I’m against personal nudity, but it’s more for aesthetic reasons than modesty.
Seems to me, if everyone was nude, we might have a reassessment of what is beautiful in the world and people. The nude body would become mundane and people might begin to look {men looking at breasts while greeting a lady} in the eyes of the person they are talking to. Just saying.
It’s actually not that bad. I modeled for two different art classes when I was in college. Art students learn how to behave towards and around a figure model during class, and I never had a problem.
For me, it’s all about context. I’ve modeled nude. I’ve participated in a sky-clad pagan ceremony. Felt perfectly comfortable. I interviewed at an Orthodox Jewish school where the dress code required sleeves past the elbows, dress hem below the knees, and collar at the neck. The dress I was wearing happened to have a slightly scooped neck - maybe two inches below my collarbones and not showing any cleavage. I felt more uncomfortable while touring the school than I ever did being completely naked in either of the previous two circumstances.
I’m more uncomfortable regarding the strictness of the style, rather than the amount of skin covered or shown. This is modified by the “squickiness” factor of what’s being worn or not worn (i.e. lumpy hairy dude in a tiger-stripe speedo, or a grandmotherly dominatrix at a salad bar).
I would be most uncomfortable while wearing, say, formal marine corps dress uniform at a salad bar in line between speedo guy and dom nana, and would comfortably share a table with the naked National Geographic pygmies.
While living in Taiwan, I was at a hot springs near Tien Shang with my Taiwanese girl friend (now wife) when 2 girls from Sweden showed up. The springs were rather small, maybe 20 feet wide and 15 long, so everyone was pretty close together. There were about 5 other local young girls and boys also in the springs when the Swedes arrived. When they started taking there clothes off, I assumed they had bathing suits under their clothes, but it really would not have mattered anyway, because eventually they were completely nude. They were very casual about it, too. They had no qualms about striking up a conversation with me, but you should have seen the eyes of the locals, especially the males who had never seen *live * huge European tits before!
But, but…I don’t want to get to us not caring about breasts any more! That’s why I prefer clothing! Even, not particularly revealing clothing.
And as others have mentioned, sometimes modesty is less important than aesthetics; cover up that little muffin top, you.
I agree that you can get used to anything.
I did Peace Corps in a very diverse African village. Muslims were expected to cover their shoulders, knees and heads. Pagans occasionally came through town in loincloths. And sometimes things go really strange- I had a friend who would visit in a veil, but with no shirt. I kept things pretty modest- I’d always cover my knees and would usually cover my hair. One thing is that in these societies, different stuff become sexual. In Cameroon, breasts were tools for feeding babies. But any bit of thigh? That was pure sex right there.
Oddly, I had trouble adjusting when I went back. I moved to China, where it’s acceptable (even expected) to wear extremely short skirts. I still feel a little skeevy when I wear stuff much above my knees, even though I gladly wore mini-skirts before Cameroon.
It’s fascinating what a body part can mean in a different culture. I guess it’s just so ingrained here (well, for me, America), that boobs are for sex! They’re for showing off to guys when you’re drunk and for flashing cleavage and even if you’re breast feeding you have to be super careful that someone doesn’t see a nipple. But if we were in a culture where they were no big deal, it would probably be no big deal for us, too.
In China, do you get looked at weirdly if you are wearing something not so short? Like, “Whoa, prude”?
I’d be comfortable with generally 1950s clothing plus pants for women. I liked it better when people did not go around everywhere dressed in t-shirts and jeans.
I thought you were 13? When, in your lifetime, did people *not *normally wear jeans & t-shirts?
I’m a partial nudist at home. My usual household outfit is a pair of glasses, a pair of panties, and a pair of flipflops. If I’m cold, or we have or are expecting visitors, I’ll put on a nightie or muumuu. I put the muumuu on not because I’d be embarrassed by someone seeing me in my panties, but because most people in the US are uncomfortable with someone who is nearly nekkid and they’re not planning to have sex with him/her.
As someone who has experience in these things, I suggest wearing at least some panties/briefs/shorts. It’s more hygienic, both for anything you might sit on and for your body. We have three cats, and I certainly don’t want any cat hair in my pinkest and most delicate body parts.
Last night I went to bed topless! I wore pj bottoms. Oh, I did wear a sweatshirt that zips up and left it mostly open, though, 'cause I get cold. Still, strike one for repression and all that jazz. I could have turned on the heat, I suppose, and just been naked but it gets so hot in here when the heat’s on, and I prefer to be cold and bundled up than hot with the covers and everything thrown off.
I’m shocked by the fashion of wearing leggings that are so thin that they are essentially tights, without a skirt over.
If I were working with someone who was wearing said item I would need to constantly tell myself “Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look…” let alone if she has a particularly nice butt…
In my undergrad days, I made a few bucks modelling for art students. I didn’t mind being naked-except that the morning sessions could get pretty cold.
When someone bends over to tie their shoes, I’d prefer not to see his/her a-hole winking at me.
Some kind of pants is a must, IMO.
I’m with you there. I’m on the prudey end of the spectrum, and I’m okay with that. Maybe living in a cold country has something to do with it - being dressed in three layers eight months of the year maybe makes me less comfortable taking any of those layers off in summer.
For me it’s really not an issue of comfort. I can feel comfortable with people wearing just about anything legal. However, I believe that the world would be a better place if we turned back the clock a few generations on clothing norms. Simply put, people are more likely to be nice to each other, polite, mannerly, and restrained in a situation where everybody is well dressed. And those who go around dressed badly will be judged because of that. It may be unfair. It may be superficial. But it’s true.
I get the impression that some members of the younger generation are totally unaware of this, presumably because they were raised in an environment that never presented the idea. Once, while I was teaching in college I had student who always dressed in baggy sweatpants and a T-shirt, often with insults or cuss words written on it. He also didn’t use deodorant, so he smelled awful and his shirt was drenched in sweat. Somebody really needed to explain to him that when you dress like a slob, people will generally assume that you are a slob. (I didn’t, of course.)
I like conservative clothes and am modest. It is so cold out where I live layering is popular. I think from the cataloges I’m getting that clothes are taking on that 70’s look again. Boat shoes are coming back along with nautical stripes. Tunics and did I say stripes.
Anything that is unattractive is better off to be covered out in public. For your own good and the good of everyone else. I’m thinking of “The People Of Walmart” email someone sent me.
Excessive bling and goth is out finally along with pants down below the boxers. I don’t like the tee shirts with offensive sayings or women with messages written on their sweat pant buttocks like Daddy’s Girl. Hopefully it’s a fad.
It looks like a pretty conservative summer ahead for clothes. I may even get a pair of dock siders!
I don’t think that’s true. I know that I’m far crankier and more inclined to be rude when I’m in discomfort. Getting dressed in tightly fitted, stiff, uncomfortable clothes would do that to me. I’m far more comfortable in loosely fitted, extremely casual clothing, and thus I’m more likely to be nice to other people. Now, I do shower daily, and use deodorant, and wear clean clothing (sometimes changing twice a day if I have to wear clothing for more than 8 hours at a stretch), and sometimes I wear a light spritz of perfume. But if I had to wear a girdle, and a bra that formed my breasts into cones, and any sort of clothing that’s not knit or woven cotton, I would be very uncomfortable, and no, I wouldn’t get used to it.
I have a picture in a book somewhere taken in Papua New Guinea of people waiting in line to see a movie in a village somewhere. There’s four people in tattered shorts and t-shirts and one guy in nothing but a penis sheath. It’s an interesting photo.