Attitudes about nudity and sexuality

Nudity is the subject of art in sculptures and paintings, or more controversial pieces that include photography. Few studies have examined why society deems nudity as scandalous or negative. One study by Beggan, and colleagues (2014) compared perceptions of “adult” photos based on the target’s gaze. They discovered females who made eye contact with the camera were deemed more vulnerable and more objectified than males, which suggests, in addition to gender differences, it is the implied sexual content for which people are reacting. The current study investigated relationships between attitudes towards nudity and individual difference variables (e.g., political ideology, relationship status) Participants were exposed to artistic nude, pornographic nude, or clothed but sexualized photos. Analysis indicates there was a main effect of photo type on the amount of negative emotions reported. Additionally, there was a main effect of photo sex, in male photographs resulted in higher negativity ratings than female photographs. Finally, there was a significant interaction between sex of the participant and sex of the photo, in each sex reported more negativity when viewing their own sex in a photo. Implications will be discussed