To Strip or not to Strip: The Naked Truth about Nudity

by Madeleine Kando


An article in the New York Times about present day nudism, got me thinking about why it is that wearing clothes is such a natural part of our existence. Right now it is 90 degrees here in sweaty Boston, and as I am sitting here writing about being naked, my shirt is clinging to my body. Why? Why don’t I just type away naked? I am not a prude, I have nothing against naked bodies, including my own. Wearing clothes is just something I do, like breathing or eating.

It hasn‘t always been like that, you know. In many cultures throughout history, the norm was to go about naked. The Greeks, the Egyptians, they didn’t see the point of covering their bodies. Why create a fertile habitat for lice and other unpleasant parasites? Even some present day primitive tribes do not like covering themselves unnecessarily. Who can blame them? Aren’t clothes making life extra complicated?

If I could, I would travel back in time, step out of a time machine in 5th century BC Athens, go up to a local Greek Adonis and shake his hand, me fully dressed in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. ‘Hi, my name is Madeleine, I am doing research on your dress code.’

My Adonis would be wearing nothing but a loin cloth, or maybe a toga fastened at one shoulder with a clasp. With a flick of his finger he would undo that clasp and the whole shebang would drop at his feet, exposing his Adonis body before I could say ‘booh’. Then he would cross his arms, look at me as if to say: ‘Now, your turn’.

I would have to unlace my sneakers, fumble with my fly and worm my way out of my skinny jeans, roll my T-shirt up my torso, pull it over my head, all the while trying not to look too much like a scarecrow, undo my bra, and take off my underpants. My Adonis would be standing there, tapping his foot, looking impatiently at the sundial, pick up his toga, sling it over his shoulder, clasp it with another flick of his finger and walk away, thinking ‘What a nut ball’.

The Ancient Greeks were obsessed with the naked body, as long as it was male, that is. Physical fitness and mental clarity were two sides of the same coin and keeping fit through sports was a civic duty. They were the nerds of their time, except that they were extremely fit. Even though the Greeks trained in the nude, talk in the Gymnasium was not about comparing dick sizes, they discussed politics and philosophy.

Already 170,000 years ago, humans started to cover their bodies. Since homo sapiens appeared on the scene 300,000 years ago give or take, this means that half of our history we went about naked. Wearing clothes coincided with Homo Sapiens’ migration out of Africa to colder pastures. We really didn’t have much choice, once evolution left us without body hair. Ice fishing cannot have been very pleasant in the nude.

It is in Germany, of all places, that nudism was thriving between the two world wars, when art and science were flourishing. That period put a lasting stamp on Germany’s acceptance of nudity.* ‘Nacktjoggen’ and ‘Nacktwandern’ is still very popular, as you can see in this Youtube video.

Being one with nature in the nude can be too much of a good thing. Many creatures, mosquitoes, horse flies, poison ivy, are more than willing to be one with our naked body. Protection (against scratches, bites, bruises etc.) was probably one of the first reasons why humans wore clothes.

But once we started covering ourselves, we used clothes to tell the world who we were: A peasant or a Lord, a Christian or a Muslim, a man or a woman, a firefighter or a politician. Let’s be honest: we look at what people wear and already we know where they are in the social hierarchy.

Being naked in previous times, was mostly a sign of having low or no social standing. Children, the insane and the poor were usually (partially) naked, since owning clothes meant that you could afford them.

In more distant times, scarring, tattoos, body paint, amulets, and headgear were one way to adorn our bodies and show others whether we were a chief, a medicine man or someone in search of a bride.

Why we now view nudity as indecent has such a complicated past, that trying to figure it out is beyond my pay grade. Christianity is the first suspect that comes to mind (flesh is evil and all that), but why do we over-sexualize the naked body, now that religion has a lot less influence on morality? Our reproductive organs make up just a small part of our body mass and having sex is just one of the gezillion things that we do with our bodies. Why equate the whole darn thing with sex?

I know, there is this thing called fetishism. I read somewhere that the ancient and perverse Chinese practice of foot-binding stemmed from the belief that girls with small feet had tighter, more muscled vaginas with more sensitivity. This belief made you think that you were constantly having sex with a virgin.

Imbuing sexual qualities to a non-sexual body part was behind the obsession with wrists and ankles during the Victorian era. The mere hint of an ankle, a foot, and your reputation as a female went out the window. Did we sexualize the body by hiding it?

It’s one thing to be in your birth suit when you have enough space around you. Walking nude amongst tall pine trees or through a meadow full of flowers. But can you imagine standing in a crowded subway during rush hour in the nude? Rubbing up against another sweaty, fleshy, nude body? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why we use clothing as a protective barrier.

The border between the textiled and the nudist is where it gets interesting. Although in San Francisco nobody seems to blink an eye when a pedestrian in the buff walks down the street, in most urban environments it is actually illegal to walk about naked. You have to find a beach or a designated ‘clothing optional’ area. Being a nudist is not for the faint of heart. It means that you have to study the law at length, making sure that you don’t end up in jail for indecent exposure.

Nudism in art is one of the ‘safer’ ways of being exposed to nudity. It’s not like the Venus of Milo would jump out in all her nakedness. It’s a passive way of experiencing nudity, a step removed from the real thing, which is an indication that nudity has an element of power that feels threatening to some people. Nudity in art has the advantage of having been ‘vetted’ by the artist. It is usually pleasing to the eye, worthy of the artist’s time and effort. That’s one thing about the real thing. You can never tell who you will have to look at on a ‘clothing optional’ beach.

Finally I will leave you with some thoughts that famous people had about being naked:

Mark Twain: ‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’

Michael Caine: ‘Never take your pants off as an actor. You are no longer in control of the audience. Same when you strip. Nothing left to hide.   leave comment here

* Many other European countries followed suit and compared to the United States, Europe is much less prudish about nudity. As I watched the video, my gaze was automatically drawn to the hikers’ private parts, but there were so many of them dangling by the camera, that by the end of the video, I saw nothing unnatural about this group of mostly middle-aged men and women walking totally naked through the beautiful Austrian Alps.