Why do men seem more comfortable with nudity?

Some thoughts on social attitudes to nudity and the social expectations on women which seem to make men more at ease with nudity. The short version: slut shaming and rape culture are not conducive to women being able to be naked nearly as comfortably.

Photo by the author, male and female bodies in symmetry, from the abstract nude series Two Bodies.

This is written in response to a question (the same wording as the title above) on the Q&A website Quora. It reflects something I have certainly observed in person at various nudist venues and events, which is that typically men vastly outnumber women.

There are many potential reasons, but I think most of them boil down to sexualisation and sexism, which means women’s bodies or often highly objectified, and slut shaming is rampant. In this context, nudity can feel like a potential vulnerability to both a woman’s social standing and physical well-being.

There is a widespread (misplaced!) idea that nudity and sex are more-or-less interchangeable states of being. So in many cultures and for many generations, nudity, or even being less comprehensively dressed, is often assumed to mean the naked or partially-concealed person might be more sexually open and available. As many cultures also seek to make sex itself a shameful act, and put most of the responsibility for maintaining limitations on sexual acts on women, it therefore becomes a widespread assumption that a naked or…