sex; 5) for apotropaic reasons, to turn away the effects
of magic, sorcery, the evil eye, and hostile spirits. We
shall see that one or more of these concerns can
Though it will not serve as a protection against the
weather (1), nakedness, like clothing or armor, was
used to distinguish social groups (2), in life and in artwork.
Clothing, actually, differentiates human society, civilized
Individuals, from animals and wild beasts, which are
naked. Individuals wear clothes, animals don't. In a
clothed society, however, nakedness is specific, and can
be used as a "costume." As it developed, Greek nudity
came to mark a comparison between Greek and nonGreek, as well as between women and men. The latter
distinction is linked with the most basic connotation of nakedness, the sense of shame, vulnerability and
exposure it arouses in person (3), and the associated sense
of shock aroused by its sight. Clothing was created to
Avert such strong emotions by covering the human body, notably the male genitals, the phallus, and female genitals and breast.
public is fairly worldwide.3 There originally existed in
to hide the wearer's sex organ, a loin cloth, perizoma or
diazoma, as the Greeks typically called it. https://s3.amazonaws.com/real-nudism/russian-nude-beach.html of
the nude body (4) has often been exalted. Its erotic and
aesthetic allure, as Kenneth Clark has revealed, has
caused an alternate word to be used: this aspect of nakedness is known as "nudity."4
In the early Near East Ishtar,5 and in the West
Aphrodite,' the goddesses of love, were traditionally
Nude. The beauty and strength of the nude male
body were also praised, and heroes, like the Master of Animals, were signified naked, or wearing
culture the ideal of male nudity as the best type of
Attractiveness. Greek art and sport exalted the attractiveness of
the youthful male athlete, whose figure provided the
The picture of the
nude young male, the kouros statue of early Greek art
was kaloskagathos, "wonderful and commendable."8
Because of the strong emotions of shame, shock,
lust, admiration, violation, pity, and disgust aroused
by the sight of the naked human body, the most frequent organizations are with taboo, magic, and ritual
(5).
older nudists unleashed. Apotropaic and magic nudity, calling for the exposure of male genitals and female
Bearing power of this complicated picture.
can shield against the evil eye. Like the Gorgon's
gaze, it can paralyze or protect. The partial nudity or
Vulnerability of a girl's breast or genitals, for example,
can signify weakness and powerlessness; but it can
also function as strong magic.9 In art and in life,
cultures throughout history, and has survived into our
own times. https://s3.amazonaws.com/nude-beach/beach-voyeur.html or "priapic" figurines and amulets,
In addition to obscene gestures, still serve as protection
against the evil eye in many parts of the world. When
Apparel is standard, exhibitionist actions of nakedness often
have a magical significance. In the world of magic, nudity
wards off a spell or other dangerous kind of magic, compels love, and gives strength to one's own practice of
witchcraft and conjuring."1 Since, then, in a clothed
society nudity was special, monstrous, dangerous, and
ritual ceremonies.
Language, also, sustained hints of this magic power
of nakedness. The word, like the fact, had to be
avoided, so that its magic power could be preserved. A
linguistic taboo thereby caused the kind of the word for
"Nude" to transform, in all the Indoeuropean languages.
Though gymnos, nudus, nackt, etc. were all originally
related to each other-so linguists ensure us-they
were all transformed in diverse and surprising ways,
so that their initial similarity is nearly unrecognizable.12 For most parts of the body, there's what
Devoto called a "succinct" vocabulary:13 the words for
"heart," "eye," "foot," "knee," "nose," "tooth," "eyebrow" are fundamentally the same in all the Indoeuropean
In addition to the names of specific parts of the bodyfinger, tongue, hand, and hair-are different in the
Distinct languages. How can this be described? Indoeuropeans obviously had fingers, tongues, hands, hair,
