# Are Americans more prudish about nudity/sex than Europeans? If so, why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 24, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988 "2006-06-24T15:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DonutSprinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@DonutSprinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonutSprinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/21 "2006-06-25T03:31:32Z")
My reply is - even though we Americans are fat, there would be some hot chicks on our cruise ships/beaches/whatever. Also, nudity in ads \*certainly \*would not feature the fat American, but the beautiful American. In any case, I would get a boner. I don’t like getting a boner in public. Whether I’m nude myself or not. So I guess my question is: why don’t British/Euorpean men get more boners, considering the conditions? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/22 "2006-06-25T03:34:01Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I believe that may be an urban (historical?) legend. There were skirts on furniture, but it had more to do with protecting them from scratches, scuffs, dents, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/23 "2006-06-25T03:42:09Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > IMO it’s this puritanism, allied to the extreme reliance of US broadcast media on advertisers, who in turn are in thrall to puritannical lobbying and boycotts for fear of losing market share, that perpetuates it. But the advertisers is really a recent thing. Last 20 years, 40 or 50 at the most. I think the root still goes back to religious (puritanical) mores. Generation after generation, perpetuated. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/24 "2006-06-25T03:54:31Z")
I really don’t think it has anything at all to do with actual Puritans, though. It has much more to do with tent revivals and the rise of conservative evangelical-type Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/25 "2006-06-25T04:15:42Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > I really don’t think it has anything at all to do with actual Puritans, though. It has much more to do with tent revivals and the rise of conservative evangelical-type Christianity. I’m thinking it was started by them, and any other persecuted religious groups. And then continued and reinforced by each revival age. Not **P** uritans, but puritans. The tent revival is a good example. There have been many times when this religious fervor has gripped the country. Example, the roaring '20s, wildness, debauchery, then Prohibition and a return to a more wholesome attitude. What I’m trying to say is, it started with a very conservative view, strayed, then got back to the “straight and narrow”, strayed, straight and narrow, a cyclical thing. But it started with a very prudish view and thus returns toward that. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/26 "2006-06-26T12:49:30Z")
One factor I haven’t seen mentioned is that America is recieving fresh new booster shots of puritanism in the guise of immigration; I’d say virtually all of recent immigrants come from cultures that are more culturally conservative and less approving of nudity. People from East Asia, Latin America, and Asia aren’t particarly comfortable with the idea of public nudity. Europe, too, is a destination of immigration especially from west and south Asia, but the numbers are smaller and the substrate of historical puritanism doens’t exist to the extent it does in America. Years after living Germany I was surprised to learn there was a nudist park only a few miles from where I was living. Ironically, the entire year I was there there were about two weeks of weather when I could go out with out a sweater or jacket, let alone clothes at all. Isn’t it strange that the culture in the region with the coldest, grayest weather is most tolerant of nudity, while all these other cultures in hot countries are so prudish? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/27 "2006-06-26T13:42:40Z")
> [@Marienee](#): > > But I am having trouble getting a handle on talking about it. Bodily modesty is different from broadcast standards; nude beaches are not really the same as sex in public; public nursing of babies is in a different category than is teen sex. Though in this case the latter may lead to the former. 🙂 Is there any human culture (exclusive of specialized subcultures such as swingers) where sex in public is acceptable? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/28 "2006-06-26T13:45:31Z")
> [@DonutSprinkle](#): > > So I guess my question is: why don’t British/Euorpean men get more boners, considering the conditions? [Good question!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=333558) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/29 "2006-06-26T13:52:36Z")
I think the difference was summed up quite well by Marlene Dietrich, who said, “Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact”. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/30 "2006-06-26T20:34:19Z")
Is there a difference in how the areas think of their bodies? In the US there seems to be a lot of people that think they don’t meet the required levels of attractiveness. Look at the amount of cosmetic surgery and dieting (even among those that don’t need it) that goes one. Do teenage girls in Europe grow up trying to look like the models on the magazines, or are they taught to be more comfortable with the body they have? Add to that the strong push to always look young (at least from advertisers). ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/31 "2006-06-26T21:36:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is there any human culture (exclusive of specialized subcultures such as swingers) where sex in public is acceptable? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one. Good catch. I was thinking of the English Garden references above while typing but I don’t suppose “Illicit sex in public places” counts, does it?. (Did you know, apropos of nothing, that US DOJ has an official advisory out with that title?). To answer the question, I can’t think of one either. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/32 "2006-06-26T23:15:55Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#): > > I assume that you’re joking but still… that sounds fantastically arrogant. There _are_ obese Europeans, you know. Yah and they live in America. I’m surprised the tides haven’t been affected. Crap, there’s still another taco left and its getting cold. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/33 "2006-06-26T23:17:29Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#): > > I assume that you’re joking but still… that sounds fantastically arrogant. There _are_ obese Europeans, you know. Yah and they live in America. I’m surprised the tides haven’t been affected. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/34 "2006-06-27T14:51:28Z")
> [@Tastes of Chocolate](#): > > Is there a difference in how the areas think of their bodies? In the US there seems to be a lot of people that think they don’t meet the required levels of attractiveness. Look at the amount of cosmetic surgery and dieting (even among those that don’t need it) that goes one. Do teenage girls in Europe grow up trying to look like the models on the magazines, or are they taught to be more comfortable with the body they have? Add to that the strong push to always look young (at least from advertisers). Working at an international school in the UK, I can’t say I’ve seen much difference between the amount of time and effort that American and European students spend on appearance. There are the very, very fashion-conscious from both places, and the couldn’t-really-care-too-much-ers from both places as well. Anecdotal evidence, so take it for what it’s worth. I certainly have seen a lot of advertising targeted at teenagers (male and female) and the general emphasis on youth and what I call conventional beauty is strong, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/35 "2006-06-27T17:49:21Z")
I’ve often wondered why so much is made of the horrors of nudity (witness the J jackson tit episode), yet American TV is rife with violence. I just don’t getit-people get all worked up about somebody exposing a bit of skin, yet no protest about the sheer volume of violence on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988/36 "2006-06-27T22:00:03Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I’ve often wondered why so much is made of the horrors of nudity (witness the J jackson tit episode), yet American TV is rife with violence. I just don’t getit-people get all worked up about somebody exposing a bit of skin, yet no protest about the sheer volume of violence on TV. You answered you’re own question. Nudity is allowed on broadcast TV. Just saw an old episode of Monty Python from the 70’s that had a naked women in the skit. It was played on a PBS station making it a tax funded, government directed venue. And they were some big honkin hooters. Janet Jackson’s piercing performance in the Super Bowl involved a man tearing her clothes off during a prime-time show with no prior warning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-americans-more-prudish-about-nudity-sex-than-europeans-if-so-why/361988.md?page=1)