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I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart,Ĭopulation is no more rank to me than death is.īut this is not the revolution against Puritanism most of us are familiar with. Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigur’d.
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Voices of sexes and lusts, voices veil’d and I remove the veil, It was inspired in part by the inflow of alcohol-loving immigrants of the very same religious beliefs Puritanism reacted against (Big Bad RC’s), and in equal part by the philosophy of Transcendentalism, which saw the material world as holy and good, exemplified by Walt Whitman’s embrace of the body: There was a revolution against Puritanism. Why then, do modern, western men fear male nudity more than their grandfathers? Why are so many modern locker rooms and dorm bathrooms redesigned with private showers?Īt this point things get more speculative, but hear me out. We’re no longer Puritans! In fact, many of us are not even Christians. Thus a culture developed in which it was considered poor taste to say “thigh” or “breast” in conversation, and even perspiration and digestion became taboo topics.īut hold up! you may rightly protest. It is not something beautiful - it is flesh to be transcended. The body - as part of the material world - is an essentially confusing thing, filled with dirty desires, concupiscence, unwieldy passions, bewildering emotions, depressions, rages and all the rest. The world is fallen, in the clutches of Satan, and the goal of the Christian man is to reject it in favor of the spiritual world. as evil, perishable stuff, good only for ‘getting over’. Puritanism saw the world - the flesh, material goods, etc.
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I’m sure we remember our history, so I won’t bother with the full progression of the revolt against the allowances, worldliness and fleshliness of the old, liturgical religions. Thus modern men are left with two possible conclusions:Īnd though I’d like it to be otherwise, it seems that we’re the odd ducks: Our modern timidity over the naked male form is silly, unprecedented, and ultimately a detriment to the manly life.Īt no point in history have men been overtly nervous over their own bodies.Whether in the Roman baths, Greek Olympics, or in medieval Europe - where public nudity was common in bathhouses, and even priests appeared completely nude in certain religious processions - there has been ease about men, a confidence and a certain peace in the display of the human form. Our grandfathers are far more comfortable than us in their own skin. Male nudity just ain’t what it used to be.Īnd this isn’t some big secret. Less than 100 years ago, however, this ad was accepted and displayed. If a man were to submit this ad to the Washington Post today, he’d undoubtedly be rejected as a prankster. B) painfully creeped out, under the realization that it is real orĪs it turns out, the advertisement is real.Īs men, we need to confront the obvious fact that, as awkward as Bradley’s group showers may appear to us now, it certainly didn’t appear so to the men who bought and sold Bradley’s group showers then.