Nude swimming

Last updated
Members of the Royal Australian Air Force diving into a river, 1943 RAAF 1943 swimming nude.jpeg
Members of the Royal Australian Air Force diving into a river, 1943

Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is "skinny dipping".

Contents

In both British and American English, to swim means "to move through water by moving the body or parts of the body". [1] In British English, bathing also means swimming; [2] but in American English, bathing refers to washing, or any immersion in liquid for hygienic, therapeutic, or ritual purposes. Many terms reflect British usage, such as sea bathing and bathing suit, although swimsuit is now more often used.

In prehistory and for much of ancient history, both swimming and bathing were done without clothes, although cultures have differed as to whether bathing ought to be segregated by sex. Christian societies have generally opposed mixed nude bathing, although not all early Christians immediately abandoned Roman traditions of mixed communal bathing. In Western societies into the 20th century, nude swimming was common for men and boys, particularly in male-only contexts and to a lesser extent in the presence of clothed women and girls. Some non-Western societies have continued to practice mixed nude bathing into the present, while some Western cultures became more tolerant of the practice over the course of the 20th century.

The contemporary practices of naturism include nude swimming. The widespread acceptance of naturism in many European countries has led to legal recognition of clothing-optional swimming in locations open to the public. After a brief period of popularity in the 1960s–1970s of public "nude beaches" in the United States, acceptance is declining, confining American nude swimming generally to private locations.

History

Fresco "Tomb of the Diver" - Paestum, Italy - circa 470 BCE PaestumTaucher.jpg
Fresco "Tomb of the Diver" – Paestum, Italy – circa 470 BCE

Based upon rock painting found in caves, the human activity of swimming existed for many thousands of years prior to the first civilizations, during which humans were generally naked. [3] [4]

Illustration from Everard Digby's The Art of Swimming (De Arte Natandi) (1587) De arte natandi libri duo Wellcome L0069817.jpg
Illustration from Everard Digby's The Art of Swimming (De Arte Natandi) (1587)

Ancient to early modern

In Ancient Egypt, clothing was symbolic of social status, making adult nudity an indicator of low status or poverty. However, children, even of the upper classes, would be naked until puberty. Manual laborers of either sex would wear a loincloth or skirt unless their tasks included swimming; fishermen and boatmen often being nude. [5]

In ancient Rome, clothing also represented social status, but public bathhouses were an exception. Bathhouses might include swimming pools that were located in open courtyards. [6]

Swimming became increasingly unpopular after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, being viewed by the Christian church as both sinful and unhealthy. In spite of church teaching, swimming and bathing returned in the 12th century, sometimes without segregation of the sexes. [7] : 9–10  Defying the Church of England, Everard Digby's book The Art of Swimming (De Arte Natandi) was published in 1587. [8] Melchisédech Thévenot's 1696 instruction book, also called The Art of Swimming, was illustrated by 40 copperplate etchings that showed swimming was normally nude. [9]

Indigenous peoples swimming naked were depicted by colonists in the Americas beginning in the 16th century. [4]

Modern era

Australia

In the Victorian era, public baths and swimming pools were built in Adelaide to address problems of health and safety, but also to reduce the persistence of nude swimming in open waters. Swimming costumes were issued to pool patrons. [10]

England

Modest clothing for bathing or swimming was not considered until the 15th century, when women began wearing bathing dresses and men linen drawers. In male only groups, men continued to swim nude in rivers and the sea until the mid 19th century. [11]

18th century

The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prohibited men and women from swimming nude either in the day or in the night. [12]

In the early 1730s, fashionable sea bathing initially followed the inland health-seeking tradition. [13] : 12  Sea bathing resorts modelled themselves on Bath, and provided promenades, circulating libraries, and assembly rooms. [13] : 9  While sea bathing or dipping, men and boys were naked, women and girls were encouraged to dip wearing loose clothing. Scarborough was the first resort to provide bathing machines for changing. Some men extended this to swimming in the sea, and by 1736, it was seen at Brighton and Margate, and later at Deal, Eastbourne, and Portsmouth. [13] : 12 

In England, bathing in the sea by the lower classes was noted in Southampton by Thomas Gray in 1764, and in Exmouth in 1779. In Lancashire, working women and men bathed naked in the sea together in 1795: "Lower classes of people of both sexes made an annual pilgrimage to Liverpool where they dabbled in the salt water for hours at each tide in promiscuous numbers and not much embarrassing themselves about appearance." [13] : 11 

19th century
"Mermaids at Brighton" by William Heath, circa 1829, depicts women sea bathing with bathing machines. MermaidsAtBrighton.jpg
"Mermaids at Brighton" by William Heath, circa 1829, depicts women sea bathing with bathing machines.

At the beginning of the Victorian period in England, men and boys typically swam naked in the sea near bathing machines that were used by women. Some efforts were made to designate separate beach sections for males and females. [14] An 1842 review of seaside resorts noted that naked men in the sea were a primary attraction for visitors to Ramsgate, including women. The writer finds this no different from women viewing images of nude men in art galleries, near-naked men in the opera, or workers in the water. [15] On the River Cherwell near the University of Oxford, an area for male nude bathing was known as Parson's Pleasure. [16]

In the latter half of the 19th century, the rise of the influence of Christian Evangelicals caused arrangements for mixed bathing to be reassessed. Moral pressures led some town councils to establish zones for the women and men to bathe separately. These areas were not policed; mixed bathing was a popular activity. Resorts attempted to placate the Evangelicals without upsetting traditional bathers. [17] There are very few records of magistrates enforcing the bylaws. In 1895 Cosmopolitan reported: "At most English resorts, buff bathing is available before eight o'clock in the morning" while Brighton, Worthing, Hastings, Bexhill, Bognor and Folkestone still tolerated nude bathing at any time of the day, in areas away from the central bathing areas. [18]

Drawers, or caleçons as they were called (fr:caleçon de bain), came into use in the 1860s. Even then, many protested against them and wanted to remain in the nude. Rev. Francis Kilvert, an English clergyman and nude swimmer, described men's bathing suits coming into use in the 1870s as "a pair of very short red and white striped drawers". Excerpts from Kilvert's diary show the transition in the England of the 1870s from an acceptance of nude bathing to the acceptance of bathing suits. Kilvert describes "a delicious feeling of freedom in stripping in the open air and running down naked to the sea." [19]

In 1895, The Daily Telegraph , Standard, Daily Graphic and Daily Mail newspapers ran a campaign to reintroduce mixed bathing in all resorts, pointing out that its prohibition split up families and encouraged them to take their holidays abroad. Commercial pressure defeated the moral pressures. Sea bathing had ceased to be done for health reasons, and was done overwhelmingly for pleasure. As the segregated beaches in town disappeared, bathing costumes for men became part of the commercial package, and nude bathing ceased. [20]

"Water Rats", Francis Sutcliffe, 1886 Waterrats by Francis Sutcliffe 1.jpg
"Water Rats", Francis Sutcliffe, 1886

The introduction of mixed bathing throughout Europe and elsewhere certainly created pressure towards bathing costumes being worn by both genders. However, well into the latter days of the Victorian Era, whereas all females were routinely wearing modest bathing attire, many boys well into their teens in Victorian England, even when in a mixed gender setting, were still swimming and playing at the beach resorts completely naked. An article published on August 23, 1891, in the Syracuse Sunday Herald suggests naked boys of up to 15 years in age were problematic for American parents with daughters, and read:

A 'Bewildered American' writes to the London Standard that he can't take his little girl to play in the sand at a British seaside resort without her being surrounded by crowds of naked boys. An English friend told him that they let their daughters play with naked boys of ten years of age, but draw the line at fifteen. [21]

South Africa

From 1873, the East London, Eastern Cape town council promulgated measures to control swimming hours, apparel and especially separate swimming areas for men and women. These regulations were too conservative and constraining for the taste of the residents of this coastal town and for several decades they were the subject of legal battles, or were simply ignored. The dispute was finally settled in 1906 when mixed bathing was permitted with the proviso that both men and women should wear suitable swimming costumes. [22]

United States

Benjamin Franklin [23] and John Quincy Adams were known to skinny dip. [24]

In 1850, Grand Rapids, Michigan addressed the issue of both men and women swimming nude in the Grand River by passing an ordinance allowing the activity only at night, between 8PM and 5AM. [25]

20th century

Since the early 20th century, the naturist movement has developed in western countries, seeking a return to non-sexual nudity when swimming and during other appropriate activities. [26]

Canada

In the late 19th to early 20th century, using tax revenue to provide public bathing facilities for working-class men was not politically popular in London, Ontario, while private establishments served the middle and upper classes. These included swimming at the YMCA, which required membership or payment of fees. However, the problem of men being publicly naked while swimming and bathing in open water was recognized. Efforts to regulate nude swimming with laws against doing so during daylight hours did not prevent increases in incidents in the 1860s through the 1880s by laborers and boys. [27]

In the 19th century, boys and working class men in Toronto swimming nude in the Humber and Don Rivers was allowed in secluded swimming holes, while officially prohibited elsewhere. Skinny-dipping was seen by many as an innocent activity for young males, as long it did not intrude upon the sensibilities of females. In the 20th century, urban growth had encroached upon this isolation, and also created the problem of water pollution. The development of beaches in the Sunnyside district on the Lake Ontario waterfront marked the end of nude outdoor swimming. [28]

As in the United States, men swam nude at the YMCAs until they became coed. [29]

China

In 2004 after some local university students went skinny-dipping there, signs were placed at a riverside beach in a public park in Zhejiang province declaring a section to be a nudist beach. Following complaints from other park visitors, the signs were removed, although officially China has no law forbidding swimming nude. [30] In a July 2005 heat wave, a number of incidents of men skinny-dipping were noted. [31]

England

In English boys' schools (Manchester Grammar School, for example), students recall nude swimming being required at least from the 1930s until the 1970s. No official reason for the practice was given, but some mention the problem in the early years of fibres from wool swimsuits clogged pool filters. However, nude swimming continued when modern swimsuit materials were available. [32] [33]

In a less formal setting, young boys might be nude in mixed company, as shown in a home movie of an outing featuring young Brownies, Girl Guides and Scouts playing in the grounds of a stately home in 1940's Britain. While the girls and older boys wore suits, the boys of about ten years of age played in the river naked. [34]

Germany

Nude swimmers at Lake Senftenberg, East Germany, 1983 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0815-302, FKK-Strande des Senftenberger Erholungsgebietes.jpg
Nude swimmers at Lake Senftenberg, East Germany, 1983

Mixed gender nude swimming in lakes, rivers and beaches following WWI was part of the social liberalization in the Weimar Republic. Some swimmers were part of the organized naturist movement, others sought only an escape from economic and political turmoil. Economic problems had eliminated support for swimming pools and other recreational facilities, these needs being replaced by "wild swimming" in natural bodies of water. [35]

Greece

In the 1870s, sea bathing at the Athenian seafront was an activity dominated by working class men who swam naked. With the beginning of the 20th century, resorts for the middle class were established, a transition which was at odds with male nudity. This was dealt with by having separate male and female bathing areas, but these became difficult to enforce. In the 1910s, mixed gender bathing began, and became actual swimming away from shore rather that wading. Female beach attire became "semi-nude" by the standard of prior years, exposing women's arms and legs. [36]

United States

A girl swimming nude in a lake in 1942 Nude girl swiming in lake1942 crop.jpg
A girl swimming nude in a lake in 1942

In the United States, skinny-dipping by young people, mostly boys, was common in rural areas across the country. As towns such as Logan, Utah, [37] Humboldt, Iowa, [38] and Dixon, Illinois, [39] grew in the 1890s, the traditional locations became more visible to the public, and local ordinances were implemented prohibiting nude swimming, but were difficult to enforce, or involved very young children who were not punished. [40] In 1907 Nashville, Tennessee, deputy sherrifs took no action to stop nude swimming by men and boys in the Cumberland River if they were outside populated areas. [41]

The 1927 California Channel Swim between Catalina Island and the mainland was declared clothing optional by the sponsor, William Wrigley. Two Black American swimmers stated their intention to swim nude, as did several other women, saying the suits available were a handicap. [42]

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt described nude swims in the Potomac with his "tennis cabinet" in his Autobiography: "If we swam the Potomac, we usually took off our clothes". [43]

Ernest Thompson Seton describes skinny dipping as one of the first activities of his Woodcraft Indians, a forerunner of the Scout movement, in 1902. [44] A 1937 article on swimming at boy scout summer camps in Washington state makes no mention of the boys being naked in almost all the photographs. Descriptions of special "carnival" days that were coed did not mention whether swimsuits were available. It does state "Both boys and girls enjoy the thrill of swimming in the nude, so on occasion, suits may be discarded for the night plunge." Night swimming was allowed only in camps where this was safe. [45] In 1937, boys swimming nude in creeks of Atlanta, Georgia resulted only in warnings. [46]

Among the features of rural Vermont being overtaken by development in the 1970s, an editorial mentions the removal of forests that sheltered ponds where boys had been swimming naked for 200 years. [47] Older residents of Duncanville, Texas, remembered the "Blue Hole" on Ten Mile Creek a few hundred feet west of Main Street as the place to skinny-dip for decades. In 1967, misbehavior including drinking, fighting, and accidents led to complaints and calls to make the place off-limits. [48]

Swimming in indoor pools

A swim lesson in a YMCA, 1915 YMCA swim lessons - 1915.png
A swim lesson in a YMCA, 1915

Initially, men and boys swam in the nude in indoor swimming pools, as had previously been customary in lakes and rivers. [49] YMCAs everywhere had nude swimming beginning in the 1890s until they became coed in the 1960s. [50] Given the limits of chlorination at that time, behavioral measures were used to maintain water quality. In 1933, in addition to recommending nudity, all bathers were required to empty their bladder and shower before entering the pool. Those suffering from skin or respiratory disease were prohibited from using the pool. [51] In 1940 health experts continued to favor boys wearing bathing suits only in pools visible to both sexes. Girls were issued cotton suits that could be boiled to disinfect them between uses; the wool suits used by boys could not because they would shrink. It was also noted that wool suits that had previously been used in salt water could not be washed effectively because salt prevents soap from lathering. [52] In 1926, the American Public Health Association (APHA) standards handbook recommended that indoor swimming pools used by men adopt nude bathing policies and that indoor swimming pools used by women require swimsuits "of the simplest type". [53] Students bringing their own suits was discouraged, the institutions not having control of decontamination. [54]

In 1947 girls at the Liberty School in Highland Park, Michigan, also swam nude in their classes. Boys not having worn suits for years, girls requesting to do the same in order to give them more time in the pool rather than changing. After six weeks, the girls in the middle school were ordered to wear suits, but the elementary school girls continued to be nude. While following the wishes of parents who believed older girls should behave modestly, all the board members disagreed, stating that there was "no moral issue involved". [55] [56]

New developments in pool chlorination, filtration, and nylon swimsuits led the APHA to abandon its recommendation of nude swimming for males in 1962. [57] However, the custom did not immediately cease. During the 1970s, the adoption of mixed-gender swimming led to the gradual abandonment of nude male swimming in schools. Federal Title IX rules mandating equality in physical education led most schools to switch to co-educational gym classes by 1980, ending nude swimming in public schools. In the 21st century, the practice has been forgotten, denied having existed, or viewed as an example of questionable behaviors in the past that are no longer acceptable. [57] [58] However, Jungian psychoanalyst Barry Miller views the sexualization of nudity in male only situations such as locker rooms and swimming pools as a loss. [59]

Contemporary practices

Nude man and woman entering the water at Formentera Beach, Spain Nudists at Formentera beach 0240.jpg
Nude man and woman entering the water at Formentera Beach, Spain

In many countries in the 21st century, nude swimming mostly takes place at nude beaches, naturist facilities, private swimming pools, or secluded or segregated public swimming areas. Some Western countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, have no laws prohibiting nude swimming in public areas, but some countries around the world strictly enforce various laws against public nudity, including nude swimming. Some jurisdictions which maintain laws against public nudity may turn a blind eye to incidents of skinny dipping depending on the circumstances, as police officers on the spot decline to make arrests. [60]

A 2006 Roper poll showed that 25% of all American adults had been skinny dipping at least once, and that 74% believed nude swimming should be tolerated at accepted locations. [61] Nude swimming is fairly common in rural areas of the United States, where unexpected visitors are less likely. However, in some places, even that type of swimming is prohibited by law. There is no federal law against nudity. Nude beaches such as Baker Beach in San Francisco operate within federal park lands in California. However, under a provision called concurrent jurisdiction , federal park rangers may enforce state and local laws against nudity or invite local authorities to do so. Skinny-dippers generally deal with this by keeping an eye out for local patrols, who generally do not go out of their way to find violators. Many swimmers in the United States confine nude swimming to private locations due to concerns about attitudes to public nudity. [62]

In Germany, nude bathing is more widespread than in many other countries. A 2014 study revealed Germans (28%) were the most likely of all nations surveyed to have been nude at a beach. [63] As urban rivers in Europe become cleaner, and residents more often seek relief from rising temperatures, many swim or sunbathe nude. [64]

The world record for the largest skinny dip—2,505 persons—was set on 9 June 2018 at Meaghermore beach in County Wicklow, Ireland. The record was set at an annual all-women's event known as Strip and Dip, which was created by cancer survivor Deirdre Featherstone. The 2018 event raised money for a national children's cancer charity. [65] [66]

Artistic depictions

Nude swimming was a common subject of Old Masters – painters from before the 19th century – and Romantic oil paintings, usually bucolic or in a mythological or historical settings. For example, Swedish painters Georg Pauli and Anders Zorn painted a number of nude swimming scenes. [67] [ better source needed ]

Late in the 19th century, painters started to render nude boys and men in realistic settings. Daumier's Bathers shows youths clumsily hauling off their clothes (a symbol of repression) and a naked short stocky youth stepping cautiously into the water that represents freedom. Seurat's Bathers Asnières uses similar symbolism to show the bathers removing their everyday identities to step into the momentary sunlight. [68]

The bathers in Thomas Eakins' The Swimming Hole each represent different stages in the artist's life. He prepared for this canvas by taking multiple photographs of his students frolicking at this location. The painting portrays a happy physical un-selfconsciousness seen through the perspective of age; a nostalgia for youth. By the 1880s, this nostalgia for youth was a veneer carefully disguising a latent homosexuality. In contrast, there were poets and painters who would contrast the free young beauty of bodies in the water with the approaching grind of maturity and responsibility. Henry Scott Tuke painted naked bathers in a soft, idealized style, deliberately avoiding overt sexuality. [68]

Cezanne's monumental male bathers derive from memories of a happy childhood rather than direct observation. This was described by his friend Emile Zola as a time when "they were possessed with the joys of plunging (naked) into the deeper pools where the waters flowed, or spending the days stark naked in the sun, drying them selves on the burning sand, diving in once more to live in the river..." [69] [68]

In later periods, depictions of nude swimming scenes became rarer, but more likely to depict straightforward contemporary scenes. The cover of the August 19, 1911, edition of the Saturday Evening Post had a Leyendecker painting of three boys; [70] the cover of the June 4, 1921, edition had Norman Rockwell's painting No Swimming, depicting boys in various states of undress escaping from the local authorities. [71]

In film

A number of films have included nude swimming scenes, which have received varying reactions from reviewers and the public.

20th century

21st century

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturism</span> Practice and advocacy of social nudity

Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms are broadly interchangeable, nudism emphasizes the practice of nudity, whilst naturism highlights an attitude favoring harmony with nature and respect for the environment, into which that practice is integrated. That said, naturists come from a range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds; there is no single naturist ideology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimsuit</span> Clothing worn for swimming

A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations or for particular types of suit, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks, besides others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathing machine</span> Device used for sea bathing during the 19th century

The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people at beaches to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts that rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls, others canvas walls over a wooden frame, and commonly walls at the sides and curtained doors at each end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathing</span> Washing or immersing the body with water

Bathing is the act of washing the body, usually with water, or the immersion of the body in water. It may be for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes. By analogy, especially as a recreational activity, the term is also applied to sun bathing and sea bathing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toplessness</span> Having a womans torso exposed above the waist

Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is known as barechestedness.

In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes, had to be justified as part of the story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea bathing</span> Bathing in the sea or in sea water

Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water and a sea bath is a protective enclosure for sea bathing. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative or therapeutic value. It arose from the medieval practice of visiting spas for the beneficial effects of the waters. The practice of sea bathing dates back to the 17th century but became popular in the late 18th century. The development of the first swimsuits dates from the period as does the development of the bathing machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude recreation</span> Leisure activity while naked

Nude recreation consists of recreational activities which some people engage in while nude. Historically, the ancient Olympic Games were nude events. There remain some societies in Africa, Oceania, and South America that continue to engage in everyday public activities—including sports—without clothes, while in most of the world nude activities take place in either private spaces or separate clothing optional areas in public spaces. Occasional events, such as nude bike rides, may occur in public areas where nudity is not otherwise allowed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of nudity</span> Social attitudes to nakedness

The history of nudity involves social attitudes to nakedness of the human body in different cultures in history. The use of clothing to cover the body is one of the changes that mark the end of the Neolithic, and the beginning of civilizations. Nudity has traditionally been the social norm for both men and women in hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, and it is still common among many indigenous peoples. The need to cover the body is associated with human migration out of the tropics into climates where clothes were needed as protection from sun, heat, and dust in the Middle East; or from cold and rain in Europe and Asia. The first use of animal skins and cloth may have been as adornment, along with body modification, body painting, and jewelry, invented first for other purposes, such as magic, decoration, cult, or prestige. The skills used in their making were later found to be practical as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nudity</span> State of humans wearing no clothing

Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts, being associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming pool</span> Artificial water basin for swimming

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground or built above ground, and may be found as a feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic, composite or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.

<i>The Swimming Hole</i> Painting by Thomas Eakins

The Swimming Hole is an 1884–85 painting by the American artist Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), Goodrich catalog #190, in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. Executed in oil on canvas, it depicts six men swimming naked in a lake, and is considered a masterpiece of American painting. According to art historian Doreen Bolger it is "perhaps Eakins' most accomplished rendition of the nude figure", and has been called "the most finely designed of all his outdoor pictures". Since the Renaissance, the human body has been considered both the basis of artists' training and the most challenging subject to depict in art, and the nude was the centerpiece of Eakins' teaching program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For Eakins, this picture was an opportunity to display his mastery of the human form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of social nudity</span> A chronology of the acceptance of nudity in public life

This timeline of social nudity shows the varying degrees of acceptance given to the naked human body by diverse cultures throughout history. The events listed here demonstrate how various societies have shifted between strict and lax clothing standards, how nudity has played a part in social movements and protest, and how the nude human body is accepted in the public sphere.

Bara Bröst network is a cultural movement of Swedish feminists campaigning for the right of women to swim topless and to bare their breasts at beaches and in public pools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed bathing</span> Sharing of a place of water by both sexes

Mixed bathing is the sharing of a pool, beach or other place by swimmers of both genders. Mixed bathing usually refers to swimming or other water-based recreational activities in public or semi-public facilities, such as hotel or holiday resort pool, in a non-sex segregated environment.

<i>Robby</i> (film) 1968 American film

Robby is a 1968 family film written and directed by Ralph C. Bluemke. It is a modern-day retelling of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe in which the main characters are portrayed as children. The film deals with many themes, including friendship, homesickness, racial blindness and naturism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of swimwear</span>

The history of swimwear traces the changes in the styles of men's and women's swimwear over time and between cultures, and touches on the social, religious and legal attitudes to swimming and swimwear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude swimming in US indoor pools</span> Nudity in public indoor pools

Nude swimming in US indoor pools was common for men and boys from the late 1880s until the early 1970s, but rare for women and girls. For much of that time period, indoor pool use was primarily for physical education or athletic competition, not recreation. Male nude swimming had been customary in natural bodies of water, which was not viewed as a social problem until the 18th century. When the tradition of skinny-dipping in secluded spots had become more visible with urbanization, indoor pools were first built in the 19th century in part to address this issue by moving male swimming indoors. For the first decades of the 20th century, male nude swimming was associated with a trope of the "old swimming hole" as representing childhood innocence and adult masculinity. In their own classes, nudity was rare for girls based upon an assumption of modesty, but might include young children. Prepubescent boys might be nude in mixed-gender settings, including the presence of female staff, public competitions, and open houses for families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Childhood nudity</span> Scientific and cultural information about nudity in human children

In contemporary societies, the appropriateness of childhood nudity in various social situations is controversial, with many differences in behavior worldwide. Depending upon conceptions of childhood innocence and sexuality in general, societies may regard social nudity before puberty as normal, as acceptable within same-sex groups, or unacceptable.

References

  1. ↑ "Meaning of swim in English". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Meaning of bathing in English". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  3. ↑ Love, Christopher (2013-10-18). "Introduction". In Love, Christopher (ed.). A Social History of Swimming in England, 1800–1918. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315869636. ISBN   978-1-317-97028-6. OCLC   870592028.
  4. 1 2 Avramidis, Stathis (2011-08-01). "World Art on Swimming". International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education. 5 (3). doi: 10.25035/ijare.05.03.08 . ISSN   1932-9253. OCLC   8091795673.
  5. ↑ Goelet, Ogden (1993). "Nudity in ancient Egypt". Notes in the History of Art. 12 (2): 20–31. doi:10.1086/sou.12.2.23202932. OCLC   5543225364. S2CID   191394390.
  6. ↑ Eliav, Yaron Z. (2010). "Bathhouses As Places of Social and Cultural Interaction". In Hezser, Catherine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199216437.013.0033. ISBN   978-0-19-921643-7. OCLC   670378814 . Retrieved 2021-03-28.
  7. ↑ Bíró, Melinda; Révész, László; Hidvégi, Péter. Swimming: History Technique Teaching. p. 92. ISBN   978-615-5297-70-0.
  8. ↑ Digby, Everard (1587). "De Arte Natandi" [The Art of Swimming] (in Latin). Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  9. ↑ Thévenot, Melchisédech (1972) [1696]. The Art of Swimming. New York: Benjamin Blom.
  10. ↑ McShane, Ian (2009-06-01). "The Past and Future of Local Swimming Pools". Journal of Australian Studies. 33 (2): 195–208. doi:10.1080/14443050902883405. ISSN   1444-3058. S2CID   153913329 . Retrieved 2022-09-16.
  11. ↑ Rutt, Richard (1990-01-01). "The Englishman's Swimwear". Costume. 24 (1): 69–84. doi:10.1179/cos.1990.24.1.69. ISSN   0590-8876 . Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  12. ↑ Byrde, Penelope (1987). "'That Frightful Unbecoming Dress' Clothes for Spa Bathing at Bath". Costume. 21 (1): 44–56. doi:10.1179/cos.1987.21.1.44. ISSN   0590-8876.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Travis, John (1997). "Sea-bathing from 1730 to 1900". In Fisher, Stephen (ed.). Recreation and the Sea. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. ISBN   978-0859895408.
  14. ↑ Travis 1997, p. 15.
  15. ↑ "The Watering Places - Ramsgate". The Age. London. September 11, 1842 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ↑ "Halcyon summer days taking a cool dip at Dame's Delight". Oxford Mail . UK. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Travis 1997, pp. 19–23.
  18. ↑ Travis 1997, p. 23.
  19. ↑ Cinder, Cec (1998). The Nudist Idea. Riverside, California: Ultraviolet Press. pp. 331–333. ISBN   978-0-9652085-0-5.
  20. ↑ Travis 1997, pp. 23, 29.
  21. ↑ "A "Bewildered American"". The Sunday Herald. Syracuse. August 23, 1891. p. 4 col B. Retrieved 15 Aug 2014.
  22. ↑ Tankard, Keith (1992). "Bathing habits in Victorian East London" (pdf). Contree (32). Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  23. ↑ Stanton, Kate. "American politicians who loved skinny-dipping". UPI.com. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  24. ↑ Cain, Áine (February 21, 2017). "The 6th US president rose before dawn for his favorite morning habit: skinny-dipping". Business Insider. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Nude Bathing Was O.K. Back in 1850-at Night: But Woe Unto the Undraped Daylight Swimmer". The Detroit Free Press. July 30, 1922. p. D1 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  26. ↑ "British Naturism (BN)", British Naturism, ISSN   0264-0406, archived from the original on 2012-03-31, retrieved 2011-08-30
  27. ↑ Kossuth, Robert S (2005-09-01). "Dangerous Waters: Victorian Decorum, Swimmer Safety, and the Establishment of Public Bathing Facilities in London (Canada)". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 22 (5): 796–815. doi:10.1080/09523360500143422. ISSN   0952-3367. S2CID   145727819 . Retrieved 2022-09-16.
  28. ↑ Barbour, Dale (2021-10-01). Undressed Toronto: From the Swimming Hole to Sunnyside, How a City Learned to Love the Beach, 1850–1935. Univ. of Manitoba Press. ISBN   978-0-88755-951-8.
  29. ↑ "Canada men swimming nude at the YMCA until women joined". The Leader-Post. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 1977-09-29. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  30. ↑ Coonan, Clifford (2004-08-10). "Chinese nudists are told to take cover". The Times (United Kingdom). Beijing. p. 11.
  31. ↑ "Skinny Dippers; Bit Cheeky for China". The Gold Coast Bulletin. 2005-07-30.
  32. ↑ Cohen, Michael (September 2005), "Swimming Naked" (PDF), The Old Mancunian, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-05, retrieved 2007-11-27
  33. ↑ "Swimming Naked at MGS" (PDF), The Old Mancunian, December 2005, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-17, retrieved 2021-11-29
  34. ↑ Amateur home movie film made in the summer of 1945 or later. Huntley Film Archives. 1945. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  35. ↑ Clendening, Logan (2019). Swimming in Disputed Waters: Gender, Race, Religion, and Contested Bodies in Modern Germany (PhD thesis). United States -- California: University of California, Davis. ProQuest   2272842071 . Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  36. ↑ Yannitsiotis, Yannis (2022-05-04). "Bodies at the beach: sea bathing on the Athenian seafront, 1870–1940". Journal of Tourism History. 14 (2): 143–166. doi:10.1080/1755182X.2022.2128903. ISSN   1755-182X. S2CID   253171302 . Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  37. ↑ "Local Points". Logan Journal. 1893-08-16. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  38. ↑ "Humboldt". Humboldt County Independent. 1893-08-03. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  39. ↑ "(Editorials)". Dixon Evening Telegraph. Dixon, Illinois. 1890-07-10. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  40. ↑ "Hatton Knows His Business". Wichita Daily Eagle. 1895-06-28. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  41. ↑ "HOT WEATHER MAKES SWIMMING POPULAR". The Nashville Tennessean. July 12, 1907. p. 4.
  42. ↑ Perry, George (January 8, 1927). "Two Colored Natators Enter California channel Swim". Afro-American. p. 14 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  43. ↑ Roosevelt, Theodore (2014). Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. Floating Press. ISBN   978-1-77653-337-4.
  44. ↑ Seton, Ernest Thompson (1951). Trail of an Artist Naturalist. London: Hodder and Stoughton. p. 297. ISBN   978-0-405-10734-4.
  45. ↑ Torney, John A. (1937). "Swimming and Lifesaving Program for Summer Camps". The Journal of Health and Physical Education. 8 (6): 360–392. doi:10.1080/23267240.1937.10619786. ISSN   2326-7240 . Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  46. ↑ "Ol' Swimming Hole Ain't What She Was". The Atlanta Constitution. June 17, 1937. p. 24 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  47. ↑ "When "Our Town" becomes "their" town". Bennington Banner. Bennington, Vermont. 1971-05-01. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  48. ↑ "'Blue Hole' Favorite Swimming Place for Youngsters". Duncanvillite. 1967-04-27. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  49. ↑ Wiltse, Jeffrey (2003). Contested waters: A History of Swimming Pools in America.
  50. ↑ Tate, Cassandra (14 March 2001). "YMCA of Greater Seattle - Part 3: Readjustment, 1930-1980". History Link: The Free Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  51. ↑ Horwood, M. P.; Gould, B. S.; Shwachman, H. (1933). "Indices of the Sanitary Quality of Swimming Pool Waters". Journal - American Water Works Association. 25 (1): 124–135. doi:10.1002/j.1551-8833.1933.tb18220.x. ISSN   0003-150X . Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  52. ↑ Manheimer, Wallace A. (1940). "Reducing Health Hazards in the Swimming Pool". The Journal of Health and Physical Education. 11 (1): 25–63. doi:10.1080/23267240.1940.10623710. ISSN   2326-7240 . Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  53. ↑ Gage, Stephen (1926). "Swimming Pools and Other Public Bathing Places". American Journal of Public Health. 16 (12): 1186–1201. doi:10.2105/AJPH.16.12.1186. PMC   1321491 . PMID   18012021.
  54. ↑ Craig, H. W. (194). "Safety and Hygiene in the School Swimming Pool". The Journal of Health and Physical Education. 12 (4): 242–279. doi:10.1080/23267240.1941.10620207. ISSN   2326-7240 . Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  55. ↑ "Nude Swimming in Detroit School Comes Under Ban". The News-Palledium. January 16, 1947.
  56. ↑ "Rules Girls Must Wear Swim Suits: School Board at Detroit Acts After Mothers Protest". Iowa City Press Citizen. Highland Park, Michigan. January 15, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  57. 1 2 Eng, Monica (September 10, 2017). "Baring It All: Why Boys Swam Naked In Chicago Schools". WBEZ.com. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  58. ↑ Naked in High School: Bad Dreams Do Come True, National Public Radio, Aug 1, 2006, retrieved 2007-11-27
  59. ↑ Miller, Barry (2016-01-02). "On the Loss of Nudity in the Men's Locker Room". Psychological Perspectives. 59 (1): 93–108. doi:10.1080/00332925.2016.1134213. ISSN   0033-2925. S2CID   147364697 . Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  60. ↑ Goodman, J. David (July 17, 2013). "Daring Enough to Bare It All for a New York Swim". New York Times . Retrieved 15 Aug 2014.
  61. ↑ Roper poll online, Naturist education, 2006.
  62. ↑ "Is it Legal to Go Skinny Dipping in the US?". Findlaw. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  63. ↑ Bridge, Adrian (February 5, 2016). "Germans most likely to go nude" . The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12.
  64. ↑ Hockenos, Paul (2023-07-10). "A Hotter Climate Demands That We Clean Up Our Rivers for Swimming". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  65. ↑ "Women break Guinness World Record with mass skinny dip in the Irish Sea". The Independent. June 10, 2018.
  66. ↑ "Guinness World Record". Guinness World Record. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  67. ↑ Canu, John F. "ART / 4 / 2DAY". www.safran-arts.com.
  68. 1 2 3 Walters, Margaret (1978). Nude Male: A New Perspective. New York and London: Paddington P. pp. 238–252. ISBN   978-0-7092-0871-6.
  69. ↑ Dorival, Bernard (1949). Cezanne. London. p. 63.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  70. ↑ Meyer, Susan E. "J.C. Leyendecker." In America's Great Illustrators, 136–159. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1978.
  71. ↑ Rockwell, Norman (4 June 1921). "No Swimming". Google Arts & Culture. Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  72. ↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 6 (12). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 29. March 16, 1918.
  73. ↑ Barton, Ruth (2010-08-13). Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film. University Press of Kentucky. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-8131-2610-4.
  74. ↑ Vieira, Mark A. (1999), Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood, New York: Harry N. Abrams, p. 180, ISBN   0-8109-4475-8
  75. ↑ Schaefer, Eric (1999). "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959. Duke University Press. p. 283. ISBN   9780822323747.
  76. ↑ Lewis, Jon (2000). Hollywood V. Hard Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry . New York University Press. pp.  198–201. ISBN   978-0-8147-5142-8.
  77. ↑ "The Nudist Story (1960)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2012-07-12.
  78. ↑ "Pollyanna (1960)". IMDb. Amazon. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  79. ↑ "Disney's Pollyanna - NovelActivist.com". novelactivist.com. Retrieved 27 September 2017. Primary source: Pollyanna on Youtube
  80. ↑ Gaye Lebaron (10 July 2009), "Recollecting Karl Malden's Pollyanna in Santa Rosa", The Press Democrat
  81. ↑ "Crónicas de un Niño Solo (1965) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  82. ↑ "Planet of the Apes (1968) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  83. ↑ "Robby (1968) - Trivia". IMDb.
  84. ↑ "Robby". republished online at fkk-museum.de. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  85. ↑ "Robby". republished online at fkk-museum.de. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  86. ↑ Stafford, Jeff "Age of Consent (1969)" (article) TCM.com Quote: "Never one to avoid nude scenes, Mirren has several in Age of Consent but they rarely seem exploitive and often provide a striking juxtaposition of the human form against the natural beauty of the Great Barrier Reef - the real star of the film."
  87. ↑ Craven, Alison (2016) Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema Anthem Press. pp. 58-63 ISBN   9781783085507. Quote: "This relationship is taken further from that of the hunter when [Cora (Helen Mirren)] agrees to swim around underwater naked so that Bradley Morahan (James Mason), on artist who has settled on the island, can paint her. ... As Bradley's attention is more to the canvas then her body, the 'relationship conveyed is one that appears to be "innocent"'"
  88. ↑ "My Side of the Mountain (1969) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  89. ↑ "La Gran Aventura (1969) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  90. ↑ Thompson, Howard (21 August 1971). "Film: Seeking Mr. Right". New York Times. p. 17. Retrieved 29 Dec 2023.
  91. ↑ Gibbs, Patrick (October 8, 1971) "Walkabout, original 1971 review: 'beautiful'" The Telegraph Quote: " one scene in particular being memorable for its lyrical quality when the girl’s inhibitions seem finally to be dispersed by the force of nature and she swims nude in a deep rock pool – I’ve seen nothing so splendid in this line since Helen Mirren rose from the South Seas looking like Juno, only more so."
  92. ↑ Hanson, Stuart "Walkabout" in Mills, Jean and Mills, Richard (2002) Childhood Studies: A Reader in Perspectives of Childhood, Routledge. p. 149-50 ISBN   9781134611973. Quote: "Underlying the film, though, is a view that all children are essentially innocent and pure. This is represented with the white children becoming more comfortable with their bodies, as they strip away their school uniforms, and find their places in nature. The tension here is the developing sensuality that the girl exudes and which is picked up by the Aboriginal boy, especially in the scene where they both swim nude in the rock pool."
  93. ↑ Swisher, Viola Hegyi: "Generating The Genesis Children", After Dark, September 1972, p. 18
  94. ↑ "Visit to a Chief's Son (1974) - Trivia". IMDb.
  95. ↑ "The Spots on My Leopard (1974)". The Cave of Forgotten Films. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  96. ↑ Vang Vir My N Droom. 2020-10-14. Event occurs at 3:38. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  97. ↑ Konow, David (2 October 2012). Reel Terror. The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 183. ISBN   9781250013590.
  98. ↑ "Blauvogel (1979) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  99. ↑ "Paradise (1982)". IMDb. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  100. ↑ "Yentl (1983) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  101. ↑ "A Room with a View (1985) – Parents Guide". IMDb.
  102. ↑ "Phares d'ouest (1990) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  103. ↑ "The House of the Spirits (1993) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  104. ↑ "Y tu mamá también (2001) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  105. ↑ "Into the Wild (2007) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  106. ↑ "Watercolors (2008) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  107. ↑ "A Single Man (2009) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  108. ↑ Klein, Amanda Ann; Palmer, R. Barton (15 March 0216). Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots: Multiplicities in Film and Television. University of Texas Press. p. 110. ISBN   9781477308172.
  109. ↑ "Wildhood (2021) - Parents Guide". IMDb.
  110. ↑ "Mother of the Bride (2024) - Parents Guide". IMDb.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.