The Rant

The human body, the very same one that we all possess, is being sexualized, censored, and condemned. Americans are apparently unable to tell the difference between nudity and pornography, and our country's sexual fixation has gotten the best of us. No one complains about the gruesome slaughters featured in the "Saw" series or the horrific violence featured in "Hostel," but films such as "The Dreamers" and "Boys Don't Cry" which are chock full of nudity are apparently too much for the American public to see due to the presentation of what we all bear under our clothes. Even the promiscuity of American clothing seems contradictory to typical American values. One can walk around with nothing on except a bikini that accentuates more than it conceals, but to take off the little clothing that is barely even there is a crime punishable by law. In terms of nudity and censorship, American priorities are clearly in the wrong place.

Just The Facts

1. The American Association for Nude Recreation has over 50,000 members.

2. A painting of the classical Greek statue of "Venus de Milo" was removed from a shopping mall in Springfield, Missouri because it was considered too shocking. The original is one of the most popular attractions at the Louvre in Pads.

3. France's largest nudist colony (Cap d'Agde) attracts 40,000 European tourists each summer.

4. Spencer Tunick, an American artist, was able to collect 18,000 people to pose naked in the center of Mexico City for a photograph. There was very little objection to this feat in Mexico while Tunick's photography has raised controversy in the US.

5. In the US, material with sexual content falls outside the protection of the First Amendment if 1) the work, taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest in sex, as judged by contemporary community standards, 2) it portrays sexual conduct, defined by law, in a patently offensive manner, and 3) the work lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

6. According to Dutch law, people are allowed to be naked anywhere except public roads or when they annoy others.

7. The Dutch Naturist Federation, an organization established to expand naturist activities, contains 70,000 members.

8. When An An, a Japanese publication, solicited its female readers to send in nude photographs, it received over 1,600 entries.

9. In 1992, a Pennsylvania State University teacher removed from a reproduction of "The Nude Maja" from an art history classroom because she believed it to be sexual harassment.

10. The Doukhobors, a Christian group of Russian origin, staged highly publicized naked protests against materialism.

Ask the Experts

"We are working up a fever making new laws against touching, and we're more scandalized by a photograph pr painting showing a nipple or a penis than by the image of a starving child on a dry, dusty road."

-Thomas Moore, Mother Jones, September/October 1997

Author of the New York Times best seller "Care of the Soul"

"Beautiful nude images can have the power to simultaneously repel and fascinate us. Nudes that incite sexual feelings can frighten with their power. Sexual impulses are not as controllable as the impulse of appreciating beauty."

-Dennis McNally

Jesuit priest, Chairman of the department of fine and performing arts at St. Joseph's University

"Many people ins naturist (or nudist) families simply don't like wearing clothes, or find that the naked body isn't shameful or immoral. Their personal physical disarmament brings many benefits, such as better hygiene, relief of stress, and removal of sexual obsession, without any nudge-nudge innuendoes."

-Paul Rapoport

Professor Emeritus in the School of the Arts at McMaster University, Editor of "Going Natural", a Canadian naturist magazine

"Shame and modesty, though, did not give rise to clothing; more likely, they were byproducts of clothing."

-Anthony Layng, USA Today, March 1998

Professor of anthropology at Wake Forest University

"Some people fear that our society will turn into a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah if we allow people to be nude in public. This is far from the truth. You know who should really worry about public nudity? The peddlers of pornography— for if we became inured to nudity in everyday life, then there would be little or no market for their wares."

-Robert Denker, Newsweek, June 18, 2007

"I've always been such a fan of the European filmmakers and the way they deal with sexuality, which is real people and real bodies and it's just a part of life and a part of human nature, and I find in this country we've desexualized sex. We've taken it out of the realm of a day-to-day function and something that is implicit in just being a human being because we're so afraid of it."

-Maria Bello, American Actress

In "The Cooler", a scene had to be edited in order to receive an R rating rather than an NC-17 by removing footage showing Bello's pubic hair

"There was always a fear that sex, in some ways, would absolve the social bonds. That sex more than violence, unleashed sex, will take this society apart."

-Mary Harron, Film Director of "American Psycho"

"The Europeans have always found America very odd in sexual matters. They've always found us strangely Puritanical."

-David Ansen, Reviewer and Senior Editor for Newsweek

"Nudity—frontal or otherwise—involving sexual activity or otherwise has always offended a certain number of people. But shifting standards of what is acceptable for family viewing and of what is "harmful to minors" has lowered the threshold so that today it seems as if the body itself has become taboo. Nudity has been sexualized."

-Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director at National Coaltion Against Censorship and Marilyn C. Mazur, an attorney for the NCAC

Just the Facts

1. The American Association for Nude Recreation has over 50,000 members.

2. A painting of the classical Greek statue of "Venus de Milo" was removed from a shopping mall in Springfield, Missouri because it was considered too shocking. The original is one of the most popular attractions at the Louvre in Pads.

3. France's largest nudist colony (Cap d'Agde) attracts 40,000 European tourists each summer.

4. Spencer Tunick, an American artist, was able to collect 18,000 people to pose naked in the center of Mexico City for a photograph. There was very little objection to this feat in Mexico while Tunick's photography has raised controversy in the US.

5. In the US, material with sexual content falls outside the protection of the First Amendment if 1) the work, taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest in sex, as judged by contemporary community standards, 2) it portrays sexual conduct, defined by law, in a patently offensive manner, and 3) the work lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

6. According to Dutch law, people are allowed to be naked anywhere except public roads or when they annoy others.

7. The Dutch Naturist Federation, an organization established to expand naturist activities, contains 70,000 members.

8. When An An, a Japanese publication, solicited its female readers to send in nude photographs, it received over 1,600 entries.

9. In 1992, a Pennsylvania State University teacher removed from a reproduction of "The Nude Maja" from an art history classroom because she believed it to be sexual harassment.

10. The Doukhobors, a Christian group of Russian origin, staged highly publicized naked protests against materialism

Skin and Chagrin

Contrary to common American belief, nudity is not inherently sexual or profane. Nudity should be judged by its context rather than the fact that the bare human body is present. A good analogy would be to compare nudity to medicine. When abused, both are viewed as malicious and obscene and are promptly rejected by society. However, when used with an understanding of its appropriate assessment, both are viewed as neutral or beneficial and are no longer frowned upon. Pornography is simply a genre which uses the body as a medium, and is not to be confused with common nudity. When we associate them with each other, we see the body as taboo.

One point that we as a society should acknowledge is that most nudity isn't censored because it is vulgar, but rather it is vulgar because it is censored. Anyone who has read National Geographic or seen anthropology specials on PBS knows that many indigenous peoples are not fazed by showing their breasts or even their entire naked bodies. We have made nudity vulgar by teaching our censorship as a standard and accepting it as such. In fact, people would probably not find the plain human body as erotic as we do if it wasn't kept under wraps all the time. This is not to say that we would abandon sex. Eroticism would still exist, just in a more refined context, as we would be comfortable and familiar with the human body.

In the same sense, Americans have become sensitive to child nudity. Common baby photos taken in the wrong context can lead to arrest and art can rarely feature children without ridicule and accusations of perverse intent. By sexualizing nudity we sexualize even the most innocent of it, even more so in this case. In Israel, it is typical for very young children to swim at the beach completely naked, as they see it for what it is, innocent and non-sexual. Seeing a child as something sexual is simply wrong, but we should not assume that all nudity is intended to be sexual or we jump to conclusions that many artists and parents are sickly deviant.

America as a whole needs to recognize that there is a strong difference between nudity and pornography. Once people see this and begin to recognize where the line should be drawn, they will be more accepting of innocent, nonsexual nudity and we as a nation will be able to properly assess our new standards.

Trends of How the Nude are Viewed

While we as a nation are very cautious of our bodies, we are gradually becoming accustomed to the naked body. If one were to project our current standings on modesty into the future, in 50 or so years America would probably be rating their films on the taste of nudity rather than the physical amount, publicly exposed individuals would not be shunned in certain districts, and art would no longer be shunned for its unclothed subjects. However, while modesty has slowly been dwindling, full-fledged nudity seems to be an impasse, no matter how tasteful. While it is revered when chiseled out of stone or painted on a canvas, nudity is rarely accepted in the physical world of flesh and blood. Nonetheless, a national trend, dropping the vulgar label given to the naked body, carries on.
Hemlines are higher, necklines are lower, and lewd clothing is becoming more and more prevalent. This could mean one of two things in terms of the tolerance of tasteful nudity. Either a) Americans will feel more comfortable about their bodies and, whether they choose to pursue it or not, respect that of others, both in life and in art and entertainment, or b) Americans will equate the sexuality involved in wanton clothing and lifestyles with the state of nakedness, boosting the sexual image often associated directly with nudity, therefore reinstating modesty.
Whether immodesty is corrupting our vision of nudity or not, there still are other trends leading to the tolerance of tasteful nudity. America's current "green" fixation with environmentalism seems to go hand in hand with pursuing our natural roots, sometimes leading as far as naturism. Americans are visiting and joining clothing-optional beaches and colonies. While I am not arguing for nudism, it is most certainly a way to have people see nudity in a non-sexual light and note that there is a difference between nudity and pornography. Lastly, being in an age of technology and transportation, Americans are constantly presented with the opportunity to travel and explore other cultures. Europe as a whole is a much less prude than America, and clothing-optional facilities are much more common in certain areas. By exploring foreign cultures, we bring home our cultural findings and note how they differ, perhaps allowing us to realize how progressive others are in comparison to our shallow, closed-minded views of nudity. In this way, we are able to put our modesty into perspective and realize when we are unnecessarily strict with our standards of modesty.

Pros and Cons

While it is a national norm to see nudity as a sinful state, both sides provide thorough, persuasive arguments.

 

Pro: By many, nudity is seen as a pure and innocent state, much like that of Adam and Eve before their corruption due to the tree of knowledge. Nudists are not sex-crazed hedonists, but well-conducted citizens just as anyone else, simply with less clothing. They respect each others' privacy just as anyone else, but with different standards. Likewise, the physical state of nudity is but the condition of having an unconcealed body. To some, it provides release, relaxation, and self-esteem. Many find salvation in their bodies in a way that is so innocent that it negates the sexuality associated with the bare body. By accepting nudity, we allow ourselves to appreciate art without the foolish sexual facade we all too often mask it with. We can create and indulge in films with tasteful, matter-of-fact nudity. For example, if a person would hypothetically shower without clothes on, as many do, the film should depict them as such. We can learn to look each other in the eye with less focus on the body, which we would be well accustomed too. By those who accept nudity, there is a giant gap between nudity and pornography. Just because both feature the naked body as a medium doesn't mean they are parallel to each other. With a slight shift in perspective, American can continue to retain their sense of modesty while redefining its limits and judging it by intention rather than blatant content.

Con: Many people still feel uncomfortable when confronted by an image of the human body, be it in a famous mural or on a clothing-optional beach. We continue, as a whole, to develop and mature in other aspects of society, yet nudity seems to be at an impasse. If one sees pornography as obscene, where would they draw the line? Is the body of a child more or less obscene than that of an adult? If viewed by an individual with sexual intention or harsh negative judgment, couldn't a film containing nudity be viewed as pornography or profanity even though its original intention was nothing of the sort. In a way, nudity is already accepted to a very lenient degree and typical societal views are right where they should be. Naked protest are not rare, films can show as much nudity as they please (although subject to the wrath of the MPAA), art is seen as beautiful no matter how profane it truly is, and nudists can be nudists as long as they remain away from the public eye. Those who wish to accept nudity are already given that option. For them to ask for more is slightly demanding, seeing as many find their lifestyle and preference to be lewd. Once we accept nudity, where do we stop? Will we allow unclothed citizens to be side-by-side with more conservative individuals on a subway? Coexistence is most certainly not a viable option when public billboards begin to feature naked models and beaches are filled with nude sunbathers. Even in a non-sexual situation, nudity is most certainly accepted by a minority, and thus should not be brought into society to offend the common American.