Nudity
Categories: Nudity | Human appearance
- For other uses, see Nudity (disambiguation).
| Image:Manet, Edouard - Olympia, 1863.jpg |
| Olympia |
| Edouard Manet, 1863 |
| oil on canvas, 130.5 × 190 cm |
| musée d'Orsay |
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.
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Terminology
Although nude and naked have the same objective meaning (i.e. not covered by clothing) and a common origin, 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", while "naked" derives from the common early English word for "unclothed" that is cognate with "nudus"). 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, and a forced or mandatory condition of being without clothes (e.g. strip search) at the other.
- As the concept 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. Thus, while someone exposing 'private parts' is often called 'naked' regardless of garments on other body parts (indeed, an 'undressed' state is often considered even more sexy 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. Thus even wearing boxer shorts, sufficient to guard the modesty of a shooto fighter, is described as near-naked in Japan because the 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 torse.
- 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-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, often crucial for spanking as well as in a sexual context (including a fecal fetish)
- Terms like bare balls and bullock-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, e.g. being chased by someone intending to whip the backside when he catches the naked runaway
- The term topless is sometimes used—especially in reference to females—to describe the lack of clothing covering the breasts
- As a counterpart, some expressions explicitly express total nudity. A special case is stark naked, or in British English starkers, as these terms were erroneously changed from 'start naked' (start is an old Germanic word for tail, as above fixating on the ) 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 words spiernaakt ('muscle naked', since one sees every muscle under bare skin) and poedelnaakt (refers to the often ridiculed shaving of poodle dog breeds)
Historical overview
Although scientific anthropologists and Christian Biblical literalists offer conflicting accounts of it, they agree that humans originally lived without clothing as their natural state. The former describe 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. The latter describe the first humans Adam and Eve, 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.
After the introduction of clothing, different cultures have held a wide variety of attitudes and practices about being nude.
In some hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, near-complete nudity has been (at least until the introduction of Western culture) standard practice for both men and women. In at least one African tribe, the men would go completely naked except for a string tied about the waist. With this string they would be considered properly dressed for hunting and other 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 some regions of ancient Greece, such as Minoa and Sparta, nudity was more or less accepted, which indicates that nudity is not foreign to European culture, and being a hunter-gatherer society is not a prerequisite for a society that tolerates nudity. In Classical Greece and Rome, public nakedness was accepted in the context of public bathing or athletics. (The Greek word gymnasium means "a place to be naked".) Athletes commonly competed nude, but many city-states allowed no female participants or even spectators at those events, Sparta being a notable exception. However, it was also common for a person to be punished by being stripped and whipped in the public square. 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 in his Rule that the monks sleeping in the dormitory should sleep fully dressed.
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.
Various modern-era attitudes
As a general rule, public nudity is not considered "proper" in most modern societies. There are, however, many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted, or even encouraged.
In general and across cultures, most restrictions are found for exposure of those parts of the human body that put in evidence sexual arousal or sexual dimorphism between male and female adults. Therefore, sex organs and women's breasts are often covered, even when other parts of the body may be freely uncovered.
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 in front of a sexual partner is widely accepted, but there may be restrictions — for example, only at the time and place of sex, or with subdued lighting, or covered by a sheet or blanket.
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 in open showers, common changing rooms, etc. Gender-specific restrooms 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.
In certain structured settings in which nudity serves a practical purpose — such as providing access to a patient's body during a medical procedure or therapeutic massage, or providing figure drawing students with unobstructed views of the human body — 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.
Although exposure of the top of women's breasts is usually tolerated, in the United States of America, exposure of female nipples is still 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 North American jurisdictions—including Ontario and New York State—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.
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. 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 (In Finland typical only in private within family). Typically, older German bathhouses, such as Bad Burg, remain segregated by gender. The reverse is true of Japanese sentos. Most of the newer Japanese bathhouses are gender segregated, whereas the older baths in the countryside are mixed gender. In both cases (mixed or segregated) public bathing in Japan is done in total nudity.
Some people enjoy public nudity in a non-sexual context. This movement is known as nudism or naturism, and is often practiced in reserved places that used to be called "nudist camps" but are now more commonly referred to as naturist resorts, beaches, or clubs. Such facilities may be designated topless, clothing-optional, or fully-nude-only.
One of the more interesting examples of certain modern attitudes towards nudity occurred in 2002 when Republican U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered a semi-nude statue at the Department of Justice covered with a curtain. The statue, the Spirit of Justice, has been on display at DOJ since the 1920s. When new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, also a Republican, assumed the office in 2005, he ordered the curtain removed. The statue had also been curtained temporarily from time-to-time under Republican Attorney General Richard Thornburgh when he spoke in the room. In another memorable episode, when Republican Attorney General Edwin Meese released a report on pornography in the 1980s, press photographers hit the floor to photograph him speaking in front of the partially clad statue.
Children
Attitudes toward the nudity of children vary substantially, depending on the child's age and the context of the nudity. Among some people they have changed noticeably since the mid 20th century, largely due to increasing concerns about sexual abuse of children.
One of the more traditional attitudes regards children who have not yet reached puberty (or perhaps a younger age) as essentially asexual, and treats their nudity as harmless. This is most commonly true of infants, who are often depicted nude without negative social connotation. The work of Anne Geddes, for example, often depicts nude infants in scenes that would be considered in quite a different light if the children were several years older. In some cultures, it may be acceptable for male children to be seen nude by females, but not vice versa. This was formerly the practice in parts of the rural United States, for example.
In many places children are taught to never to be seen nude by those of the opposite sex (especially of the same approximate age). In these circumstances, children would be ashamed or very embarrassed if anyone (except perhaps a parent, sibling, or other close relative) of the opposite sex saw them nude. They may even be subject to giggling and teasing by clothed children of similar culture. However, children of this age may also be motivated by their curiosity to covertly expose themselves to a child of the other gender in exchange for them doing the same ("I'll show you mine if you show me yours"). This attitude toward nudity and gender separatism usually peaks at about age nine, later very gradually changing to allow for a sexual partner to eventually see them nude.
Increasing awareness of the fact that children are sexually abused has created a partial backlash in developed countries against the general trend toward increasing acceptance of public nudity, especially of children. In some cases, any public nudity of a person under the age of consent might be accused of being abusive. For example, there have been incidents in which snapshots taken by parents of their infant or toddler children bathing or otherwise naked were destroyed or turned over to law enforcement as child pornography. In New Zealand photographs of naked minors in newspapers and magazines were once socially acceptable, but would invoke horror and revulsion amongst the readership if published today. Perhaps coincidentally, swimwear fashions for children have become less revealing over this same time period. Debates are unresolved about the acceptability of child nudity.
Non-Western attitudes
Some strict interpretations of Islam require women to observe purdah, covering their entire bodies, including the face (see burqa), on threat of severe punishment.
Still very different traditions exist among, for example, post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africans. Whereas some Togolose and Ethiopian (e.g., Suri) tribes still commonly parade fully naked or without any covering below the waist, amongst Bantu people there is often a complete aversion from public nudity—thus, in Botswana when a newspaper printed a photograph 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'.
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. For example in a Benin tribe traditional body scarification on the head is performed on a small child while completely naked, but to a boy being initiated as an adult baring only the torso (where the scars are made).
Much of East Asian culture still maintains a traditionally conservative attitude toward nudity, alongside relatively conservative traditional attitude towards body contact and public expressions of sexuality generally; this attitude has changed in recent decades through exposure to Western imagery, advertising, and media, however. Despite this relative prevalence of traditional attitudes for adults, however, Chinese culture continues to sanction the wearing of shorts by children which are not enclosed, permitting them to more easily relieve bodily functions. Moreover, in the preparations for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, some have called for the end of the tradition permissiveness for adult males to go shirtless in public during warm weather.
Nudity beyond social norms
Streaking is running naked through a non-nudist public place, usually for fun or as a practical joke.
Nudity has sometimes been used to attract more attention to a public protest, a tactic used by the Doukhobors in the early 20th century, and later (particularly from the 1960s onwards) used more widely. Modern slogans include "Disrobe for disarmament", "Nudes, not nukes!", "Naked For Peace", "Dare 2 Bare 4 Freedom + Peace", "I'd rather go naked than wear fur!" and "I Got Rid Of My Bush! Read My Lips — No To War!"
In softcore pornography, which was originally presented mainly in the form of "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 and Hustler, 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 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 aimed for heterosexual women (the Chippendales being the most common example). Both genders had been unofficially dancing at clubs for many years (at least since the 1950's), and today at clubs catering to gay, straight, and everything in-between clientele.
Depictions of nudity
| Image:Nudemaja.JPG | Image:Clotmaja.JPG |
| Goya's La Maja Desnuda and La Maja Vestida. In 19th-century Europe, it was common to have two paintings of the same subject for the same place on the wall. Depending on which guests were visiting, one or the other was shown. | |
The depiction of nudity in art has generally conformed — with some variation — to social standards for public nudity; in cultures where nudity was accepted, nude figures in painting and sculpture were as well. However, some cultures have tolerated artistic nudity more than actual nudity, with a different set of standards of what is acceptable.
As social attitudes about artistic nudity have changed, this has sometimes led to conflict over art that no longer conforms to prevailing standards. For example, the Roman Catholic Church once organized the so-called fig-leaf campaign to cover nudity in art, starting from the works of Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
The nude has become an enduring genre of representational art, especially painting, sculpture, and photography. It depicts people without clothes on, usually with stylistic and staging conventions that distinguish the artistic elements (such as innocence, or similar theatrical/artistic elements) of being nude with the more provocative state of being naked. A nude figure is one, such as a goddess or a man in ancient Greece, for whom the lack of clothing is its usual condition, so that there is no sexual suggestiveness presumed. A naked figure is one, such as a contemporary prostitute or a businessman, who usually wears clothing, such that their lack of it in this scene implies sexual activity or suggestiveness. The latter were rare in European art from the Medieval period until the latter half of the 1800s; in the interim, a work featuring an unclothed woman would routinely identify her as "Venus" or another Greco-Roman goddess, to justify her nudity.
Nudity in art, also publicly displayed, is rather common and more accepted than public nudity of real people. For example, a statue or painting representing a nude person may be displayed in public places where actual nudity is not allowed. However, there is also much art depicting a nude person with a piece of cloth seemingly by chance covering the genitals. A 1960s sketch featuring English comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore admiring Cézanne's Les Grandes Beigneuses in the National Gallery humorously suggested that there must be hundreds of paintings that are not publicly displayed because the pieces of cloth did not fall in just the right places while the artist was painting them.
In modern media, images of partial and full nudity are used in advertising to draw additional attention. In the case of attractive models this attention is due to the visual pleasure the images provide; in other cases it is due to the relative rarity of images of nudity. The use of nudity in advertising tends to be carefully controlled to avoid the impression that the company whose product is being advertised is indecent or unrefined. There are also limits on what advertising media such as magazines allow. The success of sexually provocative advertising is claimed in the truism "sex sells". However, responses to nudity in American advertisements have been more mixed; nudity in the advertisements of Calvin Klein, Benetton, and Abercrombie and Fitch, to name three companies, have provoked much negative as well as positive response. (See also: Sex in advertising).
Of images of nudity (not necessarily pornographic), the most extreme form is "full frontal" nudity, referring to the fact that the actor or model is presented from the front and including "everything", indicating that the genitals are exposed. Frequently images of nude people do not go that far and photos are deliberately composed, and films edited, such that in particular no genitalia are seen, as if the camera failed to see them by chance.
The portrayal of nudity in motion pictures has long been controversial. Several early films of the silent era featured nudity; in response to objections voiced by several groups, scenes of nudity were forbidden in mainstream USA films by the Hays Code from the 1930s until the 1960s when the MPAA film rating system was instituted. In the early 1950s the only open cinematic displays of nudity were in naturist quasi-documentary films. In 1959 the film The Immoral Mr. Teas became the first non-naturist film openly exhibiting nudity. These earlier films were about nudity or about the visualization of nudity, rather than its use in film using incidental nudity as part of a larger story.
Only with the MPAA rating system could nudity be legitimately included in a commercially successful film built around some other story. Since then, many films have featured various levels of nudity; however, full frontal nudity (especially featuring male anatomy) is still rare in US cinema. Further (and primarily because of the implications involved) it is commonly more acceptable for a male's genitals to be depicted in a flacid state, but not while erect. The film Angels and Insects was the first to be given an NC-17 rating specifically because an actor had an erection.
Full nudity has gained much wider acceptance in European cinema, where in contrast to their US counterparts the audience perceive nudity and sexuality in general as less objectionable than the depiction of excessive violence.
Noteworthy films with famous nude scenes include:
- Inspiration (1915) the first film to feature nudity
- Ecstasy (1933) first theatrical film to feature sex and a woman's bare breasts
- Blow-Up (1966) first to show female genitalia
- I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) explicit portrayal of sex and nudity
- Women in Love (1969) first theatrical movie to show male genitalia
- Last Tango in Paris (1972) explicit portrayal of sex starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider
- Pretty Baby (1978) a nude and underage Brooke Shields
- American Gigolo (1980) first full frontal of a major hollywood actor Richard Gere
- Porky's (1982) voyeristic shower scene
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) portrayals of teenage sex, Phoebe Cates removing her bikini top
- Basic Instinct (1992) pantyless uncrossing of legs by Sharon Stone
- Showgirls (1995) numerous nude and exotic scenes starring Elizabeth Berkley
- Titanic (1997) nude portrait of Kate Winslet
Broadcast television and most "basic cable" outlets in the United States have been more reluctant to display nudity in most cases, the exception being PBS. A few series in the 1990s, including NYPD Blue, have occasionally used partial nudity, both male and female. When broadcast on television, theatrically released films featuring nudity are usually presented with the nude scenes edited out, or the nudity is obscured in some fashion (for example digital imagery may be used to clothe nude actors). Several premium cable services such as HBO and Showtime have gained popularity for, among other things, presenting unedited films. In addition, they have produced series that do not shy away from nude scenes, including Oz, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Queer as Folk.
Nudity is occasionally presented in other media as well, often with attending controversy. Album cover art featuring nude photographs, featuring music by performers such as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Blind Faith, and Jane's Addiction, have stirred controversy over the years. Several rock musicians have performed nude on stage, including members of Jane's Addiction, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, The Jesus Lizard, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Blink 182.
Television soap operas have rarely showed any risque nudity, the exception being the Procter & Gamble soap operas As the World Turns and Guiding Light which in 2005 went as far as featuring rear male nudity during lovemaking scenes. After the Super Bowl controversy, FCC commisioner Michael J. Copps stated that it was time for a crackdown on daytime television and indicated that he was reviewing whether soap operas were violating the agency's indecency prohibitions. Following this news, Guiding Light edited out nudity from an episode that had already been taped. A week later, the show's executive producer John Conboy was fired and replaced by Ellen Wheeler. All nine American network soaps began to impose an unwritten rule of avoiding any sort of risque adult scenes. for more information see Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy.
On the Internet, especially on websites featuring images of well known people, the terms nude and nudity have often been used (some would say misused) to signify indecent exposure; for example, a photo of an otherwise fully clothed woman with a nipple exposed. See also: Nude celebrities on the Internet.
An exception is often made for the depiction of peoples whose nudity is acceptable within the mores of a traditional culture. This so-called "ethnographic" nudity has appeared in National Geographic magazine, as well as documentaries broadcast in the United States. In some cases, media outlets may show nudity which occurs in a "natural" or spontaneous setting in news programs or documentaries, while blurring out or censoring the nudity in a dramatic work.
See also
- Figure drawing
- Photography of female nudes in the public domain
- Godiva
- Gymnophobia
- Indecent exposure
- Modesty
- Mooning
- Not wearing undergarment
- Nude scene
- Nudism
- Nudity in science-fiction literature
- Nudity in sport
- Sex in advertising
- Skinny dipping
- Vintage erotica
- Category:Images containing nudity
References
- 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
External links
- Naked for Peace
- Art photos of public mass nudity by Spencer Tunick
- Nude photography
- 'The erotic eye and its nude: an inquiry into the vicissitudes of the scopic and phanic drive'
- Gonzales' Curtain Call Attorney General Alberto Gonzales unveils Spirit of Justice after curtained for three years by A.G. John Ashcroft
- Simple Nudesde:Nacktheit
hu:Meztelenség it:nudità ja:裸 nl:Naaktheid pl:Akt pt:Nudez ru:Нагота sv:Nakenhet