The naked human body (spam lite)

[C Elegans]

When talking about "heavenly bodies" with Mahar, I thought about how differently the naked human body is viewed in different societies, and also how it has changed over times. A couple of years ago I read an interesting popular science book about written by a historican I think, that dealt with this very topic and suggested a variety of background factors that could explain such differences.

Whereas I live in a society where the nude body is viewed as completely natural, I know many other societies views both topless sunbathing and children seeing their relatives naked as upsetting and even morally inadequete. However, I agree with the book I read that it says a lot about a society which view it has on nakedness and the human body in general. So my questions to you are:

1. How does the society you live in view the naked human body? What is socially acceptable and not? Legal or illegal? What do you think is the foundation of this view? Do you think it is good or would you wish it changed?

2. If your view differs from that of the society you live in, what is your personal view? Why?

[Gwalchmai]

Originally posted by C Elegans
However, I agree with the book I read that it says a lot about a society which view it has on nakedness and the human body in general.

What did the book have to say about the characteristics of societies as they pertain to the society's views on the naked body? - - - just curious.

[Chanak]

That's my question, too.

[C Elegans]

Re: Re: The naked human body (spam lite)

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
What did the book have to say about the characteristics of societies as they pertain to the society's views on the naked body? - - - just curious.

I wasn't going to go into that since I am no expert on neither history nor sociology so I can't judge whether that book had some points or not regarding the suggested connection, but from what I can remember, the author mentioned connections between repressive views and attitudes towards women and repressive views and taboos around nakedness. More obvious there was of course also a connection made between a societies views of nudity and of sex.

[Gwalchmai]

I'm curious because I can see it going several different ways. For example, attitudes toward nudity could be related to attitudes toward sex itself. If this is the case, societies that went through a 'sexual revolution' might view nudity more liberally and the degree to which nudity is accepted could be related to how long ago the sexual revolution occurred. On the other hand, acceptance of nudity could have more to do with how hierarchical or patriarchal the society is? What about the old study that related women's hemlines to the economic rises and falls? Does that have any bearing?

[Gwalchmai]

Re: Re: Re: The naked human body (spam lite)

Originally posted by C Elegans
I wasn't going to go into that since I am no expert on neither history nor sociology so I can't judge whether that book had some points or not regarding the suggested connection, but from what I can remember, the author mentioned connections between repressive views and attitudes towards women and repressive views and taboos around nakedness. More obvious there was of course also a connection made between a societies views of nudity and of sex.

Oops, You seem to have answered my question before I posted.

So, do you think that nudity and sex are necessarily related (or linked concepts) here?

[C Elegans]

Re: Re: Re: Re: The naked human body (spam lite)

The book was really not very detailed since it was a popular science book (and not an especially good one, I read it because the topic interest me in general). The view of nudity was not connected to economic decline or rise, nor to any other economic factors at all.

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
So, do you think that nudity and sex are necessarily related (or linked concepts) here?

Again, this is far from my areas of expertise, but personally, I think the two does not necessarily need to be related although empirically it seems they often are. In one direction I can see it is obvious, that is the sex-nudity direction, ie if a society has a repressive view of sex it is very common it also represses nudity (at least I know of no culture which repress sex but not nudity). The other direction, nudity-sex, seems to me to be less obvious since nudity does not lead to sex, but people have to bare at least parts of their bodies in order to have sex. However, I don't know of any societies that have no linkage between the two concepts...I'd be curious to learn more about other cultures though.

[VonDondu]

If people only see other people naked when they're having sex, then there will be a strong association between sex and nudity. On the other hand, if being naked only means not wearing any clothes, then there isn't necessarily any connection between nudity and sex, unless someone happens to be turned on by another person, but that could happen even if nobody was naked (before they had sex).

My own opinion about nudity is that it's a good thing that people keep their clothes on most of the time. Otherwise, I shudder at the thought.

I would also add that you're naked right now (under your clothes).

[Scayde]

Originally posted by VonDondu
If people only see other people naked when they're having sex, then there will be a strong association between sex and nudity. On the other hand, if being naked only means not wearing any clothes, then there isn't necessarily any connection between nudity and sex, unless someone happens to be turned on by another person, but that could happen even if nobody was naked (before they had sex).

I would say this is probably quite true. The aboriginal people of the Amazon Basin come to mind here.

My own opinion about nudity is that it's a good thing that people keep their clothes on most of the time. Otherwise, I shudder at the thought.

I would also add that you're naked right now (under your clothes).

LMAO..As I have been heard to say....
"If you've got it flaunt it, but if you don't for godsake cover it up"

As to the questions?...I live in one of the most sexually repressed nations left on earth, and the people here are far from comfortable with nudity. One thing I noticed while I was living in China, the attitudes toward sexuality are far more open, but their views on nudity are even more repressed than here in the US. I remember I went to an upscale dinner theater......the show featured showgirls in Las Vegas style costumes.....but they were wearing white cortton men's t-shirts and boxers under their coupettes and G-strings....It still did not matter...the men in the audience were drooling in their tea.......it was I think the power of suggestion more than what they were actually seeing. These women were 'supposed' to be sexy..so they were..

[Maharlika]

IMO afa some asian societies I know of such as the Phils, nudity is best left inside the privacy of one's home.

And yes, there is the tendency to associate it with something sexual; and yes, public nudity is frowned upon.

Just recently there was a new rule in Manila that men with tattoos on their upper torsos are prohibited to be topless since most of these people were formally convicts/inmates...

[frogus]

Originally posted by Scayde

As to the questions?...I live in one of the most sexually repressed nations left on earth, and the people here are far from comfortable with nudity.

This is why God gave us NationStates.net

Nudity could mean two things though -
Nudity in public, I should imagine would decrease sexual taboo...

Over here a girl sunbathing topless in a park would get arrested If the police cars could get through the throngs of drooling repressed males.

Also there is an (perceived) increasing use of nudity in advertising and media, to sell things - which increases the sexual taboo, by dehumanising sex, and making it unnatural.

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by C Elegans
1. How does the society you live in view the naked human body? What is socially acceptable and not? Legal or illegal? What do you think is the foundation of this view? Do you think it is good or would you wish it changed?

Well this country presently has a weird diachotomy, on the one hand it's okay to show flesh, lots of flesh in fact, on any advert they're allowed to show anything but nipples or actual genitals. The funniest one I've seen is this advert that goes a little something like this:

They pan down this womans body, moving the camera around the sides at just the right moments to not break the rules and then we get down to the womans shoes, it seems that these shoes make you feel naked and refreshed.

Talk about stetching the narrative a little. I think that is grossly offensive, I think there is nothing wrong with nudity, hell the British people are so uptight, on the one hand we like the idea of nudity but then it's not something we in our repressed society will willingly show. The foundation, in my opinion, for this view is because we live in a post victorian era that still has links to a time when nudity was very much a taboo.

I personally think it should change, they should stop using nudity as a way of selling a product, I mean, it's almost prostitution and they should stop pretending like they're rebels by pushing the boundaries that shouldn't be there anyway.

There is also this strange fascination with S&M coming into advertising but I won't go into that.

/gets off soapbox

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by Scayde
One thing I noticed while I was living in China, the attitudes toward sexuality are far more open

And questionable too

[Antimatter]

I live in a country founded upon and still relying much on Christianity. Despite being a tropical island, nudity is in no way accepted. It is worse then the US here. You are not allowed to wear a bathing suit unless you are on the beach and it is illegal to have or view any pornographic material. Sometimes you see half nude tourists because they are from many different parts of the world, but that is not often. In my mind, nudity is natural so why should it be frowned upon? I personally would not go around naked because I grew up in this country under an American family (I am American), so it just feels strange to me, but I think those that want to should be allowed to, at least in some places such as the beach. The strangest part of the whole thing, however, is that nudity is considered nipples (on girls) and actual genitals. I have a swimsuit calender and one of the pictures is literally everything except those two. Those areas are covered by smoothed stones, which you can imagine are not extremely large. To me, this says that people are not really uncomfortable with the human body, but just the concept of nudity seems wrong to many. That's why we push it as far as we can go, only saying two tiny areas can't be exposed, just to uphold some moral code because we are uncomfortable with a concept.

[Gruntboy]

Frumpy Brits here. Nudity is immoral unless its on page 3 of the Sun. Bah! What tosh, you know my stance on public nudity.

I love the naked female form in particular. Whilst its highly impractical in our winters, there's nothing wrong with letting it all hang out in the right places.

[Minerva]

Originally posted by Gruntboy
Frumpy Brits here. Nudity is immoral unless its on page 3 of the Sun. Bah! What tosh, you know my stance on public nudity.

You know, now the Sun got female editor, so you might be able to apply for the first Page 3 Boy model...

I think it's similar to smoking: Whether you want to smoke knowing it can kill you is very much up to you. Unfortunately, you can also kill other people around you, put off from their food or snogging (it taste horrid!!), cause asthma attack someone sitting next you with your smoking. That's not something to be ignored. Same for the nudity. Walking around naked may be your choice, but imagine seeing men and with beer belly and dangling bits and pieces ( and women for that matter) walking pass outside of restaurant windows while you are having romantic dinner. That shouldn't be allowed.

[fable]

As to the questions?...I live in one of the most sexually repressed nations left on earth, and the people here are far from comfortable with nudity.

I'm with Scayde, on this. For a culture that claims you should be able to make whatever you want of your life, mainstream US society has always been morally zealous and repressive. The human body is treated here as an object of sin (hmmm, I wonder where that notion came from? ). Nudity is consequently equated with light felonies. One of the most startlingly beautiful movies of all time, Maurice Tourneur's allegorical Bluebird of Happiness (1919), exists today only in one mutilated copy--because some unknown person snipped out a sequence showing two naked children as representative of Innocence.

Originally posted by frogus
Also there is an (perceived) increasing use of nudity in advertising and media, to sell things - which increases the sexual taboo, by dehumanising sex, and making it unnatural.

As perceptive as usual, @Frogus. Advertising has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, since it gives the PR agencies a very powerful tool with which to influence the buying habits of tens of millions of people.

[frogus]

SPAM - What does vested mean? And why are interests never anything but it?

[Gwalchmai]

Originally posted by Minerva
Walking around naked may be your choice, but imagine seeing men and with beer belly and dangling bits and pieces ( and women for that matter) walking pass outside of restaurant windows while you are having romantic dinner. That shouldn't be allowed.

LMAO! I think you may have hit upon a cure for the current obesity epidemic! You should make this suggestion to the Surgeon General immediately!

[Jaesha]

...no nude pictures then?