History Main / OurNudityIsDifferent

* In ''Art/TheFallenAngel'', nudity is not about sex appeal but about idealizing the painting's subject. Artistic idealism (one of the paradigms of the artistic movement Creator/AlexandreCabanel belonged to) is the abstraction of reality through two filters: the artist's perception and a standard of perfection. Nakedness exalts the human's body natural beauty while, at the same time, conferring a supernatural aura to the subject. It also makes Lucifer's simmering feelings appear rawer. Finally, it helps [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains distinguish]] the fallen Lucifer from the still divine angels in the background.

* The painting ''Olympia'' by Edouard Manet depicts a nude woman on a bed. When it was exhibited in Paris in 1865, it was considered immoral and vulgar, not because of the nudity, but because the details of the painting imply that the woman is a prostitute, and also because the woman is staring directly at the viewer, unashamed of her nudity.

* Throughout the Victorian Era, the sight of a woman's ankle was considered outright scandalous. According to ''The Victorian City: Everyday Life in [[Creator/CharlesDickens Dickens]]' London'', "naked" could be used by the Victorians to mean anything from "clad only in underclothes" to "not wearing an overcoat".

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' has a male character ecstatic at seeing a woman's ankles. Meanwhile, Jack is disappointed at not seeing more. Of course, having been with many women, he's presumably less impressed by ankles alone.

* ''Art/AllegoryOfTheSeasonsManfredi'': As it was the standard in [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] art, nudity holds no sexual appeal unless the artwork depicts the Grecorroman Goddess of love. It's instead, a way to distinguish preternatural beings from the common folk. The four seasons are partially nude because they are neither saints nor divine in nature (from the point of view of that era's canon), but still above normal humans.

* This is also seen in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' novel ''Masks'' (not to be confused with [[NamesTheSame the episode]]). The heroes had to improvise with Halloween masks. The part where the rebel leader shows her face to Picard is played as a romantically charged moment.

* In ''Art/TheFallenAngel'', nudity is not about sex appeal but about idealizing the painting's subject. [[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealismo_art%3C!--C3--%3EADstico Artistic]] idealism (one of the paradigms of the artistic movement Creator/AlexandreCabanel belonged to) is the abstraction of reality through two filters: the artist's perception and a standard of perfection. Nakedness exalts the human's body natural beauty while, at the same time, conferring a supernatural aura to the subject. It also makes Lucifer's simmering feelings appear rawer. Finally, it helps [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains distinguish]] the fallen Lucifer from the still divine angels in the background.

* In ''LightNovel/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'', true to the Victorian Era mores, but gender reversed, women see absolutely nothing wrong in giving the male protagonist Shirou an eyeful, but if they see his naked legs, it's scandalous. Worse, there's also a scene where Shirou has a female pirate captain recuperating from a stab wound unconscious in his bed, and he's at a mirror shaving ''his face'' while she's unconscious. For reference, his face is never covered and nobody has a problem with that. When she wakes up and sees it, she reacts as if she's been caught doing something extremely perverted. Shirou responds by saying "it's alright, you can watch if you want" which turns her red as a beet.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'' has [[ADungeonIsYou Keeper]] [[Manga/SailorMoon Mercury]]'s outfit being too much for most people in the ''Videogame/DungeonKeeper'' world, since they consider her skirt to be too short for a girl her age.

* In ''Webcomic/KazasMateGwenna'' the naked jungle heroes were called by ''Main/DimensionalTraveler'' Jenny Anywhere (A literal ''WebOriginal/JennyEverywhere'' clone) to go to the ''Main/AlternateUniverse'' of Earth-N. A world where almost everyone is naked, including the super heroes who fly around with ''nothing'' but masks on.

* The Mormons' idea of dressing modestly is that which will cover their temple garments, which are basically a white T-shirt and white shorts with special symbols embroidered on them. Showing any part of their temple garments in public (especially to a non-Mormon) is considered a taboo in the LDS Church. The idea is that if the garments can be seen, then the outfit is too revealing, so anything sleeveless or backless is automatically out, as well as anything that shows too much thigh.[[note]]Note that there do seem to be exceptions for things like athletic wear, else Brigham Young University wouldn't have a Division 1 (and quite good) women's gymnastics team which dresses in the conventional manner, i.e. leotards.[[/note]]

* One online picture dealing with a [[HornyDevils succubus']] mode of dress uses the "inverted" version. Everyday running around is stark nude, "Daring" is only a corset, and by the end she's incredibly embarrassed to be dressed in a parka and snow hat.

* In Creator/FrederikPohl's ''The Coming of the Quantum Cats'' novel, which concerns the interaction of multiple alternate timelines, one such timeline involves the USA being dominated by extreme moral conservatives (due, it seems bizarrely, to the influence of the wealthy Arabs who dominate world affairs). In which even ''men'' are not allowed to wear topless bathing costumes -- they must resort to the OldTimeyBathingSuit, something which the main character only dares try to remove when no-one else is looking.

* ''Art/NymphsAndSatyr'': Common for Myth/ClassicalMythology art, [[ItsNotPornItsArt not a single character is clothed]], the only bit of textile being a bit of translucent fabric a nymph is playfully wrapping around the satyr's arm. [[SceneryCensor While all of the genitalia is tastefully censored with said fabric and a tree branch]], breasts and butts are on full-display.

* In ''LightNovel/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'', true to the Victorian Era mores, but gender reversed, women see absolutely nothing wrong in giving the male protagonist Shirou an eyeful, but if they see his naked legs, it's scandalous. Worse, there's also a scene where Shirou has a female pirate captain recuperating from a stab wound unconscious in his bed, and he's at a mirror shaving ''his face'' while she's unconscious. When she wakes up and sees it, she reacts as if she's been caught doing something extremely perverted. Shirou responds by saying "it's alright, you can watch if you want" which turns her red as a beet.

* In ''LightNovel/BladedanceOfElementalers'', the hero's elemental, Est, considers her thighs and legs to be the only private regions of her body. She'll remove all her clothing without a second thought, but suggestions that she remove her knee-high stockings will bring immediate reprisal for perversion, and in some cases death threats.

* Some regions of the precolonial Philippines had a much different view on toplessness than Europeans did--wearing a shirt seemed to be more ''class-based'' than gender-based; as with many tropical climates, [[NationalGeographicNudity wearing too many clothes is practical instead of titillating.]] Spanish accounts frequently complain that working-class men and women alike walked around shirtless, and the shirts they saw [[VaporWear were often far too thin for Western-style modesty.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' the [[http://www.serenesforest.net/fe8/support/011.html L'Arachel/Ephraim support conversations]] have L'Arachel [[LargeHam panic]] at the sight of Ephraim's bare shoulder (which he exposed so she could heal an injury to it). [[HypocriticalHumor It should be noted that L'Arachel's own shoulders are constantly exposed]].

** Another, set in the 1800's, has Betty and Veronica nearly arrested for wearing men's swimwear -- a t-shirt and knee-length trunks combo.

** The tradition is based on the concept that anything feminine can be done with one hand (such as writing, painting, and research/science). It's implied a few times that this tradition was created [[StayInTheKitchen to keep women from using Shardblades]], which impossibly lightweight for their size, but still require two hands to wield. However the book that established the official standards was written by a woman, and sats that [[NeverLearnedToRead only women should read and write]], resulting in women being in charge of basically all scholarship, communication and paperwork. Dalinar muses that he's not sure getting Shardblades was a good trade in the exchange.

** Australia has a European perspective on beach wear. This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx2ihpGbc commercial]] demonstrates the setting specific standards by showing the transition from normal male beachwear of briefs (togs) into indecent exposure (undies!) just by walking inland and boarding a bus, elevator, etc.

** Japanese culture still has a fairly lax attitude toward boys being naked, which is while you'll sometimes see it [[MaleFrontalNudity uncensored]] in anime. Again, the assumption is just that people will just see it as kids being kids rather than something sexual.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' features a planet where most of the [[StarfishAliens objects and creatures are made out of gears]]. In one episode Rick removes two cogs off Gearhead's crotch and replaces his "mouth" cogs with them. The guards see this and react in disgust.

* In the Czechoslovakian scifi series ''Návstevníci'' ("Visitors", not to be confused with the French movie above) people from the future are all bald, and consider being seen without a wig to be indecent.

* In one of AP Herbert's ''More Misleading Cases in the Common Law'', when a man is charged with indecency for entering the sea wearing the "wrong" sort of swimsuit, a judge goes into a bit of a rant about this, contrasting the 19th century definition of "indecency" used by the municipal council with a more liberal 1920s definition:

* Married Orthodox Jewish women, in addition to wearing conservative clothing, are also required to cover their hair, using a wig, a hat or sometimes both. In some sects women are only required to cover a part of their hair, while in others they are not allowed for a single strand of their actual hair to be visible. The Satmar Hasidic sect takes this to the point where married women have to [[BaldWomen shave their heads]] entirely.