Nudity and Nakedness

[BlueInGreen]

in front of your spouse before slapping some skin

It's called the conjugal act.

Yes. Or sexual intercourse. Or sex. Or hanky panky.

[BlueInGreen]

There was a (then) famous book by Sir Kenneth Clark about the beauty and purity the human form in classical art, which strongly influenced me.  Then there were Pre-Raphaelites, who married and made ladies of their models, adding legitimacy to the idea. 

Perhaps it's this book? The Nude: A Study In Ideal Form

https://www.amazon.com/Nude-Study-Ideal-Form/dp/0691017883/ref=d_pd_sim_sccl_1_1/132-4200539-9967465?pd_rd_w=348Re&content-id=amzn1.sym.9125e5ab-ea95-44ef-9958-112d5f0f26f0&pf_rd_p=9125e5ab-ea95-44ef-9958-112d5f0f26f0&pf_rd_r=9H8FCRV1MAP59ECJ9E75&pd_rd_wg=evS2y&pd_rd_r=c42959e5-6c51-4eb6-9310-51d1235693ac&pd_rd_i=0691017883&psc=1

[Jacafamala]

I think that it's okay for painting and sculpting. But I was a fine arts major in college. Never had a problem with lust over that. If it leads you to sin, then okay, go paint landscapes or a bowl of fruit of something.

I mean, what are you gonna do with all the great works like Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel?

I'd stay off the nude beach. Gotta be a bunch of creepy guys out there.

[drummerboy]

A naked body isn't a bad thing by itself. Sleeping in the nude is neither good nor bad. Being naked in one's room after a shower is neither good nor bad. Being naked in front of your spouse before slapping some skin isn't bad. If you're naked because you want to do some social experience then that's questionable. If you're naked because some tv/film producer/director wants your character naked "because we can - nudity is normal [in tv/film]" that's even a bigger problem.

The depth of the discussion should lead to "Why is that person naked?" The "why" is where we get into the real interesting tidbits. This then should lead into the normative claim of "should." Should one take off their clothes in X or Y situation?

Talk to first responders/paramedics and you'll learn quite alot of people go around "in a state of nature."  Think of that next time you sit on a friend's couch.....

[BlueInGreen]

Talk to first responders/paramedics and you'll learn quite alot of people go around "in a state of nature."  Think of that next time you sit on a friend's couch.....

What's your point and what does that have to do with what I said?

[AveMaria12]

I think that it's okay for painting and sculpting. But I was a fine arts major in college. Never had a problem with lust over that. If it leads you to sin, then okay, go paint landscapes or a bowl of fruit of something.

I mean, what are you gonna do with all the great works like Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel?

I'd stay off the nude beach. Gotta be a bunch of creepy guys out there.

From my experience, there are various groups and intentions present at the nude beach. Most act the exact same as if they were clothed, there can be a group of gay people, and often just many friends and families just hanging out. I usually just go there by myself and keep to myself. They're is the odd weird guy, but I think that is the case with any beach
I love skinny dipping, and the fact that you don't need a towel or to change out of a wet bathing suit when you're done. I've never been gawked at, and it seems like most people are there just to enjoy the beach. Nor have I been more sexually attracted than at any other beach - though at both, custody of the eyes is an important virtue to have.

Any sexual act is forbidden among nudists. Are they perfect? No. But, it's a far cry from the orgies done people think of.

That being said, the experience would probably be much different as a man than as a woman.

[bedtimeprayers]

I think that it's okay for painting and sculpting. But I was a fine arts major in college. Never had a problem with lust over that. If it leads you to sin, then okay, go paint landscapes or a bowl of fruit of something.

I mean, what are you gonna do with all the great works like Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel?

I'd stay off the nude beach. Gotta be a bunch of creepy guys out there.

From my experience, there are various groups and intentions present at the nude beach. Most act the exact same as if they were clothed, there can be a group of gay people, and often just many friends and families just hanging out. I usually just go there by myself and keep to myself. They're is the odd weird guy, but I think that is the case with any beach
I love skinny dipping, and the fact that you don't need a towel or to change out of a wet bathing suit when you're done. I've never been gawked at, and it seems like most people are there just to enjoy the beach. Nor have I been more sexually attracted than at any other beach - though at both, custody of the eyes is an important virtue to have.

Any sexual act is forbidden among nudists. Are they perfect? No. But, it's a far cry from the orgies done people think of.

That being said, the experience would probably be much different as a man than as a woman.

Skinny dipping is sinful and indecent...

[drummerboy]

I think that it's okay for painting and sculpting. But I was a fine arts major in college. Never had a problem with lust over that. If it leads you to sin, then okay, go paint landscapes or a bowl of fruit of something.

I mean, what are you gonna do with all the great works like Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel?

I'd stay off the nude beach. Gotta be a bunch of creepy guys out there.

From my experience, there are various groups and intentions present at the nude beach. Most act the exact same as if they were clothed, there can be a group of gay people, and often just many friends and families just hanging out. I usually just go there by myself and keep to myself. They're is the odd weird guy, but I think that is the case with any beach
I love skinny dipping, and the fact that you don't need a towel or to change out of a wet bathing suit when you're done. I've never been gawked at, and it seems like most people are there just to enjoy the beach. Nor have I been more sexually attracted than at any other beach - though at both, custody of the eyes is an important virtue to have.

Any sexual act is forbidden among nudists. Are they perfect? No. But, it's a far cry from the orgies done people think of.

That being said, the experience would probably be much different as a man than as a woman.

Skinny dipping is sinful and indecent...

Yet up till very recently it was quite normal - for members of the same sex - to do so. I'm not going skinny dipping "with the boys" anytime soon, but hardly see how that would be even remotely sinful.

[bedtimeprayers]

I'm not sure what you guys are talking about here. Are we talking about both genders in nude beaches? How in the world is that not indecent?
I've never heard of a gender segregated nude beach, but then again I don't know much about nude beaches at all

[AveMaria12]

True, most nude beaches aren't sex-segretated, though I think some are. I would say that the same problems would be present on a regular non-sex-segretated beach as on a nude non-sex-segregated beach. On both, you have all types. And on both, custody of the eyes are called for.

I personally keep to myself, and don't mingle with groups. I find, at least on the beaches that I've been to, there's always enough space or visual obstascles to give each person relative privacy, and most people going to these beaches are going with a spouse or by themselves, and they keep to themselves.

The allure of nudity wears off really fast, and soon it just becomes another costume, especially when you come face to face with the natural imperfections of a real body as opposed to the ones seen in porn or advertisements. I find a nude woman minding her own business less provocative than a woman wearing a bikini. The skimpy concealment has a way of playing with the imagination that nudity does not. 

I could be all wrong in this, but, from my experience, the risk is the same as at a regular beach.

[bedtimeprayers]

True, most nude beaches aren't sex-segretated, though I think some are. I would say that the same problems would be present on a regular non-sex-segretated beach as on a nude non-sex-segregated beach. On both, you have all types. And on both, custody of the eyes are called for.

I personally keep to myself, and don't mingle with groups. I find, at least on the beaches that I've been to, there's always enough space or visual obstascles to give each person relative privacy, and most people going to these beaches are going with a spouse or by themselves, and they keep to themselves.

The allure of nudity wears off really fast, and soon it just becomes another costume, especially when you come face to face with the natural imperfections of a real body as opposed to the ones seen in porn or advertisements. I find a nude woman minding her own business less provocative than a woman wearing a bikini. The skimpy concealment has a way of playing with the imagination that nudity does not. 

I could be all wrong in this, but, from my experience, the risk is the same as at a regular beach.

Would the saints have gone to nude beaches? There is clearly something wrong with a nude beach. I can't explain it to you because this is just basic human instinct.... If you can't grasp that, I'm beyond my limits to explain it, sorry,

[bedtimeprayers]

Actually I have an additional comment. Just because women go in bikinis half dressed to the beach doesn't mean it's ok. NO, it's not ok to go to the beach naked OR in a half dressed bikini. In a beach with clothed people, you at least are not having your genitals out in the public. I don't even have the words to express this degeneracy...

[Mushroom]

Why should a traditional Catholic engage in those perverted activities?

[AveMaria12]

Actually I have an additional comment. Just because women go in bikinis half dressed to the beach doesn't mean it's ok. NO, it's not ok to go to the beach naked OR in a half dressed bikini. In a beach with clothed people, you at least are not having your genitals out in the public. I don't even have the words to express this degeneracy...

No, I didn't say that it was okay. The bikini was designed to foster lust, for which reason I think it is sinful to wear publicly. However, nudity in itself is a natural state, which can be lustful or not. The nudity I see on a beach has a practical purpose, such as easier swimming or suntanning, and it is not meant to veer from this purpose unless someone of  perverse intent comes.

One can argue that even such practical purposes lack modesty, but then modesty is partly influenced by the mores of the time and by the situation. For example, we would call someone immodest for wearing a swim wear to the Church, even if this same swim wear would be acceptable and modest at the swimming pool. As for times, baptism used to be performed nude in the Early Church and quite a while after too, and saints also frequented baths, including St. John. I wouldn't say therefore, that nude beaches are sinful simply based on human instinct - that is, that it is intrinsically evil.

[AveMaria12]

Why should a traditional Catholic engage in those perverted activities?

my opinion is that it is perverted if one comes to it with perverted intentions. Bathing nude is not intrinsically evil.