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 or near-complete nudity has traditionally been the social norm for both men and women in some 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, and later found to be practical as well. In ancient Greece, nudity became associated with the perfection of the gods. In ancient Rome , complete nudity could be a public disgrace, though it could be seen at the public baths or in erotic art. In the Western world, with the spread of Christianity, any positive associations with nudity were replaced with concepts of sin and shame.

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Then after leaving the Vatican, you browse a bookstall and find an illustrated sex manual, designed by another great artist, where your eye is drawn to the same figure driven by a different impulse, as in figure 2, below. Explaining this extraordinary resemblance inspired me to write my book Eros Visible: Art, Sexuality and Antiquity in Renaissance Italy. But broadly speaking, during the Middle Ages, the depiction of sexual activities was confined to the low, comic or grotesque, while nudity was extremely rare in high art — except in scenes of Hell, and figures tended to be slender rather than voluptuously rounded. Courtly love was exalted, but lust and libido were condemned. The beauty of classical art was more highly valued in the early Renaissance in the 15th century, as was the love-theory of Plato. However, this led to an even deeper split between the pure ideal and base reality, between sacred and profane love. Neoplatonism polarised the celestial and the earthly Venus and insisted that bodily experience must be expunged from true love. The questioning and collapse of these rigid distinctions is the erotic revolution.
Society and the sex trade
Sexual attitudes and behaviors in ancient Rome are indicated by art , literature and inscriptions , and to a lesser extent by archaeological remains such as erotic artifacts and architecture. It has sometimes been assumed that "unlimited sexual license" was characteristic of ancient Rome. In the popular imagination and culture, it is synonymous with sexual license and abuse. But sexuality was not excluded as a concern of the mos maiorum , the traditional social norms that affected public, private, and military life. Roman society was patriarchal see paterfamilias , and masculinity was premised on a capacity for governing oneself and others of lower status, not only in war and politics, but also in sexual relations. The corresponding ideal for a woman was pudicitia , often translated as chastity or modesty, but a more positive and even competitive personal quality that displayed both her attractiveness and self-control. Visual art was created by those of lower social status and of a greater range of ethnicity, but was tailored to the taste and inclinations of those wealthy enough to afford it, including, in the Imperial era , former slaves.
A few weeks ago, Megan Stephens got on a bus in a bustling city centre in the north of England. A man sat across the aisle from her. He was wearing sunglasses and had a moustache. For a horrible moment, she thought she recognised him. I was really paranoid. The man on the bus had exactly the same features as someone from her past. As a result of what that person did to Megan, I am not allowed to use her real name or describe where she lives. I can tell you that she is Other than that, she has asked me not to mention any details which might undermine her anonymity. This is because 11 years ago, at the age of 14, Megan was trafficked into the sex industry.