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saben
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On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
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Well, in the hope of getting some deep discussion going instead of people getting offended, I thought I'd raise an issue that was on my mind today. I was playing an online game today called Nation States where you get to manage your own country and are presented with issues on which you must make a decision.
Today my nation was presented with the issue of nudity, I was given the option of allowing it, enforcing it or prohibiting it. I didn't really agree with either of the points of views, but in the end I decided to enforce it 
Regardless of that, however, why is it that in society nudity is so taboo? Is it purely the result of the fundamentalist religions of the past, is it just the practicality of clothes (and if so why is clothing still required of a summer and in hotter climates) or is there something about the naked human body that makes it inapproprite to be publically viewed?
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
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...Part of it is definitely religion at work, according to the bible for example it is sinful to be naked. Then again, according to the bible it is sinful to wear clothes woven of two different threads too so woe us all. 
Part of it is tradition, we have always been clothed, so that has made us prudes more or less except in situations where a more undressed state is socially accepted. Like at a beach, for example. We may even have phobias about revealing our bodies, sometimes because we think we may be unpleasing to the eye or for no reason at all, simply because we're plain phobic.
Part of it is for practical reasons. In the winter it's likely (much) too cold to be naked, in the summer the sun would scorch our hides (for pink people like me anyway). Also, there's hygiene to consider, another practical reason.
Wether it is inappropriate or not is in my eyes a question we have to answer each and one of us for ourselves. I'm not really AGAINST the idea (except there should be a law requiring really fat old women to always wear clothes in public hehe), but I say this, I wouldn't want to see naked people walking around in the supermarket, shopping, or in restaurant kitchens or such.
-L
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Frankly most people, me included, look pretty horrible nude. I would make it taboo on aesthetic grounds! A flying teat playing tennis is not my idea of fun! Nor a flying dick!
There is, however, a reference somewhere in the bilke (leviticus?) that prohibits a son from seeing his father naked. I wonder if it stems from there?
Is it just judaic (and thus christian) societies that have a problem with nakedness?
By the way, a ramble through brambles naked is much less pleasant that one wearing thornproof clothing!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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i think this is the only instance where GOD missed up--HE let MAN write the old testament.Sometimes I think alians wrote the old testament..rob
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Garrett
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 77
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I think that everyplace should be like europe. Okay with nudity, but not obsessed with it. Where they are comforatable with it on such things as beaches or brief nudity on tv, but dont just walk naked down the street. Thats what I think.
Garrett
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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The body is only inherently beautiful when it is youthful. Now don't get all "There goes a pedo" on me. I mean pure beauty, not erotic. A child playing, unconcerned and naked, is somehow the picture of perfect innocence and wonder. We lose that when we learn to be "ashamed" of nakedness. Unless one is unusual there is nothing erotic about a child. Although nowadays it is dangerous to say "That child is so beautiful" unless they are fully clothed.
We old farts are not good to look at, and most of us have enough oddities to frighten the horses. So "walking down the street" is not a good place to be naked.
But naked or not on a beach where clothing is optional (and by no means all countries accept this in Europe) is pleasant and acceptable. Nudity where it is expected or anticiptaed is not an erotic thing.
The thing that amazes me is a beach here inthe UK at Swanage. A nude beach. But a cold nude beach. When it gets cold the people put sweaters on top and leave below in the breeze! Now where is the fun in that?
But expanding on the original theme, since a body is actually more erotic when clothed well, surely more public nudity would reduce crimes of lust like "casual" rape?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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trevor
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Really getting into it |
Registered: November 2002
Messages: 732
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Don't exactly know what you mean by "casual rape" - I see your point, though. Then again, if we hug our children and aunties and friends, it might be easier to "perv on them" if we were naked. Regarding rape, logisticly speaking it would take less time if we're already naked. In the case of unwanted/unanticipated erections, it could be downright embarrassing/unpleasant.
Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I agree it should have a place and time.
I do think many societies are overly "hung up" about nudity, though. I hear parents say things like "Is it okay for your kids to watch ___ movie? There's no sex, just fighting and cursing." WTF? Nudity is "normal" - at least around my house, heh heh - and I can explain sex, which is also normal. Violence and profanity are learned too easily at an early age, IMHO.
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Re: Nudism, why is it taboo? 
