Nothing Is Immodest?

“It is a psychological fact that an interest out of all proportion becomes attached to any part of the body that is perpetually concealed, and we react to this with prurient curiosity. Concealing the body invariably stimulates such curiosity and gives it life. Attitudes on nudity in America range from one extreme to the other and even within the same community conflicting standards exist. Modesty is subject to widely different interpretations. For example, consider the reaction of a lady surprised in her bath by a strange man. In China, she hides her feet. In Laos, she covers her breasts. In Samoa, she conceals her navel. In Sumatra, she shields her knees. In Arabia, she turns her face away. Modesty, then, is in the mind of the individual, or does the part of the mores of a society. Nudists point out that there is nothing immodest or indecent about the human body; there are only people who think immodest or indecent thoughts.” —The Raw Ones