I’m Japanese and currently studying abroad in the US. Recently I was telling some classmates about onsens and how my family are enthusiasts and they were so weirded out by the concept especially when I told them that my father & brother go together the most (people are fully naked in onsens if you’re unaware). Non-sexual nudity was never a big deal to me and in Japan where bathtubs are the norm instead of showers it’s not even unusual for same-sex family members to bathe together (one at each end). Where does this prudishness come from? Especially in a country that’s known worldwide for its hyper sexuality (Hollywood, celebs, porn industry, etc.)?
I think you answered your own question: there is no non-sexual nudity in such a hyper-sexual society.
But the US is also weirdly prudish about sex.
The religious prudes think that any nudity must be sexual. Best to cover up and avoid temptation. They are the hyper sexual ones, in a way.
Another example is how the think way more about trans-people’s genitals than trans-people do. The most religious areas also consume the most transgender pornography.
Their repression makes them think about it non-stop. It’s why so many of them want to ban transgender people entirely. They can’t stop themselves, so instead they want to completely remove the “temptation.”
15 years ago I had a trans friend who was in love with this on again off again Christian dude who was so into her but would have emotional breakdowns and cut her off after each time they had sex. That he needed to atone for his sins and couldn’t be close to her anymore… and like clockwork, months later he’d be back for more, only to repeat the same stupid cycle where he couldn’t face his own desires because of his unhealthy relationship with religion.
Anyway, instead of being adults, these fucking babies just want to remove the temptation at all through societal control, because they can’t control themselves.
DING DING DING
That’s actually normal in sexually repressed societies.
Similar stuff happens in Iran, where young people get down to crazy freaky sex because they’re so sheltered from it in everyday life.
The more people are told “no,” but the only reasons are religious reasons, the more will rebel against it.
So while it seems backward, the US is hyper-sexual because of it’s prudish history. This was a country colonized by people who thought dancing was a sin.
There’s a state you can own a maximum of 6 sex toys, in law.
They don’t got their stuff figured out yet.
That’s Texas for you.
It’s probably so you can have one toy for every day of the week, except Sunday…
The prudity and hypersexuality are two sides of the same coin. In a culture where you are not allowed to discuss, portray, or explore sexuality, the only outlets for people’s base sexual desires become unhealthy ones.