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November 28

Nudity in US media

Today I discovered something really interesting, but I'm not sure I understand it, so I need to ask a question. How much did social mores about nudity in the media change in the US over the entirety of the 20th century? I'm not talking about the history of fashion, which is fairly well documented, but the use of nudity in newspapers, magazines, television, and film. I recall reading that they changed quite a bit for this or that reason, but I don't remember the precipitating events. Here's why I'm asking this question:

Google hosts a free archive for Life magazine, which I recall being adventurous, experimental, and innovative, but also fairly socially conservative for its time given that it was a vehicle for American advertisers to sell their products and they wouldn't want to upset their readers. Fast forward to today. I was browsing the Feb 4, 1952 issue, when there on page 77 is a woman turned away from the camera, completely naked. For 1952, and for Life magazine, this seems unusual. European readers might be laughing about now, but in the US, the only nudity in the media that was ever allowed, at least from what I recall, was in National Geographic, and I don't even know the history or story behind that, so that's a separate question.

My hunch is that the 1952 photo in Life got by the censors because 1) the photo is used to illustrate an article about art, and in this case, life drawing, and 2) if one isn't looking closely the nude woman looks like a statue, not a real person. Did this photo get by the censors, or was it allowed? The reason I'm asking, is that aside from National Geographic in 1952, I was unaware of nude photos in major American media. There's probably a really interesting history behind this, so if someone knows the answer, I'm all ears. Viriditas (talk) 23:38, 28 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Life Magazine treated art photography as art. Here is a 1948 example. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 04:59, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like things changed from 1947-1959 during the era of McCarthyism. Am I reading this right? Did the US become more conservative just before the rise of the counterculture in the 1960s? I was completely unaware that nude art photography was ever published in mainstream magazines. And it looks like it became quite liberal in the 1970s, swinging back to conservatism again in the 1980s. I remember in the 1970s there were all these seedy adult movie theaters that disappeared in the 1980s. Then in the late 1990s you had another liberalization occur. And now we're back to conservatism again. Viriditas (talk) 06:47, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Have you read Censorship in the United States? Shantavira|^{feed me} 11:25, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. There's nothing about this specific topic, namely art photography in magazines during this time. Viriditas (talk) 17:20, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly tangential, but The Pawnbroker (1964) was "the first film featuring bare breasts to receive Production Code approval. Although it was publicly announced to be a special exception, the controversy proved to be first of similar major challenges to the Code that ultimately led to its abrogation." -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:25, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

But of course the Code was industry self-regulation, in a uniquely organized industry.

As for what a U.S. magazine could get away with in 1954: consider that Playboy was founded in 1953 and was running "tasteful" nude centerfolds from the outset, so for Life in 1954 it was probably more a matter of how their readers and advertisers would react than a serious likelihood of being accused of obscenity, at least at the federal level. I am sure there were jurisdictions where either or both had some problems. - Jmabel | Talk 04:50, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Curiously, from 1955 to 1963 Playboy centerfolds' nipples were obscured more often than not. (I cannot say about the rest of the magazine; I have never seen one earlier than late sixties.) —Tamfang (talk) 20:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In the United States, serious attempts to legally outlaw artistic nudes pretty much ended with the immmediately pre-WW1 "September Morn" controversy. Controls on importing literary works with references to sexuality into the United States were diminished with the 1933 United States v. One Book Called Ulysses case. If there were any "censors" in 1952 reviewing the contents of Life magazine before publication, they were employees of Time Inc., and not from any government or publishing industry organization. By the way, for an interesting 1957 humorous take on commercial limitations to free expression and what would today be called "political correctness", see the song and spoken-word performance "Elderly Man River", by Stan Freberg... AnonMoos (talk) 11:30, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]