Nudity

Nudity is the state of wearing either no clothes at all, or significantly fewer clothes than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation.

Acceptance of nudity and required levels of clothing vary greatly with time and culture.

In some hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, near-complete nudity was (at least until the intrusion of Western culture) standard practice for both men and women. However, made into an assumption, this can become a stereotype. Native Americans, for example were generally quite prim where nudity was concerned. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, one finds some strict interpretations of Islam, that require women to cover their entire body, including the face, on threat of severe punishment.

In the West, standards of what constitutes indecent exposure vary widely. Into the 20th century, exposure of male nipples was considered indecent at some beaches. In the United States of America, exposure of female nipples is still not usually allowed in public. In some European countries (Germany, Finland), saunas and spas with mixed-sex nudity are common while in other countries these places always strictly separate the sexes. Since the mid 20th century topless, clothing-optional and strictly-nude beaches have come into vogue.

In general and across cultures, the most restrictions are found for exposure of those parts of the human body that put in evidence sexual dimorphism between male and female adults. Therefore, sex organs and women's breasts are often covered. In many cultures children's nudity is not seen as particularly disturbing, until they reach puberty. Western culture has become much more restrictive about nudity for children in recent decades, presumably as a result of concerns about paedophilia and child pornography.

Nudity is closely associated with sexuality in most cultures where some level of body modesty is expected. This is evidenced by the existence of striptease in these cultures. As an effect of Catholic cultural heritage, in Latin cultures the common sense of modesty does not generally admit genital nudity, but the definition of what is lewd has changed and and women's breasts are now commonly exposed or depicted without scandal.

In the past, the Roman Catholic Church organized the so-called fig-leaf campaign to cover nudity in art, starting from the works of Renaissance artist Michelangelo. See Michelangelo Buonarroti for details. Islam prohibits any illustrations of human beings, so the question doesn't arise there.

Some people enjoy public nudity in a non-sexual context. This movement is known as nudism, or naturism, and often practiced in reserved places that used to be called nudist camps but are now properly referred to as nudist (or naturist) resorts, beaches or clubs.