Basic Trope: Different cultures have different ideas about what constitutes "nudity".
- Straight:
- Alice visits Tropetania and is shocked to see local women walking around topless. The locals are equally as shocked that she's wearing a thong at the beach.
- Bob visits Troperia and walks around in a vest and shorts, and locals (not used to tourists) wonder why he's walking around in his underwear.
- Exaggerated:
- Carol has no qualms about not wearing clothing, but would feel 'naked' without a full face of makeup as well as adorning herself with jewellry.
- Danielle is arrested for public indecency in Tropestan because, despite wearing a floor-length dress with a high neckline, her head was uncovered or she accidentally flashed some ankle. The judge at her trial, summing up, shames her for appearing "naked", not merely "semi-naked".
- Downplayed: Elizabeth is reprimanded for entering a church with a short sleeved top and shorts which expose her thighs despite it being perfectly fine in the street.
- Justified:
- In Tropetania, baring breasts is considered normal as women have to breastfeed their babies when they're hungry, but showing backside is something you do when you go to the toilet, prompting disgust.
- Francine comes from a Fetish-Fuel Future where Rule of Sexy matters more than "outdated" concepts of "modesty".
- Tropestan is a conservative religious culture where women are expected to preserve their "modesty" lest they tempt men, and cover their heads as a sign of male headship over them.
- What is perfectly normal outerwear in one culture resembles underwear in another, so wearing it makes you appear "naked" (or at least "semi-naked").
- Different countries (or time periods) have different climates. Covering up in a cold or desert climate makes sense where it wouldn't in the tropical rainforest, so different cultures have different standards of what it means to be properly covered up.
- Some other reason, related to real life cultural taboos.
- Due to Bizarre Alien Biology the Troperians can sheath their naughty bits, so what's the problem?
- Inverted: The people of Tropeland are scandalised by George wearing too much clothing.
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: The setting has no particular nudity taboo.
- Enforced:
- The producers wanted to find a way to sneak boobs into the show but couldn't do it without setting the work in another country where female toplessness was normal.
- Foreign Fanservice involving cultural stereotypes of "exotic" native peoples.
- The differing taboos exist in real life and are likely to come up when the characters are in the setting.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Our Nudity Is Different
