Nudity

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[[File:Nude couple in Barcelona, Spain - 20070928.jpg|thumb|A naked couple on Carrer de l'Argenteria, Barcelona, Spain – a street known for its fashionable boutiques.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Carrer Argenteria, Barcelona| work = cityseeker| access-date = 2023-10-14| url = https://cityseeker.com/barcelona/775416-carrer-argenteria}}</ref> - 2007]]
{{Sociology}}
'''Nudity''' is the state of a [[human]] being entirely without clothes (naked) or lacking the proper body covering considered normal in a particular social situation (undressed). Human nakedness is a biological fact but nudity is only understood in a cultural context. The cultural context for nudity did not exist until humans began living in communities large enough to develop hierarchies of status and class, and [[religious]] beliefs regarding clothing the body. Before clothing, people decorated their bodies to show tribal membership, prosperity, marital status, and individuality.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing Plc| isbn = 978-1-350-12100-3| last = Davies| first = Stephen| title = Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us about Who We Are| location = London, United Kingdom| date = 2020}}</ref>

Among ancient cultures, only members of the [[Abrahamic religions]] associated nudity with shame regarding [[sexuality]], while in other cultures being naked was a loss of status and dignity, an embarrassment but not deeply shameful.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing| isbn = 978-0-567-67848-5| last1 = Berner| first1 = Christoph| last2 = Schäfer| first2 = Manuel| last3 = Schott| first3 = Martin| last4 = Schulz| first4 = Sarah| last5 = Weingärtner| first5 = Martina| title = Clothing and Nudity in the Hebrew Bible| date = 2019-06-27}}</ref> The [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] myth, with its misunderstanding of human nature and sexuality, continues to influence or dominate the attitudes and behaviors regarding nudity in most of the world. In addition to the human body being shameful, scripture asserts male domination as fundamental to moral behavior.<ref name="Botz-Bornstein"/> The societies that have become more [[secular]] are also those that have freed themselves from shame regarding the human body and have more [[gender]] equality as in [[Finland]],<ref name="sauna"/> [[Germany]],<ref name="Möhring">{{Cite web| last = Möhring| first = Maren| title = Nudity is considered quite normal nowadays| work = Goethe Institute| access-date = 2022-01-13| date = 2015| url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220819051307/https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/ges/20480260.html| archive-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> and [[The Netherlands]].<ref name="Rough"/>

==Evolution of nakedness and clothing==
The loss of body hair, along with increasing [[brain]] size and upright posture, was part of the evolution of [[hominid]]s into anatomically modern humans.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wheeler| first=P.E.| title=The loss of functional body hair in man: the influence of thermal environment, body form and bipedality| journal=Journal of Human Evolution| year=1985| volume=14| issue=14| pages=23–28| doi=10.1016/S0047-2484(85)80091-9}}</ref> While there have been a number of theories explaining the human loss of fur, the most generally accepted one is thermal regulation of the body. Cooling was required when hominins moved from shady forest to open savannah. An increase in the number of sweat glands, and sweat drying on bare skin, provided cooling during the day, fire was used to keep warm at night. Thermal regulation was related to the increasing size of the brain, the most heat-sensitive organ.<ref>{{cite web| last=Daley| first=Jason| date=11 December 2018| title=Why Did Humans Lose Their Fur?| website=Smithsonian| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-did-humans-evolve-lose-fur-180970980/| access-date=27 October 2019}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Jablonski| first=Nina G.| title=The Naked Truth| date=1 November 2012| url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-naked-truth/| work=Scientific American}}</ref> Hair on top of the head was retained, providing shade during the day and insulation at night.<ref name="Campbell">{{Cite book| edition = 4| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-203-78953-7| last = Campbell| first = Bernard| title = Human Evolution: An Introduction to Man's Adaptations| location = New York| date = 2017-10-24}}</ref>{{rp|265-270}} No longer having fur, the first humans developed dark skin as protection from the [[Sun]].<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Jablonski| first1=Nina G.| last2=Chaplin| first2=George| title=The Evolution of Human Skin Coloration| journal=Journal of Human Evolution| volume=39| issue=1| year=2000| pages=57–106| doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0403| pmid=10896812| s2cid=38445385| url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/011d4ccb74f32f597df54ac8037a7903bd95038b}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last1=Jablonski| first1=Nina G.| first2=George| last2=Chaplin| year=2017| title=The Colours of Humanity: The Evolution of Pigmentation in the Human Lineage| journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences| volume=372| issue=1724| pages=20160349| doi=10.1098/rstb.2016.0349| pmid=28533464}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.3390/ijerph17020646| volume = 17| issue = 2| pages = 646| last1 = Jarrett| first1 = Paul| last2 = Scragg| first2 = Robert| title = Evolution, Prehistory and Vitamin D| journal = International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health| year = 2020| pmid = 31963858| doi-access = free}}</ref> In addition to carrying weapons and tools, bipedalism became adaptive in part due to babies no longer having fur to cling to, so mothers had to carry them.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Sutou| first=Shizuyo| year=2012| title=Hairless mutation: a driving force of humanization from a human-ape common ancestor by enforcing upright walking while holding a baby with both hands| journal=Genes to Cells| volume=17| issue=4| pages=264–272| doi=10.1111/j.1365-2443.2012.01592.x| pmid=22404045}}</ref>

Body adornments, including jewelry, body paint, and tattoos are indications of the beginning of human behavioral modernity in the late Paleolithic (40,000 to 60,000 years ago).<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Leary| first1=Mark R| first2=Nicole R. |last2=Buttermore| year=2003| title=The Evolution of the Human Self: Tracing the Natural History of Self-Awareness| journal=Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour| volume=33| issue=4| pages=365–404| doi=10.1046/j.1468-5914.2003.00223.x}}</ref> Although there is no consensus on a definition of behavioral modernity, four sets of behaviors are included; abstract thinking, planning in depth, innovativeness, and symbolic representation.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105113| volume = 39| issue = 1| pages = 437–452| last = Nowell| first = April| title = Defining Behavioral Modernity in the Context of Neandertal and Anatomically Modern Human Populations| journal = Annual Review of Anthropology| access-date = 2020-12-06| date = 2010| url = https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105113}}
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The habitual wearing of clothing has been dated to between 83,000 and 170,000 years ago by comparing the divergence of clothing lice from their body louse ancestors.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Toups|first1=M. A.|last2=Kitchen|first2=A.|last3=Light|first3=J. E.|last4=Reed|first4=D. L.|title=Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=28|issue=1|year=2010|pages=29–32|issn=0737-4038|doi=10.1093/molbev/msq234| pmid=20823373}}</ref> If anatomically modern humans first appeared 350,000 to 260,000 years ago, they were naked in prehistory for at least 90,000 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schlebusch |display-authors=etal |title=Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago |journal=Science |volume=358 |issue=6363 |date=3 November 2017 |pages=652–655 |doi=10.1126/science.aao6266 |pmid=28971970 |bibcode=2017Sci...358..652S|s2cid=206663925 |doi-access=free }}</ref> This means illustrations or films that show prehistoric humans as light-skinned and modestly dressed are distortions of reality.

The technology for making clothes evolved slowly, having originated for other purposes. Animal skins and woven mats used for sleeping became decorative when draped on the body, but might not cover the genitals.<ref name="Hollander">{{cite book| last=Hollander| first=Anne| title=Seeing Through Clothes| year=1978| location=New York| publisher=Viking Press| isbn=0-14-011084-4}}</ref> Complex, fitted clothing needed to survive in cold climates required the invention of fine stone knives for cutting animal skins into specific shapes, and the eyed needle for sewing. Evidence has been found that this was done by [[Cro-Magnon]]s in Europe around 35,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Gilligan| first=Ian| title=The Prehistoric Development of Clothing: Archaeological Implications of a Thermal Model| journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory| volume=17| issue=1| year=2010| pages=15–80| doi=10.1007/s10816-009-9076-x| s2cid=143004288}}</ref>

Body adornments including clothing may serve to enhance rather than hide sexual attraction. The non-sexual, or functional nudity in everyday life is maintained by behavioral norms; including sitting or standing modestly and not staring at others. In modern sociology, these behaviors are called {{wpl|Civil inattention|"civil inattention"}} and serve to maintain personal boundaries even when naked.

<gallery>
File:Lilith Periodo de Isin Larsa y Babilonia.JPG |''The Burney Relief'', First Babylonian Dynasty (c. 1800 BCE)
File:Geb, Nut, Shu.jpg| The Egyptian sky goddess Nut supported by the air god Shu while the earth god Geb reclines beneath 
File:7262 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - The Piraeus Apollo - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009.jpg | Apollo (530-500 BCE) - Olympic God of many good things, including knowledge
File:Greek Marble Statue of Aphrodite Anadyomene (Hair-Binding).jpg | Aphrodite (c. 200 BCE) - Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified with Venus by the Romans
</gallery>

In ancient civilizations from [[Mesopotamia]] to the [[Roman Empire]], [[Polytheism|gods and goddesses]] were depicted as perfect naked humans and nudity was part of some religious ceremonies. However, being nude in everyday life was often socially embarrassing, not due to sexuality but the lack of status.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Batten| first=Alicia J.| year=2010| title=Clothing and Adornment| journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin | volume=40| issue=3| pages=148–59| doi=10.1177/0146107910375547| s2cid=171056202}}</ref>{{efn|The exception was for male citizens of [[Ancient Greece]], for whom nudity in athletics and the symposium expressed their status of [[freedom]], masculinity, [[privilege]], and physical virtues.<ref>{{Cite book| edition = 2nd| publisher = John Wiley and Sons, Inc.| isbn = 978-1-118-61380-1| last = Kyle| first = Donald G.| title = Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World| location = Chichester, West Sussex, UK| series = Ancient Cultures; v.4| date = 2014| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOiNBQAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|6,82}}}} Otherwise, being naked or undressed in social contexts where clothes were the norm meant being [[poor]], being a [[slave]], or doing labor that was hot, dirty or wet. The average person, both men and women, might own a single piece of cloth that would be wrapped or tied (e.g. a {{wpl|loincloth||)}} to cover the lower part of the body, but otherwise were bare-chested and barefoot. Only those of high status were habitually dressed<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| last1 = Simmons| first1 = Pauline| last2 = Yarwood| first2 = Doreen| last3 = Laver| first3 = James| last4 = Murray| first4 = Anne Wood| last5 = Marly| first5 = Diana Julia Alexandra| title = Dress – the Nature and Purposes of Dress| encyclopedia = Britannica| access-date = 2022-04-11| url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/dress-clothing| date = April 6, 2022}}</ref>, but even they would often be naked when bathing or swimming, which were social activities.<ref name="Schroer">{{cite book| publisher = Academic Press Fribourg| editor-first = Sylvia | editor-last = Schroer| last1 = Asher-Greve| first1 = Julia M.| last2 = Sweeney| first2 = Deborah| title = Images and Gender: Contributions to the Hermeneutics of Reading Ancient Art| chapter = On Nakedness, Nudity, and Gender in Egyptian and Mesopotamian Art| location = Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen| year = 2006}}</ref> Children, having no status, might be naked until puberty.<ref name="Schroer"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Mark|first=Joshua J.|title=Fashion and Dress in Ancient Egypt|date=27 March 2017|website=World History Encyclopedia|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1037/}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| issn = 0094-1700| volume = 12| issue = 3| pages = 213–232| last = Mouratidis| first = John| title = The Origin of Nudity in Greek Athletics| journal = Journal of Sport History| access-date = 2019-07-08| date = 1985| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/43609271}}</ref>

For the first millennium after the fall of Rome (approximately 500 to 1500 CE), the conversion of Europe to [[Christianity]] included conflicting interpretations of scripture and accommodations for existing social norms regarding the human body and sexuality. Groups emerged with beliefs as different as Adamites who worshiped nude, to ascetic [[monk]]s who slept fully clothed.<ref>{{cite book| publisher = Belknap Press of Harvard University Press| isbn = 0-674-39975-7| editor-last1 = Ariès| editor-first1 = Philippe| editor-last2 = Duby| editor-first2 = Georges| others=Series Editor Paul Veyne| volume=I| title=From Pagan Rome to Byzantium| location = Cambridge, Mass| series = A History of Private Life| date = 1987}}</ref>{{rp|455-456}} The predominant view of [[Medieval]] Christian [[theology]] was that sexuality and nudity were [[sinful]] except for procreation, which might include avoiding nudity even between spouses.<ref name="Brundage"/> However, theology did not put an end to all behaviors that had been normal during the Roman era, in particular public communal bathing, which might be mixed-gender.<ref>{{cite book| last=Fagan| first=Garrett G.| year=2002| title=Bathing in Public in the Roman World| publisher=University of Michigan Press| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6tz_TzSVkAC&pg=PA1| isbn=0472088653}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0031-7977| volume = 83| issue = 4| pages = 355–370| last = Dendle| first = Peter| title = How Naked Is Juliana?| journal = Philological Quarterly| access-date = 2021-04-03| date = 2004| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/211146473}}</ref>

The modern era begins in the [[Renaissance]] with the rediscovery of classical texts and [[art]], which interacted with Abrahamic traditions to produce [[Western]] ambivalence, nudity acquiring both positive and negative meanings in individual [[psychology]], in social life, and in depictions. The conservative versions of these religions continue to prohibit public and sometimes also private nudity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barcan |first=Ruth |year=2004 |title=Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy |publisher=Berg Publishers |isbn=1859738729| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53-AAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

== Nudity and Abrahamic religions ==
The Abrahamic religions all share the [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] myth, which is [[Fallacy of ambiguity|ambivalent and contradictory]]. In {{bible|Genesis|1|27}} [[Adam and Eve]] are created together in the image of [[God]], naked but unashamed.{{efn|In some Babylonian and Hebrew mythology, the first woman was [[Lilith]], created from the same clay as Adam, but banished from [[Eden]] for being too independent. The Burney Relief is identified by some as Lilith.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Lilith {{!}} Definition & Mythology | Britannica| access-date = 2023-10-08| date = 2023-10-03| url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lilith-Jewish-folklore}}</ref>}} In {{bible|Genesis|2|21|22}} Adam is created first, then Eve from Adam's rib. After "[[Original sin|The Fall]]" in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve attempt to hide their nakedness from God (who sees everything anyway). This myth attempts to establish clothing as necessary for human moral conduct from just after the beginning, ignoring the period of naked innocence and that there was no social context for feeling shame.<ref name="Velleman">{{cite journal| last=Velleman| first=J.| year=2001| title=The Genesis of Shame| journal=Philosophy and Public Affairs| volume=30| issue=1| pages=27–52| doi=10.1111/j.1088-4963.2001.00027.x| hdl=2027.42/72979| s2cid=23761301| hdl-access=free}}</ref> Orthodox Judaism generally forbids complete nudity, at the most extreme even between spouses. In addition to misunderstanding human nature, Genesis places the responsibility for all immorality, beginning with the "original sin" of disobedience, on women.<ref name="Botz-Bornstein">{{Cite book| publisher = Lexington Books| isbn = 978-1-4985-0047-0| last = Botz-Bornstein| first = Thorsten| title = Veils, Nudity, and Tattoos: The New Feminine Aesthetic| location = Lanham| date = 2015| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lx-TrgEACAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|104-105}}
[[File:Adamites.GIF|thumb|Adamites being rounded up.]]
The body as something shameful became ambivalent in early Christianity. For the first centuries CE, [[baptism]]s were conducted nude<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.womendeacons.org/the-woman-deacons-role-at-baptism/|title=The Woman Deacon's role at Baptism|access-date=June 23, 2022|publisher=Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research}}</ref> in the belief that converts were restored to the innocence of humans "before the fall". A group called the {{wpl|Adamites}} in the 2<sup>nd</sup> century CE acted upon this interpretation by worshiping nude, but were suppressed as [[heresy|heretics]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Lerner| first=Robert E.| title=The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages| location=Berkeley, CA| publisher=University of California Press| year=1972}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| editor-last=Livingstone| editor-first=E. A.| title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church| edition=3| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2013| isbn=9780199659623}}</ref>

The variation in early Christian behavior is likely due to early European converts being Romans who did not give up their public baths, which remained popular in the {{wpl|Carolingian Empire|Carolingian Period|.}} It was only in later centuries, when converts came from Northern tribes living in climates that required warm clothing, that nudity became problematic. European [[pagans]] were nude in public only during fertility rituals, which they gave up after conversion. In the Medieval era, the theology of [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Augustine of Hippo]] defined sexual arousal, and thus nudity, as something to be avoided except for procreation.<ref name="Brundage">{{Cite book| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-07789-5| last = Brundage| first = James A.| title = Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe| date = 2009-02-15}}</ref>

Religious beliefs continued to determine behavior into the 20<sup>th</sup> century. English families in the 1920s to 1940s never saw other family-members undressed, including those of the same gender; and married couples were not nude even during sex.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Szreter| first1= Simon| first2=Kate |last2=Fisher| year=2010| title=Sex Before the Sexual Revolution: Intimate Life in England 1918–1963| location= Cambridge| publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=9781139492898| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7pUajJlzvbQC}}</ref>

== Nudity and witchcraft ==
[[Witch|Witches]] have been {{wpl|The_witches_Sabbath,_by_Luis_Ricardo_Falero|depicted nude}} for {{wpl|The_Witches_(Hans_Baldung)|a long time}} in visual arts 
because most books on witchcraft are written by men
 with the origin of this coming from stories from many cultures where they are thought to go such way in their gatherings at night.<ref name=HuttonFear>{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present |date=2017 |publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref>. That was also mentioned in the book {{wpl|Aradia,_or_the_Gospel_of_the_Witches}}<ref name="Hutton225">{{cite book | first=Ronald | last=Hutton | title=Triumph of the Moon | publisher =Oxford University Press | year=2000 | isbn=0-500-27242-5 |pages=225}}</ref>, jumping from it to [[Wicca]] and other forms of [[Neopaganism]] and modern witchcraft as ritual nudity<ref>[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl9cjqIWYAAUuu6?format=jpg&name=small Mostly SFW]</ref>, with [[Robert Graves]] using the term "skyclad" to refer to it based on {{wpl|Indian religions}}, where the term {{wpl|Digambara}} means that<ref name="Llewellyn">{{cite web | title=Llewellyn Encyclopedia and Glossary: Skyclad | url=http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/term/Skyclad}}</ref>.

== Colonialism and racism ==
[[File:A proud trio.png|thumb|240px|Igbo women of Nigeria adorned to show their high status.<ref>{{cite book| last=Basden| first=George T. | title=Among the Ibos of Nigeria| location=Philadelphia| publisher=J.B. Lippincott| year=1921| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GaUSAAAAYAAJ| access-date=2023-06-05}}</ref>]]
{{main|1=Colonialism|3=Racism}}
[[Technology|Technologies]] for navigation and transport in the 1500s led to contact with more distant parts of the world. By the 18<sup>th</sup> century European thought was embracing ideas such that social progress represented movement from  primitive to agriculture to industrialization. Many Europeans justified colonization as spreading civilization rather than as conquest.<ref>{{Cite book| last1 = Kohn| first1 = Margaret| last2 = Reddy| first2 = Kavita| edition = Spring 2023| publisher = Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University| editor1 = Edward N. Zalta| editor2=Uri Nodelman | title = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter = Colonialism| access-date = 2023-03-29| date = 2023| chapter-url = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/colonialism/}}</ref> The lack of body coverings was one of the first things explorers noticed when they encountered indigenous peoples of the tropics. Europeans were concerned with explaining states of undress, which they did not see as a natural. For centuries, being properly dressed in Western cultures was required to fit into society. Explanation for the scanty dress or nudity of others was generally provided by religion.<ref name="Masquelier">{{cite book| last=Masquelier| first=Adeline Marie | editor-last=Masquelier| editor-first=Adeline Marie | title=Dirt, Undress, and Difference Critical Perspectives on the Body's Surface | chapter=An Introduction| pages=1–33| location=Bloomington| publisher=Indiana University Press| year=2005| isbn=0253111536| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZV9C2AjtFfsC}}</ref> An enduring [[stereotype]] of non-western [[other]]s is the naked savage based upon the belief that clothes signified membership in a civilized society, thus the lack of clothes represented the complete lack of culture.<ref>{{cite book| last=Stevens | first=Scott Manning| chapter=New World Contacts and the Trope of the 'Naked Savage| title=Sensible Flesh: On Touch in Early Modern Culture| pages=124–140| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22S6CwAAQBAJ| editor=Elizabeth D. Harvey| publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press| year=2003| isbn=9780812293630}}</ref>

Some indigenous peoples of the Americas, Asia, and Oceania have skin no darker than that of southern Europeans, or among workers tanned by the Sun, thus their nakedness was interpreted as being of low status. The darker skin and other superficial differences in African, [[Melanesia]]n, and Australian peoples could be interpreted as their being less than human. Darker skin was also assumed to be dirty, however anthropologists have noted that many non-Western societies have elaborate rituals of bathing and purification.<ref name="Masquelier"/>

== Contemporary cultural differences ==
While human societies vary widely in their way of life, all share common characteristics that are conceptualized as dimensions of culture.<ref>{{cite book| publisher = Koninklyjke Brill, NV| ISBN = 90-04-13115-9|editor-first1=Henk|editor-last1=Vinken|  editor-first2=Joseph|editor-last2=Soeters| editor-first3=Peter | editor-last3=Ester| title = Comparing Cultures: Dimensions of Culture in a Comparative Perspective| URL = https://archive.org/details/comparingculture0000unse_a1f8| location = Leiden, The Netherlands| date = 2004| chapter=Cultures and Dimensions}}</ref> Dimensions of culture as related to nudity include ''power distance'' — the degree to which people accept unequal power and privilege in society. Clothing became an important means of communicating status and wealth, thus historically nudity was a sign of being at the bottom of society, while certain clothing styles and colors were reserved for the [[ruling class]]es. [[Socialism]] initially adopted nudism as part of promoting equality, but split between democratic and authoritarian forms.{{cn}}

Intersecting with power is gender equality, the degree to which norms for women are more severe and restrictive than for men. Contemporary societies that score high in gender equality are also those with more positive attitudes towards sexuality and non-sexual social nudity; as seen in [[Iceland]], [[Scandinavia]], Finland, and The Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite report| publisher = World Economic Forum| title = Global Gender Gap Report 2020| access-date = 2023-09-14| url = https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf|ref={{SfnRef| Gender Gap | 2020}}}}</ref> These positive attitudes are attributed by some to [[sauna]] culture, which normalizes non-sexual nudity in the context of relaxation and purported health claims.<ref name="Rough">{{Cite book| publisher = Basic Books| isbn = 978-1-58005-740-0| last = Rough| first = Bonnie J.| title = Beyond Birds and Bees: Bringing Home a New Message to Our Kids About Sex, Love, and Equality| date = 2018-08-21}}</ref>

Although maintaining sexual propriety is the primary reason given for avoiding nudity, maintaining the hierarchy of power and gender is an underlying motivation. Participants in the counterculture of the 1960s practiced nudity as part of their daily routine and to emphasize their embrace of equality and rejection of anything artificial. Communes sometimes practiced naturism, bringing unwanted attention from disapproving neighbors.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Miller| first = Timothy| title = The 60s communes: hippies and beyond| publisher = Syracuse University Press| isbn = 978-0-8156-2811-8| location = Syracuse, NY| year = 1999}}</ref>{{rp|197–199}} In 1974, an article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted an increase in American tolerance for nudity, both at home and in public, approaching that of Europe.<ref>{{Cite news| last=Sterba| first=James | title=Nudity Increases in America| newspaper=The New York Times| date=3 September 1974| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/03/archives/nudity-increases-in-america-trend-viewed-as-step-toward-tolerance-a.html}}</ref> By the 1990s, Americans had returned to their general disapproval of public nudity, although remaining liberal regarding sexual activity.<ref>{{Cite news| last=Layng|first=Anthony| year=1998| title=Confronting the Public Nudity Taboo| magazine=USA Today Magazine| volume=126| issue=2634| page=24}}</ref>

=== Indigenous nudity ===
[[File:Dassanech Girls, Omerate, Ethiopia (19237281696).jpg|thumb|Indigenous dress, Ethiopia - 2015]]
Indigenous cultures adapted to climates that do not require clothes as protection from the elements. All hunter-gatherer societies from prehistory to the present have one thing in common, being naked or nearly-naked (such wearing a {{wpl|loincloth}}<ref>[https://huntergatherer.la.utexas.edu/lexical/feature/622 loincloth] ''Languages of hunter-gatherers and their neighbors, University of Texas''.</ref><ref>[https://ertribal.com/index.php/addenda/personal-collection/loincloth-pongo-mbuti-dr-congo Loincloth ''pongo''] ''Ethan Rider''.</ref>) most of the time.<ref>{{cite book| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-108-47008-7| last = Gilligan| first = Ian| title = Climate, Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory: Linking Evidence, Causes, and Effects| doi=10.1017/9781108555883 |date = 2018-12-13| s2cid = 238146999}}</ref>{{rp|3-4}}

In urban areas of former colonies in Africa, South America and Oceania, contemporary behaviors combine traditions with Christian or [[Islamic]] religious teachings, with varying results. In rural areas, some societies continue to pursue a hunter-gatherer or pastoral way of life that includes functional nudity while doing work or bathing in natural bodies of water.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105113| volume = 39| issue = 1| pages = 437–452| last = Nowell| first = April| title = Defining Behavioral Modernity in the Context of Neandertal and Anatomically Modern Human Populations| journal = Annual Review of Anthropology| access-date = 2020-12-06| date = 2010| url = https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105113}}</ref>

=== Asian cultures ===
Outside of Western cultures societies retained some distinctiveness, not being dominated by Christian values. 

In Southeast Asia, people initially had habits of dress and undress as in the warm climates, but were gradually changed by colonization and religious conversion.

In [[India]], some [[Hindu]]<ref>{{cite book| last=Hartsuiker| first=Dolf |title=Sadhus: Holy Men of India| pages=176| publisher=Inner Traditions| year=2014| isbn=978-1620554029}}</ref> and [[Jain]]<ref>{{cite book| last=Dundas| first=Paul| year=2004| title=The Jains| location=London| publisher=Routledge| doi=10.4324/9780203398272| isbn=9780203398272}}</ref> {{wpl|Asceticism|ascetic monks}} may have no possessions, including clothes. There were very few female ascetics who did the same, but one was Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka, a 12<sup>th</sup> century poet.<ref>{{cite web| title=The Naked Saint| url=https://www.boloji.com/articles/10406/the-naked-saint| access-date=October 15, 2023}}</ref>

In remote tropical regions, some remaining indigenous peoples may retain pre-colonial minimal dress, both men and women covering only the lower part of the body, and removing all clothing to bathe in rivers or the ocean.
 
In temperate climates countries such as [[China]] adopted clothing that covered the body for comfort, and have values that relate modesty to maintaining "{{wpl|Face (sociological concept)|face}}" and social order.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143805| issn = 0084-6570| volume = 33| pages = 369–392| last = Hansen| first = Karen Tranberg| title = The World in Dress: Anthropological Perspectives on Clothing, Fashion, and Culture| journal = Annual Review of Anthropology| access-date = 2019-07-08| date = 2004| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/199841144}}</ref>{{rp|378–380}} In [[Japan]], the tradition of mixed-gender communal bathing is maintained in some places, but is disappearing.<ref>{{cite web| last=Hadfield| first=James| title=Last splash: Immodest Japanese tradition of mixed bathing may be on the verge of extinction| date=10 December 2016| website=The Japan Times| url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2016/12/10/lifestyle/last-splash-immodest-japanese-tradition-mixed-bathing-may-verge-extinction/| access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> In [[Korea]], public baths are gender-segregated, but nudity is required.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Milner |first1=Rebecca |title=First-time jjimjilbang: how to visit a Korean bathhouse |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/first-time-korean-bathhouse |website=Lonelyplanet.com |access-date=January 30, 2021 |date=23 August 2019 }}</ref>

=== Islamic cultures ===
Islamic countries are guided by schools of law regarding public modesty that forbid nudity based upon the assumption that men are powerless to control their sexual urges. Since sinful thoughts will earn a believer an eternity in [[Hell#Hell in Abrahamic religions|Jahannam]], women are responsible for covering themselves, and may be punished severely or killed for disobeying the law. In [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Qatar]] the niqab, the garment covering the whole female body and the face with a narrow opening for the eyes, is widespread. Hands are also hidden within sleeves as much as possible. The [[burqa]], limited mainly to [[Afghanistan]], also has a mesh screen which covers the eye opening.<ref>{{Cite journal| pages = 10| last = Al-Absi| first = Marwan| title = The Concept of Nudity and Modesty in Arab-Islamic Culture| journal = European Journal of Science and Theology| date = 2018| url=http://www.ejst.tuiasi.ro/Files/71/3_Al-Absi.pdf}}</ref> In private, different rules apply to men, women, and children; and depend upon the gender and family relationship of others present.<ref>{{cite web| last=Mughniyya| first=Muhammad Jawad| title=The Rules of Modesty| date=n.d.| website=Al-Islam.org| url=https://www.al-islam.org/five-schools-islamic-law-muhammad-jawad-mughniyya/rules-modesty| access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> Men need only cover themselves from navel to knees.<ref>{{cite book| ppublisher = The Other Press| isbn = 978-967-0526-00-3| last = al-Qaradawi| first = Yusuf| title = The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam: الحلال والحرام في الإسلام| date = 2013-10-11}}</ref>

=== Western culture ===
In mainstream Western cultures public, mixed-gender nudity, defined as not covering the genital areas, is generally prohibited; while gender-segregated nakedness may be expected in situations such as communal bathing or changing clothes. Social nudity may be permitted in private or semi-private situations.

Certain societies within the Western world, in which social and gender equality is greater, also allow for more mixed-gender situations where clothing is optional in public, in particular beaches and other recreational activities. Positive attitudes toward nudity are based upon long-standing traditions that provide early experiences of nudity as non-sexual, such as the use of the sauna in Northern Europe.<ref name="sauna">{{cite journal| last=Sinkkonen| first=Jari| title=The Land of Sauna, Sisu, and Sibelius – An Attempt at a Psychological Portrait of Finland| journal=International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies| volume=10| issue=1| year=2013| pages=49–52| doi=10.1002/aps.1340| url=https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1340}}</ref> Social nudity has become normal in Germany to a greater extent than other countries, even within Europe.<ref name=marlender/>

====Oppression====

Nudity laws have been used as personal, religious, or political cudgels in the West in order to quell legal social dissent, impose supernatural beliefs, or otherwise oppress, by falsely labeling nudity as inherently sexual or otherwise indecent. 

Authorities in France have misapplied "sexual exhibition" laws to the feminist protest group Femen.  For example, Femen member Eloïse Bouton was sentenced by French authorities to prison for a topless protest inside a church in Paris.  This sentencing was overturned as unlawful and the European Court of Human Rights ordered France to pay her 2,000 euros for damages and 7,800 euros for various other expenses.<ref>https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-220275%22]}</ref>  Moldovian anti-corruption artist and activist Anatol Matasaru was sentenced to prison for artwork he made of nude politicians.  The European Court of Human Rights ruled the charge of indecency was a cover for punishing political criticism.<ref>https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-189169%22]}</ref>

Canadian authorities have at times over-aggressively prosecuted indigenous Canadian nudity.<ref>https://read.aupress.ca/read/through-feminist-eyes/section/485b6c33-bc0c-4873-9a83-bb57bc7cc1d0</ref>  
[[File:Baptism_of_Pocahontas.jpg|thumb|right|Minister of the Virginia Colony, '''Alexander Whitaker''' (left, in white vestments) wrote that Native American public nudity was proof positive of demonic alliance, and a wide variety of "sin".]]
American colonialist violence and rhetoric against the American indigenous tribes were partially publicly justified on the basis of religious condemnation of nudity.  Colonialist ministers stated that Native Indians represented a fallen nature "inhabited by the power of darkness" and aligned with the devil.  The Minister of the Virginia Colony, Alexander Whitaker, considered Native public nudity as proof positive of Native alignment with Satan, writing. "They live naked in bodie, as if their shame of their sinne deserved no covering: Their names are as naked as their bodie: they esteeme it a vertue to lie, deceive, and steale as their master the divell teacheth them".  Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop echoed the Minister's sentiments about satanic possession of the Natives, writing that small-pox was handed down by God as a just punishment against the Natives.  Winthrop also formally decreed that due to evaluating Natives as inherently inferior, and less "advanced", that hunter-gatherers deserved less property rights.<ref>Pierce A. (2015) “Sexual Savages:” Christian Stereotypes and Violence Against North America’s Native Women. In: Johnson A. (eds) Religion and Men's Violence Against Women. Springer, New York, NY</ref>  Emboldened by his background beliefs, Winthrop's legacy was marked by genocide, enslavement, and trafficking of Native Americans.<ref>https://www.thecrimson.com/column/fight-the-power/article/2023/11/13/williams-dename-winthrop-house/</ref> After setttlers indiscriminately slaughtered and burned alive anywhere between 300 to 700 Pequot Native American people, Winthrop wrote of the slaughter as a victory and relayed all churches he was in contact with marked the day as a "day of Thanksgiving".<ref>Pierce A. (2015) “Sexual Savages:” Christian Stereotypes and Violence Against North America’s Native Women. In: Johnson A. (eds) Religion and Men's Violence Against Women. Springer, New York, NY</ref>  In Hawaii, "lewdness" laws were imposed on the natural attire of indigenous women.<ref>https://www.hawaiiankingdom.org/pdf/Penal_Code.pdf</ref>

UK citizen Stephen Gough walked naked across the UK to assert his right to nudity; however, the justice system turned a minor and questionable legal charge in this case (breach of peace) into a decade-long standoff.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/23/naked-rambler-prison</ref> The result was nearly ten years in prison, often due to authorities weaponizing contempt of court laws. While procedurally lawful, this application of the law was arguably systemically oppressive: the court repeatedly ordered him to wear clothes with full knowledge he would refuse, effectively manufacturing the grounds for a disproportionately long incarceration.  By 2008, the UK government had spent almost £200,000 imprisoning Gough for walking naked,<ref>https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/49367/Taxpayers-hit-by-200-000-bill-for-Naked-Rambler-case</ref> and by 2012 Gough revealed he was placed in a maximum security prison for his naked walking.   During his time in the Perth maximum security prison, Gough states he was placed in solitary confinement for the majority of the time,<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-18873631</ref> a method of confinement that the UN Special Rapporteur on torture (among other experts and justice advocacy groups) has described as an instrument of severe psychological and physical harm.<ref>https://phr.org/our-work/resources/endless-nightmare-solitary-confinement-in-us-immigration-detention/</ref>

== Private nudity ==
While behavior in private is influenced by social norms, there is more variation and individual differences. In societies where public nudity is rare, individuals tend to report that they are also not naked when home alone. However, behavior documented only by self-report is often unreliable. In a 2014 survey in the U.K., 42% responded that they felt comfortable naked and 50 percent responded they did not. Only 22% said they often walk around the house naked, 29% slept in the nude, and 27% had gone swimming nude.<ref>{{Cite web| title = YouGov Survey Results| website = YouGov.com| access-date = 2021-03-25| date = 2014-10-29| url = http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/v6yn19q9a6/Internal_Results_141029_Nudity_Website.pdf}}</ref> 

In societies that are often naked at home, not only alone but with family members, there is also more openness to clothing-optional behaviors in public.<ref name="Rough"/>{{rp|Ch.2}}

=== Nudity and moral emotions ===
The universality of bodily shame is not supported by [[Anthropology|anthropological]] studies, which do not find the use of clothing to cover the genital areas in all societies. Instead, people may be nude with no self-consciousness, and use adornments to call attention to sexuality.<ref>{{cite book| publisher = Walter de Gruyter| isbn = 978-3-11-163152-3| editor-last1 = Cordwell| editor-first1 = Justine M.| editor-last2 = Schwarz| editor-first2 = Ronald A.| location=Chicago, IL | title = The Fabrics of Culture: The Anthropology of Clothing and Adornment| year=1979| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckZhe0fdmaMC}}</ref>{{rp|26}} The shame regarding nudity is one of the exemplars of the emotion, but unlike positive examples of shame as motivation for improvement, body shaming is now generally thought of as psychologically harmful.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Deonna| first1=Julien A.| first2=Raffaele| last2=Rodogno| first3=Fabrice| last3=Teroni| title=In Defense of Shame: The Faces of an Emotion| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2012| isbn=9780199793532| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmEQb13xm9IC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Thomason| first=Krista K. |title=Naked: The Dark Side of Shame and Moral Life| location=New York| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2018| doi=10.1093/oso/9780190843274.003.0007}}</ref>{{rp|11}}

== Communal nudity ==
Between private and public spaces, there are activities where complete or partial nudity may be the norm. Places for these activities often limit access based upon age, gender, or other social characteristics, but generally include others who are not known, so behavior depends upon shared norms rather than prior relationships. Many of these spaces are facilities for athletics or hygiene; changing rooms, sports locker rooms and showers, steam rooms and saunas. However, communal nudity has served purely social functions as well.

Many cultures maintain a tradition of communal use of bathing facilities, such as the sauna, which is attended nude and usually mixed gender in Finland where it originated.<ref name="sauna"/> When Finns immigrated to the United States in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, many settling in [[South Dakota]], built saunas on their farms for family use that was social as well as hygienic. As saunas began to be built in towns, they became gender-segregated.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Sando| first=Linnea C.| title=The Enduring Finnish Sauna in Hamlin County, South Dakota| journal=Material Culture| volume=46| issue=2| year=2014| pages=1–20| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24397655| access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref>

The centuries-old Japanese tradition of communal use of public bathhouses<ref>{{cite book| publisher = Indiana University Press| isbn = 978-0-253-21783-7| editor-first = Adeline | editor-last= Masquelier| last = Kawano| first = Satsuki| title = Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body's Surface| chapter = Japanese Bodies and Western Ways of Seeing in the Late Nineteenth Century| location = Bloomington| date = 2005| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZV9C2AjtFfsC}}</ref> slowly declined as more homes had bathing facilities, and may be on the verge of extinction.<ref>{{cite web| last=Hadfield| first=James| title=Last splash: Immodest Japanese tradition of mixed bathing may be on the verge of extinction| date=10 December 2016| website=The Japan Times| url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2016/12/10/lifestyle/last-splash-immodest-japanese-tradition-mixed-bathing-may-verge-extinction/| access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref>

==Public nudity==
The majority of Western societies define all public display of the genitals as disruptive or aggressive, and thus prohibit all public nudity as "indecent exposure". Some German cities have designated parks and beaches as clothing-optional, and those that do not want to see naked people can avoid those areas. Otherwise, societies may have no specific laws regarding public nudity, but apply laws against disorderly conduct to prohibit behavior that is disruptive. In the [[UK]], authorities are advised to take no action regarding public nudity unless "members of the public were actually caused harassment, alarm or distress".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/nudity-public-guidance-handling-cases-naturism|title=Nudity in Public - Guidance on handling cases of Naturism| website=The Crown Prosecution Service|date=9 September 2022|access-date=22 July 2023|quote=Nudity in public alone with no aggravating features is very unlikely to amount to ... offence.}}</ref> Stephen Gough, the "Naked Rambler" put this to the test by walking nude through the British countryside, and was jailed when he was nude where others objected.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/nudity-public-guidance-handling-cases-naturism|title=Nudity in Public - Guidance on handling cases of Naturism| website=The Crown Prosecution Service|date=9 September 2022|access-date=22 July 2023|quote=Nudity in public alone with no aggravating features is very unlikely to amount to ... offence.}}</ref> Pursuing what he claimed as a legal right, Gough eventually lost his case before the European Court for Human Rights.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29800016|title=Naked rambler Stephen Gough loses human rights case|first=Danny|last=Shaw|date=28 October 2014|access-date=29 September 2016|work=BBC News}}</ref> 

Public partial or complete nudity is sometimes allowed at particular times and places, based upon allowing transgressive conduct during celebrations, following the traditions of Carnival as in Rio de Janero and New Orleans. Similar behaviors are seen at secular events, such as music and arts festivals.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.1080/10383441.2020.1774971| issn = 1038-3441| pages = 199–219| last = Bennett| first = Theodore| title = State of Undress: Law, Carnival and Mass Public Nudity Events| journal = Griffith Law Review| date = 2020-06-11| volume = 29| issue = 2| doi-access = free}}</ref>

[[File:FYN 06.jpg|thumb|Florida Young Naturists - 2014]]
=== Topfreedom ===
Some women object to the prohibition of their being bare-chested in places where this is allowed for men.<ref>{{cite web|last=Williams|first=Pete|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/women-ask-supreme-court-toss-topless-ban-asking-why-different-n1044161|title=Women ask Supreme Court to toss topless ban: Why are rules different for men?|date=19 August 2019|website=NBC News}}</ref> In some jurisdictions, protests have been successful in establishing this right, but "topfreedom" may not be exercised due to resistance from the general public.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Jensen| first=Robin| year=2004| title=Topfreedom: A rhetorical analysis of the debate with a bust| journal=Women and Language| location=Urbana| volume=27| issue=1| pages=68–69| url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/198827659/citation/61F5D22D7474E88PQ/1}}</ref> In 2020 the [[US Supreme Court]] refused to hear a case arguing that the Equal Protection Clause of the [[Fourteenth Amendment]] makes laws prohibiting topfreedom unconstitutional. However, the court citing the inclusion of female breasts, or specifically the nipple, in the legal definition of nudity in the US as precedent for retaining the restriction.<ref>{{Cite news| first=Lawrence | last=Hurley |title = U.S. Supreme Court refuses to 'Free the Nipple' in topless women case| work = Reuters| access-date = 2023-01-04| date = 2020-01-13| url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-topless-idUSKBN1ZC1HQ}}</ref>  Islamic countries may react more severely, such as in Tunisia, putting a woman in a psychiatric hospital for posting a topless photo of herself on [[Facebook]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Tayler |first=Jeffrey |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/tunisian-woman-sent-to-a-psychiatric-hospital-for-posting-topless-photos-on-facebook/274298/|title=Tunisian Woman Sent to a Psychiatric Hospital for Posting Topless Photos on Facebook|date=22 March 2013|work=The Atlantic}}</ref>

===Naturism===
Naturism or nudism is the belief held by individuals that social nudity is beneficial in more situations than are recognized by mainstream cultures, defining naturists as the members of a {{wpl|subculture||,}} or as {{wpl|Deviance (sociology)|deviants|.}}<ref>*{{cite web| url=https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultures-and-scenes/nudism/| website=Grinnell University: Subcultures and Sociology| title=Nudism| access-date=17 November 2019}}</ref> Modern social nudism movements can trace their origin to Germany in the 1920s-1930s, where it emerged as a reaction to urbanization and rapid industrialization.<ref>[https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/11/17/the-waxing-and-waning-of-nudism-in-america.html "The Waxing and Waning of Nudism in America",] The Star, November 17 2015</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RGemAAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=nudism&ots=wvJXj3LJhW&sig=Ci8-E5Jd5dEKUINqx0aeMXIQkes#v=onepage&q=nudism&f=false "Turning to Nature in Germany: Hiking, Nudism, and Conservation, 1900-1940",] John Alexander Williams, Stanford University Press, 2007</ref> Nudist movements also argue that social nudism encourages body acceptance,<ref>[https://www.aanr.com/about-aanr/faq-nudism-101#49 Frequently Asked Questions About Nude Recreation], AANR</ref> which is supported by British psychologist Keon West.<ref>{{cite journal| last=West| first=Keon| doi=10.1007/s10902-017-9846-1| issn=1573-7780| volume=19| issue=3| pages=677–697| title=Naked and Unashamed: Investigations and Applications of the Effects of Naturist Activities on Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction| journal=Journal of Happiness Studies| date=2018-03-01| s2cid=9153791| doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1504/IJHD.2020.111202| issn = 2049-2790| volume = 6| issue = 2| pages = 162–172| last = West| first = Keon| title = A Nudity-Based Intervention to Improve Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction| journal = International Journal of Happiness and Development| access-date = 2021-04-01| year = 2020a| s2cid = 243517121| url = https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJHD.2020.111202}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1080/00224499.2020.1764470| issn = 0022-4499| pages = 958–966| last = West| first = Keon| title = I Feel Better Naked: Communal Naked Activity Increases Body Appreciation by Reducing Social Physique Anxiety| journal = The Journal of Sex Research| access-date = 2021-02-23| year = 2020b| volume = 58| issue = 8| url = https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1764470| pmid = 32500740| s2cid = 219331212}}</ref> Furthermore, some will also argue that nudity eliminates the well-known<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VT_r8GgEoKkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=sexuality+clothing&ots=f918q8kbsD&sig=ecZ6CBkxnwX7-_qPcMo8Stbx4Pg#v=onepage&q=sexuality%20clothing&f=false "Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing"], Diana Crane, University of Chicago Press, 2000.</ref> social stigmas, identities, paradigms, and sexualization associated with various forms of dress, creating a "more level playing field for human interactions".<ref>{{cite web |last=Hile |first=Jennifer |title=The Skinny on Nudism in the U.S. |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2004/07/the-skinny-on-nudism-in-the-us/*close |website=National Geographic |year=2004 |access-date=11 November 2019 }}</ref> A common assumption by non-nudists is that nudists are more sexually permissive, but this was not supported by research that found no difference between sexual attitudes and behaviors between nudists and non-nudists.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Story| first=Marilyn D.| year=1987| title=A Comparison of Social Nudists and Non-Nudists on Experience with Various Sexual Outlets| journal=The Journal of Sex Research| volume=23| issue=2| pages=197–211| doi=10.1080/00224498709551357| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3812591| access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref>

Naturism in Germany prior to [[World War II]] was viewed as serving the objectives of [[eugenics]].<ref name=marlender>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180215120211/https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/ges/20480260.html Nudity is considered quite normal nowadays] Petra Märlender interview of Maren Möhring (February 2015) ''Goethe-Institut'' (archived from February 15, 2018).</ref><ref name=hau/>{{rp|117,178}} At least one eugenics organization took out an advertisement in the leading British publication on naturism, ''Health and Efficiency'' (currently called ''H&E'').<ref name=margolis/> Pre-WWII naturism has been described as both [[utopian]] for its purported [[egalitarianism]] in Britain<ref name=pollen>[https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/686648/pdf Utopian Bodies and Anti-fashion Futures: The Dress Theories and Practices of English Interwar Nudists] by Annebella Pollen (2017) ''Utopian Studies'' 28(3):451-481.</ref> and as [[fascist]] in [[Sweden]],<ref name=habel>[https://tidsskrift.dk/nja/article/view/3132 "The Paradoxes of Paradisiac Nudity: Fascist Aesthetics And Medicalised Discourse in the 1930's Nudist Movement, Health Through Nude Culture"] by Ylva Habel (2000) ''The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics'' 12(22):13-27. doi:10.7146/nja.v12i22.3132.</ref> but in both countries eugenics was an integral part of naturism.<ref name=pollen/><ref name=habel/> Jonathan Margolis has argued that eugenics ideology has continued among British nudists but in the more attenuated form of lookism.<ref name=margolis/>

====Naturism in Germany====
Prior to Michael Hau's publication of ''The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany'' in 2003,<ref name=hau/> failed to examine naturism's [[racist]] and [[utopian]] aspects.<ref name=ross/>{{rp|11}} [[Eugenics]] was integral to naturism prior to the end of [[World War II]].<ref name=ross/>{{rp|145-147}} Other aspects of Nazi Germany were also present among some naturism promoters, including [[antisemitism]], racism, and German nationalism. Naturism was both condemned and promoted by different factions of Nazi Germany.<ref name=ross/>{{rp|49-58}}

Opposition to [[evidence-based medicine]] was also integral to this period, with promotion of [[homeopathy]] and [[vitalism]], and [[Anti-vaccination movement|opposition to vaccinations]] and [[Germ theory denialism|germ theory]].<ref name=ross/>{{rp|69-75}} Beginning in the 1920s, naturists began to accept [[germ theory]], but continued to advocate integrating nudity as a treatment into mainstream science,<ref name=ross/>{{rp|76-77}} what would be called today "[[integrative medicine]]". The integration of sun and air treatments, and at times nudity, into German medicine continued into the Nazi era.<ref name=ross/>{{rp|78-81}}

=====Wilhelmine era (1890-1918)=====
The ideas of the nudism proponents of this era came out of the [[Völkisch movement|''Völkisch'' (folkish) movement]], which was a form of ethno-[[nationalism]], with ideology that was "thoroughly reactionary, racist and anti-Semitiic".<ref>''Turning to Nature in Germany: Hiking, Nudism, and Conservation, 1900-1940'' by John Alexander Williams (2007) Stanford University Press. ISBN 080470015X.</ref>{{rp|23}} The two founders of modern naturism were {{wpl|Heinrich Pudor}} {{lived|1865|1943}} and {{wpl|Richard Ungewitter}} {{lived|1869|1958}}, who both pioneered the {{wpl|Freikörperkultur|''Freikörperkultur''}} (FKK) movement in Germany.<ref name=margolis>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/jun/12/books.guardianreview11 Dark side of fresh air Utopians: Jonathan Margolis explores the strange history and surprising new owners of H&E magazine, now 100] by Jonathan Margolis (11 Jun 1999 22.45 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> The ''Freikörperkultur'' movement was itself part of the German ''Lebensreform'' movement that started in the 1870s and also included the nascent [[alternative medicine]], [[naturopathy]], [[germ theory denial]], the [[anti-vaccination movement]], as well as reformist movements.<ref name=hau>''The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany: A Social History, 1890-1930'' by Michael Hau (2003) University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226319768.</ref>{{rp|1-2}}<ref>See the German Wikipedia article on {{wplang|de|Lebensreform|Lebensreform.}}</ref>

Pudor published ''Nackende Menschen: Jauchzen der Zukunft'' in 1893<ref>[https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/SLVSCDCSLITUHFLGQ5VDU7MAJABMERKK ''Nackende Menschen: Jauchzen der Zukunst''] by Heinrich Pudor (1893) Scham.</ref> and ''Nackt-Kultur'' in 1906<ref>''Nackt-Kultur'' by Heinrich Pudor (1906) Steglitz. Two volumes.</ref> (the title translates as "Naked Culture", but is often mistranslated as "The Cult of the Nude"). From 1912 onward, Pudor exclusively published his own antisemitic writings, starting with his ''Deutschland für die Deutschen! Vorarbeiten zu Gesetzen gegen die jüdische Ansiedlung in Deutschland'' ("Germany for the Germans! Preparatory work on laws against Jewish settlement in Germany") in 1912.<ref>[https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/EZDGG7BHWGBXHZV44NWUEB6Y463USTVG ''Deutschland für die Deutschen! Vorarbeiten zu Gesetzen gegen die jüdische Ansiedlung in Deutschland''] by Heinrich Pudor (1912) Hans Sachs-Verlag. Two volumes.</ref> 

Ungewitter established the FKK based on a number of [[pseudoscientific]] ideas about the purported health benefits of nudity, that wearing clothing could cause tuberculosis, and that the Sun's rays were generally beneficial to health, i.e., a [[panacea]], because he believed the rays contained metals.<ref name=ross>''Naked Germany: Health, Race and the Nation'' by Chad Ross (2005) Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 1859738613.</ref>{{rp|69,89}} While it's true that sunlight can treat some diseases,<ref>{{wpa|Light therapy}}</ref> it is not a panacea, and excessive sunlight can cause [[cancer]]. The idea that sunlight is a panacea is still current within the international naturist community, with the International Naturist Federation stating in 1994:<ref>''INF Nude Travel Guide: Naturism/1994/95'' Elysium Growth Press. ISBN 1555990495.</ref>
{{cquote|The practice of communal nudity is an essential characteristic of naturism, making, as it does, the maximum use of the natural agents of sun, air and water. It restores one's physical and mental balance through being able to relax in natural surroundings, by exercise and respect for the basic principles of hygiene and diet.}}
Ungewitter was also an [[antivaxxer]] (and was contemptuous of [[evidence-based medicine]]<ref>''Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe'' by George L. Mosse (1985) Howard Fertig. ISBN 0865273502.</ref>{{rp|53|54}}) and strongly antisemitic, even tying the two together, claiming that Jewish physicians were trying to destroy the German race by blood poisoning through vaccination.<ref name=hau>''The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany: A Social History, 1890-1930'' by Michael Hau (2003) University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226319768.</ref>{{rp|84-85,205-206}} Ungewitter was also strongly [[antifeminist]], believing that women should not compete economically with men and that their sole role in life was housewives. In 1953, Ungewitter was made an honorary member (''Ehrenmitglied'') of the German Association for Naturist Culture (''Deutschen Verbandes für Freikörperkultur'').<ref>[https://www.antiquariatlange.de/kataloge/katalog-8/8-lebensreform/ Archiv - Katalog 8 - Lebensreform, Völkische Bewegung u. Ariosophie] ''Versandantiquariat Hans-Jürgen Lange''.</ref><ref>[https://www.adolf-koch.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/FreiKoerperKultur_2020-03_Seite_4-6.pdf "FreiKörperKultur in Berlin: 50. Todestag von Adolf Koch"] by Jürgen Krüll (December 2020) ''FreiKörperKultur''. Page 3-6.</ref>{{rp|6}} Ungewitter wrote a statement of purpose that was explicitly eugenic in his book ''Nacktheit und Kultur'' (including text that translates as "prevention of '[[degenerate]] offspring'", "Preservation of racial purity", and "Improvement of the Germanic race through a breeding policy favoring the blond and blue-eyed and including the Scandinavians."<ref name=hau/>{{rp|26-27}}<ref>''Nacktheit und Kultur: Neue Forderungen'' by Richard Ungewitter (1913) Rich. Ungewitter.</ref>{{rp|122}}

=====Weimar Republic (1918-1933)=====
The Weimar era was characterized by a rise in factions with varying ideologies, with the two main camps being the far-right [[bourgeois]] camp accounting for about a quarter, and most of the remainder being [[socialist]].<ref name=hau/>{{rp|24}}

The founder of organized socialist nudism was {{wpl|Adolf Koch}} {{lived|1897|1970}}, who developed his ideas about nudism independently of the [[Völkisch movement]]. Koch developed a form of exercise call "''Koch-Gymnastik''" and opened a school called "Koch School".<ref name=hau/>{{rp|32-41}} Koch had legal difficulties for his unorthodox views during the Weimar era, but his schools were apparently open to all, including Jews and [[atheists]].<ref name=hau/>{{rp|31-33}}

Hans Surén {{lived|1885|1972}} was the most prominent popularizer of physical culture during [[Nazi Germany]], and he produced many publications on both physical culture and nudism, with his most popular book being ''Mensch und die Sonne'' ("Man and the Sun"), first published in 1924, which promoted both gymnastics and nudism. The 1927 English translation of ''Mensch und die Sonne'' (''Man and Sunlight'') was a bestseller in the UK and was influential on the burgeoning UK nudist movement.<ref>''Man and Sunlight'' by Hans Surén, translated by David Arthur Jones (1927) Sollux.</ref><ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262624445_Naked_in_nature_Naturism_nature_and_the_senses_in_early_20th_century_Britain "Naked in Nature: Naturism, Nature and the Senses in early 20<sup>th</sup> Century Britain"] by Nina J. Morris (2009) ''Cultural Geographies'' 6(3):283-308. doi:10.1177/1474474009105049.</ref>

=====Nazi Germany (1933-1945)=====
Despite being a raging antisemite in his later life, Pudor was imprisoned in 1933-1934 by the [[Nazis]] for criticizing the [[personality cult]] that surrounded [[Hitler]], the Nazis being too tolerant of [[Jews]], and the lifestyles of Hitler and [[Goebbels]].

Although Koch's views during the Weimar era were unusually progressive within Weimar Republic and even the [[social democrats]], in April 1933, at the beginning of Nazi Germany, Koch joined the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi paramilitary organization for unknown reasons.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|52-54}} On March, 1933, [[Hermann Göring]] had commanded the police in each state to destroy the FKK, which soon led to its dissolution.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|53-54}} Koch's joining the SA prolonged the existence of his schools, but only until May 1934 when the [[SS]] murdered the SA leadership.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|55}} After the dissolution of the SA, Koch joined the SS as a provisional member for 18 months.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|56}} It is difficult to discern what Koch's motivations were for joining the Nazis, but the likeliest explanation is opportunistic, trying to save his schools. Koch even hid Jews from persecution by the Nazis, and according to his own account the denazification authorities in 1947 declared him as being active against fascism.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|56-57}} 

Surén joined the Nazi Party in 1933<ref name=hau/>{{rp|189}}<ref>[https://archive.org/details/hans-suren-der-mensch-und-die-sonne-1925/mode/2up ''Mensch und die Sonne''] by Hans Surén (1924) Dieck.</ref> Within the party, he became responsible for physical education, and was promoted to special plenipotentiary for rural physical education in 1936.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|59}} According to Michael Hau, "Surén's career is an example of the straight path that led the völkisch wing of the German nude culture movement into the Third Reich."<ref name=hau/>{{rp|189}} FKK and physical culture were both part of a larger ''Lebensreformbewegung'' (life reform movement) that began in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. The Nazi Party had viewed Surén's popularity as useful for their own ends and with Surén's assent, his views on life reform were merged into the Nazi racist concept of [[Aryan]]ism.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|189-190,244}} Also in 1936, Surén published a revised significantly expanded edition of ''Mensch und die Sonne'' to coincide with the 1936 Nazi Olympics that included quotes from Hitler's ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', quotes from [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Alfred Rosenberg]], and [[antisemitic]] passages.<ref>''Mensch und Sonne: Arisch-olympischer Geist'' by Hans Surén (1936) Scherl.</ref>{{rp|49-51,84}}<ref>See the German Wikipedia article on {{wplang|de|Hans Surén}}</ref> Surén eventually became a major in the SS.<ref name=hau/>{{rp|61,63}} In 1942, Surén was expelled from the Nazi Party for public [[masturbation]].<ref>''Die deutsche Seele'' by Thea Dorn & Richard Wagner (2011) Knaus. ISBN 3813504514.</ref>{{rp|161}}

In 1942, Himmler issued a directive that allowed nude bathing under certain conditions, a decree that remained in effect in postwar [[East Germany|East]] and [[West Germany]].<ref name=hau/>{{rp|63}}

====Revisionism====
{{main|Revisionism}}
Tireless naturism promoter {{wpl|Ed Lange (photographer)|Ed Lange}} included a brief history about German naturism in his ''Family Naturism in Europe'' book. He showed awareness of Koch and the writings of Ungewitter, but did not acknowledge the eugenic aspects of early naturism and gave an incorrect view of naturism in Nazi Germany, implying that Hitler simply eliminated it in the early 1930s.<ref>''Family Naturism in Europe'' by Ed Lange (1982) Elysium Growth Press. ISBN 0910550204.</ref>{{rp|16,18}}

=====Gallery=====
<gallery>
File:Richard Ungewitter 1905.png|Ungewitter in 1905
File:Richard-Ungewitter2.jpg|Ungewitter skiing
File:Heinrich Pudor 1895.jpg|Pudor in 1895
File:Treu Deutsch Nr. 11 12 10. September 1918 Nachrichten des Deutschen Volksrates Einheit völkischer Verbände Herausgegeben von Dr. Heinrich Pudor. Hakenkreuz early swastika Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig (City Museum) 2015 adjusted.jpg|Pudor's periodical ''Treu Deutsch: Nachrichten des Deutschen Volksrates'' ("True German: News from the German People's Council") was an early example of the use of a [[swastika]] as a German ethno-nationalist symbol.
File:Hans Súren 1935.jpg|Súren in 1935
File:Mensch und Sonne pages 54-55.jpg|Súren's 1936 edition of ''Mensch und Sonne'', page 54 is the last of 6 pages devoted to Goebbels{{efn|Both editions of Súren's book were published in [[fraktur]] font. The font's poor readability made it that much harder to claim that one was only looking at the book for the text.}}
File:Adolf Koch.jpg|Koch
</gallery>

==Nudity in visual culture==
Depictions of the body (dressed and undressed) define what each culture understands as normal, which is part of socialization. Pictorial conventions provide the contexts which make images comprehensible. In Western cultures, the basic contexts for images of nudity are information, art, and [[pornography]]. Images that do not fit into one of these categories may be misunderstood, leading to disputes. A perennial dispute is between art and porn, between those who see all nudity as sexual, and those who find artistic value in nude images, including some that are erotic.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eck |first=Beth A. |title=Nudity and Framing: Classifying Art, Pornography, Information, and Ambiguity | journal=Sociological Forum |volume=16 |issue=4 |date=December 2001 |pages=603–632 |doi=10.1023/A:1012862311849|s2cid=143370129 }}</ref>
[[File:Pioneer plaque humans.svg|thumb|180px| alt6=Image of humans attached to Pioneer 10 space probe | Nudity as information: Images of a man and woman on the Pioneer plaque as part of a message to extraterrestrials]]

===Visual arts===
[[File:Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs Manchester Art Gallery 1896.15.jpg|thumb|180px|Hylas and the Nymphs (1896) by John William Waterhouse]]
In most of the Western world, nudity has a symbolic meaning that is different from the everyday meaning of nakedness.<ref>{{cite journal| doi = 10.2307/505328| issn = 0002-9114| volume = 93| issue = 4| pages = 543–570| last = Bonfante| first = Larissa| title = Nudity as a Costume in Classical Art| journal = American Journal of Archaeology| access-date = 2020-07-15| date = 1989| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/505328| s2cid = 192983153}}</ref> This difference was articulated by Kenneth Clark in ''The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form''.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form | last = Clark | first = Kenneth | year = 1956 | publisher = Princeton University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/nudestudyinideal00clar | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]] | isbn = 0-691-01788-3}}</ref> Clark defined "The Nude" as a work of art that used the body to symbolize beauty, strength, and emotion. Clark was writing in 1956, when the classical concepts in art that had begun in the Renaissance lingered in art history, but were being replaced in the art world by contemporary concepts. In the 1970s, John Berger said in ''{{wpl|Ways of Seeing}}'' that the nude in Western art was [[Exhibitionism and voyeurism|voyeuristic]] and exploitative, while to be naked in real life was to be one's true self. The contemporary nude may be used to symbolize the reality of the human condition including gender, sexuality, violence, but also beauty redefined. However, the legacy of classical nudes remain in museums. In February 2018, in the wake of the {{wpl|MeToo movement||,}} the {{wpl|Manchester Art Gallery}} temporarily removed a painting of female nudes called ''{{wpl|Hylas and the Nymphs (painting)|Hylas and the Nymphs|''}} in order to "encourage debate" on how the female nude in art should be presented.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180201075310/https://manchesterartgallery.org/blog/presenting-the-female-body-challenging-a-victorian-fantasy/ "Presenting the female body: Challenging a Victorian fantasy"], Manchester Art Gallery blog post, archived on 2018 February 1</ref>

Historically, nudity was restricted by the Abrahamic religions in art as it was in life. Both [[orthodox Judaism]] and Islam forbids depictions of nudity, but in Christianity there is ambivalence. Few nudes were painted in the [[Middle Ages]] except [[Adam and Eve]], but with the rediscovery of ancient statues, nudity became a frequent subject in Renaissance paintings of Biblical stories and classical mythology. In the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], many of these works were destroyed, or genitals were covered by drapery or fig leaves. In America, fundamentalist Christians are once again seeking to restrict or eliminate the nude from art. In [[Mormon]] [[Utah]] in December 2017, an art teacher was fired for sharing postcards containing classic artwork for a fifth and sixth grade art lesson about color theory, postcards which happened to contain some nudes.<ref>[https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/01/03/utah-art-teacher-fired-over-classical-nude-images-wants-an-apology-from-school-district/ "Utah art teacher fired over classical nude images wants an apology from school district"] by Kelly Schmidt, Salt Lake Tribune, 2018 January 3</ref><ref>[https://people.com/human-interest/utah-art-teacher-fired-for-unintentionally-sharing-classical-nude-paintings-speaks-out/ "Utah Art Teacher Fired for Unintentionally Sharing Classical Nude Paintings Speaks Out"] by Cathy Free, People, 2018 January 4</ref>

===Performing arts===
Nudity has generally been accepted by Western societies in dance and theater presentations since the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1162/105420403322764089| issn = 1054-2043| volume = 47| issue = 4| pages = 144–188| last = Toepfer| first = Karl| title = One Hundred Years of Nakedness in German Performance| journal = The Drama Review| publisher=MIT Press| date = 2003| s2cid = 57567622}}</ref>

===Dance===
Some contemporary choreographers consider nudity as one of the possible "costumes" available for dance, seeing nudity as expressing deeper human qualities through dance which works against the [[sexual objectification]] of the body in commercial culture.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Cappelle| first1=Laura| last2=Whittenburg| first2=Zachary | date=1 April 2014| title=Baring It All| magazine=Dance Magazine| url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/baring_it_all-2306931348.html}}</ref> Proponents of such nudity hold that there is a distinction between sexual and non-sexual or sensual nudity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sensual Vs. Sexual, The difference between sensuality and sexuality |url=https://medium.com/sex-with-a-side-of-quirk/the-difference-between-sensuality-and-sexuality-3b1c4f4315f2}}</ref>

==Do ya think I'm sexy?==
While some people, particularly {{sl|Naturism|naturists}}, may think that that nakedness by itself is never sexy. Others it would seem, particularly men, frequently disagree.<ref>{{wpa|Male gaze}}</ref><ref>{{wpa|Female gaze}}</ref>

In film, simulated nudity appeared as early as 1897 in {{wpl|Georges Méliès|Georges Méliès'}} ''Après le Bal''.<ref>{{wpa|After the Ball (1897 film)|''After the Ball''}}</ref> The first erotic film with nudity appeared in 1899 with {{wpl|Albert Kirchner|Albert Kirchner's}} ''Le Coucher de la Mariée''.<ref>{{wpa|Le Coucher de la Mariée}}</ref> ''Is Your Daughter Safe?'' (1927) was the first exploitation film with nudity,<ref>{{wpa|Is Your Daughter Safe?|''Is Your Daughter Safe?''}}</ref> and nude photographer Albert Arthur Allen directed the forerunner of the "nudie-cutie" film with his 1927 ''Forbidden Daughters''.<ref>{{wpa|Forbidden Daughters|''Forbidden Daughters''}}</ref> By 1934, the {{wpl|Hays Code}} effectively eliminated nudity in films produced by [[Hollywood]] studios until 1968, but non-Hollywood films with nudity continued to be produced. {{wpl|Dziga Vertov|Dziga Vertov's}} groundbreaking 1929 film ''Man with a Movie Camera'' featured the first film showing naturism (non-erotic).<ref>{{wpa|Man with a Movie Camera|''Man with a Movie Camera''}}</ref>

Nudist films were common in the 1930s (''Elysia, Valley of the Nude'' in 1933,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162304/ Elysia (Valley of the Nude)] ''IMDb''</ref> ''This Nude World'' in 1935,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ThisNudeWorld.BackToNature This Nude World. Back To Nature] ''Internet Archive''.</ref> ''Nudist Land'' in 1937,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5710644/1 Nudist Land] ''IMDb''.</ref> and ''The Unashamed'' in 1938<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030909/ The Unashamed] ''IMDb''.</ref>) The nudist camp genre was revived in the 1950s with changing [[censorship]] laws in the US, and {{wpl|Garden of Eden (1954 film)|''Garden of Eden''}} was released in 1954. Prolific B-movie director {{wpl|Doris Wishman}} began her career with several nudist films.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822555 Doris Wishman (1912-2002)] ''IMDb''.</ref> {{wpl|Russ Meyer}} had also kickstarted his exploitation film career with a nudist film in 1959, ''The Immoral Mr. Teas''.<ref>{{wpa|The Immoral Mr. Teas|''The Immoral Mr. Teas''}}</ref>

But who formed the audience for these films? It seems unlikely unlikely that actual nudists would want to see a thinly-plotted films about nudists: why not just go to a naturist camp instead? More likely is that the films were pandering to the prurient interests of non-nudists. Indeed, such films have often been lumped into the "exploitation film" (or "sexploitation") category because of this.<ref>"Women's Cinema as Counterphobic Cinema: Doris Wishman as the Last Auteur" by Tania Modleski. In: ''Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics'', edited by Jeffrey Sconce (2007) Duke University Press. ISBN 0822339641.</ref>{{rp|49}}

The rise and fall of nudist magazines paralleled that of nudist films. ''The Nudist'' (later renamed as ''Sunshine & Health'') was published by the International Nudist Conference (INC), starting in 1938. The second issue of the magazine sold 50,000 copies, far exceeding the INC's membership, consequently it is believed that the magazine was primarily for sexual titilation of non-nudists.<ref>"'A Certain Amount of Prudishness': Nudist Magazines and the Liberalisation of American Obscenity Law, 1947–58" by Brian Hoffman (22 October 2010) ''Gender & History'' 22(3):708-732. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0424.2010.01611.x.</ref> Throughout the 1960s, Ed Lange, a nudist leader,<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-10-mn-64437-story.html Ed Lange: Leading Advocate of Nudism] by Myrna Oliver (May 10, 1995 12 AM PT) ''Los Angeles Times''.</ref> was a major publisher of nudist books and magazines in the US. He was also a supporter of the [[free love]] movement.<ref>[https://livingthedreamdeferred.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/going-back-to-paradise-elysium-fields-topangas-clothing-optional-club/ Going back to Paradise, Elysium Fields: Topanga’s Clothing-Optional Club] by R. W. Klarin (March 11, 2017) ''Living the Dream Deferred''.</ref> In at least one case Lange had collaborated with Meyer on a nudist book, ''The Wonderful Webbers: Naked & Together''.<ref>''The Wonderful Webbers: Naked & Together'' by Ed Lange et al. (1967) Elysium. ISBN 0910550190.</ref> By then, Meyer was in the peak of his exploitation film career.

Pasco County, [[Florida]], the "nudist capital of the world", has multiple nudist resorts, including both an old traditionalist family-friendly resort "Lake Como", and an upstart nudist adults-only sex club ("swinger") resort, "Caliente Club and Resort". The latter had been forced to change from a traditionalist club to a nudist sex club because of declining membership. Since the change, there has been conflict between Caliente and other traditionalist nudist clubs in the county, particularly Lake Como.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/25/nudism-naturism-florida-pasco-county Purists v partiers: the battle between two popular nudist resorts: One of Florida’s oldest and most staid communities, Lake Como, and nearby Caliente Club struggle with being misunderstood – and with each other] by Jordan Blumetti (25 Nov 2019 08.08 EST) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Jablonski| first=Nina G.| year=2006| title=Skin: A Natural History| location=Berkeley| publisher=University of California Press| isbn=9780520954816| url=https://archive.org/details/skinnaturalhisto00jabl|url-access=registration}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Anthropology]]
[[Category:Censorship]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]

Categories: Alternative medicine, Anthropology, Censorship, Purity culture, Culture, Sexuality