In the imagination of many 19th-century Europeans and Americans, nudity was directly linked with sex, which was directly linked with the power of women to disrupt male social orders. Nudity was also associated with a primitive state of untamed nature and allegedly primitive and depraved religious practices, especially idolatry.

In Japan, by contrast, nudity, while an indicator of "working class" social status, was otherwise largely devoid of such associations. Thanks to glorious western influence, however, Japan made vast strides toward greater prudery during the nineteenth century.

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