Hi,
I just found this article on USA today. I know it's a bit old, but it
still
shows that things haven't changed a lot since then.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-20409128.html
By Andrew Layng, 3/1/1998
Gradual trends in American attitudes toward issues concerning the human
body, including ***uality, indicate that public ****ity may be acceptable
within the lifetime of the current generation. Sources of Americans'
discomfort with public ****ity traditionally are examined.
"... It seems inevitable that we will become increasingly comfortable with
****ity so that, some day, pictures of ****d models and actors and the
presence of **** bathers on public beaches no longer will shock the moral
sensitivities of most Americans."
During the last 50 years, there has been a tremendous liberalization in
American attitudes concerning ***ual behaviour, but public ****ity
continues
to evoke disgust and ridicule. Even though legal restrictions have been
relaxed and clothing-optional beaches are more numerous than ever before,
as
are the sunbathers who frequent them, most Americans continue to
disapprove
of ****ity no less than their grandparents did. In spite of the fact that
it
now is quite acceptable to display nearly all of one's body poolside or at
the beach, total ****ity continues to make Americans very uncomfortable.
Proponents of ****ity usually maintain a low profile, not wi****ng to invite
what seems to be inevitable hostility. Given the present concern with
"family values," it is likely that such attitudes will persist for some
time. However, there is a gradual trend in American attitudes about the
human body which suggests that the public ****ity taboo may be abandoned
one
day.
Why have prudish attitudes toward ****ity been so tenacious in the U.S.?
Those who are middle age or older certainly are aware how other American
taboos have declined or even disappeared. For most, masturbation no longer
is equated with self-mutilation and premarital *** has become a nearly
universal norm. Like many other ***ual activities, they have lost their
immoral status. Even homo***uality increasingly is regarded as merely an
alternative ***ual orientation.
Remember how risqué it used to be to read about ***ual encounters in a
novel
or to watch an impassioned love scene on the movie screen? Today, this is
the stuff of day-time TV, considered quite tame by present standards.
Modern
literature and motion pictures, intent on titillating and shocking
audiences, now must resort to creative violence and psychopathic horror.
Scenes of urban cannibalism. serial murder, and mass destruction are
rampant. Yet, even as our tolerance of and appetite for depictions of
violence have increased greatly, a majority of us still find public ****ity
intolerable.
While Americans are much more sophisticated today on many subjects, ****ity
continues to induce very charged reactions. Even among scholars, the mere
mention of ****ity is likely to degenerate into wisecracks and
old-fa****oned
moralizing. Commercial television programming, prime time or not, still
avoids ****ity, though ABC's "NYPD Blue" does show partial ****ity.
Occasionally, topless women and mothers nursing babies may appear in a
do***entary.
Most of us are highly ambivalent when it comes to ****ity. Privately, we
have
an appetite for reading about it or looking at pictures of ****s. Numerous
successful novels contain explicit descriptions of ***ual anatomy, and
Playboy has 3,400,000 subscribers. Since commercial films are designed for
public viewing, though, on-screen ****ity is subject to strictures.
Paintings
of ****s by European masters and classical **** statues from Egypt,
Greece,
and Rome are exhibited to the public without much complaint. Yet, those
who
openly express tolerance of public ****ity in the U.S. are likely to make
themselves very unpopular.
Ironically, some Americans associate ****ity with purity and innocence,
having Adam and Eve in mind perhaps. From this perspective, primitive
tribes
that lack clothing may be seen as exemplifying some sort of pristine
nobility. Others attribute tribal ****ity to cultural backwardness. Both
views are fully compatible with condemnation of ****ity among "civilized"
men
and women. Although television do***entaries that include pictures of
minimally clothed or even entirely ****d natives of Australia, Africa, the
Pacific islands, and South America do not seem to offend mainstream
audiences, any prime-time images of bare Caucasian breasts and buttocks
are
likely to cause a great deal of trepidation. Male frontal ****ity is
especially taboo here. After "NYPD Blue" included some **** scenes, it had
considerable difficulty getting sponsors despite its excellent ratings,
though this generally no longer is the case, with some notable holdouts.
Banning **** swimming and missionary efforts to clothe "savages" still
find
a great deal of sup****t in the U.S. Probably this is because many people
seem unable to distinguish ****ity from licentiousness. By associating
unclothed bodies with *** and immorality, public ****ity is considered
obscene. As this view would have it, since *** in a public place is wrong,
so is ****ity.
Such American Puritanism has European roots. Even in Victorian times, a
large pro****tion of Europeans never saw a ****d human body, and attitudes
from these eras are especially evident in the beliefs of American
Christian
fundamentalists. Ironically, numerous Mediterranean beaches no longer
require clothing. France's largest ****ist colony (Cap d'Agde) attracts
40,000 European tourists each summer. Guests not only swim in the **** at
this resort, but go about ****d even while shopping for groceries and
eating
in restaurants. Scandinavia has a long tradition of **** sunbathing. It is
difficult to find a Swedish public beach where most of the bathers are not
****. Asia attracts numerous European tourists by offering them ****
resorts
and beaches. Gambia, in West Africa, is the choice of many Swedes who wish
to holiday in the buff during the winter, even though locals are a bit
shocked by such immodesty.
Many Christians in Europe and the U.S. are thought of by others as
relatively anti-***. Certainly, the Catholic Church has this reputation,
and
fundamentalists long have insisted that "listening" to our bodies is what
prevents us from listening to God.
Nevertheless, ****ity taboos are not peculiarly Christian. Women in Islamic
societies have gone back to wearing traditional garments, reflecting
Moslem
fundamentalists' insistence on covering the entire female body. Hasidic
Jews
believe that a husband must never see even his own wife's genitals,
requiring that couples make love in the dark. On the other hand, some
Christian sects have advocated and practiced ****ity. The Doukhobors, who
migrated from Russia to Canada in search of religious freedom, shocked
their
Canadian neighbours on several occasions when they staged highly
publicized
protest demonstrations wherein the participants -- men, women, and
children -- were entirely ****d.
There is some irony here in that the Puritans, Victorians. and other
Europeans inherited much of their culture from the Greeks and Romans. In
classical times, public male ****ity often was entirely acceptable.
High-status males exercised, participated in s****ting events, and
conducted
public rituals in the ****. Greek art ****trayed males without clothing to
emphasize their athletic ability, heroic stature, and beauty. To this
ancient population, male ****ity indicated empowerment, since women,
slaves,
and barbarians were not permitted to be **** in public.
Shame and modesty
Many Americans are so thoroughly ethnocentric about ****ity that they
insist
their intolerance is a reflection of human nature. As illustrated by the
Adam and Eve myth, humans do experience shame. Writer Mark Twain once
pointed out, "Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to." Shame and
modesty, though, did not give rise to clothing, more likely, they were
by-products of clothing.
When missionaries introduced dresses and shorts to Tasmania, Australia,
the
natives graciously accepted these gifts, but still persisted in undressing
at times the missionaries considered to be most inappropriate. Although
this
caused great embarrassment for the missionaries, the Tasmanians seemed to
enjoy disrobing in public. One suspects that doing so in the presence of
missionaries became a source of entertainment for them. Several accounts
describe how they sometimes kidnapped a European, stripped him bare to
examine what he might be concealing, and then released him unharmed. They
probably were perplexed to discover each time that these white men had
nothing of note that seemed to justify concealment.
Clothing did not evolve merely to mask a particular part of the body.
Looking across the international spectrum, one sees conspicuous
inconsistencies regarding which parts of the body people elect to cover,
if
they choose any part at all. In some places, the bottoms of feet are
considered so repulsive that one must be careful at all times to conceal
them from view. In other places, women's lips are believed to be so
seductive that wearing veils in public is imperative.
Some New Guinea males wear a long, curved, and decorated gourd on their
*****, apparel that seems designed more to exaggerate than to conceal.
Some
Pacific islander women frame their vaginas with tattoos, and many in
Africa
decorate their breasts with patterned scars. The intent is to enhance
personal appearance and entice the interests of the opposite ***.
Americans insist that even nursing mothers conceal their breasts from
public
view, though in most parts of the world this prohibition is considered
strange. Americans are convinced that breasts are inherently and blatantly
*****c in spite of the fact that many native peoples find this fetish
highly
amusing. We do not insist that women cover their chests because breasts
are
so alluring; breast are so alluring because we insist that women cover
their
chests. Concealing any part of the body may render it more erogenous.
Young
women of the Nuer tribe in east Africa generally wear no clothing, but
when
they do an *****c dance designed to arouse prospective suitors ***ually,
they don short leather skirts.
Although many tribal people feel no need for clothing, most of us consider
it essential, regardless of the weather. In societies where people avoid
public ****ity, there usually is consensus that clothing basically is a
response to innate modesty. They are quite wrong about this, because the
Nuer and others who have no inhibitions concerning public ****ity have the
same human nature we do. Since people often believe that attitudes
familiar
to them are normal and natural for others, most Americans do not realize
that their distaste for ****ity is peculiarly American, a cultural trait
which has its own unique social history. Our cultural biases prevent us
from
recognizing that the public ****ity taboo in the U.S. has very little to do
with our genes.
All societies share certain behaviours, and these might shed light on
human
nature and how we respond to ****ity. For instance, all human populations
behave so as to distinguish themselves in some way from animals.
Everywhere,
there are customs and traditions that symbolically confirm human
uniqueness
in the biological world. Some maintain this dichotomy by equating public
****ity with bestiality. Once we deny our common ancestry with the beasts
of
the field, it becomes logical to hide those parts of our anatomy
associated
with ***, birth, or excretory functions, since these activities challenge
our claim to be something other than animals. This may be why we so long
have attempted to prevent, conceal, or otherwise control birth,
copulation,
masturbation, suckling, and menstruation. Such animal behaviour flies in
the
face of our claim to be something unique. Clothing, by altering our
appearance, helps to deny our bestial nature.
Any reminder of the fact that we are animals may be suppressed or
concealed
in some way. Consider the im****tance we place on audible flatulence in any
public arena. In many settings, even yawning, stomach rumbles, or belching
are unacceptable. In the privacy of the home, one may indulge in such
creature releases with relative impunity, but while out in public, one
must
exercise diligent constraint, subordinating physical comfort to emotional
comfort.
Aristocrats seem particularly inclined to maintain this human vs. animal
fiction, at least for themselves. Not infrequently, they see behaviour in
the lower cl***** which suggests that poverty removes much of the
distinction between people and beasts. In African and Asian kingdoms, the
elaborate costuming of royalty is in sharp contrast to the scant clothing
of
commoners.
In many tribal societies, there are rituals to remind members that they
are
not animals. In coming-of-age ceremonies, for example, initiates may be
stripped bare prior to being introduced to adulthood. Alternatively, they
may be dressed at this time in animal skins or feathers, similarly
implying
that they are not fully human as yet. Once they are initiated, they are
made
aware that such attire, or non-attire, has to be left behind, for now they
must dress exclusively in ways befitting their new status. Where clothing
is
not the custom, scarification, tattooing, hairstyling, or jewellery may
suffice, for no beast indulges in these practices.
It might seem that where people, by custom, wear no clothing, they must be
shameless and unconcerned about distingui****ng themselves from animals.
After all, some tribal peoples, even in the company of strangers, readily
belch and break wind without any hint of modesty or emotional trauma.
Nevertheless, in tribal societies where no clothing is worn by one *** or
both, inhibitions concerning human anatomy are evident.
Among some of the South American Indians who use no clothing, men wear
just
a waist string to which is attached the tied outstretched foreskin of the
*****. If this minimal attire accidentally unties, the owner immediately
must refasten it. Even during combat, a man will stop fighting to retie
his
foreskin lest the head of his ***** becomes an object of public display.
While bathing, foreskins have to be untied and retied under water,
discretely avoiding any chance that others may see one's glans. Young
boys,
before their foreskins are sufficiently elongated, have numerous
"accidents," causing spontaneous teasing and much embarrassment. The women
in these societies exhibit modesty as well, being very careful to keep
their
knees together when sitting on the ground or while squatting to urinate.
Such modesty avoids shame even though they, as well as the men, are quite
****d.
Some white men working near one such Indian village shocked onlookers when
they went skinny-dipping after a hard day's labour. Since the natives did
not wear clothing, the whites could not understand why their own ****ity
caused such a stir. To the Indians, who never had seen cir***cised males,
the appearance of these shameless whites was horrifying.
Before World War I, there was much promoting of ****ism in Germany, and by
the 1930s, ****ist camps and other organizations advocating "naturism," as
it
was called, had begun to proliferate in England and America. Hitler banned
the naturism movement in Germany, but it continued uninterrupted elsewhere
in spite of a good deal of opposition from time to time. ****ist
establishments were mostly family oriented, and proponents consistently
emphasized wholesomeness, making frequent references to physical and
mental
health, education, and even spirituality.
By the 1960s in America, many were willing to question old attitudes
toward
morality in general, and at this time, ***ual "hang-ups" became especially
difficult to defend. In this intellectual climate, ****ity became a
political
statement, testifying to one's sophistication. At Woodstock and other
outdoor mass concerts, hundreds of unacquainted people spontaneously
removed
their clothes and "let it all hang out."
Even though stage ****ity has a long history, the popular Broadway musical
"Oh! Calcutta!," in which the actors remove all their clothing, seemed to
anticipate a great liberalizing of attitudes toward ****ity. One might have
thought, as I did in 1970, that, by the end of the 20th century, public
****ity would have overcome its stigmatised status. Yet, today, there are
counter-trends involving a great deal of phobia. Tolerance for ****ity
seems
to have fallen victim to an anti-****ography movement. Some feminists have
defined female ****ity as politically incorrect, presenting women as ***
objects. Some cor****ations, fearful of negative publicity, no longer
purchase paintings of ****s for their art collections. Male ****ity
recently
has acquired a connotation of homo*****cism, implying that male ****ists
are
either gay or exhibitionists, and probably both. Given the American
propensity for equating ****ism with ***ual license, the rapid spread of
AIDS
suggests to some that public ****ity must remain banned.
Although college campuses generally have been in the vanguard of
liberalization, some no longer display ****s in their art collections for
fear of offending militant student sentiments. In 1992, Pennsylvania State
University removed from an art history classroom a reproduction of "The
****
Maja," the famous painting by Francisco de Goya. This action was prompted
by
an English professor who insisted that the painting made her and her
female
students uncomfortable, maintaining that it even constituted a form of
***ual harassment.
Parents who take **** pictures of their own young children have been
apprehended by the police. A mother in Boston was arrested for taking
pictures of her four-year-old son. Similarly, one offending father, a New
Jersey immigrant from Israel, where young boys and girls are accustomed to
playing **** on beaches, was arrested, handcuffed, and jailed, then barred
from seeing his children for two months, merely because he took pictures
of
his six-year-old daughter for a photography class project. Fears of
paedophilia outweigh common sense in many instances.
Although it is commonplace for women to go topless on public European
beaches, the practice still is likely to result in arrest in this country.
Hollywood, fearing NC-17 ratings that restrict box-office sales, continues
to avoid full frontal ****ity, even though it long has been accepted in
European films. American-based airlines ban onboard weekly magazines that
include pictures of **** models, such as those popular in Japan today.
In-flight movies and those shown on commercial television are edited to
delete "offensive" ****ity.
It does not seem strange that Middle Eastern airlines edit bare thighs
from
their films, but why is it that ****d people, or even pictures of ****d
people, elicit such negative reaction in North America? Why does the
practice of **** sunbathing and swimming cause such consternation here?
After all, ours is a country quite accustomed to a great amount of exposed
flesh. The advertising and entertainment industries constantly vie for our
attention by depicting women and men in scant attire, often suggesting
total
****ity. Swimwear has been reduced to such minimal pro****tions that these
garments seem more inclined to accent ***ual anatomy than to conceal it.
There have been some efforts to liberalize laws that condemn women for
being
bare-chested on the grounds that the laws do not apply equally to men. In
recent years, small protest demonstrations have been staged by women in
American and Canadian cities, but their cause does not seem to have gained
much sympathy from the population at large. One might assume that feminist
organizations would take up this campaign, but they are neutralized on the
issue because they are committed to combating the objectification of
women.
Although they agree that the laws should not discriminate on the basis of
***, many are convinced that going topless only encourages the image of
women as *** objects.
Social context
How public ****ity is perceived is largely a matter of social context. Some
populations are totally comfortable with ****ity, while others find it
unqualifiedly unacceptable. In 1995, the city of Jerusalem was offered a
replica of what might be the world's most admired statue, Michelangelo's
"David," depicting the young Israelite king immediately after he killed
Goliath. The replica, worth $700,000, was commissioned by Florence, Italy,
to commemorate Jerusalem's 3,000-year history. Although the city fathers
of
Jerusalem were pleased at the prospect of owning this highly visible
symbol
of proud Jewish history, the gift was refused because David's ****ity would
have offended Orthodox Jews and Arabs. Similarly, a painting of the
classical Greek statue of "Venus de Milo" was removed from a shopping mall
in Springfield, Mo., because it was considered too shocking. The original
is
one of the most popular attractions at the Louvre in Paris.
Attitudes toward ****ity may change dramatically from one generation to
another within the same society. Until quite recently, for instance,
Japanese magazines were not allowed to include pictures of **** models,
but
many of them now do so. One of these publications, An An, solicited ****
photographs from its female readers and received 1,600 entries. It seems
that these women believed that such photographs were complimentary, in
sharp
contrast to what most American women might have concluded. Moreover, these
Japanese women were enthusiastic about this rare op****tunity to compete
with
others, a desire that would have been far less likely a generation ago.
Although many educated Americans consider our public ****ity taboo to be
anachronistic, there presently is no organized national effort to
challenge
it, and I do not anticipate any sort of social movement devoted to the
demise. However, there has been a long-term trend suggesting that, in the
not too distant future, America will grow more accepting of ****ity.
In the last few years, member****ps in the largest national ****ist
organization (the Naturist Society) have increased dramatically. There has
been much liberalization of American attitudes toward *** in general, and
pictures of ****d people, on newsstands and the Internet, are more readily
available than ever before. Clothing-optional beaches in various parts of
the country steadily have increased in numbers, and more and more will be
converted to such use. National parks, where **** bathing used to be
prohibited, today tolerate it in designated areas. Although many
anti-****ity
state laws have been proposed in recent years, very few have been enacted.
Some municipalities have discovered that tolerance of ****ism can be highly
profitable. There was considerable resistance on the part of merchants and
the Mayor's Office in Miami to allowing **** bathing on its now famous
Haulover Beach. Once it was opened for such use, a veritable flood of
European tourists proved to be an economic boom. Florida-based cruise ****p
lines, formerly unreceptive to ****ist organizations. now solicit their
business, and it is possible to sign on for a Caribbean cruise with
hundreds
of other ****ists.
Protests against public ****ity -- evoking concerns for family values,
protection of women, and Christian morality -- should not be viewed as a
serious setback to the naturist movement and the liberalizing of American
views. Rather, they are more likely reactive responses to the increasing
acceptance of exposed anatomy and may be seen, therefore, as confirming
liberalization of mainstream attitudes toward ****ity. Given the present
trends in most of the industrialized world and more subtle trends in the
U.S., it seems inevitable that we will become increasingly comfortable
with
****ity so that, some day. pictures of ****d models and actors and the
presence of **** bathers on public beaches no longer will shock the moral
sensitivities of most Americans. When that time comes, we will marvel at
how
we used to be so uptight about public ****ity.
COPYRIGHT 1998 Society for the Advancement of Education
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