Portal:Nudity
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Introduction
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts, being associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.
In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, proper attire was required to maintain social standing. The lower classes might possess a single piece of cloth that was wrapped or tied to cover the lower body; the lowest classes including slaves might be naked. However, through much of Western history until the late modern period, people of any status were also unclothed by necessity or convenience when engaged in labor and athletics; or when bathing or swimming. Such functional nudity occurred in groups that were usually but not always segregated by sex. Although improper dress might be socially embarrassing, the association of nudity with sin regarding sexuality began with Judeo-Christian societies, spreading through Europe in the post-classical period. Traditional clothing in temperate regions worldwide also reflect concerns for maintaining social status and order, as well as by necessity due to the colder climate. However, societies such as Japan and Finland maintain traditions of communal nudity based upon the use of baths and saunas that provided alternatives to sexualization.
The spread of Western concepts of modest dress was part of colonialism, and continues today with globalization. Contemporary social norms regarding nudity reflect cultural ambiguity towards the body and sexuality, and differing conceptions of what constitutes public versus private spaces. Norms relating to nudity are different for men than they are for women. Individuals may intentionally violate norms relating to nudity; those without power may use nudity as a form of protest, and those with power may impose nakedness on others as a form of punishment. (Full article...)
Selected general article
In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes, had to be justified as part of the story.
Nudity in film should be distinguished from sex in film. A film on naturism or about people for whom nudity is common may contain non-sexual nudity, and some non-pornographic films contain brief nude scenes. Nudity in a sexual context is common in pornographic films or erotic films.
Nude scenes are considered controversial in some cultures because they may challenge the community's standards of modesty. These standards vary by culture and depend on the type of nudity, who is exposed, which parts of the body are exposed, the duration of the exposure, the posing, the context, or other aspects. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, caused outrage in 1784 when he ordered that people be buried naked in reusable coffins from which the body fell into the grave via a trapdoor?
- ... that vampire amoebae are naked?
- ... that Susanna Hoffs sang on the studio recording of "Eternal Flame" naked after producer Davitt Sigerson pranked her by saying that Olivia Newton-John had done the same thing?
- ... that Loud LDN co-founder Maisi came joint last in the 2022 Maldon mud race, behind a naked runner who had been forced to start after everyone else?
- ... that according to one Turkish artist, a nude sculpture by Gürdal Duyar almost dissolved the 37th government of Turkey?
- ... that two nude bathers in Arnold Comes of Age were "nearly obliterated"?
- ... that the Indian politician Diwan Chaman Lall failed to get rid of the painting Nude of Indira?
- ... that former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that she would swim in Loch Ness naked if the SNP won more than 50 seats at the 2019 United Kingdom general election?
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General images
- Image 2In many European countries women may sunbathe without covering their breasts. (from Nudity)
- Image 6Naked participant at Burning Man 2016 posing as Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (from Naturism)
- Image 7Naturist swimmers in Australia (from Naturism)
- Image 9David (1504)
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"
— Michelangelo (from Nude (art)) - Image 10Signpost at Mpenjati Naturist Beach (from Naturism)
- Image 11A necklace reconstructed from perforated sea snail shells from Upper Palaeolithic Europe, dated between 39,000 and 25,000 BCE. The practice of body adornment is associated with the emergence of behavioral modernity. (from Nudity)
- Image 14The far west end of Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico (from Naturism)
- Image 16One of the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal: a naked prisoner being forced to crawl and bark like a dog on a leash. (from Nudity)
- Image 17Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, part of a series made with Eugène Delacroix (from Nude photography)
- Image 18Crayon-style print by Gilles Demarteau with a nude man after original drawing by Edmé Bouchardon was acquired by Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw as a teaching material (from Nude (art))
- Image 19Naturists in a river, 2014 (from Nudity)
- Image 23The Barricade (1918), oil on canvas, by George Bellows. A painting inspired by an incident in August 1914 in which German soldiers used Belgian townspeople as human shields. (from Nude (art))
- Image 26Zoë Mozert was one of the Earl Moran's first nude models in the 1930s. (from Nude photography)
- Image 27Using birch branches in a Finnish sauna, 1967 (from Nudity)
- Image 29Florida naturists (from Naturism)
- Image 31A publicity photo showing a mature naturist couple making tea. North America (from Naturism)
- Image 33Families bathing nude at a hot spring in Taiwan (from Naturism)
- Image 35Finnish Sauna (1802) (from Naturism)
- Image 37Public naturist recreation area at Lake Unterbach; Strandbad Süd, Düsseldorf-Unterbach, Germany (from Naturism)
- Image 41Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Artemisia Gentileschi. This work may be compared with male depictions of the same tale. (from Nude (art))
- Image 46A woman naked on the beach at Valalta, Croatia (from Naturism)
- Image 47Nudist hiker in British Columbia (from Naturism)
- Image 48Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (1808–1812) by John Vanderlyn. The painting was initially considered too sexual for display in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Although nudity in art was publicly protested by Americans, Vanderlyn observed that they would pay to see pictures of which they disapproved." (from Nude (art))
- Image 49Couple walking naked in the streets of Barcelona, Spain (from Naturism)
- Image 50Nudist couple at Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California, US (from Naturism)
In the news
- 17 May 2024 –
- Iranian police arrest more than 260 people, including three European citizens, on suspicion of spreading Satanism and nudity in Iran. (ABC News)
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