Victorian Prudery(PART 2 OF 3)

　　
　
Victorian Prudery(PART 2 OF 3)

Foreign prejudice

against bathing

Foreigners coming to Japan was amazed to witness the mixed-bathing scene in Japan.
Why is that?
Well..., if you want to understand their wonder, you should know thier prevailing common sense at the time.

First of all, the Western approach to nudity was quite different from the Japanese.
For example, the British at the time abided by the Victorian prudery.
During the Victorian era, the British must not expose their naked bodies.

There are some episodes about those strict social codes.
One episode goes like this:
A newly-wed husband was stunned to death when he saw the pubic hair between his wife's legs for the first time.

Another episode goes like this:
Even the glimpse of an ankle of a piano leg was scandalous so that it was covered with tiny pantalettes.



Such being the case, the British were stunned to death when they saw the Japanese men and women bathe together naked.

Besides, the Western bathing custom was quite different from the Japanese.
In much older times, the Westerners took a bath and mixed bathing was also found in Europe.



However, when the medieval plague went rampant, spread the rumor that "the heat and water caused a rift to the skin and the plague slip into the body through the rift."
Because of this rumor, the bathing custom became obsolete.
Some historians believe that most European women in the 18th century died without taking a bath for their lifetime.

Most Westerners had this kind of prejudice when they visited Japan in the 1850s.
Even in 1897, other historians say, "some French women never took a bath for their lifetime.

(translated by Kato)
(pictures from the Denman Library)

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Pages 30 - 31
"When did the Japanese feel ashamed of nakedness"
by Akira Nakano;
published by Shincho-sha(新潮社)
on May 25, 2010

Quoted in :
"Nudity and Censor"
(August 29,2011)
『ヌードと写真狩り』に掲載

I can hardly believe that French women in 1897 never took a bath for their lifetime.



Only some of the French women didn't, I suppose. 　Some historians say that perfume was introduced for that reason.

What reason, Kato?

Well...if you didn't take a bath for years, your body would naturally spread a killing odor, wouldn't it?

Oh, my goodness...don't tell me that, Kato. 　Besides, I'm suspicious about the piano leg story.

If you doubt, please read the following passage.

Victorian prudery



Clothing covered the entire body, we are told, and even the glimpse of an ankle was scandalous.
Critics contend that corsets constricted women's bodies and women's lives.
Homes are described as gloomy, dark, cluttered with massive and over-ornate furniture and proliferating bric-a-brac.

Myth has it that even piano legs were scandalous, and covered with tiny pantalettes.
Of course, much of this is untrue, or a gross exaggeration.

Corsets stressed a woman's sexuality, exaggerating hips and bust by contrast with a tiny waist.
Women's ball gowns bared the shoulders and the tops of the breasts.
The jersey dresses of the 1880s may have covered the body, but the stretchy novel fabric fitted the body "like a glove".

There is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous.
Pianos and tables were often draped with shawls or cloths—but if the shawls hid anything, it was the cheapness of the furniture.
There are references to lower-middle-class families covering up their pine tables rather than show that they couldn't afford mahogany.

The piano leg story seems to have originated in Captain Frederick Marryat's 1839 book, Diary in America, as a satirical comment on American prissiness.

Victorian manners, however, may have been as strict as imagined—on the surface.
One simply did not speak publicly about sex, childbirth, and such matters, at least in the respectable middle and upper classes.
However, as is well known, discretion covered a multitude of sins.
Prostitution flourished.
Upper-class men and women indulged in adulterous liaisons.

Victorian Women



Some people now look back on the Victorian era with wistful nostalgia.
Historians would say that this is as much a distortion of the real history as the stereotypes emphasizing Victorian repression and prudery.
Women were not allowed to swim, for it would be frowned upon as "bad etiquette".
Women also had to wear special suits to ride bikes.

Also notable is a contemporary counter-cultural trend called steampunk.
Those who dress steampunk often wear Victorian-style clothing that has been "tweaked" in edgy ways: tattered, distorted, melded with Goth fashion, Punk, and Rivethead styles.
Another example of Victorian fashion being incorporated into a contemporary style is the Gothic and Classic Lolita Fashion culture.

Victorian Women

and Prostitution

<iframe width="400" height="305" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0FeMHRTNQ78" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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SOURCE:　Victorian fashion, Wikipedia
PICTURES: from the Denman Library

To Live In The 1920s

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/684n8FO68LU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Queen Victoria's

Diamond Jubilee (1897)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ch3zMCBUmpk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



You see, Kato, there is no actual evidence that piano legs were considered scandalous.



I see that, Diane, but in those days, people did not speak publicly about sex, childbirth, and such matters, at least in the respectable middle and upper classes. 　I belive, this is the prevailing social atmosphere of the Victorian era. 　Don't you think so, Diane?

Yes, I understand what you mean. 　Nowadays, people talk about sex anytime and everywhere.

Talking about mixed bathing, we have Wreck beach in Vancouver. 　Some men and women go naked on the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

Yes, I know that, Kato. 　And you used to be one of them, I guess.

How do you know, Diane?

Because I notice some of your articles about nudity when I did some search on the Net.



"The Search Result at Present"



So, how about you? 　Have you ever been to the nude beach?



I'm a born Christian, you know, and proud of having a decent prudery.

Oh, yeah...? :)

Anyway, prudery seems to change as time goes by, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. 　You're right on, Diane.

(To be continued)