| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Greg Schieffer
Newcomer
3 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 23 2012 : 01:16:32 AM
|
Here's a question that has been gnawing at me for a while now... is there anything morally reprehensible about public nudity? When practiced in a non-sexual manner (e.g., on nude beaches), is there really anything wrong with it? Is there really something about the human body that we ought to be ashamed of? As far as I can tell, as long as you're not sexually violating someone, there's nothing wrong with simply being comfortably naked on a hot day. Is there something I'm missing, or is the fact that some people will be repulsed by the human body enough to make it morally wrong to display oneself in such a way? On a similar note, I have never understood why a woman's breasts are sexually objectified and why it's thought that they ought to be hidden. They are not, in essence, sexual organs, so why do we view them as such? The only difference between men's breasts and women's breasts are, after all, a few layers of fat.
[Very lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
|
|
Alex Artzer
Apprentice
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2012 : 11:51:11 AM
|
Well, I have also thought about this, and it seems to me that I remember discussing it in another thread on the forum. Did we? I can't begin to understand where it comes from that we are afraid or even disgusted by nudity. I think that the taboo on nudity is something that has become culturally engrained in society, and that as a result nudity has, over time, come to be seen as something sexual. However, the irony is that everyone has the same parts, and all we do is spend hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars on clothing to cover up something that is natural. We come into this world naked, and so it is almost unnatural that we put clothing on. Does this make nudity wrong? I don't personally think there is anything we should be ashamed of about our own bodies, and I think this fear and disgust about the human body has caused a lot of problems in our society. For example, we've come to think that the human body should look a certain way and that we must cover up our entire bodies so as to avoid people's being judgmental.
You see school and work dress code policies that say women cannot wear spaghetti strap shirts, and that shorts or shorter skirts aren't allowed. No cleavage. Everything is about covering up our bodies, things we are born with. I don't think the body is really anything sexual. It's just the physical body we are, in a sense, "trapped in." I absolutely do not think that it is morally wrong to display oneself in such a way -- these are just our bodies!
Also, I don't understand either why women's breasts are sexually objectified. Maybe it's because of the associated erogenous zones, but breasts also provide nutrition and food for a woman's children. I don't know the history about nudity, clothing, and being ashamed of our own physical body well enough to be able to make any serious claims, but I do think our attitudes about the body are silly and wonder why this has turned into such a "moral issue." Some religions do not allow women (and sometimes even men) to show any parts of their skin. Is our skin something we should be ashamed of? Absolutely not. I don't understand where any of this comes from. Any ideas? I guess this is something I would like to research more.
[Lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
 |
|
|
Tom Trelogan
Forum Admin
1368 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2012 : 8:36:57 PM
|
| You're right, Alex, about nudity's having been up for discussion in another thread on the forum. It's one of the things that were up for discussion in the thread titled "What's the Big Deal?" |
|
|
|
Sergio Cerrillo
Apprentice
28 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2012 : 2:07:13 PM
|
Well, I don't have any solid evidence myself about where the taboo on nudity comes from, but I am religious, and I do know the story of Adam and Eve. Eve picked the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. After eating some of it herself and giving some to Adam they both became aware of their nakedness, so they quickly made coverings. This angered God because He saw that they had disobeyed His wishes about eating the fruit, so He punished them by making them leave the Garden of Eden and also made them like the people we are today: sinful.
This is all I can cite in the way of "evidence." But I personally believe that people are just insecure about their bodies, so they wear layers upon layers of clothes in order not to show what they have. According to the widely accepted view today, a beautiful person with a beautiful body is one who has protruding abs or at the very least a flat belly, large biceps, a filled out chest, etc. We think that if we don't have this kind of body we are unpresentable. If people weren't so judgmental about their own bodies or others' bodies then maybe we could walk around nude and not care about what others think.
[Lightly edited to enhance readability -TT] |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Public Nudity
