NAKEDNESS vs. NUDITY

“The word nakedness comes from the Anglo-Saxon Germanic roots, nudity from the Norman French. As a result, it is possible to tease apart meanings, with some suggesting that if you are nude you are unclothed and knowingly observed, while nakedness refers to the ‘innocent’ state of simply being uncovered. Nudity happens in art, nakedness happens in your bathroom. Nakedness represents the raw, nudity the ideal. The art critic John Berger writes: ‘To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become nude. The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.’ ” ~ A Brief History of Nakedness by Philip Carr-Gomm