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with the awareness of male/female genitals and the knowledge of sexuality as
sinful-an association of shame with nudity. By now this morality is thoroughly
ingrained in various contemporary religious, social, and political systems.
The process of acculturation starts from birth. Most babies are immediately
diapered and swaddled, restrained from touching "private" parts, and allowed
freedom from clothes only for brief moments while being dressed or bathed. It's
not unusual for children to grow into adulthood without seeing a totally undressed
person of the opposite sex, and there are innumerable reports of husbands and
wives who have never seen each other nude. As Dennis Craig Smith says in his
book Growing Up Without Shame,
"The doctrine of original sin causes otherwise logical, sane societies to hold onto
their body cover-ups as small children cling to security blankets."
Primitive cultures come to terms with this subject in a much healthier way than
we do. The artist Gauguin observed in his book Noa Noa that the Polynesians
were not preoccupied with sex and had a "natural innocence, a perfect purity"
which, he felt, was influenced by their casual acceptance of nudity in daily life.
Primitive societies have moral values, of course, but since they do not associate
shame with genitalia, their social signals tend not to concentrate on those areas.
Among the members of the naked Trobriand tribe of New Guinea, for example, a
girl would feel total humiliation and shame if she were seen without the
adornment traditionally signifying modesty and respectability-a waistband thong
with a small triangular seashell pendant hanging from it, reaching down near the
navel. Members of the Amazonian Botucudo tribe of South America would feel
embarrassed and undressed without a lip plug, a large round wooden ring worn
by both men and women in ear and lower lip, which is their only clothing.
This embarrassed reaction is similar to reports made by clothed visitors to
traditional nudist resorts where removal of clothing is mandatory.
Quote from:Therapy, Nudity & Joy by Dr. Aileen Goodson
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