What if You Were Not Ashamed To Be Naked, Even in Public?
On the history of shame around nakedness and its implications for our bodies and society today
Nearly all popular renderings of Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old female Australopithecus afarensis often described as ‘the mother of us all’, depict her in thick, reddish-brown fur covering most of her body.
However, this representation isn’t exactly accurate.
Recent advancements in genetic analysis suggest that our immediate ancestors lost most of their body fur 3 to 4 million years ago and didn’t start clothing themselves only until around 80 to 170,000 years ago. This means that for 2.5 million years, early human species — including anatomically modern humans — walked the Earth as bare as a baby. But, also, that Lucy was much less hairy than initially assumed, or even naked.
Although if she had been portrayed as naked from the start, particularly in museum displays, some people would probably urge curators to ‘cover her up’ to make the exhibition more ‘appropriate’ for younger audiences. As an avid museum-goer, I’ve actually heard similar comments directed at exhibits of Neanderthals and… ancient Greek sculptures.
