Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. It is related to the concept of modesty and is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare skin or intimate parts.
Terminology
There are many terms used to describe various states of nudity. These terms may vary between (or within) different cultures and contexts, and may change over time. Sometimes such terms are used as euphemisms, sometimes as poetic terms, or humorously.
Full frontal nudity refers to wearing no clothing and facing the observer showing the whole front side of the body, including the pubic area
Partial frontal nudity, i.e. showing only bare breasts. Non-frontal nudity such as showing the buttocks, the whole back side of the body, or the body as viewed from any other direction
The term partial nudity refers to a state of less than complete nudity, and is sometimes used to refer to exposure of skin beyond what the person using the expression considers to be within the limits of modesty. If the exposure is within the standards of modesty of a given culture and setting (e.g. wearing a bikini at a nude beach), terms such as nudity, partial or otherwise, are not normally used. If however, the degree of exposure exceeds the cultural norms of the setting, or if the activity or setting includes nudity as an understood part of its function, such as a nude beach, terminology relating to nudity and degrees thereof are typically used.
Modesty
Revealing bare skin or even removing clothes in front of others, even when there is another layer of clothing underneath, are at times regarded by some to be erotic or offensive, or as immodest under some people’s standards of modesty.
Clothing which follows the contours of the body, or clothing using transparent materials, or clothing which sticks to the skin or become transparent when wet (as in wet t-shirt contests), is regarded by some to be erotic, immodest and simulating nudity.
However, there are occasions when standards of modesty are waived, as in the case of medical examinations.
Public nudity
Society’s response to public nudity varies on the culture, time, location and context of the activities. There are many exceptions and particular circumstances in which nudity is tolerated, accepted or even encouraged in public spaces. Such examples would include nude beaches, within some intentional communities (such as naturist resorts or clubs) and at special events.
In general and across cultures, more restrictions are found for exposure of those parts of the human body that display evidence of sexual arousal. Sex organs and often women’s breasts are covered, even when other parts of the body may be freely uncovered. Yet the nudity taboo may have meanings deeper than the immediate possibility of sexual arousal, for example, in the cumulative weight of tradition and habit. Clothing also expresses and symbolizes authority, and more general norms and values besides those of a sexual nature.
Another common distinction is that gratuitous nudity is perceived as more offensive than the same degree of physical exposure in a functional context, where the action could not conveniently be performed dressed, either in reality or in a fictitious scene in art. The intent can also be invoked: whether the nudity is meant to affect observers; e.g. streaking can be considered unacceptably provocative, nude sun tanning viewed mildly as rather inoffensive.
Public nudity or nude in public (NIP) refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. Nudity in the privacy of a person’s home or private grounds or facilities is not public nudity, nor is nudity at fitness facilities, swimming pools, saunas, or gymnasia, nudist or naturist clubs or resorts, since they take place on private grounds. Naturism promotes social nudity, but mostly on private properties or officially sanctioned public areas.
In some cases, public nudity may be legal. For example, there are many countries which have designated public areas as nude beaches, or where nude bathing is unofficially tolerated. In those places a person would not face legal prosecution merely for being nude.
Outside of those areas, community and legal acceptance of public nudity varies considerably. To avoid offending the public in general, public authorities maintain what are sometimes called “standards of decency”. What falls outside these standards are usually termed “indecent exposure”, or similar terminology. These standards, however, vary with time and place. Most people object to public nudity in a sexualised context, or when children are involved. People regard those who appear nude in public as trying to draw attention to themselves. If the intent is to draw attention to oneself, it may be referred to as exhibitionism, otherwise it may be to draw attention to a cause. There are also some people who disrobe in public to attract publicity to themselves, as a career move, such as some streakers at sporting events. There are also others who spontaneously disrobe in public, as an expression of their freedom and the shedding of inhibitions; an example being skinny dipping.
There are some people who object to any public exposure of a naked human body, on moral, religious or decency grounds, and regard the exposure of a naked body as inherently sexual. The degree to which a person can be exposed to be considered “indecent” varies with cultural standards. At one extreme is the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan which considered the exposure of any part of a woman’s body in public as indecent, and required all women to wear a burqa in public. Less extreme is the requirement for women who enter a church to wear “modest” clothing and to cover their heads. This is not entirely analogous, because this sort of requirement is not made in respect of a public place.
There are some people who consider nudity in art as public nudity, and by analogy nudity in the media and on the internet; to which others[who?] retort that one can always “turn off the switch” or not enter a cinema or art gallery. However, the same cannot be said for some advertising which contains images of naked or semi-naked people on public highways (or which can be seen from a public road) such as billboards, or displayed in shop windows, or magazines of naked people on the cover displayed on news-stands.
Nude photography
Nudity has been used in photography since the invention of photography itself. Nudity in photography does not necessarily claim any artistic merit, while nude photography typically does. Unlike nudity in photography generally, nude photography is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. As an art form, nude photography is a stylised depiction of the nude body with the line and form of the human figure as the primary objective.
Many photographers consider an art nude photograph to be a one that studies the human body, rather than the person. A photograph of a person that is meant to be recognized is called a portrait, and nude photographs often do not show a face at all. Photographers sometimes use extremes of light and shadow, oiled skin, and shadows falling across the body to show texture and structure of the body.
Early photographers often depicted the nudity of women like those by Félix-Jacques Moulin. Many, like Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard and Jerry Avenaim, preferred to depict the lines of a body as a piece of art.
Erotic photography and pornography are typically stylized photography using nude or semi-nude models.
Photography of installations of massed nude people in public places, as made repeatedly around the world by Spencer Tunick, claim artistic merit.
Naturism and nudism
Naturism (or nudism) is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending nudity in private and in public. It is also a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudity.
Naturists reject contemporary standards of modesty which discourage personal, family and social nudity, and seek to create a social environment where people feel comfortable in the company of nude people, and being seen nude, either just by other nudists, or also by the general public.
The trend in some European countries (for instance Germany, Finland and the Netherlands) is to allow both genders to bathe together naked. Most German spas allow mixed nude bathing. For example the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden has designated times when mixed nude bathing is permitted. There may be some older German bathhouses, such as Bad Burg, which remain segregated by gender, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Most German (not to mention French, Spanish and Greek) beaches and swimming pools offer FKK (clothing optional) areas. In general continental Europeans have a more relaxed attitude about nudity than is seen in the Anglo-Saxon world. Some have attributed this difference to the influence of Queen Victoria’s husband Albert, who was raised in a very restricting religious sect.
The Finns have the custom of the Finnish sauna, in which nudity is routinely accepted, and sometimes even required. This is true even when a swimsuit must be worn in the swimming pool area of the same complex[26] (Saunas are quite common in modern Finland, where there is one sauna for every three people).
Sexuality
Nudity in front of a sexual partner is widely accepted, but not in all cases. For example, some partners insist on nudity only at the time and place of sex, or with subdued lighting; during bathing with the partner or afterward; covered by a sheet or blanket, or while sleeping.
