By Okon Primus Xavier
There is a fundamental difference between being naked and being nudeness . While unclothedness is simply the state of having no clothes on, nudeness is the exploration and even often the exploitation of unclothedness for ulterior purposes.

The difference becomes clearer when considered in the light of progression of human civilization from the time humans were naked because there were no sufficient and adequate clothing material, to the time where unclothedness became a deliberate and calculated choice having little or nothing to do with the availability of clothes.

From the early times in Black Africa (where good moral values were highly priced and observed in spite of African men and women prowling the day in outer unclothedness, at most covering the genitals with leaves and animal fur) to the present scenario, where the body curves and genitals have come to be identified with human’s rawest, fiercest and most desperate expression of human sexual energy.

African dance was viewed as nothing but a celebration of sexual energy in the opinion of earliest European visitors (citation), to a present day setting where dancing is seen as means of inciting the opposite gender into sexual arousal and consequently sexual attraction.

Presently, the trend which is most deplorable is the economic exploitation of human unclothedness, which consists in the use of human unclothedness and nudity for economic benefits and business strategies to attract customer patronage and investors by entrepreneurs, corporate organizations, entertainment and advertisement industries – SEX SELLS! And rightly so.

What is saddening is the increasing number of young ladies today who clamour to feature in adverts, what is often now called ‘modelling’, with skimpy dresses that is most often geared at sexual arousal of the opposite sex all for economic gains. Many others make use of Billboards, newspapers, magazines, and even T.V stations to showcase their products and services to the public with the pictures or videos of ‘nude’ individuals on them all in a bid to attract customers, promote the products and services they offer. The beauty of many adverts seems lost because nudity, rather than the initial intention of marketing a product in the final analysis is promoted.

Furthermore, this trend has infiltrated the very soul of the entertainment industries. It is not uncommon to see some men dressed decently in most of the music videos while the ladies feature on “bikinis” or total unclothedness for dancing in such videos with pride, talk more of the men who flaunt their bare bodies with their six pack bellies in such videos. Some of the Nollywood movies no longer carry the much desired moral lessons and meaning they had intended to communicate to the viewer. In place of such noble intentions, the level of nudity displayed and promoted is gradually taking the centre stage even on movies that portray the ancient African Traditional settings. It is pertinent to mention here that most of the viewers of movies and music videos are the youth and children and this has adverse and devastating consequences on them as well as the entire populace.

This is evident in the many forms of indecent dressing and styles that are considered to be in vogue. Cases of rape, prostitution, transmission of STDs, alcoholism, drug addiction, and unwanted pregnancy are among the few ills that could result from indecent dressing and nude appearances.

Unfortunately, many young men and women and as a matter of fact even some of the elderly import this orientation of nudity for beauty into the church. Mini-skirts, low waste, singlet, tight leggings, three quarter shorts, sleeveless shirts, bomb shorts and all other sorts of things are worn to the church in the name of fashion and beauty when in essence nudity and unclothedness is demonstrated. With such dress styles sensitive parts of the body are exposed to ‘God’ and other worshippers as well. Even when so much sensitization has been carried out against indecent dressing in churches, many are still bent on nudity to the detriment of beauty.

Sacred Scripture admonishes that for whoever causes another who believes in Christ to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea (Mark 9:42).

Some might argue that ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’, (an aphorism credited to Plato in his famous allegory of the cave) and rely on the saying of Protagoras that ‘man is the measure of all things…’ as a basis to relativize beauty and justify nudity.

This however, does not represent the Platonic mind whose aim was to link material beauty to immaterial and perfect beauty as the source of all that is creaturely beautiful. For created beauty are all pointers to the ideal beauty, and by that it serves as means to an end rather than an end in itself which is what relativism professes and which is why nudity sells.

So, nudity is in no way synonymous to beauty; and anyone who appraises nudity rather makes mockery of the human person who is beautiful and also God who is Beauty itself. In point of fact, the human person is intrinsically beautiful and does not need the garment of nudity to showcase its beauty; for nudity makes the human person more of a commodity.

What an aberration! This is why the dignity of the human person must be seen supreme beyond any marketing services, economic advancements and self-flaunting, and thus, not a packaging strategy for industries, government or individual entrepreneurs. So let decency, modesty and decorum be the preservative garments for the beauty of the human person in all spheres of human endeavour. Only then can this trend be curtailed less the bible and other sacred vessels start having naked girls on them for advert. GOD FORBID!

Gadfly Magazine 2014/2015 Edition

http://www.politicalcritics.com.ng/index.php/2016/07/31/nudity-expense-beauty/

Moderators, you have succeeded only in mutilating my posts.
You have changed nudity to unclothedness and changed unclothedness to unclothedness.
Please this version of my post does not pass the message it carries. At least you can change the one of the title as it effect is negligible.

This is not what I posted.

This version is better, thanks. This is serious, even my complaint above was altered.

God makes them beautiful clothed or not. God gives them peculiar materiels(weapons) to make men jealous. Adam called them WOW NOT WOE MEN. And God declares Himself as the only Authority to be jealous. So women can present themselves clothed, nude, unclothed, dressed etc. God made them specially tantalising, appealing, catching and electronically very capable of transmitting sensory waves to men's skull, down the spines to their feet just by sighting. The fact is, the moment you see the shape clothed or not, the frontals, bonnets and the booths, you immediately shout " Ori ri ri" meaning O my head or Oh my God; why such appellants. Remember, thou shall not commit Adultery and Fornication even with your Minds. So Thank You God for the beauty or Creations.