Re: "much difference is construed betwixt the naked and the nude"

Enigl@aol.com
Tue, 13 May 1997 12:40:17 -0400 (EDT)


In a message dated 97-05-13 11:04:17 EDT, you write:

<< I seem to recall that public nudity was unremarkable in western Europe
until
roughly 1500. Not that people went around all day in the nude, but it would

not be unreasonable to happen upon someone bathing or changing clothes in
public. >>

Example: The "spa" district of Germany, today. The hotel (not even in the
"spa" area) I stayed at, near Saar, was clothing optional. The Turkish bath,
spa, sauna and pool areas were co-ed clothing optional. I stepped in on six
nude German college women 18-25 years old, in the sauna at the hotel. My
puritanical meme took over and I left, embarrassed. But, they paid me
absolutely _no_ notice and just kept on talking to each other. Later, the
next day, one of the women told me "You Americans are strange. Can't you
Americans distinguish between nudity and sex?"