Portal:Nudity

Introduction

P:NUDEP:NUDE

Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not having developed the crafts needed to make clothing. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty and women often do not cover their breasts due to the association with nursing babies more than with sexuality.

In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, proper attire was required to maintain social standing. The majority might possess a single piece of cloth that was wrapped or tied to cover the lower body; slaves might be naked. However, through much of Western history until the modern era, people of any status were also unclothed by necessity or convenience when engaged in labor and athletics; or when bathing or swimming. Such functional nudity occurred in groups that were usually, but not always, segregated by sex. Although improper dress might be socially embarrassing, the association of nudity with sin regarding sexuality began with Abrahamic beliefs, spreading through Europe in the post-classical period. Traditional clothing in temperate regions worldwide also reflect concerns for maintaining social status and order, as well as by necessity due to the colder climate. However, societies such as Japan and Finland maintain traditions of communal nudity based upon the use of baths and saunas that provided alternatives to sexualization.

The spread of Western concepts of modest dress was part of colonialism, and continues today with globalization. Contemporary social norms regarding nudity reflect cultural ambiguity towards the body and sexuality, and differing conceptions of what constitutes public versus private spaces. Norms relating to nudity are different for men than they are for women. Individuals may intentionally violate norms relating to nudity; those without power may use nudity as a form of protest, and those with power may impose nakedness on others as a form of punishment. (Full article...)

Selected general article

Michelangelo's David — *David* (1504)
"And what barbarous judge is there that cannot understand that the foot of a man is more noble than his shoe? His skin than that of the sheep from which his clothes are made?"
— Michelangelo

The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position with the Renaissance. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as history painting, including allegorical and religious art, portraiture, or the decorative arts. From prehistory to the earliest civilizations, nude female figures were generally understood to be symbols of fertility or well-being.

In India, the Khajuraho Group of Monuments built between 950 and 1050 CE are known for their nude sculptures, which comprise about 10% of the temple decorations, a minority of them being erotic. Japanese prints are one of the few non-western traditions that can be called nudes, but the activity of communal bathing in Japan is portrayed as just another social activity, without the significance placed upon the lack of clothing that exists in the West. Through each era, the nude has reflected changes in cultural attitudes regarding sexuality, gender roles, and social structure.

One often cited book on the nude in art history is The Nude: a Study in Ideal Form by Kenneth Clark, first published in 1956. The introductory chapter makes (though does not originate) the often-quoted distinction between the naked body and the nude. Clark states that to be naked is to be deprived of clothes, and implies embarrassment and shame, while a nude, as a work of art, has no such connotations. (Full article...)

Did you know...

... that the Indian politician Diwan Chaman Lall failed to get rid of the painting Nude of Indira?
... that a nude painting of a Mexican revolutionary is housed at the Museum of Forbidden Art in Spain?
... that Loud LDN co-founder Maisi came joint last in the 2022 Maldon mud race, behind a naked runner who had been forced to start after everyone else?
... that a 17th-century painting shows a half-naked ascetic in a cave occupying the position of honour, even ahead of the emperor?
... that there were no sex acts in Thea Ehre's nude performance at the 2021 Porn Film Festival Vienna?
... that multiple dancers were arrested at the Capitol Theatre in San Francisco for allegedly not wearing bras during striptease numbers?
... that Susanna Hoffs sang on the studio recording of "Eternal Flame" naked after producer Davitt Sigerson pranked her by saying that Olivia Newton-John had done the same thing?
... that having painted a domestic scene depicting his nude wife, Robert Ballagh felt that he had to produce a nude painting of himself as a follow-up?

Need help?

Do you have a question about Nudity that you can't find the answer to?

Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Nudity-related articles, see WikiProject Nudity.

General images

The following are images from various nudity-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Naturist couple at the Nambassa festival, New Zealand, 1981 (from Naturism)
Image 2The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1484–1486 (from Nude (art))
Image 3The Venus of Willendorf (made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE) (from Nude (art))
Image 4A group of naturists at a nude beach in Crimea, 2008 (from Naturism)
Image 5Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, c. 1855 (from Nude photography)
Image 6World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2016 (from Naturism)
Image 7People bathing naked after the World Naked Bike Ride in Brighton, 2017 (from Naturism)
Image 8David (1504)
"And what barbarous judge is there that cannot understand that the foot of a man is more noble than his shoe? His skin than that of the sheep from which his clothes are made?"
— Michelangelo (from Nude (art))
Image 9Public naturist recreation area at Lake Unterbach; Strandbad Süd, Düsseldorf-Unterbach, Germany (from Naturism)
Image 10WWI era Ivory Soap ad (from Nudity)
Image 11Couple walking naked in the streets of Barcelona, Spain (from Naturism)
Image 12Naturists in a river, 2014 (from Nudity)
Image 13Nude study (c. 1935) by William Mortensen (from Nude (art))
Image 14The Barricade (1918), oil on canvas, by George Bellows. A painting inspired by an incident in August 1914 in which German soldiers used Belgian townspeople as human shields. (from Nude (art))
Image 15Randonue in Les Concluses, Gard, 2008 (from Naturism)
Image 16Max Koch's Freilicht (Open-Air), c. 1894/1897 (from Naturism)
Image 17Sunrise on the beach, Taitung County, Taiwan (from Naturism)
Image 18Sunbathers at Müggelsee lake beach in East Berlin, 1989. (from Nudity)
Image 19Naked participant at Burning Man 2016 posing as Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (from Naturism)
Image 20Finnish Sauna (1802) (from Naturism)
Image 21Naked person looking over the stern rail on the QNA nude boat cruise on the Gold Coast Broadwater, Queensland, in December 2025 (from Naturism)
Image 22Outdoor bathing at Zhiben Hot Spring, Taiwan 2012 (from Nudity)
Image 23The far west end of Zipolite Beach, Oaxaca, Mexico (from Naturism)
Image 24Five nude people on the rocks around Black Pond, McLean, Virginia in July 1980 (from Nudity)
Image 25Bathing in the center of East Berlin, East Germany (1958) (from Nudity)
Image 26A Naga Sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man (from Naturism)
Image 27A woman breastfeeding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2017 (from Nudity)
Image 28Naturist family on Lake Senftenberg in 1983 (from Naturism)
Image 29One of the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal: a naked prisoner being forced to crawl and bark like a dog on a leash. (from Nudity)
Image 30Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Artemisia Gentileschi. This work may be compared with male depictions of the same tale. (from Nude (art))
Image 31Naturist swimmers in Australia (from Naturism)
Image 32Nude men at the Przystanek Woodstock festival, 2014 (from Naturism)
Image 33Zoë Mozert was one of Earl Moran's first nude models in the 1930s. (from Nude photography)
Image 34Virginia Biddle, by Alfred Cheney Johnston (from Nude photography)
Image 35Banya [ru] (1913) by Zinaida Serebriakova (from Nudity)
Image 36A woman naked on the beach at Valalta, Croatia (from Naturism)
Image 37Marilyn Monroe posing topless for Earl Moran around 1950 (from Nude photography)
Image 38A Nude Boy on a Beach (1878) by John Singer Sargent (from Nude (art))
Image 39A publicity photo showing a North American naturist couple making tea (from Naturism)
Image 40The Burney Relief, First Babylonian Dynasty (c. 1800 BCE) (from Nude (art))
Image 41Photograph by Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, part of a series made with Eugène Delacroix (from Nude photography)
Image 42Florida naturists (from Naturism)
Image 43Signpost at Mpenjati Naturist Beach (from Naturism)
Image 44People taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride in London, 2012 (from Nudity)
Image 45Odalisque (1857) by Eugène Delacroix, a painting with similar pose (from Nude photography)
Image 46Nudist hiker in British Columbia (from Naturism)
Image 47This year Venuses again... always Venuses!... (1864) by Daumier (from Nude (art))
Image 48Families bathing nude at a hot spring in Taiwan (from Naturism)
Image 49Nude people at the 2007 Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle, Washington (from Nudity)
Image 50Kayapo women, Pará State, Brazil
Image 51A necklace reconstructed from perforated sea snail shells from Upper Palaeolithic Europe, dated between 39,000 and 25,000 BCE. The practice of body adornment is associated with the emergence of behavioral modernity. (from Nudity)
Image 52Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (1808–1812) by John Vanderlyn. The painting was initially considered too sexual for display in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "Although nudity in art was publicly protested by Americans, Vanderlyn observed that they would pay to see pictures of which they disapproved." (from Nude (art))
Image 53Crayon-style print by Gilles Demarteau with a nude man after original drawing by Edmé Bouchardon was acquired by Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw as a teaching material (from Nude (art))
Image 54Using birch branches in a Finnish sauna, 1967 (from Nudity)
Image 55Nudist couple at Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California, US (from Naturism)
Image 56In many European countries, women may sunbathe without covering their breasts. (from Nudity)

In the news

3 June 2026 –: German filmmaker Wim Wenders withdraws his 1975 film The Wrong Move from distribution after actress Nastassja Kinski objected to a nude scene filmed when she was 13 years old, calling for the film to be re-edited. (AP)

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Nudity

Nudity in the United States

Related portals

Subtopics

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache

v t e Nudity
Nakedness and clothing	History Prehistory of nakedness and clothing Nakedness and colonialism Childhood nudity Sex segregation Modesty Nudity in religion Awrah Breastfeeding in public Public bathing Sauna Finnish sauna Massage Toplessness Topfreedom Canada United States Nudity and protest Dress code Clothing laws by country
Nudity and sexuality	Intimate part Exhibitionism Mooning Streaking Striptease Stripper Feminist stripper Voyeurism Anasyrma Candaulism
Issues in social nudity	Sexualization Sexual objectification Pornification Indecent exposure Obscenity Wardrobe malfunction Strip search
Naturism	Naturist resort Christian naturism Freikörperkultur Gay naturism Gymnosophy Naturist magazines Social nudity organizations Anarchist naturism Timeline of social nudity
Nude recreation	Nude beach Nude swimming Nude swimming classes Naked yoga Naked party Nude wedding Nude beaches Clothing-optional events
By location	Africa Asia Europe North America San Francisco Seattle Oceania South America
Social nudity advocates	Kurt Barthel Lee Baxandall Paul Bindrim Ilsley Boone Henry S. Huntington Heinrich Pudor Elton Raymond Shaw Richard Ungewitter
Depictions of nudity	Nude (art) Heroic nudity History Nude modeling (art) Nude photography (art) Nudity in live performance Body painting Nudity in film Nudity in American television Nudity in print media French postcard Nude calendar Nudity in advertising Nude photography Glamour photography Erotic photography
Related	Imagery of nude celebrities Naked News Nudity in combat Nudity clause Nude psychotherapy Softcore pornography
Category Portal