Portal:Nudity

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Introduction

P:NUDE

Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts if they were associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.

In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, proper attire was required to maintain social standing. The lower classes might possess a single piece of cloth that was wrapped or tied to cover the lower body; the lowest classes including slaves might be naked. However, through much of Western history until the modern era, people of any status were also unclothed by necessity or convenience when engaged in labor and athletics; or when bathing or swimming. Such functional nudity occurred in groups that were usually but not always segregated by sex. Although improper dress might be socially embarrassing, the association of nudity with sin regarding sexuality began with Judeo-Christian societies, spreading through Europe in the post-classical period. Traditional clothing in temperate regions worldwide also reflect concerns for maintaining social status and order, as well as by necessity due to the colder climate. However, societies such as Japan and Finland maintain traditions of communal nudity based upon the use of baths and saunas that provided alternatives to sexualization.

The spread of Western concepts of modest dress was part of colonialism, and continues today with globalization. Contemporary social norms regarding nudity reflect cultural ambiguity towards the body and sexuality, and differing conceptions of what constitutes public versus private spaces. Norms relating to nudity are different for men than they are for women. Individuals may intentionally violate norms relating to nudity; those without power may use nudity as a form of protest, and those with power may impose nakedness on others as a form of punishment. (Full article...)

Selected general article

The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position with the Renaissance. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as history painting, including allegorical and religious art, portraiture, or the decorative arts. From prehistory to the earliest civilizations, nude female figures were generally understood to be symbols of fertility or well-being.

In India, the Khajuraho Group of Monuments built between 950 and 1050 CE are known for their nude sculptures, which comprise about 10% of the temple decorations, a minority of them being erotic. Japanese prints are one of the few non-western traditions that can be called nudes, but the activity of communal bathing in Japan is portrayed as just another social activity, without the significance placed upon the lack of clothing that exists in the West. Through each era, the nude has reflected changes in cultural attitudes regarding sexuality, gender roles, and social structure.

One often cited book on the nude in art history is The Nude: a Study in Ideal Form by Lord Kenneth Clark, first published in 1956. The introductory chapter makes (though does not originate) the often-quoted distinction between the naked body and the nude. Clark states that to be naked is to be deprived of clothes, and implies embarrassment and shame, while a nude, as a work of art, has no such connotations. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that after women's suffrage in Switzerland was approved in a referendum in 1971, the tabloid Blick sported a cover with a naked blonde and the headline "Thank you for the Roses"?
... that Ettore Sottsass's design of the Olivetti Valentine typewriter was inspired by the pop-art nudes of Tom Wesselmann?
... that Susanna Hoffs sang on the studio recording of "Eternal Flame" naked after producer Davitt Sigerson pranked her by saying that Olivia Newton-John had done the same thing?
... that vampire amoebae are naked?
... that sales from Dieux du Stade, a nude calendar produced by the French professional rugby union club Stade Français featuring photos of its players, helped to finance the club for many years?
... that the Indian politician Diwan Chaman Lall failed to get rid of the painting Nude of Indira?
... that former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said that she would swim in Loch Ness naked if the SNP won more than 50 seats at the 2019 United Kingdom general election?
... that the destroyed plinth of Gürdal Duyar's nude sculpture Güzel İstanbul contained reliefs of a fig, a pomegranate, a honeysuckle and a bee to represent different aspects of Istanbul?

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General images

The following are images from various nudity-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1People bathing naked after the World Naked Bike Ride in Brighton, 2017 (from Naturism)
Image 2Florida naturists (from Naturism)
Image 3Max Koch's Freilicht, ca. 1894/1897 (from Naturism)
Image 4Naked participant at Burning Man 2016 posing as Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (from Naturism)
Image 5Artistic nude woman by Jean-Christophe Destailleur (from Nude photography)
Image 6WWI era Ivory Soap ad (from Nudity)
Image 7A Nude Boy on a Beach (1878) by John Singer Sargent (from Nude (art))
Image 8Sunbathers at Müggelsee lake beach in East Berlin, 1989. (from Nudity)
Image 9Families bathing nude at a hot spring in Taiwan (from Naturism)
Image 10Signpost at Mpenjati Naturist Beach (from Naturism)
Image 11Naturist swimmers in Australia (from Naturism)
Image 12David (1504)
"And what barbarous judge is there that cannot understand that the foot of a man is more noble than his shoe? His skin than that of the sheep from which his clothes are made?"
— Michelangelo (from Nude (art))
Image 13Zoë Mozert was one of Earl Moran's first nude models in the 1930s. (from Nude photography)
Image 14Marilyn Monroe posing topless for Earl Moran around 1950 (from Nude photography)
Image 15Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (1808–1812) by John Vanderlyn. The painting was initially considered too sexual for display in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Although nudity in art was publicly protested by Americans, Vanderlyn observed that they would pay to see pictures of which they disapproved." (from Nude (art))
Image 16Finnish Sauna (1802) (from Naturism)
Image 17Using birch branches in a Finnish sauna, 1967 (from Nudity)
Image 18This year Venuses again... always Venuses!... (1864) by Daumier (from Nude (art))
Image 19A woman breastfeeding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2017 (from Nudity)
Image 20Odalisque (1857) by Eugène Delacroix, a painting with similar pose (from Nude photography)
Image 21Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, c. 1855 (from Nude photography)
Image 22Naturists in a river, 2014 (from Nudity)
Image 23Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Artemisia Gentileschi. This work may be compared with male depictions of the same tale. (from Nude (art))
Image 24World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2016 (from Naturism)
Image 25Nude woman at Christopher Street Day Berlin 2004 (from Nudity)
Image 26The Universal Naturist Symbol was voted for by naturists from all over the world in October 2020. The purpose is to recognize naturists, even when they wear clothes. (from Naturism)
Image 27Nudist couple at Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California, US (from Naturism)
Image 28Couple walking naked in the streets of Barcelona, Spain (from Naturism)
Image 29A necklace reconstructed from perforated sea snail shells from Upper Palaeolithic Europe, dated between 39,000 and 25,000 BCE. The practice of body adornment is associated with the emergence of behavioral modernity. (from Nudity)
Image 30Nude people at the 2007 Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle, Washington (from Nudity)
Image 31Bathing in the center of East Berlin, East Germany (1958) (from Nudity)
Image 32Naturist family on Lake Senftenberg in 1983 (from Naturism)
Image 33Outdoor bathing at Zhiben Hot Spring, Taiwan 2012 (from Nudity)
Image 34Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, part of a series made with Eugène Delacroix (from Nude photography)
Image 35One of the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal: a naked prisoner being forced to crawl and bark like a dog on a leash. (from Nudity)
Image 36Naturist couple at the Nambassa festival, New Zealand, 1981 (from Naturism)
Image 37The Venus of Willendorf (made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE) (from Nude (art))
Image 38Nude female model by the window (from Nude (art))
Image 39A group of naturists at a nude beach in Crimea, 2008 (from Naturism)
Image 40Public naturist recreation area at Lake Unterbach; Strandbad Süd, Düsseldorf-Unterbach, Germany (from Naturism)
Image 41Sunrise on the beach, Taitung County, Taiwan (from Naturism)
Image 42The far west end of Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico (from Naturism)
Image 43Randonue in Les Concluses, Gard, 2008 (from Naturism)
Image 44People taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2012 (from Nudity)
Image 45Nude men at the Przystanek Woodstock festival, 2014 (from Naturism)
Image 46The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1484–1486 (from Nude (art))
Image 47A woman naked on the beach at Valalta, Croatia (from Naturism)
Image 48A Naga Sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man (from Naturism)
Image 49Nudist hiker in British Columbia (from Naturism)
Image 50A publicity photo showing a North American naturist couple making tea (from Naturism)
Image 51Crayon-style print by Gilles Demarteau with a nude man after original drawing by Edmé Bouchardon was acquired by Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw as a teaching material (from Nude (art))
Image 52In many European countries women may sunbathe without covering their breasts. (from Nudity)
Image 53The Barricade (1918), oil on canvas, by George Bellows. A painting inspired by an incident in August 1914 in which German soldiers used Belgian townspeople as human shields. (from Nude (art))

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v t e Nudity
Nakedness and clothing	History Prehistory of nakedness and clothing Nakedness and colonialism Childhood nudity Sex segregation Modesty Nudity in religion Awrah Breastfeeding in public Public bathing Sauna Finnish sauna Massage Toplessness Topfreedom Canada United States Nudity and protest Dress code Clothing laws by country
Nudity and sexuality	Intimate part Exhibitionism Mooning Streaking Striptease Stripper Feminist stripper Voyeurism Anasyrma Candaulism
Issues in social nudity	Sexualization Sexual objectification Pornification Indecent exposure Obscenity Wardrobe malfunction Strip search
Naturism	Naturist resort Christian naturism Freikörperkultur Gay naturism Gymnosophy Naturist magazines Social nudity organizations Anarchist naturism Timeline of social nudity
Nude recreation	Nude beach Nude swimming Nude swimming classes Naked yoga Naked party Nude wedding Nude beaches Clothing-optional events
By location	Africa Asia Europe North America San Francisco Seattle Oceania South America
Social nudity advocates	Kurt Barthel Lee Baxandall Paul Bindrim Ilsley Boone Henry S. Huntington Heinrich Pudor Elton Raymond Shaw Richard Ungewitter
Depictions of nudity	Nude (art) History Nude modeling (art) Nude photography (art) Nudity in live performance Body painting Nudity in film Nudity in American television Nudity in music videos Nudity in print media Nudity in advertising Nude photography Glamour photography Erotic photography
See also	Imagery of nude celebrities Nude calendar Naked News Nudity in combat Nudity clause Nude psychotherapy Softcore pornography
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