Another Look at Public Nudity, page 1

It's what we grow accustomed to and the prohibitions (for want of better term right now) under which we were raised.

These early programmings are difficult to break.

It's like with our national flag and anthem. They programme us early. As adults (witness Olympic medal winners and other sports-people) we get teary when we hear that anthem, see that flag flying. We'd do so even if we'd been adopted in infancy and raised under that flag and anthem, even if in our veins ran the blood of the sworn enemies of the flag/anthem under which we, as adoptees, were raised.

So, we shouldn't underestimate the power of early conditioning.

Most of us were raised to believe that nudity is 'rude', ill-mannered or, in some cases, people are raised to believe nudity is 'evil'. Others, usually indigenous people these days, are raised to believe nudity is normal and natural and good.

All the way through, nudity is simply lack of clothing. So neither the bare skin nor the clothing is inherently good or bad.

In the Victorian era, apparently, even the sight of a bared ankle (bare apart from thick stockings) was considered risque. We're told they even covered table-legs beneath layers of cloth, in case the sight of that wooden stump (ok, some of those table legs were pretty shapely) turned men's eyes to other stumps and caused them to become wild, rampaging animals ... thrill, thrill, swoon.

Barbara Cartland and her ilk made themselves a tidy living from churning out romantic novels referred to as 'bodice rippers'. Again, the wild (but incredibly handsome, deep and romantic) animal in man was contrasted with the fainting, swooning heroine and her endless layers of stays, corsets, petticoats, bodices. People still love those novels. It's the chase, the pursuit, that they enjoy.

Because, beneath his leather vest and velveteen jodphurs .. beneath her lace and petticoats ... there is just bare skin. And ordinary old nipples, both male and female. And sag. And sweat. And body odour. And stretch marks. And rashes and other skin conditions. And pubic hair. And rolls of fat. And discloured areas.

Nudity, public nudity, dispels the glamour. Stip a hundred people down and stand them in line and bye bye goes sexual desire. Nude bodies are just so predictably ordinary. They make you wonder what all the fuss is about, right ?

We humans tart everything up. We want it to be 'more'. We do it with the cars we drive. We don't need velour seats and leather bound steering wheels, shiny chrome and walnut dashboard. We just need a container that will get us from A to B. Same with our furniture. Do our couches really need to be A-grade leather torn from the backs of virgin lambs then dyed this season's popular colour ? Do our carpets really need to be hand-woven by exotic people in other nations ? Do our floors really need to be covered with premium blend merino wool and sculpted into rivulets like sand after the last high tide ?

We're running like crazy from our animal origins is what we're doing. On a superficial level.

Some say this flight (call it a divorce if you like) from our own skin and sweat and hair and excreta is evidence of our evolution. Others call it progress. Some call it refinement, civilisation.

But, nothing can deny that we're born stark naked. And while our loved ones grieve and blow their noses, undertakers bare us down to our skins again and start plugging our orifices so we don't expel substances from our bowels and noses as we later lie surrounded by white satin and sweet smelling flowers.

In between, we treat our nakedness as an aberration .. as something that's seen during a shower or bath and swiftly recovered before we face the world. Most of us only see our naked bodies in mirrors as we dress or undress .. especially as we age and the sagging appears and the veins, etc.

Since my children were young, it's occurred to me that (and it won't happen) we should have national Naked Days .. say Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. That would get us used to it, and then it could be every day.

If this above pipe dream became reality (and it would be painful for we adults, for sure) it would accustom younger generations to bodies in all their myriad shapes, colours, sizes, ages, etc.

And THAT would break the back of the sex and porn industries which are cynically exploiting our unfamiliarity with naked human bodies.

How good would THAT be, huh ? All the energy currently being drained off into masturbation and unnatural fantasies could be utilized TO assist evolution.

Because, if children were raised to view the human body for what it is .. a 'container' for the personality, character, soul of the individual inside ---- then it would be THOSE 'hidden' qualities upon which attention would focus !

Do you see what I'm trying (badly) to express ? Currently, the personality and character of a person is very often regarded as *secondary* to the container. Let's take Britney Speers as example. When she was at her peak, did anyone of her audience look behind the toned abs and blond hair, winning smile, good legs ? And did she (and her promoters) exploit that strong, toned, young body ? You bet. She wore crop-tops and shorts and bikinis and boots .. show and tell, like in grade school. Hide a bit, show a bit. Cover a bit .. expose the other bits. It made millions for that kid.

AND .. Britney's attractive body and face persuaded people that her personality and character were equally attractive (and of course they may be). Just as Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt are given benefit of the doubt, based on their physical attractiveness.

BUT .. if children from infancy were to see young, old, fat, thin, well and badly proportioned bodies all around them, then these would become ordinary, normal, and basically unimportant.

And what *would* mark people as exceptional or otherwise would be the parts of them (character, personality, soul) that cannot be so easily seen.

So, kids raised to regard nudity as the norm would value people for what they are, what they stand for. Society would develop new standards as to what is worthy. Abs alone wouldn't count for much and as kids would know (having seen old people nude) abs don't last for long either.

Currently, it's only undertakers and medicos who see us naked and spent. And our headstones supposedly say what we we stood for.

[edit on 18-8-2009 by St Vaast]