Public nudity or nude in public (NIP) refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public context, being private place where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall. Nudity in the privacy of a person's home or private grounds or facilities is not public nudity, nor is nudity at privately owned facilities, such as fitness facilities, swimming pools, saunas, or gymnasia, nudist or naturist clubs or resorts, when nudity at those places commonly takes place. Naturism promotes social nudity, but mostly on private properties or officially sanctioned public areas.

In some cases, public nudity may be legal. For example, there are many countries which have designated public areas as nude beaches, or where nude bathing is unofficially tolerated. In those places, a person would not face legal prosecution or official harassment merely for being nude.

Outside of those areas, community and legal acceptance of public nudity varies considerably. To avoid offending the public in general, public authorities maintain what are sometimes called "standards of decency". What falls outside these standards are usually termed "indecent exposure", or similar terminology. These standards, however, vary with time and place. If the intent is to draw attention to oneself, it may be referred to as exhibitionism, otherwise it may be to draw attention to a cause (see nudity and protest). There are also some people who disrobe in public to attract publicity to themselves, as a career move, such as some streakers at sporting events. There are also others who spontaneously disrobe in public, as an expression of their freedom and the shedding of inhibitions; an example being skinny dipping.

There are some people^[who?] who object to any public exposure of a naked human body, on moral, religious or decency grounds, and regard the exposure of a naked body as inherently sexual. (See also gymnophobia.) The degree to which a person can be exposed to be considered "indecent" varies with cultural standards. At one extreme is the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan which considered the exposure of any part of a woman's body in public as indecent, and required all women to wear a burqa in public. Less extreme is the requirement for women who enter a church to wear "modest" clothing and to cover their heads. This is not entirely analogous, because this sort of requirement is not made in respect of a public place. (See also modesty.) There are some people^[who?] who consider nudity in art, and by analogy nudity in the media and on the internet, to be public nudity.

Legal position

It is generally accepted as a basic principle by most judges in western countries that a naked human body is not in itself indecent.^{[citation needed]} That principle is reflected in depiction of the human form in art of various forms. This is the position, for example, in Germany^[1], Scandinavia and Spain. In Barcelona public nudity is a recognised right. Associations Addan, the organisation defending the right to nudity, Aleteia and Barcelona Council have published the "Tríptic de Barcelona" that express this and clothes free rights.^[2] In the Netherlands public nudity is allowed on sites that have been assigned by the local authorities and other suitable places ^[3] which effectively means any complaint will cause one to be arrested as a complaint is indication that the place was not "suitable".

On the other hand, it is also recognised that there are large numbers of people, for various reasons, who are offended by and even distressed with displays of nudity. To accommodate these apparently conflicting principles, the courts will, in general, only intervene if there is more than the mere fact of nudity to consider. Courts will therefore usually consider the issue in terms of "indecent exposure". However, the exact standards of "decency" is subject to local community standards, which vary with time and place, and circumstances. In general, public nudity with a sexual element will be prosecuted, as will one involving children.

In many countries public nudity is forbidden outright on the basis that nudity is inherently sexual. Many states of the United States fine offenders on that basis.^[4] (See indecent exposure in the United States.) In many contexts, public nudity has been more accepted, especially at designated areas such as nude beaches and, even in the United States, e.g. during World Naked Bike Ride events or Bay to Breakers. In some states, such as Oregon, public nudity is legal and protected as free speech, as long as there is not the "intent to arouse".

Advocates of the right to be nude

Not all people who engage in public nudity see themselves as nudists or naturists or belong to traditional naturist or nudist organizations. Several activists, such as Vincent Bethell, claim that associations with naturism or nudism are unnecessary. Others will point out that many people who participate in events such as clothing-optional bike rides or visit clothing-optional beaches do so casually and without association or formal affiliation to groups or movements. Activist Daniel Johnson believes that labels and affiliations overly complicate a relatively simple phenomenon, alienate others from a fear of over-commitment or undesirable stereotypes, and thus get in the way of integrating nudity into everyday life.

Public nudity has sometimes been used to attract more attention to a public protest, a tactic used by the Doukhobors in the early 20th century, and later (particularly from the 1960s onwards) used more widely. Modern slogans include "Disrobe for disarmament", "Nudes, not nukes!", "Naked For Peace", and PETA's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur!".

Formal nudity

Although ceremony and traditions usually involve dressing up, often with some preferential attire, certain cultural or religious traditions actually prescribe(d) nudity, e.g., in the gymnopaidia or the sect of the Adamites.

This may be symbolic, especially for 'rebirth' to a new life phase, as in the case of baptism (originally taken by an adult, later often as a child - to symbolise the washing away of original sin - and/or at least partially covered up) or certain coming of age rites, such as cow jumping by young men of the East African Hamer people before they are eligible for marriage. Another example is the neo-pagan tradition in some Wiccan covens of going skyclad for certain rituals.

In other cases, the physical exposure is a functional part testing endurance, e.g., to undergo scarification, as among various Australian Aboriginal and Sepik River tribes in New Guinea.

Artistic expression

• Small and big events where naked people appear with body painting.
• While nude modeling is usually done in closed artistic company, the photography of Spencer Tunick is generally shot publicly, outdoors. Tunick is best-known for installations that feature large numbers of nude people (up to 18 thousand) posed in artistic formations. In these formal images the nude form becomes abstract due to the sheer number so closely placed together. For Tunick, the individual naked body is not important; it is the big group which becomes a "living sculpture" in the landscape.
• San Francisco Bay area photographer Jack Gescheidt is staging his events as part of an ongoing series, called "The Tree Spirit Project".
• The photography of Paul Harvey whose book The Spirit of Lady Godiva depicts nude models in urban environments. According to one tradition, Lady Godiva made her famous ride, naked on horseback, through the streets of Coventry, England on July 10 in 1040 in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants.
• The films of Charles MacFarland are featuring naked people in social settings. Locations include international naturist resorts and beaches.
• Photographer Henning von Berg directs whimsical art happenings with small groups of completely naked people in public urban locations around the globe. While placing a few nude women and men at crowded landmarks in downtown metropolises, he is searching to capture the inter-action between the naked amateur models and the thousands of very surprised passers-by.^[6] Von Berg also organized the world’s only-ever male nude photo shoot inside a parliament building, while hundreds of speechless people surrounded the group of six brave amateur models.^[7]

Recreation and sport

Certain activities in public areas are more readily accepted to be done while naked, such as sun bathing and swimming. Everyday activities such as riding a train or bus, shopping, or attending school or work are almost never considered by the public to be appropriate without clothing.

Examples include going nude swimming at hot springs, nude beaches, naked hiking, streaking and even roller skating. Sandy Snakenberg has organized nude skating and rollerblading events in San Francisco, the largest of their kind in the world. Nude beaches are found in many Western countries.

In recent times, it appears that public nudity is becoming more common with nude sporting and other activities being held. These include naked hiking, canuding (nude canoeing), the World Naked Bike Ride, Bay to Breakers, Solstice Cyclists. No general public outcry has accompanied these events.

• Clothing-optional bike rides

Public nudity in history

Throughout history, poverty has forced some warriors and sailors to be without clothing,^[8] but these instances are unlikely examples of public nudity. The closest western historical example of free public nudity was ancient Sparta, a society with rigorous codes of training and physical exercise, yet also having art and music. Spartan women wore briefer clothing than other Greek women, yet they sometimes dispensed with these garments and went nude in the town if they wished.^[9] (Customarily, they and other Greek men and women were nude at festivals of the Classical period). In Spartan society naked women or men in the city would probably have been treated with the same respect as clothed people.^[10] In general, however, concepts of either shame or offense, or the social comfort of the individual, seem to have been deterrents of public nudity in the rest of Greece and the ancient world in the east and west, with exceptions in what is now South America, and in Africa and Australia. Polybius asserts that Celts typically fought naked, "The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life."^[11]

Ibn Battuta (1304–1369) judges the character of the people of Mali:

"Among their bad qualities are the following. The women servants, slave-girls, and young girls go about in front of everyone naked, without a stitch of clothing on them. Women go into the sultan's presence naked and without coverings, and his daughters also go about naked."^[12]

In the early years of the Soviet Union, an informal organisation called the "Down with Shame" movement held mass marches nude in an effort to dispel earlier, "bourgeois" morality.^[13] This group also sponsored "Evenings of the Denuded Body" in Moscow in the early 1920s, most held in 1922, encouraging the eschewing of clothing altogether.^[14]

Nudity in religion

The Adamites, an early Christian sect, practiced "holy nudism", lived in absolute lawlessness and stripped themselves naked while engaged in common worship. During the Middle Ages the doctrines of this obscure sect were revived: in the Netherlands by the Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Taborites in Bohemia, and, in a grosser form, by the Beghards in Germany. Everywhere they met with firm opposition from the mainstream churches.^[15]

Digambara monks in India reject any form of clothing whatsoever and live naked, or 'sky clad'. Digambara is one of the two main sects of Jainism.^[16]

Sexualized and Non-Sexualized public nudity

Public nudity may be non-sexualized or sexualized in nature.

Some people regard flashing, streaking and mooning as indecent exposure and as examples of sexual public nudity, though usually of a partial nature. Similarly, dogging, exhibitionism, and voyeurism are regarded by some people as offensive behaviour. Not all people regard these acts as offensive sexualized acts.

Burning Man camps are examples of a range of contexts from non-sexualized nudity to overtly sexually themed camps, while the Folsom Street Fair held in San Francisco is a leather and BDSM themed fair.^[17]

The series of 1970’s Nambassa hippie festivals held in New Zealand is a further example of non sexualized naturism. Of the 75,000 patrons who attended the 1979 Nambassa 3 day counterculture Festival an estimated 35% of festival attendance spontaneously chose to remove their clothing,^[18]preferring complete or part nudity.^[19]