page_title: Nudity
section_title: Depictions of nudity
hierarchical_section_title: Nudity / Depictions of nudity
context_page_description: Nudity is a state of being in which a human is not wearing clothing or specifically is not covering the genitals. In some societies, partial nudity is defined as not covering other parts of the body that are deemed to be sexual.
  Nakedness, or the loss of body fur, was one of the physical characteristics that marked the evolution of anatomically modern humans from their hominini ancestors. For many thousands of years, humans wore no clothing, which continues to be the norm in some isolated indigenous societies in tropical climates. It is generally accepted that the widespread adoption of clothing occurred as people migrated to other climates which required protection from the elements. In addition, as societies developed from being hunter-gatherers to being agrarian, clothing became part of cultural evolution as individuals and groups became differentiated by status and class. In early civilizations such as Egypt, slaves, children, and others with lower status often continued to be naked.
  The modern understanding of nudity is culturally complex due to different meanings given various states of undress in differing social situations.
context_section_description: In a picture-making civilization, pictorial conventions continually reaffirm what is natural in human appearance, which is part of socialization.
  In Western societies, the contexts for depictions of nudity include information, art and pornography. Any ambiguous image not easily fitting into one of these categories may be misinterpreted, leading to disputes. The nude in photography includes scientific, commercial, fine art, and erotic photography.
caption: Images of a man and woman attached to Pioneer 10 as part of a message to any extra-terrestrial intelligence the space probe might encounter.