Nudity

Why Is The U.S. So Immature About Nudity?

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Lauren

Europe is a continent known for great food, stunning architecture, and of course, nude beaches. These attractions are a major reason why Europe is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world.

While the United States is no stranger to some of these attractions, boasting several beautiful buildings and world-renowned restaurants itself, it is a lot harder to find nude beaches or any other form of public nudity in the states.

That’s because, in the U.S., naked bodies are often considered to be explicit and something that needs to be covered. While there are many factors that contribute to this mindset, a major contributing factor is media consumption.

The Hays Code

The American idea that nudity is explicit is in part due to The Hays Code, otherwise known as The Motion Picture Production Code, that was adopted in 1930 and fully put into effect in July of 1934.

The Hays Code was established in order to ensure that no movie would be produced that would “lower the moral standards of those who see it,” and it included prohibitions on nudity, excessive alcohol and drug use, sacrilegious acts, revenge plots, sexual scenes, and detailed crime scenes.

While The Hays Code clearly condemned movies depicting acts with nudity, eroticism, or acts they considered perverse, films were still able to show and imply violence under certain circumstances.

Many of the ideas outlined in The Hays Code have continued to be upheld under the Motion Picture Association of America’s current film rating system that was originally established in 1968. Under this system, movies that depict violent acts can potentially receive lower (more child-friendly) ratings than movies that use more than one expletive or have scenes with nudity.

In this way, some parents who would be hesitant to allow their teenagers to watch a film with an R-rating due to nudity may not bat an eye at a PG-13-rated movie without nudity that has violent content that would be considered explicit in many other countries.

Because these guidelines shape the way people in the United States consume media, it has helped shape the idea that nudity, even non-sexual nudity, is more explicit than some forms of violence. This mindset contributes to the reason why nude bodies are considered explicit in the United States, whereas violence that would be considered explicit in other countries is relatively commonplace here.

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