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<p class="p5">
“If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred”
</p>
<p class="p6">
Wait Whitman<br>I Sing the Body Electric
</p>
<hr>
<h1>Nudity in Ancient to Modern Cultures</h1>
<p class="p4">
Aileen Goodson
<br><br>
<i>(This chapter excerpt is from Aileen Goodson's Therapy, Nudity & Joy)</i>
</p>
<h2>Primitive Nude Living</h2>
<p class="p1">
Many of us may be unaware that nudity is a normal condition that has prevailed
throughout most of mankind's existence. Anything from complete nakedness to
casual body covering was a lifestyle component from prehistoric times through
the Greco‑Roman civilizations and into part of the Middle Ages.
<br><br>
Even today, in various remote areas of the warmer climes, naked societies
persist as primitive tribes whose members do not wear clothes. These societies
point up, among other things, how drastically our attitudes toward nudity and
social organization have changed throughout human history. Unfortunately,
modern civilization's puritanical laws of decency have labeled unclothed
tropical‑zone cultures as offensive and inferior. Missionaries, settlers, and
tradespeople have effectively forced compliance with western dress codes
wherever primitive cultures are found. Due to such diligence, we are now able
to travel worldwide to exotic islands, join African safaris, and explore South
American jungles without having to confront the "embarrassment" of viewing
tribal nakedness.
<br><br>
Inexcusably, as civilization encroaches upon many of these out‑of‑the‑way
places, the aboriginal cultures are often severely damaged or destroyed by the
invading virus of a technologically superior society. Enticed by trinkets and
modern conveniences, the native populations almost invariably succumb to the
customs, clothing, diseases, and problems of our intrusive culture.
<br><br>
In 1988, the January 3rd issue of <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> reported that
the <i>Yanomamis</i>> of the remote northern Brazilian territory of Roraima, a
primitive and naked tribe, are in danger of extinction because the government
has discovered gold and diamonds on their land<span class="e">1</span>.
The <i>Yanomamis</i> are the largest known tribe still isolated from the
outside world: “<i>Yanomamis</i> hunt with poisoned arrows, and many use
primitive tools. They shun clothes, decorate their bodies with fruit dye and
flowers, and live under huge palm huts in communities of 50 people. The
population of Roraima is about 100,000. Anthropologists, the Roman Catholic
Church, and Indian-rights groups fear that forced acculturation by an onslaught
of whites will further reduce the <i>Yanomami</i> population, largely through
disease. Because of their isolation, the Indians have no immunity against
common viruses and can easily die from flu or a cold.”
<br><br>
The <i>Tupari</i> tribe of the Rio Branco, in the Amazon jungles of Brazil,
furnish another example of nude living among aborigines. Tibor Sekelj, who
lived with the Tupari for four months, wrote: “It is no wonder that the
<i>Tupari</i> never created any kind of clothing, for the weather is always
warm. Their natural nudity fits perfectly into the framework of their
surroundings and, except for ceremony or decoration, they never think of
covering themselves<span class="e">2</span>.”
<br><br>
Men of the Tupari set off before sunup to hunt. Those men and boys remaining in
the village work at preparing the ground for planting or collect firewood and
building materials. Meanwhile, the women attend to the children, collect fruit,
spin cotton, and weave hammocks. By three o’clock in the afternoon, their day’s
work over, men and women gather together, drink fermented chica, make bows,
arrows, necklaces, and headdresses, and decorate their bodies. It is a life of
unhurried simplicity<span class="e">2</span>.
<br><br>
How remarkable it is that such idyllic scenes of ancient and perhaps
prehistoric times still co-exist with our modernized, stress-filled lifestyles
and complex governmental structures.
</p>
<h2>Nudity in Early Egypt</h2>
<p class="p1">
A fascinating tale of early sun worship and nudity was unearthed in 1887 at
Tell‑el‑Amarna, a small Egyptian village on the banks of the Nile some 200
miles south of Cairo. There, an Arab woman accidentally stumbled upon the
baked‑clay tablet archives of Pharaoh Akhen‑Aton (1385-1353 B.C.). It was
learned through the subsequent translation of these tablets that the brilliant
young pharaoh and his exquisitely beautiful queen, Nefertiti, considered the
sun, Aton, to be the true wellspring of life and thus justified the practice of
nudism for spiritual and physical advancement<span class="e">3</span>.
<br><br>
Because of the discovery of these tablets and other artifacts at Tell‑el‑Amarna,
the seat of Pharaoh Akhen‑Aton’s government, it is now well known that he was
not only a great religious reformer and mystic, who disputed the pantheism of
the traditional priesthood, but also a poet of great sensitivity. On the
scattered stones that had formed the original wall of Aton's Temple,
archaeologists have found and deciphered the pharaoh’s famous “Hymn to Aton,
the Sun God,” a portion of which appears in the Hebrew scriptures as Psalm 104
of the Old Testament. “Through this poem,” writes J. Herman in King & Queen of
the Sun, “the pharaoh reveals himself to be a lover of beauty in nature, in art,
and in man<span class="e">4</span>.”
<br><br>
However, some of the archaeologists who unraveled the story of the Sun Pharaoh
had difficulty accepting what they found and became highly critical of
Akhen-Aton and Nefertiti. “Brought up in an environment of Victorian and
puritanical notions, they condamned these entrancing figures of Egyptian
history because they discovered that not only the Pharaoh and his wife but also
their children and officials went around with too few clothes (transparent at
that!) or no clothes at all, that they practiced nudity in the royal palace, in
the royal gardens and swimming pool, that they loved physical beauty, valued
good food and wine, and led a frankly joyful existence<span class="e">5</span>.”
<br><br>
The spontaneity, freedom, and humanistic values espoused in the lifestyle of
this remarkable couple brought scathing criticism and retaliation from the
conservative priests of the ‘old religion’. Upon his death, Akhen‑Aton was
succeeded by son‑in‑law Tutankh)‑Aton (“King Tut,” famous for the fabulous
gold and jewels found in his tomb in the twentieth century), who was coerced
by the priests into eradicating Akhen‑Aton’s reforms.
<br><br>
“They practiced a religion and nudist way of life that was far ahead of their
time,” writes Dr. de Horatev of the Sun King and his queen. “They came to an
age that understood them not.” He adds, rather dejectedly, that “although future
generafions may be more understanding of their message, “…our own day gives them
a miserly recognition<span class="e">6</span>”.
<br><br>
While it is known that Akhen-Aton and Nefertiti were not the first Egyptians to
luxuriate nude in the sun's rays (a fourteenth century, B.C. carving of a nude
Sumerian priest is preserved in the British Museum, and a fifteenth century,
B.C. painting of a nude Egyptian girl lutist is found on the wall of a Thebes
tomb), he and his alluring consort did have their “day in the sun,” breathing
life into a freshly idealistic concept of community.
</p>
<h2>Nudity In Ancient Greece</h2>
<p class="p1">
Centuries later, Pharaoh Akhen‑Aton’s passion for holistic living was
enthusiastically practiced by the early Greeks. While many cultures have
recognized the contributions of ancient Greece to law, politics, literature,
art, and philosophy, not much has been recorded about early Greek advocacy of
freedom from clothing when practical and appropriate. The dress of both the
upper and lower classes within Greek society was in accordance with the
simplicity and forthrightness characteristic of Greek philosophy — that a draped
garment that could be taken off in a second. Even the fancier gowns designed
for both sexes, with jeweled or metal shoulder clips, were made from one piece
of beautifully draped material.
<br><br>
“When a Greek wished to dance or work, he simply slipped out of his clothing
and proceeded. It was the natural thing to do, and no one was dismayed by…
seeing a nude person dancing or working. Archaeologists have found many vases
depicting completely naked performers at festivals and laborers in the fields,”
writes Anthony J. Papalas in his article “Greek Attitudes Toward
Nudity<span class="e">7</span>.”
<br><br>
Historians acknowledge this ancient Greek body-attitude mainly when they write
about the athletic training that took place in the Greek gymnasium. The very
word gymnasium is based on the root word gymnos (meaning <i>naked</i>), the
gymnasium being defined, thereby, as a place where one stripped naked to
exercise.
<br><br>
While nudity was so common in early Greek athletics and sculpture that
historically it cannot be overlooked, historians tend to downplay or ignore
the religious and philosophic foundations for nudism in Greek life. For example,
the Greek gymnasium is rarely presented as a place for general education which,
in fact, it was. Paul Le Valley, in an article appearing in the naturist
magazine Clothed with the Sun offers a more accurate picture.
<br><br>
“The Greeks could think of no higher tribute to their gods than to imitate
them — to become as godlike as possible, both mentally and physically. It was
the whole person that mattered: the well‑developed mind in the well‑developed
body. Apollo, the god of athletics, was also the god of music. In fact, the
athletes trained to music. The gymnasiums were where philosophers like Socrates
hung about. Almost every major school of Greek philosophy was headquartered in
a gymnasium.... As Greek religion declined and was replaced by philosophy,
Socrates often advocated nudity as a form of honesty<span class="e">8</span>.”
It is clear from this that the ancient Greeks sought balance--their goal of
The Golden Mean in individual accomplishments as well as in matters of state.
<br><br>
Beginning with exercises in the nude, a typical day for the Greek student is
described by Papalas in the article cited above: “After several hours of
activity and instruction about the body, he bathed and went to his
classroom — most often in the nude, for the mild climate of Greece did not
require clothing except for some unusually cold days in winter… Teachers and
scholars attempted to establish an equilibrium between mind and body.
The student, therefore, was required to devote the same amount of effort to
p9ysical progress as to mental<span class="e">9</span>.”
<br><br>
Pericles, the famous Greek statesman, general, and athlete, said that men
should harmoniously work for “the perfect beauty of our bodies and the manly
virtues of our soul… We are lovers of beauty without having lost the taste
for simplicity, and lovers of wisdom without loss of manly
vigor<span class="e">10</span>.”
<br><br>
Darius, the Persian king, relying on the report of a spy sent to observe Greeks
training for battle, mistakenly concluded from their attitude toward nudity and
democracy that Greeks were weaklings.
<br><br>
The army infiltrator returned to Darius with an account of how the Greeks spent
their time prancing around in the nude “or sitting, partially clothed,
listening to idiots propound ridiculous ideas about freedom and equality for
the individual citizen<span class="e">11</span>.” Based on this
information, Darius expected the Greeks would be an easy target, but his
laughter turned to fear and grief when the Persian army was driven out to sea
at the Battie of Marathon by well‑trained opponents.
<br><br>
Though men of ancient Greece were offered an exceptional training as citizens
(with the obvious exception of male slaves), Greek women were denied the
high-level education of the gymnasium. This inequality was speciously
justified by reasoning that women had less need for education because they were
not permitted to participate in civic affairs along with the men. Such
discrimination, however, diminished with the appearance of a women’s rights
movement.
<br><br>
Among the gains won by the women of this group was the establishment of female
athletic competitions. During these games, women performed comfortably in the
nude, as was the practice for men. “The Greek admiration for the human body and
the willingness to display it were closely bound up with Greek honesty and
intelligence. No one thought it wrong that young Spartan girls should go naked
in public dances and processions. The young men who gathered to look upon the
events displayed no lust or wantonness. Plutarch (the Greek biographer and
historian) wrote that the appearance of these maidens was received with
admiration, respect, and shamelessness<span class="e">12</span>.”
<br><br>
Eventually, nudity also became part of the tradition of the Olympic Games.
Ancient historians suggest that the Olympic Games originated as far back as
1100 B.C. as peace treaty contests authorized by kings of the cities of Pisa,
Elis, and Sparta. The games derived their name from the Valley of Olympia,
where they were held. The first Olympic Festival for which there are records
was held in 776 B.C. At least from that time forward, the Olympic Games were
specifically dedicated to the Greek gods.
<br><br>
Athletes from Sparta are given historical credit for being the first to discard
clothing while in training for competition. It's possible this occurred as
early as the seventh century B.C. Since these pioneering athletes won an
abnormally high proportion of the prizes because their bodies were not
restricted by clothing, other Greek athletes began to emulate the nudity of the
Spartans. Thereafter, nudity was an integral part of the Olympic tradition
until 393 A.D., when Roman Emperor Theodosium, Christian ruler of Greece,
banned the Olympic Games because he considered them to be pagan ceremonies.
The gymnasia and all it stood for was then treated with contempt. It wasn’t
until 1896, some 1500 years later, that the Olympics were revived--but without
nudity!
<br><br>
“Beauty to the Greeks was the very essence of virility. The perfect balance of
mind and body followed the ancient Greek belief in ‘meden agan’, which means
‘nothing in excess’. And ‘kalos k'agathos’ – the ‘beautiful and good’ – was the
touchstone and secret of the preeminence of ancient Greece for more than five
hundred years<span class="e">13</span>.”
</p>
<h2>Nudity in Ancient India</h2>
<p class="p1">
It is now known that social nudity in ancient Greece was encouraged by the
existence of nudity among the holy men of India. For example, when Alexander
the Great heard reports of nude ascetics in India, he sent Onesicritus, a Greek
philosopher, to investigate the gymnosophists (a name given by the Greeks to
these naked philosophers). The findings of Onesicritus must have impressed
and intrigued Alexander, for he then traveled to India (in 326 B.C.) to meet
with a gymnosophist group, and this meeting then led to other exchanges
between the two countries<span class="e">14</span>.
<br><br>
Pyrrho of Elis, founder of the philosophy of skepticism, studied with
the gymnosophists and, upon returning to Elis, practiced their teachings,
including nudism. 15 Further, when the Greek army was in India, the soldiers
participated in numerous religious observances that were accompanied by nude
sports activities. For several centuries thereafter, Greek athletes competing
in India were occasionally reported as being both nude and in loin cloth.
<br><br>
In Alexander’s time (356-323 B.C.) there were a number of ascetic sects in
India whose members walked about naked as part of their spiritual discipline.
The largest, Ajivikas, demanded complete nudity of its disciples. This group
lasted about two thousand years before completely disappearing. Buddha was
a naked ascetic before founding his own religion, and it has been suggested
that Buddha had his followers wear robes mainly to distinguish them from the
other sects<span class="e">>16</span>.
<br><br>
Today, most of the naked holy men of India are associated with the Jains,
members of a major Indian religion founded about 500 B.C. Mahavira, founder
of the Jains, insisted on complete nudity for the monks as part of their vow
to give up all worldly goods. In time there was a split in this group,
nakedness being too much of a hardship for Jains in the colder northern parts
of India. These northerners donned robes and became known as Suetambaras, or
‘white clad’, while the southerners were thereafter referred to as Digambaras,
or ‘clothed with the sky’. The Jains have many followers in India today.17
<br><br>
Paul Le Valley, in his article "Ancient India, compares the Greeks with the
gymnosophists: “The reasons each gave for their naked asceticism or their naked
athletes were strikingly similar… [They spoke] of efficiency… Every known
group of naked Indian ascetics praised the values of the simple life which
nudity encouraged,the lawgiver of Sparta, advocated nudity among his citizens
for the same reason... [plus] reasons of health.... The gymnosophists praised
nudity as a method of building endurance, as did the Greeks." Another reason
given for nudity was that it promoted "independent thought and self-assurance…”
<br><br>
Le Valley further states that “Mahavira scolded the Greeks, who mostly confined
their nudity to the gymnasium, for being less assured than Indian ascetics.
Mahavira often mentioned nudity as a method of becoming free from bonds…
Contentment with no clothes<span class="e">18</span>…” Indians and Greeks both
agreed that nakedness represented a state of purity and honesty.
<br><br>
Le Valley also points out areas of difference between the two cultures, such
as the Greek emphasis on the beauty of the human body, an issue of considerably
less importance within the religious philosophy of India. Whereas
the gymnosophists of India referred to their nudity as a “step toward attaining
oneness with the whole universe, or moksha (‘the bliss of enlightenment’)”,
the Greeks considered nudity as a basis for and expression of the wholeness
of the individual and society. The Greeks thus placed more emphasis on fun,
music, dance, and physical pleasure.
<br><br>
“Perhaps the greatest value both groups held in common,” Le Valley continues,
“…was the association of Indian asceticism and Greek athletes with the idea of
peace<span class="e">19</span>.” The basis for the Olympiads, for example,
was to bring together dissident Greek city-states for peaceful competition
and friendship, while the Jains, on their part, practiced nonviolence (ah imsa)
and vegetarianism. To this day, some Jains carry these principles to an extreme,
always wearing nose and mouth masks so that insects are protected from
accidental entrapment. Ghandi based his modem political and social reform
movement on this Jain practice of ahimsa.
<br><br>
During British control of India, the gymnosophist practice of nudism was
greatly curtailed. However, now that there is an independent Republic of India,
the jains are again unhampered in their religious practice of nudity.
In India today, some women have also joined the ranks of the naked Jain
ascetics.
<br><br>
The Sakas, a Hindu sect of India, have transmitted their traditions of nudity
to modem India through the thousands of explicit sculptures that remain on
the walls of the city of Khajurako. Built about 1000 A.D., this temple
at Khajurako communicates its values to the modem visitor with a directness
that leaves nothing to the imagination. “Tens of thousands of human and animal
figures dance happily over and around the facade of these buildings.... Kings
and commoners are depicted in joyous sexual union, completely naked except for
beads, bangles, and decoration.... The beauty of the body was exalted, paraded
even. And, since sexual function is part of the body, that too was
exalted<span class="e">20</span>.”
<br><br>
The Khajurako temple is not an isolated example of a great tolerance for nudity
in ancient India. Other Indian temples, such as the revered shrines at Konarak
and Ellora, also display highly realistic erotic sculptures.
These representations were obviously not regarded as obscene by the people
who lived at the time they were created. Their directness of statement
and their placement at central public locations shows that they were
an essential part of the living experience of the community, part of
the fabric of their social, educational, and religious life.
<br><br>
Art historian Mulk Raj Anand discusses these openly erotic sculptures in his
book Kama Kala, using them to explain the differences between eastern and
western attitudes regarding the human body and sexuality. Speaking of these
celebrations of life, he says, “There is a mutual enjoyment which excites not
laughter but reverence… Worship of the sun [was] demonstrated in the energy
which brings the human couples together… The male and female forms thus
become the manifestation of duality desired by the Supreme God, the earthly
symbols of manliness and procreation. And just as our human love is seen as a
symbol of the great love of the Supreme God, so the Joy of physical union
reflects the limitless Joy of the Deity in creation<span class="e">21</span>.”
<br><br>
Mulk Raj Anand notes that sex has been driven into "furtive corners" in
the west. He believes that modern attitudes of prudery originating from
western religious teachings are an unfortunate part of western culture
in general and do not adequately permit enjoyment or open discussion
of the tenderness of coital practice.
<br><br>
While modern Indian tour guides cannot avoid showing these explicit nude
sculptures of Khajurako, Konarak, and Ellora to tourists from other lands,
it is reported by many observers that they are not comfortable in doing so.
It is evident that the body freedom depicted in the public art of ancient
temples is not incorporated into the westernized lifestyle of contemporary
India.
</p>
<h2>Nudity in the Orient</h2>
<p class="p1">
Until the twentieth century, the Japanese sense of modesty strongly differed
from that of Europe or America. Nude communal bathing, for example, was
a basic fact of daily life until fairly recently and still exists in rural
areas that are distant from Japan's westernized major cities. Nevertheless,
Bernard Rudofsky in his book <i>Are Clothes Modern?</i> observes that nudity
was not an acceptable subject for traditional Japanese artists. “Even lovers
bedded down on acres of quilts – a favorite subject in [Japanese] art--are
always fully clothed, not because the artists were prudes but because
the Japanese seem to like making love entangled in each other's garments…
[This non-Christian culture] not only skipped Original Sin but never felt
a need for adopting it<span class="e">22</span>.”
<br><br>
However, the Japanese were far from being prudes! Their attitude that
everything natural is moral is revealed in the "bridal books" published
for hundreds of years in Japan as a means of practical sex education
for young women. Through explicit text and pictures, this type of book prepared
the unmarried Japanese woman for the sexual conduct that would, or should, take
place after her wedding. Experienced couples were also provided with
‘pillow books’, meant to be kept near the bed. These contained erotically
stimulating illustrations to enhance marital enjoyment.
<br><br>
Members of the Chinese upper class were much more inhibited and even
considered their unclothed peasantry to be subhuman. Nudity, even in art,
was seen as immoral. In his essay The Future of Nakedness, John Langdon-Davies
tells a story about the Jesuit priests who were horrified to learn that the
Chinese regarded the Christian books containing beautifully colored religious
pictures of male and female saints in classical drapery as
pomographic<span class="e">23</span>.
<br><br>
In ancient China, strict custom even prevented a woman of high rank from being
unclothed in the presence of her doctor. The only way she could communicate
with her doctor regarding her physical problems was to point to the
corresponding place on a miniature ivory or alabaster nude sculpture.
These little statues, items of considerable importance for every respectable
Chinese household in more ancient times, can still be purchased by tourists
in Chinese sections of modem cities throughout the world<span class="e">24</span>.
<br><br>
By examining the bathing habits of a culture, it’s possible to determine
body-image attitudes with some precision. The Japanese, Turkish, and
Scandinavian peoples in recent times, for example, have traditionally enjoyed
communal nude bathing, as did their earlier cultures. In the Greco‑Roman empire,
until its decadent and declining years, the two sexes usually commingled during
communal nude bathing because the emphasis of the culture was on cleanliness,
health, and socializing, not on physical sexual differences. During the
Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church suppressed such bathing
practices<span class="e">25</span>. However, communal nude bathing where
the sexes were usually segregated survived in parts of central and northern
Europe until, finally, the modern nudist movement initiated the currently
relaxed European attitudes toward mixed-sex nudity in spas and on beaches.
<br><br>
The western world, from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century, was
not known for body cleanliness. Since the unclothed body was thought of
as sinful, the sensual practices of languishing in a nurturing bath
or soaking in a communal bathhouse (such as the luxurious, body-pampering
baths of the Orient) were not only unavailable for the vast majority of people
but were unthinkable and unacceptable. Sponge or "splash" baths were the custom,
and the use of perfume was more of a cover-up for infrequent bathing than
a means for sexual allurement.
<br><br>
Turkish baths utilizing thermal hot springs were constructed wherever
the Ottoman Empire ruled, introducing to many parts of Europe the pleasurable
and health-promoting cycle of nude swimming, sweating, and massage regeneration.
Both men and women of the Ottoman Empire used the baths as a social center,
but always with the sexes segregated.
<br><br>
However, in Japan, a country blessed with natural volcanic hot springs, nude
family and mixed-sex communal bathing were approved by the prevailing religions
for over two thousand years. Some of the public bath houses in Japan today
have private rooms of various sizes where families or social groups
can experience the steaming pools in privacy. Most common, however,
is the large community pool.
<br><br>
Originally a Shinto purification rite, the practice of social bathing in the
nude spread throughout Japan and became as much a part of Japanese daily
life as the rising of the sun. Shintoism, prior to 1945 the state religion
of Japan, emphasizes personal cleanliness, both spiritually and physically.
However, even the Buddhist monks built bath houses within their temple
compounds. At the beginning of each day, these monks would gather branches
of pine, holly, or boxwood trees in preparation for heating the thick-walled
red clay "firebox" which was set on a floor of stones. The doors were opened
to the public once the steam was up. Some bath houses offered tea ceremonies,
while others provided fruit and other food. There were sansulces (bath boys)
and bath maidens who offered their service of back scrubbing.
<br><br>
Therefore, most Japanese men and women have grown up accustomed to being
viewed in the nude and to seeing the nudity of others at all ages. Yet, with
the faster pace of life typical of the larger cities in Japan and with
the westernization of home architecture, the neighborhood bath house
is losing its previous prominence. The communal, nude thermal springs,
however, remain prized vacation spots. In many areas of Japan, the winters
are bitterly cold, and the natural hot springs traditionally have been a
pleasurable and healthful refuge--steaming oases nestled in craggy
mountains and lush forests. Some of these pools have now become the sites
of modern resort hotels.
<br><br>
The presently popular use of hot-tub spas in the United States obviously
originated from these ancient and traditional customs of communal bathing
so prominent in Japan, Scandinavia, and Turkey.
</p>
<h2>Witchcraft and Satanism</h2>
<p class="p1">
To many people, the word witchcraft conjures up visions of evil Hailoween
hags on broomsticks or strange and perhaps depraved rituals of nudity and sex.
However, some historians believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion
in the world and, therefore, quite respectable despite the prevalent
prejudices of Judaism and Christianity. These historians of religion
say that witchcraft’s fertility rites are only a worship and awe of nature,
and that the monthly new‑moon ‘esbats’ and seasonal ‘sabbats’ are only
ceremonial rituals in an appeal to the gods for fecundity of the earth
and fertility of its inhabitants. The word witchcraft, for example,
actually means ‘craft of the wise’, since Wicca, its root, means ‘wise one’.
As civilization developed, this old religion became a blend of fertility
cults, Egyptian occultism, and ancient kabbalistic studies<span class="e">26</span>.
<br><br>
This attitude was carried to such extremes that huge numbers of innocent
people were murdered. It is now known that the great majority of those
unfortunate victims had no connection with wrong-doing other than being
identified as immoral and evil by their fearful neighbors and enemies.
Of course, it is conceivable that there were a few witches at the time
who used their potions and pills for personal profit and revenge,
as their accusers claimed, just as some witches must have ‘cursed’
their persecutors with great forcefulness. But the Wicca tradition as a whole
was a religion celebrating joy, health, and fruitful harvests.
<br><br>
This old religion is having a renaissance today as part of the ‘New Age’
interest in metaphysics and psychic phenomena. Meditation and hypnosis,
traditional tools of witchcraft, are now popular methods
of ‘raising consciousness’ toward accomplishing personal and global changes.
Flowers, herbs, and crystals, the natural sacraments of the old religion,
are also widely used by New Agers in their healing rituals.
<br><br>
Much of the evil that has been attributed to witchcraft is actually part
of the quite different traditions of Satanism and/or Devil Worship.
Cults of this type were based on atheistic hedonism rather than on nature
worship. Like witches, the members also practiced ritualistic nudity,
but their emphasis was on orgiastic sexuality. Their ‘black mass’
was centered around a nude woman as the altar, and their rites included
liberal usage of drugs and hallucinogenic potions.
<br><br>
Their theology was and still is different. Anton Lavey, whose Church of Satan
was founded in San Francisco in 1966, believes that even if there is a God,
He is unable to intervene in human events. Since Satan, according to
La Vey’s devotees, is the symbol of the material world and man’s carnal nature,
he becomes the worshiped idol. At one time, Satanism was acknowledged to be
a functioning religion (or anti○‑religion) in Europe, but never on
a large scale.
<br><br>
Through the ages, rituals of vengeance through animal and human sacrifice
and weird stories of rituals with nude dead bodies have been associated
with Satanism. While the possibility of the existence of secret devil-cult
practices in modem times cannot be ignored, La Vey's Church of Satan seems
to be a nonthreatening version of devil worship. But horror stories of
killings and sexual abuse do surface on occasion and are often attributed
to the rituals of "devil cults." For instance, on a recent television
program (1989), Geraldo Rivera interviewed a law enforcement officer
who stated that the infamous cult of mass murderer Charles Manson had been
linked to the "Son of Sam " group, purported to be a satanic cult.
</p>
<h2>Early Christian Nudists</h2>
<p class="p1">
There are a number of ministers and priests in the contemporary nudist movement.
In fact, the modem nudist movement was largely organized by ordained
religious leaders, as discussed more fully in Chapter 8. These religious
leaders used as their justification the many parts of
the Judaic-Christian Bible which speak of accepting the human body
without shame (such as references to those apostles who were fishermen,
naked at their work). Religious nudists use these quotations as an answer
to the fundamentalist preachers who sermonize about God’ demand for clothing.
<br><br>
For example, the Rev. Martin Wadestone, author of ‘Nudism and Christianity’,
writes: “Actually, in the light of the Bible, there is no sin in nudity itself;
but if a person uses the nudity for lustful or immoral purposes he has
misused it, and this constitutes a sin. The Bible does not speak
against nudity nor does it teach that the body is shameful. There
is reference to shame in nudity, but this shame was produced
in the mind of man, not by divine ordination<span class="e">28</span>.”
<br><br>
This was also the belief of at least five groups in the history
of Christianity: the Carpocrations, Adamites, Adamianis, Encratites,
and Marcosians. Most of the historical information we have concerning the
beliefs and practices of these early Christians comes to us, in fact, through
the recorded criticisms and diatribes of Roman Catholic Church authorities,
since these authorities have largely destroyed the writings of those they
considered heretical.
<br><br>
Platonic philosopher Carpocrates, born in Alexandria, Egypt in the second
century A.D., believed in one God as creator of the world and all things in it.
He combined the Christian ideal of the brotherhood of man with portions of
Plato’s Republic, advocating that the glories of God should not be hidden.
He urged Christians, both male and female, to look upon the natural body with
gratitude for the creative force of God-love. His disciples suffered ridicule
and sometimes severe persecution but continued their practices into the fourth
century A.D. Records indicate that nude statues and a museum were created
to honor this sect. It was the Carpocrations who first portrayed Christ's body
in the exposed form commonly seen to this day.
<br><br>
The Adamianis existed in the second and third centuries A.D. They were a group that hoped to regain the innocence mankind lost in the Garden of Eden and, consequently, worshiped in a state of nakedness and lived as a nudist community. It's believed that groups of Adamianis used deserted pagan temples for their own rituals.
<br><br>
Some generations later, Encratites and Marcosians, who developed out of the
Adamiani tradition, appeared on the scene. The Encratites were vegetarians and
many, if not all, practiced nudism. In ancient Gaul (France), a Gnostic teacher
named Marcus and his followers became known as Marcosians and were well
established in the Rhone Valley by the third century. Irenaeus, a conservative
Christian writer of the day, criticized their nudity and religious beliefs,
remarking: “Marcus is regarded by these senseless and brain cracked as working
miracles<span class="e">29</span>.”
<br><br>
The Adamites (no connection with the Adamianis) were an active sect in Bohemia
during the fifteenth century A.D. They were part of the Hussite Reformation.
This group set up numerous religious nude communities.
<br><br>
Natural-living Christians were referred to by traditionalists as
‘Gnostic heretics’, because their Christian doctrines were influenced by
esoteric teachings and Eastern mystical thought. Henry de Horatev has written
that, while in one sense they could be considered Gnostics,
“they were not Gnostics but just plain radical
Christians<span class="e">30</span>.”
<br><br>
These ‘in-the-buff’ religious groups were not exhibitionists, preferring to
live in isolated and inaccessible seclusion, protected by the forests in Gaul,
the deserts in Egypt, and the islands of Greece.
<br><br>
They built sturdy stone walls for privacy and protection from the hostile
communities surrounding them. DeHoratev reflects, “How much it is to be
regretted that the only records we have of the early Christian nudists come
to us from hostile censorious quarters! Let us hope that someday, in some
European or African monastery or tomb, there will be discovered a cache of
lost Gnostic books which will shed new light on the persecuted groups of
the nudists of antiquity, just as the Dead Sea Scrolls have brought new
understanding to the old Hebrew literature<span class="e">31</span>.”
</p>
<h2>Nudity as Protest</h2>
<p class="p1">
Nakedness has been used throughout history as a form of protest as well as
an expression of positive human values. If one’s aim is to get noticed,
in a clothed society stripping is certainly an effective method of gaining
attention. This was a tactic used by some hippies in the 1960s and also by
a number of religious protesters throughout history. For example, regarding
the famous St. Francis of Assisi: “0n being rebuked by his bishop, he snatched
off his clothes and walked naked through the streets<span class="e">32</span>.”
<br><br>
While it is possible, of course, to interpret this as an act of religious
humility rather than protest, there is no doubt about the Doukhobors of Canada,
who left Russia in 1898 (in Russian: духоборы), and still exist in small
colonies to the north of the United States. An extremist and individualistic
sect of anarchists who separated from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1785,
the Doukhobors numbered some 15,000 persons when they first came to Canada.
Calling themselves ‘Sons of Freedom’, they were constantly in trouble with the
law because of their refusal to conform with Canadian laws governing
educational, civic, and cultural standards. The Doukhobors often protested en
masse in the nude. Their first nude parade was in 1903, and though the
demonstrators were prosecuted and jailed, they continued this unique manner
of making a statement for several decades.
</p>
<h2>Body Freedom Related to Status of Women</h2>
<p cůass="p1">
Even after European religious practices placed tight restrictions on body
freedom and sexual enjoyment, there were periods of relaxed attitudes, perhaps
as a reaction to prolonged social and sexual repressions. Jorge Lewinski,
author of The Naked and The Nude, notes that some historians connect such
fluctuations with a changed status of women in these cultures. He points to
the early Middle Ages as being strictly patriarchal, dominated by priests with
repressive attitudes toward nakedness and sex. The later Middle Ages, however,
are noted for chivalry, troubadours, admiration of women, and more relaxed
attitudes. The Renaissance was an era of greater prestige for women, with its
Greco‑Roman dress and appreciation for nonreligious nude paintings. The
increased body freedom appears to be related to the flourishing arts movement
of the period.
<br><br>
Then came Calvin and Luther, who brought back patriarchal moral restraints
during the Reformation movement. This was again followed by a relaxation of
morals in the eighteenth century which, for a short time, restored women’s
social position. Next, there was a deep plunge into the restrictive,
patriarchal Victorian period--from which the feminist-oriented twentieth
century has not yet completely emerged<span class="e">33</span>.
</p>
<h2>The Puritan Ethic, Victorianism, and Body Shame</h2>
<p class="p1">
The whole man from head to foot is thus, as it were, drenched in a flood
of wickedness so that no part has remained without sin and so everything which
springs from him is counted as sin.
</p>
<p class="p2">
<i>John Calvin,</i>
<br>
16<span class="e">th</span> century Reformist
</p>
<p class="p1">
Our weakness lies not in our works but in our nature; our person, nature, and
entire being are corrupted through Adam’s fall
</p>
<p class="p2">
<i>Martin Luther,</i><br>16<span class="e">th</span> century Reformist
</p>
<p class="p1">
John Calvin, a Frenchman who was incensed by the wealth, flamboyance, and moral
license of the ruling Catholic Church, became a leader of the Reform movement.
Forced to flee his country, Calvin received recognition in Switzerland as
the founder ofprotestant Presbyterianism. He also gained fame as a founder
of the ‘puritan ethic’.
<br><br>
Martin Luther, a German monk, was the ‘Father of the Reformation’. In 1517 he
broke with papal authority to form the Protestant Lutheran Church, rebelling
against what he saw as the moral laxity and extravagances of the Catholic
Church and its aristocracy. Luther brought fundamentalist, no-nonsense
<br><br>
With the advent of Protestantism came biblical interpretations which stressed,
as never before, the impurity and sin inherent in the human body.
Also emphasized was devil-fear. While God was mind and spirit, the Devil
represented evil and tantalizing body sensuality. Suspected witches were
persecuted and put to death on the flimsiest of hearsay. A test for detecting
a witch in England (abolished in 1219 but said to have been practiced until
the 18<span class="e">th</span> century) is described in Robert T. Smith’s
<i>Cult and Occult</i>. “First they stripped her.Then they tied the thumb of
her right hand to the big toe of her left foot. Then the thumb of her left hand
to the big toe of her right foot. Then they threw her into a river or pond.
If she sank and drowned, she wasn’t a witch. If she floated, she was helped by
the Devil and they would pull her out
and execute her<span class="e">34</span>.”
<br><br>
The puritan ethic came to America with the Mayflower. Our first settlers were
hard-working Protestant pilgrim pioneers who had neither the time nor the
inclination for frivolity. Their body guilt and shame became the law of
the land, and this law was even more extreme in the United States than
overseas. In Europe, extreme prudery was largely confined to the middle class,
since the aristocracy and lower classes were apt to take more liberties with
the rules of religious moralists. However, in America, the moral
prohibition against so-called ‘acts of the Devil’ was stronger.
<br><br>
During the 1600s and 1700s, any deviation from the norm in behavior or
lifestyle was suspect. Hysterical zealots carried out witch hunts that were
even more senseless than those in Europe. And a law in effect while New Jersey
was still a British colony allotted the same penalty given witches to women:
“…whether virgins, maids, or widows who shall after this Act, impose upon,
seduce, or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty’s subjects by virtue of
scents, cosmetics, washes, paints, artificial teeth, or highheeled
shoes<span class="e">35</span>.”
<br><br>
In Europe, the few years of physical and emotional body-freedom experienced
during the Napoleonic period shifted to the version of puritanical repression
known to history as Victorianism. A middle‑class morality was developing that
emphasized self-reliance, self-control, and love of work. This fit well with
the views of religious moralists, whose beliefs were now supported by the
ruling monarchy. In England, Queen Victoria (who reigned from 1837 to 1901)
and Prince Albert set patterns of conduct that were accepted as
the new morality of Europe and North America.
<br><br>
Shame regarding sexual desires and activities reached such extremes that
a woman in the mid-1800s minimized and hid all body parts except her face.
She wore layers of petticoats and was enveloped in clothing from high-collared
blouse to floor-length bustled skirt, a bonnet completely covering her head
and a shawl drawn around the body. Even a lady’s hands were hidden. An 1840
Victorian ladies’ journal advised that “Gloves are always graceful for a lady
in the house except at meals.” And some women did not appear at the table
barehanded. They wore fingerless mittens<span class="e">37</span>.
Men were also expected to be ‘proper’ in both dress and manner.
<br><br>
However, obliterating the body was not sufficient for the morality of the
Victorian period. Sexual words and references to body parts were removed
from ‘proper’ language to prevent the stimulation of sinful sexual desires.
It was offensive to mention the human body in the mixed company of polite
society. Legs became ‘limbs’, a chicken leg became ‘dark meat’, and a chicken
breast ‘white meat’. Some people took modesty to the extreme of covering such
items as piano legs. Thomas Bowdler brought ‘respectability’ to Shakespeare
by publishing ten volumes of his works with all words alluding to sex or
nudity removed.
<br><br>
The Victorian age lasted from mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth
century. Victorianism created a society of contradictions by placing body
taboos on normal biological urges and needs. Medical textbooks of the time
stated that any woman who had sexual pleasure was abnormal. Frigidity for women
was considered desirable, and doctors prescribed sedatives for those who were
not frigid. While it was acceptable for men to have sexual desires, the
medical profession warned that male indulgences would lead to a permanent
drain on their psychic and physical resources.
<br><br>
Nevertheless, the pride of the Victorian husband in having a ‘proper’ wife
was a facade that hid a dark side. There were more prostitutes per capita
roaming the streets of London during this time than at any other period of
that city’s history. A flourishing trade in pornography and a profitable
trade in virgins existed. Young girls were abducted: “The going rate on the
clandestine market fluctuated between five and forty Pounds, according to
their age and beauty<span class="e">38</span>.” After having been disgraced,
these girls often joined the ranks of prostitutes.
<br><br>
This was the heyday of surreptitious ‘French Postcards’, printed photographs
of nude females that by today’s standards would be considered little more than
coy or mildly suggestive. However, these postcards were undoubtedly ‘racy’
to the deprived male who had no other opportunity to satisfy natural curiosity
about the female body. Along these lines, it was reported that the famous
poets who were symbols of nineteenth century romance, Elizabeth Barrett and her
husband, Robert Browning, never saw each other’s nude body.
<br><br>
There was censorship of books, art, theater, and dance. However, nudity was
allowed in paintings of an allegorical or cherubic nature. It was also
permissible to view the torture of nude or transparently draped saints, and
pictures of the sensuous, suffering male Saviour were displayed in respectable
homes. “In the penumbra of a chapel, Saint Sebastian triumphed on a canvas
and in stone as a glorified pinup of the pious, while Adam and Eve, the
perennial exhibitionists, could always be depended upon to rescue nakedness
from oblivion. In plain daylight, however, the human body was carefully hidden
from sight. Clothes were hermetic<span class="e">39</span>.”
<br><br>
However, reality in secular art provoked violent reactions during the
Victorian period. Such familiar works as Gustave Courbet’s <i>Bathers</i>
and Manet’s <i>Luncheon on the Gross</i> and <i>Olympia</i> were considered
obscene. While French writer Emile Zola passionately defended Manet, the
extensive collection of Greek and Roman statues displayed in the Vatican was
‘fig-leafed’. Nude sculptures sent to museums by missionaries were mutilated
or covered with loin cloths.
<br><br>
In the late 1940s, a team from <i>Life Magazine</i> was assigned to take the
first direct-color photographs of the renowned Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
Church authorities were cooperative with one exception. All photographs
of Michelangelo’s famed ceiling had to be cropped before publication to remove
the frontal nudity of the figures. However, there was no restriction on
photographing the murals on the lower walls. It was learned that one of the
previous popes had assigned an artist to take care of lower-level nudity
by painting drapes over exposed midsections. Since the famous ceiling was so
inaccessible, its figures had not been subjected to draping.
<br><br>
The United States had Anthony Comstock, notorious for his crusades against
anything suggestive of sex or sensuality. A special agent for the US Post
Office starting in 1868, he waged a relentless fight against ‘smut’, resulting
in the confiscation of the masterpieces of such famous painters and writers as
George Bernard Shaw, Tolstoy, Zola, Balzac, Stendhal, and Flaubert. His
censorship powers limited the body freedom, art, and reading material of the
nation for four decades. And his repressive mandates remained part of the U.S.
postal regulations for many years after his death<span class="e">40</span>.
<br><br>
The literati of the day were constantly at war with Comstock. Writers and
critics complained that ‘…many of his cases concerned books and plays and
pictures which were pornographic only by the wildest stretch of the
imagination."41 Comstock's obsession with what he considered smut made him
privy to many of today's masterpieces of erotica, such as the works of
D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller, the Kama Kala temple art of India, and many
sculptural and pictorial works of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He also founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, was given
police powers, and carried a gun while looking for lewdity.
“On one occasion he entered a brothel and offered three women fourteen dollars
to strip naked, then arrested them when they did<span class="e">42</span>.”
The predecessor of Comstock was ‘hell and brimstone’ Rev. John R. McDowell.
This protector of the masses from the evils of licentiousness was secretly
a collector of pornography<span class="e">43</span>.
<br><br>
Perhaps the most cruel and destructive manifestation of Victorianism was the
insensitive treatment of native cultures by religious missionaries and European
colonists. With no regard for native pride and dignity, for their religious
customs, nor for the practicality of their dress and lifestyle, arrogant
victorianism demanded conformity with European customs. Forcing clothing on
those peoples whose cultures had previously permitted them to experience body
freedom was not only demeaning and humiliating but an effective and constant
reminder of their ‘inferior’ heritage and status. An 1894 report by a former
governor of a Tonga village describes these conditions: “It was punishable by
fine and imprisonment to wear native clothing; punishable by fine and
imprisonment to wear long hair or a garland of flowers; punishable by fine and
imprisonment to wrestle or to play ball; punishable not to wear shirt and
trousers and, in certain localities, coat and shoes
also<span class="e">41</span>…”
<br><br>
The Christian missionaries created cover-up garments from whatever source was
available. They often forced the natives to wear sacklike coverings, but odd
assortments of discarded clothing from the Continent were also given to them.
Richard Harrington tells of seeing “a strapping black stevedore in Leopoidville
wear a child’s pink bonnet, unaware he was ridiculous to the eyes of the white
man. I have seen African women with castoff brassieres arranged above their
breasts for use as pockets<span class="e">45</span>.”
<br><br>
“Since the natives had never learned to wash or mend clothes, it took them a
long time to adapt to European garments, which were at first worn until they
fell to pieces. There was a great decline in cleanliness with resulting skin
diseases and other infections<span class="e">46</span>.” The natives were
subjected to the same kind of embarrassment in having to be seen in clothing
as we, in a clothed society, would feel upon being forced to abandon ours.
It is a wonder that more missionaries didn’t end up in the cannibal’s pot!
<br><br>
However, there were always voices of protest against the moralistic,
antisexual, and body-shame edicts of the Victorian period, especially from the
educated classes. In 1833, Thomas Carlyle wrote a much-discussed book,
<i>Sartor Resartus</i>, in which he challenged the dogma of the
indispensability of clothing. He discussed the moral, religious, and polifical
influence of clothes, humorously observing that if there were nakedness
in the House of Lords, their power would be diminished. Also,
he philosophically considered the possibility of
a nude world<span class="e">47</span>.
<br><br>
Benjamin Franklin wrote of his daily ritual, a nude cold-air bath each morning
while reading or writing. Franklin is reported to have been seen swimming
the Thames in London without clothing. In Leysin, Switzerland,
Dr. Charles Rollier was obtaining cures of tuberculosis and other diseases by
prescribing sunbathing as an element of treatment. British writers and artists,
such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Aubrey Beardsley, ridiculed the
mores of their society and demonstrated their beliefs by occasionally wearing
extreme clothing or displaying unconventional behavior. In America, writer
Henry David Thoreau and poet Walt Whitman expressed strong feelings about
the need for back-to-nature innocence and body freedom.
</p>
<h2>Twentieth Century Modernism</h2>
<p class="p1">
At the turn of the century, famous American dancer Isadora Duncan started
wearing loosely draped clothing in ordinary life and on the stage, saying, "I
live in my body like a spirit in a cloud." She captivated audiences in America
and Europe with the graceful new freedom and expressiveness of her performances
in filmy, flowing Greek tunics. By her break with convention, Duncan not only
started a new fashion in dance but opened the way to twentieth century
modernism in clothing, making the corset obsolete.
<br><br>
The rebellion against Victorian clothing took another turn in Germany where,
in 19O3, Richard Ungewitter wrote a book, <i>Die Nacktheit,</i> which
advocated a return to ancient Greek attitudes toward nudity for hygienic and
moralistic reasons. In 1905 Paul Zimmerman opened the first resort for social
and family nudism, Freilichtpark (Free Light Park). At the same time another
German, Dr. Heinrich Pudor, wrote a book titled <i>Nacktcultur,</i> which
discussed the benefits of nudity in coeducation and advocated the enjoyment of
sports free of cumbersome clothing. “Dr. Pudor called nudity aristocratic and
slavery to clothes a plebeian characteristic, stating that all nations which
completely disregard the rights of their people to nudity rapidly become
decadent<span class="e">48</span>.” The nudist movement (now international in
scope) sprang from such simple beginnings, in bold defiance of what had become
a century-long mentality of body denial.
<br><br>
The women’s suffragette movement had begun to challenge the status quo prior
to World War One, but it wasn't until after the war that the tight reign of
repressive morality began to shake loose. When their men were sent off to war,
women took charge of managing their families and worked at jobs never before
available to them. By the 1920s women had emancipated themselves from
restricting dresses and were showing off their bodies in abbreviated blouses
and short skirts. Women even discarded the crown of femininity by ‘bobbing’
their hair. Furtive curiosity about nakedness was replaced by the openness of
nudity in entertainment. Burlesque striptease, Ziegfeld's Follies,
Earl Carroll’s Vanities, and George White’s Scandals were spectacular and
sensual displays of the joy and beauty of the female body. On the bolder
Parisian stage, musical productions included full nudity.
<br><br>
However, the permissive glamour of the 1920s "flapper" era was tempered by the
great depression that followed. By this time the body was liberated from
cumbersome clothing, sexuality was publicly acknowledged, and it didn’t seem
possible to go back. Nevertheless, there were, and are, many indications that
our culture as a whole has not broken completely from its heritage of guilt
and shame rooted in the "original sin" written about in our biblical roots.
<br><br>
The naked body is still considered unnatural. Nudity on American televtsion is
rare. During the daytime hours, when children are watching, nudity isn’t
permissible. Children are protected from the ‘damaging’ effects of viewing
a natural, normal, and harmless human body, but body violence is condoned
as entertainment for our children and ourselves. Such confused value systems
help fill the psychiatric couch!
</p>
<h2>Notes</h2>
<ol>
<li>
Quoted from an anonymous article in <i>The Los Angeles Times</i>, January 3, 1988.
</li><li>
Tibor Sekelj, ‘Living in the Jungle’,<i>Nude Living</i> #39 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1967).
</li><li>
Henry de Horatev, ‘The Nudist Pharoah’, <i>Nude Living</i> #9 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1962).
</li><li>
J. Herman, ‘King and Queen of the Sun’, <i>Nudist Adventure</i> #15 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1968).
</li><li>
de Horatev, op. cit.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Anthony J. Papalas, ‘Greek Attitudes Toward Nudity’, <i>Nudist Adventure</i> #13 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1967).
</li><li>
Paul Le Valley, <i>Ancient India,</i> ‘Clothed with the Sun’, Vol.6.4 (Oshkosh, WI: The Naturists, Inc., Winter, 1986-87).
</li><li>
Papalas, op. cit.
</li><li>
Lynn Poole and Gray Poole, <i>History of the Olympic Games</i> (New York: Ivan Obolensky Publishers, 1963).
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Papalas, op. cit.
</li><li>
Poole, op. ciL
</li><li>
Le Valley, op. cit.
</li><li>
de Horatev, op. cit.
</li><li>
Le Valley, op. cit.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Murray Wren, ‘A Nudist view of Social History’, <i>Nudist Adventure</i> #9 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1966).
</li><li>
Mulk Raj Anand, ‘Kama Kala’ (Nagel Publishers, 1959) (from a book review in Evergreen Review cited in Nude Living#2) (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1961).
</li><li>
Bernard Rudofsky, <i>Are Clothes Modern?</i> (Chicago: Paul Theobald Publishers, 1947).
</li><li>
William Hartm an, Marilyn Fithian, and Donald Johnson, <i>Nudist Society</i> (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1970).
</li><li>
Marvin K. Opler, ‘The Absence of Clothes Doesn’t Mean the Absence of Morality’, <i>Sexual Behavior Magazine</i> (January, 1973).
</li><li>
L. Clovis Hirning, ‘Clothing and Nudism’, <i>Encyclopedia of Sexual Behavior</i>, eds. Albert Ellis and Albert Abarbanee (New York: Hawthorn l~ooks, 1961).
</li><li>
Nathaniel Lande, ‘Mindstyles, Lifestyles’ (Los Angeles: Price/Stern/Sloan, 1976).
</li><li>
Justine Glass, <i>Witchcraft</i>, the Sixth Sense (North Hollywood, CA: Wilshire Book Company, 1974).
</li><li>
Martin Wadestone, ‘Nudism and Christianity’, <i>Sundial</i> #19 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1964).
</li><li>
Henry deHoratev, ‘Early Christian Nudists’, <i>Nude Living</i> #2 (Los Angeles: Elysium, Inc., 1961).
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li><li>
Bernard Rudofsky, <i>The Unfashionable Human Body</i> (Garden City, NY: l)oubleday& Company, 1971).
</li><li>
Jorge Lewinski, <i>The Naked and The Nude</i> (New York: Harmony Books, 1987).
</li><li>
Robert T. Smith, <i>Cult and Occult</i> (Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1973).
</li><li>
Lawrence Langner, <i>The Importance of Wearing Clothes</i> (New York: Hastings Rouse Press, 1959).
</li><li>
Edmund Kieman, ‘The 19th Century and Nudity’, <i>Nude Living</i> #1 (Los Angeles: Elysium Publishing, Inc., 1961).
</li><li>
Emily Coleman and Betty Edwards, <i>Body Liberation</i> (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1977).
</li><li>
Lewinski, op. cit.
</li><li>
Rudofsky, <i>The Unfashionable Human Body,</i> op. cit.
</li><li>
Lewinski, op. cit.
</li><li>
Hartman et al, op. cit.
</li><li>
Dennis Craig Smith with Dr. William Sparks, <i>Growing Up Without Shame</i> (Los Angeles: Elysium Growth Press, 1986).
</li><li>
Lewinski, op. cit.
</li><li>
Rudofsky, <i>The Unfashionable Human Body,</i> op. cit.
</li><li>
Richard Harrington, ‘The Vanishing Nude’, <i>Nude Living</i> #27 (Los Angeles: Elysium Publishing, Inc., 1965)
</li><li>
Hirning, op. cit.
</li><li>
Kiernan, op. cit.
</li><li>
Ibid.
</li>
</ol>
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