Nudity

Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not having developed the crafts needed to make clothing. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics.

Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful.
In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty and women often do not cover their breasts due to the association with nursing babies more than with sexuality.

Back to Ritual & Etiquette →

Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0