Puritans... Err um, Amish at the beach....
"Why do you think nudity is so taboo in the United States?"
"Well, it was probably those religious nut jobs the Puritans! We all know they hated sex and by extension the human body!"
This is a frequent conversation in the naturist world. It's a legitimate question, but is the answer really that simple?
In a word: no.
While the Puritans didn't have the" free love" attitude of modern culture, they certainly weren't squeamish about sex. Sex was important to the Puritans in the bounds of marriage. In fact, refusing sex too frequently was grounds for church discipline.
Did the Puritans hate the body? As far as I can tell from my years reading about them and reading what they wrote, it's not possible to come to a conclusion. They weren't gnostics, they didn't consider the body to be evil. As such it was not "dirty" or shameful to them. As far as I can tell, they were products of their day.
While the Puritans themselves didn't produce quantities of art, the rest of the world around them did. And the art of the day was not particularly squeamish about the body as long as certain rules of beauty were followed. Nudes had been frequent in art by the mid 1600's, even in Catholic cathedrals. The Puritans were not fond of art, mostly because of their rejection of papist tradition, and as such we don't see them painting nudes.
There was a strict sense of modesty adhered to by the Puritans. They had a strong concern about being a stumbling block to others. As such it made sense that nudity would have been an issue to them. Puritans (Protestants in general) came from cultures in which covering up was the common thing to do, who had influence on who? In cultures where covering up is the norm to not do so is to be immodest. Immodesty tends the fallen human heart toward lust. Hence, Puritans covered up, for modesty and for propriety.
So why is nudity so taboo in America? Well, in my humble opinion, the answer is a complex one.
Nudity wasn't as taboo in America in its early days. Single sex nudity was a common thing in bathing facilities and riverbanks. Mothers nursed children in church and no one batted an eyelash. I dare say family nudity was also common in the days when every family member shared the same bathwater.
British attitudes toward nudity and the human body certainly had an affect on Americans in the late 19th century. The spectre of Victorian prudery reached into many corners of the world (though even the Victorians weren't as prude as people make them to be) and bathing suits and coverings from head to toe became the norm. This cultural attitude continued on into the mid-1960s, though single sex nudity was still quite common.
During the mid-60s the world endured the sexual revolution. Sex became less taboo, and in some circles nudity also became more acceptable, but usually this nudity was attached to sex. It is here that I believe nudity got so taboo in America.
As much as the sexual revolutionists may disagree, sex is an inherently intimate act. Intimacy isn't something we want to share with just anyone. Everything was sexualized in the revolution. Nudity was already in a gray area in our culture, it was completely pushed into the "black" by the sexualization of everything.
With the broad acceptance of various sexual orientations even single sex nudity became taboo. The culture defines people by sexuality. The culture is obsessed with sex. It has been engrained into the past two or three generations that everyone is a potential sex partner. Since we intrinsically shy away from intimacy it would make sense that we would shy away from things we associate with that intimacy, namely nudity. If I am afraid the guy in the locker room next to me might be looking for a sexual partner (I have been propositioned in the locker room) I am likely to stay covered up so as not to encourage him.
We do live in a schizophrenic culture though. On the one hand, full nudity is taboo, on the other it is perfectly acceptable to dress skimpy so as to invite the attention of potential sexual partners. We have so sexualized the body that it has become an object to seduce others (and sell products). We have learned what to cover to avoid intimacy, and what to uncover to get a paycheck (in one form or another).
How do we make nudity less taboo? Come back next time and I'll tell you.
