Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-ErotismEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
"Moslem modesty," remarks Wellhausen, "was carried to great
lengths, insufficient clothing being forbidden. It was marked
even among the heathen Arabs, as among Semites and old
civilizations generally; we must not be deceived by the
occasional examples of immodesty in individual cases. The Sunna
prescribes that a man shall not uncover himself even to himself,
and shall not wash naked--from fear of God and of spirits; Job
did so, and atoned for it heavily. When in Arab antiquity
grown-up persons showed themselves naked, it was only under
extraordinary circumstances, and to attain unusual ends.... Women
when mourning uncovered not only the face and bosom, but also
tore all their garments. The messenger who brought bad news tore
his garments. A mother desiring to bring pressure to bear on her
son took off her clothes. A man to whom vengeance is forbidden
showed his despair and disapproval by uncovering his posterior
and strewing earth on his head, or by raising his garment behind
and covering his head with it. This was done also in fulfilling
natural necessities." (Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_,
1897, pp. 173, 195-196.)
Mantegazza mentions that a Lapland woman refused even for the sum
of 150 francs to allow him to photograph her naked, though the
men placed themselves before the camera in the costume of Adam
for a much smaller sum. In the same book Mantegazza remarks that
in the eighteenth century, travelers found it extremely difficult
to persuade Samoyed women to show themselves naked. Among the
same people, he says, the newly-married wife must conceal her
face from her husband for two months after marriage, and only
then yield to his embraces. (Mantegazza, _La Donna_, cap. IV.)
"The beauty of a Chinese woman," says Dr. Matignon, "resides
largely in her foot. 'A foot which is not deformed is a
dishonor,' says a poet. For the husband the foot is more
interesting than the face. Only the husband may see his wife's
foot naked. A Chinese woman is as reticent in showing her feet to
a man as a European woman her breasts. I have often had to treat
Chinese women with ridiculously small feet for wounds and
excoriations, the result of tight-bandaging. They exhibited the
prudishness of school-girls, blushed, turned their backs to
unfasten the bandages, and then concealed the foot in a cloth,
leaving only the affected part uncovered. Modesty is a question
of convention; Chinese have it for their feet," (J. Matignon, "A
propos d'un Pied de Chinoise," _Archives d'Anthropologie
Criminelle_, 1898, p. 445.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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