sensitive area.
Out of protest the Art Monthly Australia magazine published an 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, art critic Professor Robert Nelson, defended it, 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."
Children seeing nudity
Attitudes toward children seeing nude people, other than their parents, vary substantially, depending on the child's
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, age and the context of the nudity.
British TV is required to avoid displaying scenes of sex from 5:30am to 9pm (the so-called "
watershedThe Watershed is a term used to describe a time in television schedules which divides the period when it is permissible to show television programmes which have 'adult content' from the period when it is not...
") to avoid viewing by children. The Broadcasting Code requires that "Nudity before the watershed must be justified by the context."
Attitudes to nudity vary substantially throughout Europe, with
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
in the north being the most relaxed about it.
Communal showering
Another issue has been the nudity of children in front of other children.
Continental
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
ans have generally been more insistent that all students shower communally after
physical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting...
classes, separated by gender. Fathers taking their young daughters or mothers taking their young sons into the sex separated changing rooms is mostly viewed as non-controversial, although some public baths introduced family changing rooms recently.
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and some of English-speaking
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, students at tax funded schools have historically been required to
showerA shower is a device for washing, typically consisting of an enclosed area and an overhead nozzle. To use a shower, a person stands in the enclosed area while the nozzle sprays water down on the body...
communally with classmates of the same sex after physical education classes. In the United States, public objections and the threat of lawsuits have resulted in a number of school districts in recent years changing policy to make showers optional. A court case in the State of
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
noted that students have a reduced expectation of personal privacy in regards to "communal undress" while showering after physical education classes. According to an interview with a middle school principal, most objections to school showers that he had heard were actually from the student's parents rather than from the student.
Nude photography
Nudity has been used in photography since the invention of photography itself. Nudity in photography does not necessarily claim any artistic merit, while
nude photographyNude photography is a style of art photography which depicts the nude human body as a study. Nude photography should be distinguished from erotic photography, which has a sexually suggestive component...
typically does. Unlike nudity in photography generally, nude photography is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. As an art form, nude photography is a stylised depiction of the nude body with the line and form of the human figure as the primary objective.
Many photographers consider an
art nudeArt nude is a work depicting the vision of an artist working with the human form naked. Be it paintings, photographs, or mixed media, the art nude is a term attempting to give an artistic depiction of a nude human form. Some of the earlier artists who used nude models for their art were...
photograph to be a one that studies the human body, rather than the person. A photograph of a person that is meant to be recognized is called a
portraitA portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a...
, and nude photographs often do not show a face at all. Photographers sometimes use extremes of light and shadow, oiled skin, and shadows falling across the body to show texture and structure of the body.
Early photographers often depicted the nudity of women like those by
Félix-Jacques MoulinFélix-Jacques Antoine Moulin was a French photographer.In 1849, Moulin opened a photographer's shop at 31 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre and started producing daguerreotypes of young girls aged 14 to 16...
. Many, like
Edward WestonEdward Henry Weston was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. Most of his work was done using an 8 by 10 inch view camera.-Life and work:...
,
Ruth BernhardRuth Bernhard was an American photographer.-Early life:Bernhard was born in Berlin and studied at the Berlin Academy of Art from 1925–27. Bernhard's father, Lucian Bernhard, was known for his poster and typeface design.-Photography career:In 1927 Bernhard moved to New York, where her father...
and
Jerry AvenaimJerry Avenaim is an American photographer best known for his fashion and celebrity images.-Early life:...
, preferred to depict the lines of a body as a piece of art.
Erotic photography and
pornographyPornography or porn is the depiction of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual excitement.Over the past few decades, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, with the increasing use of the VCR, the DVD, and the Internet, as well as the...
are typically stylized photography using nude or semi-nude models.
Photography of
installationsInstallation art describes an artistic genre of site-specific, three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space.Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however the boundaries between these terms overlap....
of massed nude people in public places, as made repeatedly around the world by
Spencer TunickSpencer Tunick is an American artist. He is best known for his installations that feature large numbers of nude people posed in artistic formations...
, claim artistic merit.
Nude Calendars
Nude Calendars have proliferated and some have become greatly-anticipated annual traditions. The calendars can be:
- female nude calendars (mostly targetting straight males)
- male nude calendars (mostly targetting females and gay
The term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
males).
Nude
charityIn modern usage, the practice of charity means the giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas...
calendars have also proliferated in recent two decades. Successful charity nude calendars include
Dieux du StadeDieux du Stade is the title of several calendars first published in 2001, featuring nude and semi-nude photographs of members of the Stade Français, a Paris-based domestic French rugby team...
(France) and
Gods of FootballGods of Football, part of Naked For A Cause initiative featured some of the sexiest Australian rules football players and Australian Rugby League players. The campaign was organized for producing an accompaying nude calendar to raise money for the McGrath Foundation, which supports breast cancer...
, League of Their Own (calendar) and
Naked Rugby LeagueNaked Rugby League is a black-and-white nude calendar featuring some of the sexiest Australian rugby league players from the National Rugby League competition.....
Australian sports calendars.
Gender segregation
Nudity in front of strangers of the same gender is often more accepted than in front of those of the other or both genders. Gender-specific public facilities (such as
toiletA toilet is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes: urine and fecal matter. Additionally, vomit and menstrual waste are sometimes disposed of in toilets in Western societies. The word toilet describes the fixture and, especially in British...
s, changing rooms etc) are used to meet community standards of acceptable nudity. In some cultures, nudity, even before people of the same gender, is considered inappropriate and embarrassing.
Functional nudity
Functional nudity for a short time, such as when changing clothes on a beach, is sometimes acceptable, while staying nude on the beach is not. However, even this is often avoided or minimized by a towel. On
nude beachA nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public...
es (clothing-optional) it is acceptable to be nude.
In some locations, most particularly within western societies, a woman
breastfeedingBreastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk...
in public can generate controversy. In June 2007, Brooke Ryan was dining in a booth at the rear of an Applebees restaurant when she found it necessary to breastfeed her 7-month-old son. While she said she attempted to be discreet, another patron complained to the manager about
indecent exposureIndecent exposure is the deliberate exposure by a person of a portion or portions of his or her own body under circumstances where such an exposure is likely to be seen as contrary to the local commonly accepted standards of decency , and may in fact be a violation of law...
. Both a waitress and the manager asked her to cover up. She handed him a copy of the Kentucky law that permitted public breastfeeding, but he would not relent. She ended up feeding her son in her car and later organized
"nurse-out" protestsCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
in front of the restaurant and other public locations. Most U.S. states (40 as of January 2009) have laws clarifying a woman's right to breastfeed in public.
Topfree
In many western countries and in appropriate settings, such as while suntanning, the exposure of women's
breastThe breast is the upper ventral region of an animal’s torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. The breasts of a female primate’s body contain the mammary glands, which secrete milk used to feed infants....
s is not, of itself, normally regarded as indecent exposure. In the United States of America however, exposure of female nipples is a criminal offense in many states and not usually allowed in public (see Public indecency), while in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, nudity may not be used to "harass, alarm or distress" according to the Public Order Act of 1986.
Prosecutions of cases has given raise to a movement advocating "topfree equality," 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.
Naturism and nudism
Naturism (or
nudism) is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending nudity in private and in
publicPublic nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place...
. It is also a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudity.
NaturistsNaturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
reject contemporary standards of
modestyStandards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a measure against which an individual in society may be judged...
which discourage personal, family and social nudity, and seek to create a
socialThe term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
environment where people feel comfortable in the company of nude people, and being seen nude, either just by other nudists, or also by the general public.
Nude bathing
The trend in some
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an countries (for instance
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
) is to allow both genders to bathe together naked. Most German spas allow mixed nude bathing. For example the Friedrichsbad in
Baden-BadenBaden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.- History :The German word 'Baden' translates as 'to bath/bathe'...
has designated times when mixed nude bathing is permitted. There may be some older German bathhouses, such as Bad Burg, which remain segregated by gender, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Most German (not to mention French, Spanish and Greek) beaches and swimming pools offer
FKKFreikörperkultur is a German movement whose name translates to Free Body Culture. It endorses a naturistic approach to sports and community living. Behind that is the joy of the experience of nature or also on being nude itself, without direct relationship to sexuality. The followers of this...
(clothing optional) areas. In general continental Europeans have a more relaxed attitude about nudity than is seen in the Anglo-Saxon 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 moralityVictorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria in particular, and to the moral climate of Great Britain throughout the 19th century in general that were in stark contrast to the morality of the previous Georgian period...
).
The
FinnsFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
have the custom of the Finnish
saunaA sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities. These facilities derive from the Finnish sauna...
, in which nudity is routinely accepted, and sometimes even required. This is true even when a swimsuit must be worn in the swimming pool area of the same complex (
SaunaA sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities. These facilities derive from the Finnish sauna...
s are quite common in modern
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, where there is one sauna for every three people).
Sexuality
Nudity in front of a
sexual partnerA sexual partner is a person with whom one engages in sex acts. Note that it is possible to have a sexual partner without having an intimate relationship or even an acquaintanceship with that person; viz., casual sex or sex with a prostitute....
is widely accepted, but not in all cases. For example, some partners insist on nudity only at the time and place of
sexSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, or with subdued lighting; during bathing with the partner or afterward; covered by a sheet or blanket, or while sleeping.
Non-Western attitudes
Attitudes in
Western cultureWestern culture refers to cultures of European origin.The term "Western culture" is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies...
s 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
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 Togolose and Nilo-Saharan (e.g.
Surma peopleSurma is the Ethiopian government's collective name for the Suri, the Mursi and the Me'en. Altogether they number about 80,000 people. There is no current census. All three speak languages of the southeast branch of the Surmic language cluster...
) on particular occasions not to wear any clothes or without any covering below the waist - for example, at massively attended stick fighting tournaments well-exposed young men use the occasion to catch the eye of a prospective bride.
Amongst Bantu peoples, on the other hand, there is often a complete aversion to public nudity. Thus, in Botswana when a newspaper printed a photograph of a thief suffering lashes on the bared buttocks imposed by a traditional chief's court, there was national consternation, not about the flogging but about the 'peeping tom'.
The Ugandan
KavirondoKavirondo is the former name of the region surrounding Kavirondo Gulf as well as of two native peoples living there under the regime of British East Africa...
tribes, a mix of Bantu and Nilotic immigrants, traditionally went practically naked, but the men eventually adopted western dress.
Liberia
In modern
LiberiaLiberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers ....
, soldiers under
"General Butt Naked" Joshua BlahyiJoshua Blahyi , also known as General Butt Naked, is a Liberian warlord-turned-preacher. He was a fiercely violent and eccentric leader on the side of Roosevelt Johnson in the First Liberian Civil War in the first half of the 1990s....
fought naked in order to terrorize their opponents.
Nude except for lace-up leather shoes and a gun, the general led his fierce
Butt Naked Battalion into battle on behalf of the warlord Roosevelt Johnson, who hired the unclothed warriors for their fearlessness and fighting skills.
Drunk and drugged teenagers and boys composed much of the warlords' fighting forces, and in their intoxicated states they would move into battle wearing flowing dresses, colorful wigs and carrying dainty purses looted from civilians.
As the war wound down, so too did Blahyi's commitment to kill. Today, he is an evangelical preacher leading his End Time Train Evangelistic Ministries on a crusade against war and warlords.
Asia
In Asian cultures such as Japan the public bath is very common. Bathing nude with family members or friends of the same and opposite gender in public bath houses, saunas, or even natural hot springs is popular.
In Korea, public baths (
JjimjilbangJjimjilbang are large, gender-segregated public bathhouses in Korea, complete with hot tubs, showers, Finnish-style saunas, and massage tables, similar to what you may find in a Korean sauna or mogyoktang...
) are also widespread and communal nude bathing is normal, although nudity is not permitted in unisex areas.
Historical overview
Anthropologists logically presume that humans originally lived naked, 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, decoration, cult, or prestige, and later found to be practical as well. For men and women, public nudity was at least permissible in ancient Sparta, and customary at festivals.
In some
hunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either...
cultures in warm climates, near-complete nudity has been, until the introduction of
Western cultureWestern culture refers to cultures of European origin.The term "Western culture" is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies...
, or still is, standard practice for both men and women. In some
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
n and Melanesian cultures, 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 PacificOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
island of
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
, the men use hard gourdlike pods as
penis sheaths. While obscuring and covering the actual
penisThe penis is an external sexual organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates....
, these at a longer distance give the impression of a large, erect penis. Yet a man without this "covering" could be considered to be in an embarrassing state of nakedness. Among the Chumash Native Americans of southern
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, men were usually naked, and women were often
toplessToplessness is the state in which a female has her breasts uncovered, with her areolae and nipples visible, usually in a public space. The adjective topless may refer to a woman who appears in public, poses, or performs with her breasts exposed ; to an activity or performance that involves exposing...
.
Native AmericansThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
of the
Amazon BasinThe Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries. The South American rain forest of the Amazon is the largest in the world, covering about...
usually went nude or nearly nude; in many native tribes, the only clothing worn was some device worn by men to clamp the
foreskinIn male human anatomy, the foreskin is a retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
shut. However, other similar cultures have had different standards. For example, other native
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
ns avoided total nudity, and the Native Americans of the mountains and west of
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, such as the
QuechuaQuechua is a Native American language family spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 6 to 8 million speakers...
, kept quite covered.
For many centuries in some
JainistJainism is an ancient dharmic religion from India that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Its philosophy and practice relies mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness...
traditions, some participants have taken up extreme asceticism that includes full nudity. For example, in Digambara, a sect of Jainism, senior Digambar monks (
Acharya VidyasagarAcharya Vidyasagarji is the best known of the modern Digambar Jain Acharyas of the modern times, known both for his scholarship and tapasya.- Biography :...
is a notable example) wear no clothes, considering themselves to be clothed with the environment that surrounds them. Digambaras believe that this practice represents a refusal to give in to the demands of the body for
comfortComfort may refer to:Places:*Comfort, California*Comfort, Texas*Comfort Township, Minnesota*Old Point Comfort, Virginia*Point Comfort, TexasPersons:*Alex Comfort, a British medical professional, anarchist, pacifist, and writer...
and
private propertyPrivate property is the tangible and intangible things owned by individuals or firms over which their owners have exclusive and absolute legal rights, and can only be transferred with the owner's consent. Private property can take the form of real estate, homes, factories, automobiles, capital,...
. Ancient Greeks who wrote of nude ascetics in India called them
GymnosophistsGymnosophists is the name given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought ....
, meaning "naked philosophers".
Punishment
During the
witch-huntA witch hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials....
s the alleged witches were stripped to discover the so-called witches' marks. The discovery of witches' marks was then used as evidence in trials.
Nakedness (full or partial) can be part of a
corporal punishmentCorporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to change an undesirable attitude or behaviour...
or as an imposed
humiliationPublic humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons .- Shameful exposure :...
, especially when administered in public. In fact,
tortureTorture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of...
manuals may distinguish 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 ListSchindler's List is a 1993 American drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by...
.
In 2003,
Abu Ghraib prisonThe Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad....
gained international notoriety for accounts of
torture and abusesBeginning in 2004, accounts of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
by members of the
United States Army ReserveThe United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
during the
post-invasion periodThe post-invasion period in Iraq, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States, which overthrew the Ba'ath Party government of Saddam Hussein. This article covers the period starting May 1, 2003, after United States...
. Photographic images were circulated that exposed the posing of prisoners naked, sometimes bound, and being intimidated.
Catholicism
The Catholic Church has always held that nudity, in and of itself, is not sinful, but that it is contrary to the virtue of
modestyStandards of modesty are aspects of the culture of a country or people, at a given point in time, and is a measure against which an individual in society may be judged...
. One may note the comments of
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer...
in this matter: "The human body can remain nude and uncovered and preserve intact its splendor and its beauty... Nakedness as such is not to be equated with physical shamelessness... Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person...The human body is not in itself shameful... Shamelessness (just like shame and modesty) is a function of the interior of a person."
Islam
In
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, the area of the body not meant to be exposed in public is called the
awrahAwrah or Aurat is a term used within Islam which denotes the parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the Awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...
, and while referred to in the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
, is addressed in more detail in
hadithHadith are oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are regarded by traditional schools of jurisprudence as important tools for determining the Muslim way of life, the sunnah. Hadith were originally oral traditions of Muhammad's actions and customs...
.
- For men, the awrah
Awrah or Aurat is a term used within Islam which denotes the parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the Awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...
is from the navel to knees, which means that in public, Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
men have to cover themselves at least from the navel down to the knees.
- Some Muslim women wear the hijab
A hijab or ' , as commonly understood in the English-speaking world, is the type of head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women, but can also refer to modest Muslim styles of dress in general. The Arabic word literally means curtain or cover , based on the root حجب meaning "to cover, to veil,...
, which covers most of her head and body, with specific body parts, her awrah, to be covered depending upon varying interpretations of Islamic thought. In one interpretation, a Muslim women's awrah is from the elbow up to her shoulders, her entire midsection and back, and her legs down to just above her ankles.
- Sharia law in some Islamic countries requires women to observe purdah
Purdah or Pardaa is the practice of preventing women from being seen by men. This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form...
, covering their entire bodies, including the face (see niqabA niqāb is a veil which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb.Niqab is most common in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the UAE....
and burqaA burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of cloaking the entire body...
), However, the degrees of covering vary according to local custom and/or interpretation of ShariaSharia is an Arabic word meaning ‘way’ or ‘path’. In Arabic, the collocation ‘Šarīʿat Allāh’ is traditionally used not only by Muslims, but also Christians and Jews, sometimes translating expressions such as Torat Elōhīm [תורת אלוהים] or ‘ho nómos toû theoû' '’...
Law.
- A dead body's awrah
Awrah or Aurat is a term used within Islam which denotes the parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the Awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...
shall remain covered and not seen.
Jainism
Traditionally, the
digambara (sky-clad) monks of the Jain religion of India practice complete nudity as an ascetic discipline and a rejection of materialism.
Judaism
In some parts of Judaism and in some Jewish communities, men and women (separately) use ritual baths called
mikvot for a variety of reasons, mostly religious in the present day. Immersion in a
mikvahMikveh is a ritual bath designed for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
requires that water cover 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.
At the same time,
OrthodoxOrthodox Judaism is a formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim.Orthodox...
and Religious Jews are very protective about their naked body. Under the laws of
TzniutTzniut is a term used within Judaism and has its greatest influence as a notion within Orthodox Judaism...
(modesty), both men and women may not reveal any body part usually covered in that society. In addition, women must cover everything between the elbows and the knees (including collarbones), and married women must cover their hair. When
answering the call of natureExcretion is the process of eliminating waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials. It is an essential process in all forms of life. It contrasts secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell....
one must uncover as little as possible, and changing before and after sleep is often done under the covers. Although full nudity is permitted, and according to many, encouraged, during
sexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, it must be done in the dark, at night, and in private.
ConservativeConservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.The principles of Conservative Judaism include:* A deliberately non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish...
and
Reform JudaismReform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in North America and in the United Kingdom....
generally do not follow the
Shulchan AruchThe Shulchan Aruch is a codification, or written manual, of halacha , composed by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century...
and do not share the same attitudes about nudity in private.
See also
- Nudity in art
- Nudity in combat
Nudity in combat is the practice of entering combat without clothing and armor. It is rarely practiced because, apart from the social aspects of nudity, the combatant lacks even the basic protection of clothes, e.g. when diving for cover, or crawling...
- Nudity in film
Nudity in film refers to the presentation in motion pictures of people without clothing, whether as full nudity — a view of someone's entire nude body — or more modest versions of nudity....
- Nudity in religion
-South Asian religions:In ancient South Asian cultures, there was a tradition of extreme ascetism that included full nudity...
- Nudity in sport
Nudity in sport is uncommon but has not been totally absent from ancient or current sporting activities.-History:...
Further reading
- Brandom, Robert, "Critical Notice of Blind and Worried", Theoria 70:2-3, 2005.
- Etymology OnLine- various lemmate &
- 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
Mark Storey is a board member of the Naturist Action Committee and has testified at anti-nudity legislation hearings all over the United States....
Social Nudity, Sexual Attraction, and Respect Nude & NaturalNude & Natural: The Magazine Of Naturist Living or simply Magazine is a quarterly 100+ page naturist magazine published by The Naturist Society in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and distributed throughout the United States and internationally...
magazine, 24.3 Spring 2005.
- Storey, Mark
Mark Storey is a board member of the Naturist Action Committee and has testified at anti-nudity legislation hearings all over the United States....
Children, Social Nudity and Academic Research Nude & NaturalNude & Natural: The Magazine Of Naturist Living or simply Magazine is a quarterly 100+ page naturist magazine published by The Naturist Society in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and distributed throughout the United States and internationally...
magazine, 23.4 Summer 2004.
External links