Nudity

Nudity or nakedness is the state of wearing no clothing. It is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare skin of intimate parts.

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/or 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.

Related Topics:
Anthropologists - Christian - Biblical - Adam and Eve - God - Original sin - Fig

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Following the introduction of clothing, different cultures have held a wide variety of attitudes and practises about being nude.

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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, without which they were naked. 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.

Related Topics:
Hunter-gatherer - Western culture - African - South Pacific - New Guinea - Penis sheath - Chumash - California - Topless - Native Americans - Amazon Basin

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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.

Related Topics:
North America - South America - Quechua

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At one time in some regions of Greece, such as Minoa, Sparta, and Olympus, 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.

Related Topics:
Greece - Minoa - Sparta - Olympus - Hunter-gatherer - Greece - Rome - Public bathing - Athletics - Greek - Gymnasium - Whip - Biblical - Roman Imperial - Prisoner - Humiliation

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In the 6th century, Benedict of Nurcia advised in his Rule that the monks sleeping in the dormitory should sleep fully dressed.

Related Topics:
6th century - Benedict of Nurcia - Rule

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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.

Related Topics:
8th century - Baptised - Immersion

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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.

Related Topics:
15th century - Codpiece - Tights - Trousers - Genitals

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During the Victorian era, public nakedness became untolerated, and even objects that were somewhat anthropomorphic were required to be covered. For example, it was considered somewhat inappropriate for table legs, piano legs, and the like to be uncovered, so furniture often had skirts to cover them. 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.

Related Topics:
Victorian era - Naked - Leg - Piano - Furniture - Skirt - Beaches - Segregated - Gender - Bathing machine - 20th century - Nipple - Beach - Middle Ages - Bathing suits - Men - Genitals

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