Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Nudity features regularly in all major media. So why is it illegal to appear naked in public? Nudity has always been paradoxical. In modern consumer culture, it is actively encouraged in some contexts, but criminal or deviant in others. Images of nudity are everywhere. Advertising uses nudity to sell everything from housing loans to appliances, perfume to cars. Nudity has, in fact, become the latest fashion. This is not surprising. Advertising and fashion need a constant stream of novelty and there's nothing so new as nudity, the oldest fashion of all. Aside from being big business, nudity is a legal and moral minefield, the object of psychological study, and a mundane fact of everyday life. We alternately think of it as a perversion and a state of absolute innocence. Why does nudity mean so many contradictory things, and why is it treated so differently in different contexts? Drawing on a wealth of examples from popular culture, literature, philosophy and religion, as well as first-hand interviews, Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy goes deep into the naked underworld to answer these questions. Barcan encounters morticians, nudists, strippers, nurses, tattooists, artists and makers of pornography. She demonstrates that ordinary people, popular culture and high philosophy are all sources of wisdom about the naked body. Nudity is one of the most fundamental metaphors in the Western tradition - indeed, it is a metaphor for human nature itself - and yet this book is one of the first to explore its paradoxes in depth. Barcan's mission is to shine a light on a topic that has been largely ignored, even within cultural studies, despite its ability to titillate, shock or entertain. From pubic hair fashions through to a Royal "full monty," Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy is a fascinating blend of meaningful minutiae and big philosophical questions about the most unnatural state of nature in the modern West.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. vii)
• Acknowledgments (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 The Nudity/Clothing Dialectic (p. 11)
• 2 The Metaphor of Nudity (p. 77)
• 3 Unnatural Nature: Mess, Savagery, Perversion, Crime (p. 143)
• 4 The Nude Republic: Celebrity, "Ordinariness" and Identity (p. 207)
• Conclusion (p. 279)
• References (p. 285)
• Index (p. 301)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

With the claim that this universal, provocative subject has received little academic scrutiny outside of art studies (WorldCat backs her up), Barcan (Univ. of Western Sydney, Australia) embarks on a wide-ranging yet selective attempt to sort out the various philosophical and social meanings of the naked human body. Focusing on contemporary Australian society but drawing from other cultures and the historical record back to ancient Greece, she explores many contradictions of nakedness among, others, natural/unnatural, normal/abnormal, innocent/perverse, and lacking/complete. She surveys the literature and interviews people in relevant roles (e.g., nudists, a funeral director, medical practitioners, a masseur, and a pornographer). She considers the symbolism of the body, nakedness and clothing as metaphors, Judeo-Christian-influenced moral implications of nudity, and nudity in consumer culture. Casual readers titillated by the title should be advised that, despite the interesting pictures, this is a rather dense review of the sociological literature and of current and historical culture, and is written for a scholarly audience. Recommended for academic libraries collecting in popular culture, gender issues, and sociology. Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Worthington Libs., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Barcan's study should prove useful to scholars in a variety of disciplines. One can also imagine it intriguing general readers. Barcan (gender studies, Univ. of Sydney, Australia) offers an argument that is accessible and yet sophisticated. She is the type of scholar who can move gracefully from discussing Plato or Foucault to describing changes in pubic hair fashions. The great merit of this study is the wonderful balance between theoretical reflection and empirical evidence. Barcan draws on an impressively wide range of cultural references to reflect on the intriguingly unstable status of nudity and how it serves as an uneasy index of the constantly shifting civilizing process. A key component of Barcan's argument is the notion of the dialectic between nudity and clothing. She pursues this in a fascinating exploration of the shifting fortunes of hair as the border between nature and culture. Her study concludes with the role of nudity in the larger public sphere, in examples of celebrities and political figures. Barcan's subtle meditations are backed up by extensive research and interviews. Her study will enrich any reader's understanding of the deceptively simple notion of nudity. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. S. Barnett Central Connecticut State University