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Anintimate part,personal part, orprivate part, is a place on thehuman body which is customarily kept covered byclothing in public venues and conventional settings, as a matter offashion andcultural norms. Depending on the culture, revealing these parts can be alegal orreligious offense.
Definitions vary by context and culture, but the term usually refers to parts of body that are habitually covered by clothing in public places due to cultural norms, including areas such as thebuttocks,groin,anus,perineum, externalgenitalia, andbreasts.[1]
The termintimate parts may be construed to mean only the external body parts that are visible whennaked, rather than the body parts more commonly referred to. For example, when naked, a woman's pudendal cleft is predominantly visible rather than the vagina, and a man's scrotum is visible rather than the testes which are contained within.[2]
Female breasts are considered as parts that would be covered in most contexts but with a degree of tolerance fortoplessness varying in different regions and cultures. For example, Dayna Fischtein, Edward Herold and Serge Desmarais (2005) found that acceptance of toplessness in a sample ofCanadians varied depending on both personal factors (such as the respondent's gender, age, and religion) and contextual factors (i.e., toplessness in streets, parks, or beaches).[3]
In some periods ofEuropean history, female shoulders and legs may have been considered intimate parts.[citation needed] More conservative viewpoints in the West in some contexts still find it appropriate that females should cover their shoulders, particularly when entering achurch or other sacred space.
In Islamic traditions, the definition of awrah is similar to the definition of intimate parts inWestern culture. The extent of cover for the female body depends upon the situation, but may include the hair, shoulders, and neck in addition to the aforementioned "intimate parts". A majority of scholars agree that the entire body except the face and hands should be covered in public and in front of unrelated men. The exceptions are the scholars from theHanafi school of thought, which has the largest number of followers, which agree that the feet are not part of the awrah and therefore may be revealed.[4] For males, most scholars regard all parts of the body from the navel to the knees as awrah.
The intentional exposure of one's intimate parts is a form ofexhibitionism. Such exposure may be subject to strictsocial rules,social control and evencriminal justice, if it is considered to be a form ofindecent exposure. The unintentional exposure of intimate parts (as in the case of a "wardrobe malfunction") may be connected with feelings ofshame. For example, when actressGoldie Hawn accidentally revealed awhale tail in 2015, the American gossip websiteRadar Online called her the "victim of a bad wardrobe malfunction" and stated that she had "committed a major style crime."[5]
Intentionally touching the intimate parts of another person, even through clothing, is often associated withsexualintent. If this is done without the consent of the person being touched, it is consideredgroping, a form ofsexual harassment orsexual assault.
Naturism is a lifestyle choice that is characterized by the practice of nudity, both alone and in groups. Some naturists hold that nakedness is not automatically a sexual state and that covering areas of the body is merely asocial construct: they believe that the norms of society can be upheld even when all are nude.[6][7]
| Nakedness and clothing | |
|---|---|
| Nudity and sexuality | |
| Issues in social nudity | |
| Naturism | |
| Nude recreation | |
| By location | |
| Social nudity advocates | |
| Depictions of nudity | |
| See also | |
