Most persons would recall the biblical story of Adam and Eve, or the story of a man and a woman (who were both the first of their kind created by God), who lived in the Garden of Eden, took a bite into a forbidden apple plucked from the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’, and their subsequent fall from grace and expulsion from the garden to live a life of suffering. So too would we recall that, in the story, the first sign of their loss of innocence was their consciousness of being naked.

We currently live in a society where nudity is no longer interpreted as a sign of innocence or purity but rather is perceived as a symbol of temptation and impurity. Some would argue that this contemporary perspective is greatly reflected throughout the ages. However in archaeological findings one finds representations of semi-clothed and unclothed individuals. This would suggest that there is a little more to this than just a forbidden apple.

If you were to compare the clothing habits of peoples from different nations you would find that both in the past and in the present the more temperate the climate the less extensive the clothing tends to be. Northerly countries find their human populations bundled up in significantly thicker clothing. Countries closer to the equator with insufficient green cover such as trees find that their populations also tend to cover up, but this time to shield from sun and sand exposure. Peoples with decent cover and a warm climate tended to go light on clothing.

So what if it were in fact the last ice age that made humans feel that clothing was a must for survival? What if, in a minor but perfectly understandable inter-generational misunderstanding, the wearing of clothing became not only about survival but also about doing whats good and socially accepted? Such could happen relatively easy enough considering that means of communication and particularly the storage of information left a lot to be desired.

What if in the course of a gradual end to the ice age, societies began to see clothing less in terms of survival and more in terms of social acceptability, itself the residue of improper teaching practices back when survival was the main reason. It could have worked a little like fairy tails with stories like ‘the ginger bread man’ teaching indirect lessons such as the existence and possible consequences of boisterousness and trust.

When one looks at such possibilities one cannot but help ponder upon all that such an innocuous and basic process has impacted upon subsequent human history. Individuals and civilizations have suffered greatly partially due to their relative nudity. The effect of globalization today has meant that there has also been a passing on of “developed” world cultural concepts into the developing world, which also tends to exist closer to the equator.

None of this should be taken to mean that clothing is a bad thing. This is merely a viewpoint on the likely origin of this symbol of inhibition and it is very likely that more shall be said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Contemplations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.