Sometimes I feel like the system we grew up in disconnected us so much from our natural essence that even something as basic as our own body became taboo.
Nudity is still seen as something that needs to be hidden — as if showing skin is offensive or immoral. And yes, a body can be sexual, it can spark desire and attraction… but since when is that a bad thing?
We were taught to look at the body with guilt, to associate sexuality with something wrong, and to forget that nudity can also be free, human, intimate… even spiritual.
It’s almost like the body became invisible — like it doesn’t truly belong to us — and everything related to it (pleasure, touch, desire, attraction) has to go through filters that repress it.
Has anyone else felt this way? Has it been hard for you to break out of that structure? To reclaim your body, your desire, and your relationship with nudity as something natural, not something to hide or be ashamed of?
Just want to open up this space for honest conversation — from desire, but also from awareness.
Comments
Have you seen most people naked not a good sight
Honestly, maybe it’s because I live/grew up in the west, nudity is far from taboo at this point. If anything society itself is hypersexualised to the point where you can’t escape it in aggressive marketing, on the internet or society at large. I think a lot of the reason so many men suffer from the “loneliness epidemic” is because society has convinced them sex is the only metric to judge your value. Obviously I know for most of the world it’s the opposite but I’m just only seeing this. I do completely agree with you on the lack of connection with the spiritual aspect, that is long gone and dead (if it even ever existed) its all commercialized
I think 1 reason is bcuz parents try to discourage teens from having sex too soon, as their hormones are raging, they tend to say it’s “bad”. It seems like if there was more early acceptance of nudity, education about our bodies and pregnancy prevention maybe teens wouldn’t be so hell bent on “doing it”. I know as a teen I was asked if I was a virgin, not knowing what it meant, I said NO. (I was) I thought whatever it was surely I would know if I was! Dummy me, I was soon thereafter not a virgin anymore.
It taken me years to overcome this. But now I have a secluded place on the river that I can be naked 24 hours a day inside and outside. Myself I prefer nudity whenever it is possible.
Nudity has been seen as a sexual symbol for way to long. To me being nude is not a sexual act .
What is/is not attractive is entirely a societal construct. African tribes are often less clothed than Western cultures.
Sometimes society places rules around certain things, especially rules rooted in religion. In turn that makes certain things taboo. Humans are inherently curious creatures. What would be more interesting than things we’re not supposed to see? The human mind fantasizes about it and fetishizes it.
Nudity, as far as I’ve been able to tell, truly is influenced by upbringing.
It’s one of those things that’s so ingrained in someone that even if they understand that nudity is not inherently sexual later it seems like it’s hard for people to still fully embrace that logic.
I, myself, was not raised in an environment where nudity was ever overtly anything. It wasn’t a big deal one way or the other. So, it wasn’t like I ever lived in an environment where it was encouraged or embraced, but I didn’t live in an environment where it was shunned or made taboo either. It just… was.
🤷🏻
Ultimately I’ve come to the conclusion that nudity comes down to safety and vulnerability. If a person feels safe and not vulnerable they generally can overcome their apprehensions and embrace nudity for what it is. It’s generally only when they do not feel safe or if they feel that they are in a vulnerable position that there’s a problem with it later down the road (for people who were made to believe it was taboo, initially).
religion.
Not every culture is like this. There are societies in modern industrialized nations where people take a break from work to go to a sauna naked with their coworkers. Because like you said, it’s just bodies.
I think it’s upbringing
Biblically, that’s one of the first things Adam and Eve did – they covered up.
“We” are idiots?
I think some really real and interesting points have come up in this thread, and I love that we can talk about these topics without falling into judgment or mockery. Something I’ve always believed is that if sexuality and nudity were taught and experienced in a more open, natural, and conscious way, the morbid obsession around them would decrease significantly.
We live in a society that taught us to hide the body, to fear desire, and to feel shame about something as human as pleasure. And instead of protecting us, that often leads to repression, distorted sexual behavior, and in extreme cases, even crimes related to sexuality.
I imagine a world where we can look at a body and just see it as what it is — a human expression — without immediately thinking “this is wrong” or “this is vulgar.” Where we can acknowledge attraction without objectifying, or reacting from urgency or discomfort.
Because yes, a body can attract, it can spark desire — and that’s not a bad thing. What’s bad is that we were never taught to process that desire through freedom and respect. And I believe that’s where the real change begins.
Too much Christian moral influence on society? Shame and Nudity and Original sin are all linked in their belief system.
As most comments already pointed out – it’s a cultural thing. Plenty of cultures which barely cover up, and Japan for example where onsens are hugely popular. And it’s not just a West vs the Rest thing either. Across Scandinavia, saunas are very normal things to visit – be it with family, friends or colleagues. And unlike the Japanese Onsen, these saunas are mixed.
I think it’s because we are taught something is or isn’t sexual (often in a religious context), and that sexual things should be avoided/kept secret as much as possible.
Don’t forget that there are still also Christian sects in Europe and America who think women’s ankles are hyper sexual and should be covered up too. Same goes for certain Islamic sects which go as far as covering up hands, as these too are considered sexual. But all of these distinctions are cultural, and not biological.
It’s also hard to test to see what is and isn’t sexual (and should therefore covered up, according to the (un)written laws of the cultures), as virtually no one is raised in a neutral state considering sexuality and what is or isn’t arousing about the human body.
It’s a cultural mindset which, as such, can change. Personally, I think if we were to sexualize ourselves less, a lot of issues in the world on how we treat each other (particularly women) would be resolved.
A lot of my philosophy is centered on “the animal: man.” I know what you mean, it really does feel like we’ve turned our backs on our natural selves to the point that almost everything primal about us is some kind of taboo, sin, or even crime. I think at some point we tamed ourselves, a bit by force, and like a gardener we pruned our own behavior back in such a way that we could flourish in others.
Imagine seeing a delicious looking fruit in a nearby bush. You reach for it, and in doing so you end up cutting your hand. It’s nothing too deep, nothing you can’t live with, and certainly worth the free meal with that genuinely delicious fruit. But when you’ve ate your fill, and the taste has faded away, all that benefit you’d gained is difficult to appreciate when the only thing left to feel is the sting on your hand.
We’ve paid heavy prices for what we have now. At this point, it’s damn near impossible to tell which sacrifice led to what, so there’s no telling what might topple over if we yank it back. Maybe it’s all foundational, maybe none of it is. I don’t think it’s something we can just think or feel our way through, slow and careful might be the only safe approach on a societal scale. I say that because, in my view, if the truth of reality was just what made sense, we wouldn’t need scientists at all, would we?
Either way, I live my outward life as a man well domesticated, with just enough of an edge to make believe I’m free. In private, though, let the gardener be damned, it’s all about the animal and our deepest natural selves.
Definetly cultural thing. I have grown up in a culture where nudity is fairly normal. Families and friends go sauna together, naked. Most movies have casual nudity. We had commercials where there was fully naked people, going from sauna to roll in the snow.
I have always found it funny and odd, when in american movies boobs or penises are never shown, all nudity as sexual, in tv nipples are blurred, names of bodyparts are bleeped. Some movies getting adults only rating, that could be shown here middle of day, or even in schools.
It’s personal and cultural
Religious people using it to control other people
What excitement would be there if naked bodies were something ordinary?
Honestly, the cat is out of the bag. We have sexualized each other to the point of no return. It’d be pure chaos if suddenly everybody was walking around naked. Things we do want to see distract us, and the things we don’t want to see repulse us. Then the self esteem issues and social media would be vicious. It’s far too late to revert the masses. Small communities, sure. It could work. But everybody? I don’t think it ever be a net positive