#CulturalDifferences #Nudity #Modesty #UnderstandingWesternCulture
Curious about Cultural Differences
I don’t mean any offense, consider this post as nothing but curiosity. I’m just trying to understand other cultures.
Western Culture vs. Eastern Culture
But I was genuinely wondering why you guys are so casual and indifferent regarding bodily modesty and nudity, like you guys would be okay with going topless at beaches or even nude in locker rooms. We don’t have that culture, even amongst guys.
Personally, I have a lot of “icks” and one of them is seeing bodies that are uncovered, either mine or someone else’s. It’s just the raw anatomy and the weird surface, and I don’t know how to describe it. It looks awful. I’m (16 M) personally someone who is conservative and dresses modestly, and I think it’s natural for humans to not want to be exposed.
the Unbothered Attitude towards Nudity
The fun part is, even if you’re not religious, it’s the culture that subconsciously makes you uncomfortable not being covered.
Respecting Cultural Differences
I’m genuinely shocked and also in awe of how much people can differ across cultures. The key is to respect and understand these differences without judgment or offense.
Practical Solutions for Understanding
- Research: Take the time to learn more about Western culture and their attitudes towards nudity. Understanding the historical, social, and cultural contexts can provide valuable insights.
- Open-mindedness: Approach the topic with an open mind and willingness to learn. Embrace the differences and diversity in cultures, as it enriches our understanding of the world.
- Communication: Engage in conversations with individuals from Western cultures to gain personal perspectives and experiences. Ask questions respectfully and listen attentively.
- Cultural exchange: Consider participating in cultural exchange programs or activities to immerse yourself in different cultures. This firsthand experience can deepen your understanding and appreciation.
Sorry if this was offensive. Let’s continue to foster cultural understanding and respect for one another.
By embracing curiosity and openness, we can bridge the gap between cultural differences and foster mutual respect and understanding. 💬🌍 Let’s continue to learn from each other and celebrate the diversity that makes our world so fascinating. #CulturalUnderstanding #RespectDiversity
Why in fuck would it be natural to wear clothes?
Do you think your naked hand is nudity? I want you to think about your reaction if someone said ‘hey cover up your hands, that’s disgusting,’ and consider that reaction – because that’s how people feel when you ask them to wea things that cover the hair or something.
Becoming less radically religious
Well, humans can habituate to pretty much anything. If you grow up changing and showering in locker rooms, and seeing others do so, then you come to accept it as normal.
It’s just a body. It’s boring. We all have one.
What you think is nature (wanting to cover up), is actually nurture.
I also don’t see what modesty has to do with nudity: I can be both modest and nude at the same time.
I think that a lot of people confuse modesty with shame.
Where are you from, exactly?
> I think it’s natural for humans to not want to be exposed
I think what you’re doing is confusing your feelings for the “default” feelings of all humans. When in reality there is no one “natural” feeling about nudity. Some people like being exposed, some don’t, some feel it depends on circumstances, etc. Western culture isn’t as strict about covering up so you’re going to see people who like to wear less more often than in cultures which demand more concealing attire regardless of how you personally feel.
Everyone has a body, we all know more or less what it looks like. It was never really a secret to begin with. Just anatomy. Not a big deal to us.
We grow up with it so it becomes natural to us. I am sure there are things thats natural to you and strange to us for the same reason.
Human body’s really shouldn’t be shamed like yeah where clothes but also just be person
It is like skin is your clothes. It is enough to have skin to feel normal. I understand you, but I’m on the other side of the spectrum. I belong to the naturist association and I go naked a lot. The thing is, we don’t see nudity as something sacred, something interesting, abnormal, or even sexual. It doesn’t matter if you’re showing your face or your hands or your ass. Nobody cares.
Nudity is the default state of the human body, we are born naked. Shame is an artificial social construct that we try not to encourage. And many people consider middle-eastern standards barbaric. Isn´t it ironic? For example, I perceive clothing as very restrictive and would not feel comfortable living in a country where “modest” clothing is mandatory. This is perhaps why I don’t consider travelling to these otherwise beautiful countries.
At least in the US, there’s more discomfort about public nudity than you might think. Nude beaches are uncommon and most American women would likely not choose to be topless publicly. Locker rooms are often uncomfortable and typically gender-specific places where most people keep their eyes averted. In any case, that’s the US I know.
I have been to parts of Europe and noticed there was a laxer attitude about nudity there.
“I think it’s natural for humans to not want to be exposed” it’s absolutly not natural. Normal in post prehistory societies sure, but not “natural”.
Just look at little kids, they couldn’t care less to be naked in public, it comes later, at 2 to 6 years old depending of the kid/situation when they starts to integrate social rules and cutoms.
It’s just a matter of habits.
Western culture is extremely prudish when it comes to nudity.
How do you change if you can’t change in a locker room?
Well not everyone in the west is as okay with nudity as you think we are lol nude beaches exist here and there but they’re hardly the majority
Before civilization we all walked around naked without a care in the world. It is a natural thing to do, making nudity taboo sexualizes it further.
I mean in you’ll see topless women on the beach, but I live in a beach town in the US and I’ve never seen that here. The US is generally a bit more prudish than Europe
I’d just like to point out this isn’t so much “East vs West” but specific cultures.
Japan’s onsen culture is famous, where you’re fully nude with a bunch of strangers. Prior to ‘modern’ times, onsens were pretty regularly mixed gender too. Chinese also do communal/public baths, etc. In Malaysia, which is a ‘Muslim’ country, totally common to see girls in crop tops and short shorts, in small towns men often are shirtless with their bellies out. I have lived in all these countries and done/seen them all myself.
Fearing nudity isn’t natural. It’s based on what you’re conditioned to see as normal. It’s as big or as small a deal as you make it.
The human body is perfectly natural and normal. To feel shameful of it is unhealthy. The same of sexuality.
What should be shamed is all the gratuitous violence in TV and movies. That is deeply sick.
we aren’t bothered by it for the same reason that you are bothered by it.
It’s a body. We all have one. Nothing special about it. I mean I’d look up if someone was nude in a very random place but yknow, not my circuits not my monkeys.
Also I agree with other commenters. It’s not natural to want to cover up, but nurture. Which is neither right nor wrong.
In East Asia people go to public baths and hot springs nude, it’s not seen as sexual
In England, you’ll see girls on a night out, in winter, very underdressed. 🤣
But to answer your question, we’re raised with it being normalised from birth. Seeing a girl in a tiny crop top and tiny skirt or a guy with his top off and a pair of shorts is just another day in the city for us. We’ve seen it so much, it means nothing.
To us, it’s strange when we see someone being overly covered, like wearing an abaya for Muslim women, we just assume you’re religious or from another country in general.
I guess it’s just about the environment you grow up in.
>it’s the culture that subconsciously makes you uncomfortable not being covered.
I think you explained it fairly well yourself here,
We come into this world naked, and the few examples of wild children, children completely raised by animals, never developed the tenancy to wear clothes on their own, so from that we can say fairly safely that wearing clothes is a learned trait, and how much, where and when we cover up is also a learned trait, it’s as simple as that
Because we were born naked. Pretty simple.
I don’t understand the obsession with skin. I would walk around naked if it was allowed and the weather was good.
I am not sure how to explain why I am not bothered by something that I grew up viewing as normal. Non-sexual nudity just doesn’t bother me. It depends in what context you were raised. I was raised viewing non-sexual nudity as normal and not shameful. I still carry that attitude. I get that other cultures are different, but I don’t agree with viewing nudity as inherently sexual or shameful.
Your perspective is informed largely by your environment. You’re from a culture that for whatever reason has decided the human body should be covered up. It is totally arbitrary.
To *believe* the body *should* be covered up requires some form of justification, in your case it seems to be a desire to subscribe to ‘modesty’ and conservatism, due to social pressures. This has the implicit belief that there is something wrong with being naked. That is the foundation upon which your belief is made.
You may justify it after the fact by saying it is unappealing, but that is subjective.
Cultures which are not built upon this foundation have no issues with it.
Fascinating topic though, and good for you for trying to understand an alien viewpoint. We need more of that thinking in our world.
I don’t find naked bodies either particularly icky or particularly amazing to look at.
I also wonder how much of the ick is your culture and how much is being sixteen. Even in the West, there is a stereotype that teenage males are especially shy about bodies. And I’m a fifty-year-old male, and there’s a stereotype that old, or at least older, men are especially not shy about bodies. I know that I was much shyer about by body thirty-five years ago; now I just don’t care. I am one of the fat hairy dudes at the locker room that just carries my towel to the shower rather than wrapping it around me, and uses the sauna without a bathing suit. Now, I’m in the United States, which is probably somewhere around the midpoint of body shyness, so that sauna is single-gender – while I don’t have a problem with mixed gender naked saunas, my default assumption is that other people would only be comfortable with single gender nudity.
I feel like there are a lot of cultures, both Western and Eastern which have public baths of some sort, which usually include at least single gender nudity – if I go to a jinjilbang, I am going to be naked in the men-only baths, but will be wearing at least gym shorts and a t-shirt in any mixed gender area.
There are so many cultures and subcultures, with so many levels of comfort around nudity, from modesty-culture subcultures even within the United States where you wouldn’t show your hair to anyone you aren’t closely related to on one end, to the German Naturgefühl folks who like to hike through mountains wearing nothing other than boots and a backpack. And the sheer range of comfort levels really makes me feel like there is absolutely no “normal” degree of comfort of nudity, that the only important thing is to have an approximately equal level of comfort as the people you tend to come in contact with.
Health care worker here. Desensitization. This is why some cultures are offended by arms or legs. They’re covered up all the time. A vag/penis… its just like looking at a face, arm, or eyes. Sexy is in the personality, humor, dedication, veracity, etc…
Bodies are not something to be ashamed of or disgusted by, they are simply a natural state of being and while there are variations in bodies we all have the same basic elements and there’s nothing gross about the physical form that allows us to engage in and experience life. I encourage you to challenge your default “ick” about the human form and learn to find the beauty in all our bodies do for us and allow us to do. Nudity is not inherently immodest or sexual or negative.
Others have already made good points about covering up being a cultural thing. This is evidenced by babies and untouched tribes around the world.
One thing that struck me in your post is your description of human bodies giving you the ick, and the weird surface. That’s an interesting take. It’s how we were created, how is it icky or weird? Is this something religion or culture taught you or is this a personal hangup for you?
> I think it’s natural for humans to not want to be exposed.
I think you have realized that there is almost nothing “natural” in human behaviour.
Thats what secular countries mean. Religion doesnt control peoples lives anymore.
When it’s hot, you undress. THAT is natural for humans.
Re-read your text ‘**I** think it’s natural… **I** can’t have it otherwise… **I** wouldn’t have it…’ – you are writing about YOUR opinions, predjudices and icks. Please do not assume your icks to be the default setting for all humans.
We are not defined by restrictive ideologies that suppress individuality and self expression . We don’t confuse religious doctrine with natural order.