---
title: "Nudity"
chunk: 9/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:11.011168+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The men's locker room—which in Western cultures had been a setting for open male social nudity—is, in the 21st century United States, becoming a space of modesty and distancing between men. For much of the 20th century, the norm in locker rooms had been for men to undress completely without embarrassment. That norm has changed; in the 21st century, men typically wear towels or other garments in the locker room most of the time and avoid any interaction with others while naked. This shift is the result of changes in social norms regarding masculinity and how maleness is publicly expressed; also, open male nudity has become associated with homosexuality. In facilities such as the YMCA that cater to multiple generations, the young are uncomfortable sharing space with older people who do not cover up. The behavior in women's locker rooms and showers also indicates a generational change, younger women covering more, and full nudity being brief and rare, while older women are more open and casual.
In the 21st century, some high-end New York City gyms were redesigned to cater to millennials who want to shower without ever being seen naked. The trend for privacy is being extended to public schools, colleges and community facilities replacing "gang showers" and open locker rooms with individual stalls and changing rooms. The change also addresses issues of transgender usage and family use when one parent accompanies children of differing gender.

==== Arts-related activities ====
Distinct from the nude artworks created, sessions where artists work from live models are a social situation where nudity has a long tradition. The role of the model both as part of visual art education and in the creation of finished works has evolved since antiquity in Western societies and worldwide wherever western cultural practices in the visual arts have been adopted. At modern universities, art schools, and community groups art model is a job, one requirement of which is to pose "undraped". Some have investigated the benefits of arts education including drawing nudes from life as an opportunity to satisfy youthful curiosity regarding the human body in a non-sexual context.

=== Public nudity ===

Participants in the counterculture of the 1960s embraced nudity as part of their daily routine and to emphasize their rejection of anything artificial. Countercultural nudity differed from classical nudism by agreeing that nudity is natural and fun but may also be sexual while rejecting the sexual exploitation of women. It also became an expression of dissent in opposition to hostility and violence, hippies finding that nudity interfered with the usual procedures of civil authority. 

In the mainstream, Diana Vreeland could note in Vogue in 1970 that a bikini bottom worn alone had become fashionable for young women on beaches from Saint-Tropez, France to Sardinia, Italy. In 1974, an article in The New York Times noted an increase in American tolerance for nudity, both at home and in public, approaching that of Europe. By 1998, American attitudes toward sexuality had continued to become more liberal than in prior decades, but the reaction to total nudity in public was generally negative. However, some elements of the counterculture, including nudity, continued with events such as Burning Man.
Attitudes toward public nudity vary from complete prohibition in Islamic countries to general acceptance, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany, of nudity for recreation and at special events. Such special events can be understood by expanding the historical concept of Carnival, where otherwise transgressive behaviors are allowed on particular occasions to include public nudity. Examples include the Solstice Swim in Tasmania (part of the Dark Mofo festival) and World Naked Bike Rides.
Germany is known for being tolerant of public nudity in many situations. In a 2014 survey, 28 percent of Austrians and Germans had sunbathed nude on a beach, 18 percent of Norwegians, 17 percent of Spaniards and Australians, 16 percent of New Zealanders. Of the nationalities surveyed, the Japanese had the lowest percentage, 2 percent.
In the United States in 2012, the city council of San Francisco, California, banned public nudity in the inner-city area. This move was initially resisted because the city was known for its liberal culture and had previously tolerated public nudity. Similarly, park rangers began issuing tickets against nudity at San Onofre State Beach—also a place with long tradition of public nudity—in 2010.

==== Naturism ====