In other words, why did humans start feeling shame?
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Remember that clothing isn’t just for utility, it’s also a status symbol. Even in prehistoric times, more skilled hunters would have higher-quality furs, and their families would have more and better-looking clothing than others. Being naked is the ultimate sign of poverty; only the most incompetent hunters would wear nothing at all.
As human society began to develop fashion and separate into even wider castes, it’s only natural that it would become ingrained in society that you should be ashamed of being naked because you are completely lacking in any kind of status indicators.
I think that the best way to describe this would be to think of ALL of the negative connotations that develop on people who don’t adapt to new technology, and place them all in a giant heap in front of anyone who would not adapt to some of the most basic technology that we have, technology that means the difference between life or death.
Like, think of how much we make fun of people that don’t want to use computers, cell phones, or cars. Think of how we feel about people who don’t know how to read despite going to school. Think of Amish jokes. 🤣
Now… Place all of that on someone who doesn’t use clothes, fire, basic shelter, clean water, or sharp objects (knives for cooking).
In prehistoric river-based cultures and civilizations (Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Indus, etc) where people were figuring out new ways to do some of the most basic things we now take for granted, imagine how dumb and backwards they considered “barbarians” (rural people) who couldn’t read or didn’t wear enough clothes. In ancient China, 4,000 years ago, the definition of a civilized man was that he knew how to cook his meat and grains. I learned that when I was studying the Han people ethnic definition (more specifically, where the practice of refusing to eat grains came from. It was an ancient Chinese hippy “back to nature”movement.)
Imagine how much we make fun of men who don’t know how to cook now, and then imagine how much disdain ancient people had for people who didn’t know how to do these things back when there weren’t any grocery stores, so your ignorance wasn’t just “weaponized laziness” it was considered outright failure to be a homo sapien.
This is how a technology goes from being optional but beneficial to absolutely necessary and you’re a fool if you don’t do it, and you may even be mentally unstable. Imagine watching someone try to cut steak but refusing to use anything sharpened. Imagine someone drinking muddy water and saying they’ll be okay, because… I dunno, their god blessed it. 🤣
What I’ve always wondered you always see representations of early people wearing animal skins with the fur out. You even see this on survival type shows like naked and afraid. To me it seems like it would be warmer with the fur against your skin and dryer with the pretty much waterproof skin of the animal out against the rain
If I were to explain something like this to a 5-year-old, I would probably say something like:
>Humans started feeling shame because a talking snake tricked a woman into eating an apple that she shouldn’t have eaten, and the punishment was shame.
On top of all the evolutionary reasons why having clothing might improve your chances of survival versus the natural elements, never discount the human desire to look cool, have cool possessions, and wear cool things as accessories, whatever “cool” means to that person at the time. We’re social animals and the most popular people would either pioneer a new clothing item, or see someone else’s clothing and want to emulate it, which then causes the rest of the tribe to emulate them.
Not to mention adornments for leaders. If you’re the tribe elder, and they want to be in your good graces, they may anoint or adorn you with jewelry, brightly colored or hand-woven fabrics, and other clothing that symbolizes your status and the status of those who gave it to you.
Remember, modern humans started in warm tropical climates, not anywhere you need insulation from the cold. Clothing started as decoration. It stood for social connections and wealth many generations before humans migrated to anywhere they needed to wear protection from the cold all day.
As such, being naked means that you’ve been stripped of your wealth and social connections; so you’re vulnerable and unprotected *from other humans.* When one tribe or gang of humans defeats another in war, the losers are stripped of their finery and enslaved. Public nudity becomes shameful not because your naughty bits are on display, but because it signifies that you are defeated and have nothing.
Aquatic ape theory ftw
As early humans settled the coasts and rivers, we took on a few traits that make us suited for water compared to other apes.
Losing the fur for hydrodynamic body
Huge salt intake and very salty sweat (reason why animals tend to lick us), easier to maintain if you are by the sea.
Lowered center of mass so our heads don’t sink like apes
Micro webbing on the hands and feet – it’s tiny but if you look at other apes in between the fingers it’s much rounder
Wrinkling of the fingers – it’s not from absorbing water, it’s a autonomic nervous system response to improve grip with wet hands. People with nerve damage in the hand can sometimes never get wrinkly fingers from soaking.
Extra fat layer compared to other apes – most marine mammals have extra fat beneath the skin.
Also finally, breath control for diving. Not many animals can dive well, the best human times almost overlap with dolphin diving times.
Breath control is also the first step towards speaking and language – marine mammals have complex communications and whistling, arguable more language-like than ape vocalizations.
I feel like the aquatic evolutionary pressure is a stronger reason than the clothing/heat/endurance running reasons for losing the fur.
You assume a lot in saying we wear clothing due to shame. And reveal something about yourself as well.
There is a lot of anthropological peer reviewed research on this topic.
Maybe start with wiki on earliest evidence of clothing.
When nudity became not something you see every day. Though there are still many cultures today, in Africa or Indonesia, for example, where tribesmen walk around naked all the time and nobody cares.
Another analogy would be that it’s like with butchering cattle and fowl. City dwellers can’t stomach seeing it, but in the countryside it’s everyday life and people are used to it.
If we put protection from environment aside on concetrate only on culture than there are 2 major reasoning.
1) Small pox. Every person was covered in scars from small pox. Every third person was covered with poxes which occasionally erupted manure. So full body clothing bacame a way to hide overall skinn unapeal state and increase global hygiene. Small pox is known for more than 4000 years and it bacame particullary nasty from 4 century AC.
2) shame/sex controll. Every major religion tried to monopolize controll over all entertainments including sex. Sexually depraved people were very easy to manipulate and convert into soldiers. Christianity was especially focused on this as it also was an importan counter greek culture.
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