1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Dessa, and this is deeply human. Unless you 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: are listening to this program in the shower, sunbathing on 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: a progressive beach, or as a fresh born babe, you 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: are probably wearing clothing even if it's hot out, which 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: is strange when you think about it. No other animals 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: fashion garments to conceal their private parts. And that sentence 7 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: probably doesn't make much sense because I doubt other animals 8 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: bother sorting public parts from private ones. So why do 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: we like, listener? Why aren't you naked? When my little 10 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: brother was small, maybe six or seven, he hit a 11 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: sleep walking stage, well like sleep running really. It usually 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: happened shortly after his bedtime. When my mom and I 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: would be chatting on her big bed. We hear rapid 14 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: footfalls coming from down the hall, and we'd make way 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: because we knew that in a moment my brother would 16 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: be rounding the corner sand's pajamas and would leap like 17 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: a little naked starfish onto her bed. Then we would 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: take great care not to wake him up and embarrass 19 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: him before guiding him back to bed. We were more 20 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: concerned about this kid being ashamed of his nakedness than 21 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: we were of him, like launching himself out the window. 22 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: Let's talk to a naked grown up. Now, can you 23 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,759 Speaker 1: introduce yourself like the way that you would at a party. 24 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: I can give it a go. Hi, I'm Mark, I'm 25 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: a party. I get nervous for a dude with some 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: self professed social anxiety in Mark went on national television 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: in the UK and got totally naked. So Naked Attraction 28 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: is a Channel four TV show where the dating happens 29 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: in reverse. They say, basically as six naked people in 30 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: the studio and the pick he gets to choose a 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: person to go on a date with by it gradually 32 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: seeing their nude body. I cannot emphasize enough how insane 33 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: this TV show is. I first stumbled across it a 34 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: couple of years ago channel surfing in a London hotel room, 35 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: and I spent the next hour in sustained shock. The 36 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: format itself was like pretty pedestrian, one person fix a 37 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: date out of a panel of contestants, but all the 38 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: guests get completely naked. And when I say completely, I'm 39 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: not talking about like demure poses with crossed legs or 40 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,639 Speaker 1: topless women peeking coyly over a bare shoulder. I am 41 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: talking like close ups of genitals in studio lighting on 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: Network TV and Light ten PM. If I own curls, 43 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: I'd have to be typing these scripts one handed because 44 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: I would still be clutching them. But to Mark, who 45 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: was gearing up to re enter the dating pool, this 46 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,359 Speaker 1: sort of terrifying challenge. It was kind of like cross 47 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: training for taking the Plunge. In many ways, it's more 48 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: scary to go out on a date and meet someone 49 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: new and get naked with them for the first time 50 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: than it is to go on an actual TV shot. 51 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: Our unclothed bodies do seem sort of fragile, such a 52 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: vast expanse of bear skin to a braid or chill 53 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: or burn or bruise. Naked people are just so naked humans, 54 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: you might recall from a bio class of your are 55 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: sometimes called the naked ape. We lost our fur about 56 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: a million years ago, and there are a few theories 57 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: as to why. The most popular asserts that our bear 58 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: skin helps us sweat to stop us from overheating. Anthropologist 59 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: nenigibal on Ski I study human skin, including the evolution 60 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: of nakedness and what it means to have naked skin. 61 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: What is not intuitive to me is if we evolved 62 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: over a fi fillion generations to be furless, then why 63 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: did we turn around and start wearing fur stolen from 64 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: other animals. Probably one of the first things we did 65 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: was cover ourselves up at night. Humans, like other primates, 66 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 1: would have been good at huddling with one another to 67 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: keep warm, and certainly we also used furs and animal hides. 68 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: As humans began to move outside of the tropics, we 69 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: get cold at night and invent blankets. Okay, that tracks, 70 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: But when does shame enter the picture? Because it seems 71 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 1: like and even the hottest of climbs, humans usually cover 72 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,799 Speaker 1: themselves up, even with only a tiny little scrap of fabric, 73 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: and those genital coverings don't seem to serve any meaningful 74 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: purpose for thermal regulation. It's not like, man, I'm freezing, 75 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: can I borrow your fig leaf? So what's going on there? 76 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: What's with the whole modesty business? People were living, you know, 77 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: cheek by jowl, and one can imagine that there would 78 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:17,799 Speaker 1: be certain situations in which the condition of the genitals 79 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: would cause some kind of social disruption. Let's just say gently, 80 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 1: let's try to get this past the censors together. Nina 81 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: what are you talking about? If you're in a close 82 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: social group, sometimes those interactions between individuals that cause visible 83 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:46,280 Speaker 1: excitation would be considered anti social. It's like we're concealing 84 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: sensitive information as much as we're concealing the anatomy itself. 85 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: Who's roused or who's on their period. And sometimes modesty 86 00:05:54,560 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: isn't only about clothes. Modesty isn't necessarily about of rain up, 87 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: but it's about removing yourself from the greater social group 88 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: under particular situations. For instance, women removing themselves when they're menstruating, 89 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: or a couple going off when they're having sex together. 90 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: So like me wearing jeans right now might be the 91 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: equivalent of me sneaking off behind a tree or over 92 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: a ridge in times of yore. Like it's just me 93 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: keeping the intimate bits intimate, which I no longer need 94 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: to do geographically, because Levi's yeah, it's like clothing is 95 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: a little privacy shed that you take with you everywhere 96 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: you go, and it's a shed you are not allowed 97 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: to leave. Try walking down the street without your clothes 98 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: on in New York. Actually you can't do it. That 99 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: buzz kill was provided by Philip Levine, Professor of History 100 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: at the University of Texas. I think some people would 101 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: be offended and suggest that you're obscene. Other people would 102 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: think that you're, you know, what we used to call 103 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: a sex maniac, whatever on earth that means. Others would 104 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: think that perhaps you were psychologically unbalanced. Some would think 105 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: that you were making a political statement, because we do 106 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: know that nakedness has been used a lot as a 107 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: form of political resistance in many different cultures. Clothes may 108 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: have started with warmth and privacy, but they certainly didn't 109 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: end there. Clothing has become a crucial part of culture. 110 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: It announces social affiliations and economic status, and class and ethnicity, 111 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: and over the course of human history it's become almost 112 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: like a wearable flag sidebar. We have an episode about 113 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: dress and dress codes. Philippa herself specializes in colonial history, 114 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: when British and other European powers were traveling far beyond 115 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: their own shores, encountering varied customs across the planet, misunderstanding 116 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: much of what they saw and citing those differences to 117 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: rationalized programs of world domination. There is this notion that 118 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: bodies of color, black bodies in particular, are somehow naturally naked, 119 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: and that this makes those people inferior to civilized white 120 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: people who know to wear clothes. This is a narrative 121 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: over and over again in colonial texts that one of 122 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: the reasons we need to civilize these people is because 123 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: they don't understand that they need to wear clothes and 124 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: be modest, and they need to learn shame. We see 125 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: it with the missionaries in the eighteenth century when they 126 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: first get to places like the Pacific Islands. We see 127 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: it in Africa, we see it all over the world. 128 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: Philippin notes that while clothing traditions vary hugely across the world, 129 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: not every culture ties up their notions of modesty and 130 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: shame with the naked body. But many colonialists depicted bear 131 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: skin and some sort of moral failing evidence of an 132 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: animal nature ignorance. Charities organized fundraisers to clothe the natives 133 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: to fulfill a moral imperative, But a prominent naturalist named 134 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: Thomas Henry Huxley was eager to document the naked bodies 135 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: of people around the world, and a letter written by 136 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: Huxley was actually what inspired Philippa herself to embark on 137 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: a career studying nakedness. So in eighteen sixty nine. He 138 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: writes a letter to the man who runs the British 139 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: Empire and he says, and these are his words, not mine. 140 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: He says, please, could you arrange to have photographs of 141 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: naked natives sent to me for scientific research purposes? Well, 142 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: where i am reading this letter and my jaw drops, 143 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: I'm thinking eighteen sixty nine, height of the Victorian period. 144 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: And here he is having the goal to ask this, 145 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: you know, grand politician, to send him pictures of you know, 146 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: men and women without their kit on. Granville writes back, 147 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: and he says, sure, no problem, I'll be right on it. 148 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: And indeed he sends to what they call a circular, 149 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: which is basically a letter that goes to every single 150 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: colonial governor, saying, Professor Huxley needs pictures of your natives 151 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: without their clothes on, Please send eighteens sixty nine. This, dude, 152 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: rights send nudes to the whole world. You got it. 153 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: Huxley wanted the people of the empire to strip naked 154 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: for photos so he could classify them the way a 155 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: collector pins butterflies to a board. He was interested in 156 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: figuring out how humans evolved, but he was also working 157 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: on sorting people into a hierarchy of races. A lot 158 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 1: of people took similar photos, missionaries, anthropologists, even game hunters. 159 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,680 Speaker 1: It got me thinking about how even as a child 160 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: growing up in Britain myself, we had had school textbooks 161 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,239 Speaker 1: that talked about the naked native and what an incredibly 162 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,719 Speaker 1: familiar troope this was to me, and that trope has 163 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: been pervasive. Our sense of propriety and shame can be 164 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: leveraged for power, social and political. Naked people's historically weren't 165 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,439 Speaker 1: considered deserving of the same respect and more regard as 166 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: clothed ones. The most sensational and complicated and heart sinking 167 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: story that Philippa told me took place in an Australian 168 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: mission school called Rnabella. The Mission and Annabella is a 169 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: really interesting example of how messy this stuff becomes. I 170 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,599 Speaker 1: think it failed, but it tried, I think, to understand 171 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: and to respect what it understood as the local indigenous customs. 172 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: So we're talking about in what was known as the 173 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: out back. You know, we're in the desert here. It's 174 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: the nineteen for days in rural Australia, one of the 175 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,959 Speaker 1: last regions on the continent to be settled by white people, 176 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: and By the standards of the time, this mission school 177 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: was considered progressive, promoting the culture and the language of 178 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: the indigenous Aboriginal people. Some of the students there were 179 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: children of two Aboriginal parents full blood would have been 180 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: the term used then, and some were halfway. The kids 181 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: who are full bloot are being encouraged by Annabella to 182 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: embrace what they see as their indigenous culture, and as 183 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: a result, they're not allowed to wear clothes because they 184 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: understood as a naked and primitive people's the kids who 185 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: had white fathering, those kids were not allowed to go naked. 186 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: I don't think I am ever going to forget that 187 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: these kids strand in on either side of adults imaginary lines. 188 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: The mandate for modesty is pretty universal, even if modesty 189 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: looks different in practice around the world. Some places don't 190 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: like bare breasts or legs, or shoulders or hair. But 191 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: whatever the rules are, most cultures are passionate about compliance. 192 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: Some taboos on nakedness, however, don't seem to vary all 193 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: that much across culture. Philippa says there is one adult 194 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: body part that almost every society covers up. The biggest 195 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: taboo over time, without question, is the penis. There's always 196 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: a big hoho harp when we start to have any 197 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: hint that we might see a penis. Somehow women's bodies 198 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: are okay to commercialize, to use, to sell things, to 199 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,839 Speaker 1: make pretty pictures from meaning you know, poshed off. It 200 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: goes on gallery walls. Fast forward. A woman sits for 201 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: her portrait with her eyes closed and her arms crossed 202 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: over her bare breasts in front of a studio backdrop. 203 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: The photos crapped at the waist, but you can see 204 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: like the dark band of leggings at the bottom of 205 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: the frame. It's a kind of image you might see 206 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,719 Speaker 1: a lot of while scrolling on social media. But when 207 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: this particular image was posted to Instagram, the platform removed 208 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: it for violating community guidelines. The woman in the photo 209 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: was Naomie Nicholas Williams, a black plus sized model. She 210 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: the photographer, and a bunch of other people pointed out 211 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: that slenderer white models could post exactly these sorts of 212 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: images all day long and not get censored. Her fans 213 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: rallied on her behalf online. The hashtag I want to 214 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: see Naomi started gaining traction, and a lot of other 215 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: users who tried posting the image met with similar takedown notices. 216 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: Naomi wrote a public letter to the CEO of Instagram 217 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: that said, and I quote Instagram reproduces the same racial 218 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: biases that society does. Seeing fat black bodies is too 219 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: much or unpalatable, And actually Instagram ended up changing its 220 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: nudity policy, acknowledging that Naomi's photos shouldn't have been taken down. 221 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: One of the people who signed Naomi's letter was Shar Elise. 222 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: For those people right now who are just like meeting 223 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: you for the first time by voice only, can you 224 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: describe what you look like? Yeah, I'm skin I have 225 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: a shaved head. Um, I'm probably around the size well, 226 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: I'm around the size u K sixteen to eight team 227 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: and I'm like five ft five, I've got loads of tattoos, 228 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: quite a few pacings, and yeah that's me. Shar is 229 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: a content creator but sometimes model, and the founder of 230 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: an online platform called Girls Will Be Boys, which aims 231 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: to explore gender through personal stories. She says that a 232 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: naked body is seen through a completely different lens. If 233 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: that body is black, it goes back years and years 234 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: and years, Like, there's so many examples of our bodies 235 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: being seen as either like freak shows. It's not just 236 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: a body that functions that are human being lives in. 237 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: It's it's something else. It has to be something else. 238 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: It's disgusting and it's really unfair. And a lot of 239 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: forums only on naked bodies are considered artful and others 240 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: are just fundamentally indecent and shouldn't be seen at all. 241 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: We don't see women with saggy boobs, we don't see 242 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: women with bellies. They have the phrase of like all 243 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: shapes and sizes, We welcome all shapes and sizes, but 244 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: you don't. Okay, maybe different size, but it's always the 245 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: same shape. So Shar teamed up with Naomi in another 246 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: motel to pose for a photo project the protested online 247 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: censorship us three models of painted head to toe in 248 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: pink glitter all over. There literally was not expect of 249 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: us that wasn't painted, and we were kind of stood 250 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 1: on these podiums and it was just us in like 251 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: our natural forms, and there were close ups of like 252 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: certain body parts like back rolls, and it was just 253 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: basically a middle finger up to censorship and society and 254 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: making out that our bodies are something that they're not 255 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: and that basically, our bodies are exactly what we say 256 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: they are, and that we can be shown as all 257 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: as well as our slimmer or white counterparts. So it 258 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: was just like a celebration of us and our bodies. 259 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,920 Speaker 1: The human menagerie is stocked with all sorts of bodies, 260 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: and we tend to see just a small sampling of 261 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: them represented in our media, and so we take note 262 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: when the spotlight hit someone not usually asked to center stage. 263 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: Remember that guy Mark who took off all his clothes 264 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: on that show Naked Attraction. Mark is a handsome dude, 265 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: but if you were to google clips from his appearance 266 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: on the show and I have, the first thing you're 267 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: likely to notice about his anatomy is, actually, well, what's 268 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: let him telling? I actually had my whole color on 269 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:54,959 Speaker 1: removed and had a colostomy backfitted in order to collect 270 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: the waste that would ordinarily go through your color on 271 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: and out of your butt. And so yeah, that the 272 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: changes you the way you look because you have this 273 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: sort of medical appliance on your stomach. So at the 274 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 1: time I was pretty embarrassed about it. I was more reluctant, 275 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: friend want to actually see me. Mark has Crone's disease, 276 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:21,199 Speaker 1: and after a surgery, he felt ugly hyper aware of 277 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: the bag affixed to the skin above his right hip. 278 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 1: He healed up and got back on his feet, but 279 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: dating posed a particular challenge. I was meeting new women 280 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: and had to get naked at some point, and therefore 281 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 1: had to really address this u shyness that I had. 282 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: So when his friends encouraged him to go on the program, 283 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: he went for it and the audience loved it, and 284 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: afterwards the Twitter account for Colostomy UK congratulated Mark on 285 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: his confidence and all the work he'd done raising awareness. 286 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: They also posted a shot from the episode featuring a 287 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: modesty saving eggplant emoji, but his colostomy bag in full view. 288 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,920 Speaker 1: I think being naked on national TV was probably the 289 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: biggest challenge that I've done so far. I think kind 290 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,679 Speaker 1: of stepping it up like that and gradually revealing it 291 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: to more and more people has helped me personally as 292 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: well as obviously, you know, the more people in the 293 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: general public that know about these things, the better. In 294 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: my opinion, getting naked can make a statement. It can 295 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: make us feel vulnerable or empowered or just chilly. But 296 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 1: when other people see you naked, it might change the 297 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,600 Speaker 1: way they think about how you think. Okay, let's get 298 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: Kurt Gray in here already. He's based at the University 299 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 1: of North Carolina Chapel Hill as the director of the 300 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: Deepest Belief Slab, which let's be Frank is an amazing 301 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: name for a lab. Some years ago, a few of 302 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: his colleagues were having a debate how does seeing someone 303 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: undressed change the way you think about them? One team said, 304 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: we objectify naked bodies. When you observe somebody naked, they're 305 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,640 Speaker 1: reduced to a mindless pile of meat. But the other 306 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: team said, you don't think less of them, you just 307 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: see them differently. Kurt decided to run a series of 308 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: trials to try to find out who is right. I 309 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: can tell you about the most interesting experiment, which involves 310 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: adult film stars if if you like ready, the easiest 311 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,479 Speaker 1: experiment to run is just show people the same person 312 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: you know with their clothes on and close off. Same picture, 313 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 1: same setting, same lighting, same makeup. The only thing that 314 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: differed is nakedness. Happily, a photographer named Timothy Greenfield Sanders 315 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: had already published a book of portraits in which porn 316 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: stars were photographed both naked and clothed in exactly the 317 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: same poses. And we had a disclaimer that said warning, 318 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,199 Speaker 1: you're gonna see You're gonna see pornography in this study. 319 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 1: And with that disclaimer, the study filled up in a 320 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: hot minute. So we asked a thousand people to judge 321 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: these adult film stars. These thousand participants were then given 322 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: a questionnaire to capture their impressions of the people in 323 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,159 Speaker 1: the photographs. They were asked questions like, compared to the 324 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: average person, how much is this person capable of self control, 325 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: of planning a feeling pain, a feeling rage. And we 326 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 1: found that when you see someone will have their clothes on, 327 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: so that when they're naked, you see them as less 328 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: capable of thinking, but in fact more capable of feeling, 329 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: of feeling fear and pain and pleasure. Kurt's findings implied 330 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: sort of a zero sum proposition, like the more we 331 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: perceive people as thinking, the less we perceive them as 332 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: sensitive to feelings. Kurt conducted another experiment, and this time 333 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: he encouraged participants to administer safe but uncomfortable electric shocks 334 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: to someone in another room. Before doing so, however, they 335 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 1: were shown a picture of the guy who would be 336 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,719 Speaker 1: receiving the shock, Shocky as it were. Some participants were 337 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: shown photos of Shocky negat above the waist. Other participants 338 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: were on a picture of him wearing a black hoodie. 339 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: And as you might be starting to suspect, Shaki was 340 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: a secret agent in this thing, actually a part of 341 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 1: Kurt's team. And so what we found there is that 342 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 1: people administered more shocks when people were closed than when 343 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: people were naked. Kurt figured that's because we perceived naked 344 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: people as more sensitive to pain, more vulnerable. It didn't 345 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: seem as though research participants were objectifying the naked people, 346 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: reducing them to nothing more than their physical bodies. They 347 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: still regarded them as individuals with mental lives. They still 348 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: had minds, but participants assumed the minds of naked people 349 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: were doing less intellectual work, and we're more involved with 350 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,719 Speaker 1: sensation and emotion. But can we really extrapolate these findings 351 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,919 Speaker 1: from the highly controlled laboratory environment to the outside world. 352 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: Kurt admits it's hard to be sure if data collected 353 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,639 Speaker 1: from Harvard undergrads holds true for the rest of the 354 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: planet look in other societies. It is certainly seems that 355 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: perhaps the more powerful the more you're seeing as a thinker, 356 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: the more clothes that you have thought. But as the scientists, 357 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,440 Speaker 1: how we say more park needs to be done. Kurt 358 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: understood these results to suggest that maybe seeing people differently 359 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: when they're naked isn't all bad. Maybe it helps us 360 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: register their vulnerability and prompts us to want to protect them. Also, 361 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: maybe it's just like true, maybe when we're naked we 362 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: do tend to focus more unfeeling than thinking. Right, we 363 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: wear clothes to protect ourselves so we don't feel as much. 364 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: And so I think it's true that that when we 365 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: are closed, we are more of a thinker, and we're 366 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,679 Speaker 1: naked we're more of a dealer. I guess on the 367 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: occasions where I encounter someone who is observing me naked, 368 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,479 Speaker 1: like I'm not planning an invasion of Prussia, like I 369 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: am more, I am more focused on the present moment, 370 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: experience and sensation, whether it's good or bad. Yeah. Yeah, 371 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: although you know a little known fact Napoleon plan most 372 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: of its advance is totally naked. But that's not true. 373 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: I just made that up. God, I just I was 374 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: like this, flip the table over, Spike, Mike, you just well, listener, 375 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: our time together is almost up. And if I sound 376 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: a little different while delivering this final thought, it's because 377 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,439 Speaker 1: I am now sitting completely naked on the floor of 378 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: a hotel closet, and I would describe the sensation as 379 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: mostly humbling, kind of hard to put down my own 380 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: standard issue insecurities and focus on the task at hand. 381 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: It also feels like I am maybe doing something low 382 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:39,919 Speaker 1: key illegal, which is probably just a product of my 383 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: own looming fear that housekeeping is going to enter un 384 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: announced and discover me in a very difficult to explain 385 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: audio project. I once read an article in the Seattle 386 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,719 Speaker 1: Times about just how seriously we dig modesty. There were 387 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: these disaster planners and they were really struggling to create 388 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: viable decontamination protocols because people who were caught up in 389 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:11,399 Speaker 1: anthrax scares were so reluctant to undress, even to save 390 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: themselves from a potentially lethal biotoxin. Some people, and I quote, 391 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: would rather be dead than strip in public. But you 392 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: know who just does not care at all about modesty 393 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: or nakedness. Tiny kids. They suck at getting into clothes 394 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: and they suck at wearing them. We've got to persuade 395 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: every new arrival to the planet one by one to 396 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,919 Speaker 1: get dressed and get on board. We teach them to 397 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: put on a hat. On the winner, we explain which 398 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: parts must be covered to merge into the flow of 399 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: social traffic and to protect their furthest little bodies from 400 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: the elements would get them shoes and shirts and maybe squirts, 401 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: and by the time they're all grown up, they'll probably 402 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: be uncomfortable without clothes, feeling overexposed and vulnerable. Among the 403 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,680 Speaker 1: many peculiarities of us naked apes is our ambivalence about 404 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: our own nakedness. All right, radio friends, it is time 405 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: to shut this party down before housekeeping discovers the creeposoid 406 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: hiding naked in the closet and room at oh six. 407 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:27,200 Speaker 1: Deeply Human is a BBC World service in American public media, 408 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: co production with I Heart Media and as hosted by Mesa. 409 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: Find me online at Tessa on Instagram and Dessa Darling 410 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter. Question why do you care so much about 411 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: what people wear? You know? I can hear you thinking 412 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: I don't care so much of it. But I bet 413 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: you've got more skin in this game than you might imagine. 414 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: Next time on Deeply human. We're talking dress codes,