Things I Find Interesting About Clothes and Nudity
A few thoughts.
Throughout our history, we’ve dressed and undressed back and forth many times. Nudity has been conceived very differently by different societies.
Interestingly, we can’t say exactly when humans started wearing clothes since animal skins don’t fossilize. What we are almost certain of is that body art came first, as a form of expression.
Clothing is now a lot more complex than we usually think and it affects far more people than we can imagine.
Does men and women hold the same rights regarding nudity nowadays?
Nowadays, to avoid offending the public in general, most western countries maintain very similar “standards of decency”.
However, there are quite a lot of arguments about how nudity is censored. Whether is a nude pic, a breastfeeding mom somewhere, or a topless girl on the beach, most times the response is the same: people feel morally attacked and their privacy compromised.
“Exposing naked bodies among citizens is the beginning of public disgrace” Ennius (c. 239–169 BC)
These are some of the opinions that I find most common out there.
Relation with sexuality
Recent research found that self-stimulation of the female nipples lights up the cortex in the same way as others sexual areas.
I find this is pretty technical.
Is this important when it comes to practical things? How so?
I don’t find this reasoning to answer any questions about nudity.
Beyond male pecs are biological useful or not, they certainly are sexually attractive, so are these something we should consider censoring too?
Women breasts are sexual because they play an important role in newborn’s growth process.
I get that, men’s and women’s breasts have substantial differences and use. But my question still stands up.
Visible skin ratio
Both men and women usually expose almost the same visible skin percentage in normal situations.
I agree with this one.
I would also state that women can have fewer clothes on without being considered obscene.
Long term viability
If we get used to nakedness, we will have fewer cases of sexual harassment.
This is the most mind-blowing point for me. In one hand I think it’s possible, that people won’t get aroused because it’s already a daily thing. On the other hand, I wonder what would happen to our biological needs. Should we also consider getting used to our biological responses such as erections and sweat?
Yes …?
So who will determine when biological impulses get too far? What would be the edge between sexual assault and something common…
Conclusion
What I’ve seen while making some research about this topic, is that clothes weren’t only meant to protect against cold. They also played a key role when it comes to express our culture and our art in colder weathers.
It also provides us with a straight mean to identify ourselves and I think this is such a healthy thing we should protect.
With this in mind, there is no need to mention the large road we have left as a whole to find what is the sweet spot for the most. There are no right or wrong answers in these kinds of topics, so it will be extremely hard to teach everyone respect the other.
Will us be able to reach some kind of consensus? Or should be don’t give a damn and just do whatever we want?
