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The Naked Truth About Why Nudity Makes Us Uncomfortable
Even though some may say going nude is natural, many Singaporeans are still very uncomfortable with it. We try to get to the bottom of why nudity rubs some people the wrong way.
O
ne evening nine years ago, a young couple took a leisurely stroll in Holland Village with an audience of about 200 al fresco diners. To claps and cheers, the two sauntered along the road for 15 minutes, stopping to chat with diners and pose for photos.
They were not celebrities. They were merely naked.
In Singapore where it’s illegal to be visibly naked in your own home, nudity — in public or in the Arts — is uncomfortable.
Later that year, taxi driver Chua Hock Hin became the first person to be charged and fined S$2,600 for being naked in his home where his neighbours could see him.
Under Section 27A of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, Chapter 184, a person cannot be naked in a public place, or in a private place while being exposed to public view.
While some question whether it is wrong to be visibly naked in your own home, many people disapprove of public nudity. Singaporeans remember the Holland Village incident as our most talked-about case of public nudity. The woman, Eng Kai Er, an A*Star scholar, was charged with walking naked in public and fined S$2,000. Many people were aggrieved that she was allowed to keep her scholarship.
Kai Er, now a 34-year-old dancer and artist, said she is sorry her parents felt embarrassed due to the reactions of their friends.
“But ever since the incident, I’ve been able to tell everyone that I work as a nude model for life drawing. People wouldn’t be surprised by it and I don’t have to hide it any more. So the arrest and conviction led to some good outcomes too.
“Therefore, no regrets!”
No one we spoke to could give us a clear answer exactly why they felt uncomfortable seeing someone naked. It doesn’t always make sense, said experts and artists alike. But the sight of a naked body — whether at home, in the Arts or simply a breastfeeding mother on the bus, sets temperatures soaring.
Innocent intentions, dirty minds
The discomfort carries over even to completely innocent situations. In March last year, a photo of Ms Cheryl Lee, 26, breastfeeding her daughter without a cover on public transport went viral after a stranger uploaded it online.
According to The Straits Times, Cheryl had pulled down her tube top to breastfeed her baby. The mother of two said she did not use a nursing cover because her daughter cried and struggled whenever she used one.
She took to Facebook to make clear her stand: “It’s just a breast. We all have it. Be it male or female. It’s meant to be used to feed a baby, I don’t see anything wrong with using it to feed a baby and ensuring my baby is comfortable. What’s so sexual or wrong about it?”
Third-year undergraduate Dayna Yin, 23, ran an eight-week social media campaign called Bare It For Baby last year. She was inspired by her sister, who is currently breastfeeding. In her interaction with over 20 nursing mothers, she found that some even thought public breastfeeding was illegal.
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Mothers breastfed in public for a photo series, as part of a campaign to reduce stigma associated with breastfeeding. PHOTOS: DAYNA YIN
Not all mothers support breastfeeding in public, though. Speech therapist Laureen Tham, a 29-year-old mother who is currently breastfeeding her 10-month-old son, said exposing yourself is “indecent and inconsiderate of people around”, and would not do so because she feels self-conscious.
“It’s perfectly fine if they did so discreetly with a cloth but it is not part of our Asian culture to expose our breasts or private parts in public and be comfortable with it.”
Laureen agreed that breasts are overly sexualised, which she thinks is why people may get the wrong idea when a woman flashes her breasts in public while breastfeeding.
But she conceded: “If it really can’t be helped, then baby always comes first.”
State of undress
Sociologist Sam Han from Nanyang Technological University said people may feel uncomfortable because they associate being naked with sex. “The equation of nudity and sexuality is very culturally specific. That started with Catholicism thousands of years ago, where [genitals in] many works of art were covered with a leaf, for instance.”
The Arts has been a battleground for nudity — although Singapore has no clothing-optional beaches, nudity does feature in some performances and films.
More importantly, unlike naked bodies in public, the presence of nudity in art is legal, although it is regulated by the
Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA).
Nudity is defined in IMDA guidelines as frontal or rear nudity, and above and below the waist for both sexes. An IMDA spokesman said the context, frequency, duration and intensity are also taken into account.
Full-frontal nudity may be allowed for M18 or R21 rated performances and films, “if it is justified by context and without gratuitous close-ups”.
Films or staged performances must be submitted for classification before they can be screened in public. IMDA will indicate which scenes need to be removed before the film can receive an appropriate rating. “However, whether or not the applicant decides to do so is the artist’s prerogative,” said IMDA.
The spokesman said there is a need to regulate such content because it has a direct impact on consumers, and classification allows viewers to make informed decisions about what they consume.
“It also reduces the potential risks of exposing younger viewers to inappropriate content, such as those with explicit sexual or violent scenes.”
The guidelines are also reviewed periodically to ensure they are “kept in sync with the prevailing community standards”, which are constantly evolving, said the spokesman. IMDA consults the Films Consultative Panel, which comprises Singaporeans of all walks of life, and conducts quantitative studies.
But filmmakers and artists here feel the guidelines can be too strict, too vague and too outdated.
Dancer and artist Kai Er said she has met with IMDA officers to discuss nudity and sexual content in her shows The Pleasure of Eating Oranges (2013) and Indulgence (2015). According to Kai Er, the censors objected to specific things in her shows, which she removed to get a license for performance.
“It’s a bit of a never-ending task, I imagine, to make these rules. How long does same-sex kissing have to be before it’s too long? How close can a mouth be to a breast before it’s too close?” she asked.
Acknowledging that a lack of exposure can also be a source of discomfort around nudity, Kai Er added: “Actually I think people also flinch at seeing their own naked bodies, if they’re not used to seeing it. People just flinch at things they’re not used to seeing, I suppose.”
Prof Han agrees. “For example in Europe, naked bodies appear even on daytime television, and I wonder if that influences people about not just sexuality, but also nudity. If you demystify it, people are going to be ‘whatever’ about it.”
Artist and actor Ernest Seah, 51, said, “You see the statue of David, isn’t he naked with his penis hanging at you? And Venus de Milo? Isn’t she naked and exposing one breast? So when is nudity ok?
“I don’t know whether these people who are afraid of nudity in movies link it to porn in their own dirty minds. But nudity shouldn’t be dirty.”
Bare necessities
In 2016, two acts from the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, Undressing Room and Naked Ladies were dropped after IMDA deemed they exceeded the R18 rating with “excessive nudity”. Organisers decided they would rather drop the shows than alter the performances.
More recently at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) last year, independent filmmaker Chew Tze Chuan’s feature, Shadows of Fiendish Ancestress and Occasionally Parajanov on Durian Cialis (Lesser #9), was denied a public release certificate on the grounds that it could hurt Muslim religious feelings. Shadows follows the journey of a hermaphrodite, with explicit depictions of sex and nakedness. At some points, the main character wears a costume that resembles a tudung.
Tze Chuan, 46, whose films usually have some form of nudity and sexuality, believes art and pornographic content are not mutually exclusive. “After so long, we are still stuck in this binary mindset. Good and evil. Art and porn. Can we please get past this?”
“I don’t know whether these people who are afraid of nudity in movies link it to porn in their own dirty minds. But nudity shouldn’t be dirty.”
- Ernest Seah, actor
Making a reference to D. H. Lawrence’s erotic novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, he emphasised that nudity and sexuality do not always come together in art. “If you read the book, there’s no nudity for the eyes. But the words are so naked. We have a scene [in Shadows] where the couple is groping each other so intensely, but they’re fully clothed. You can feel the erotic tension.”
Addressing the claim that regulatory guidelines may hinder creativity, Tze Chuan admitted there was some level of self-censorship in Shadows that was not present in some of his other works. His friends were also worried his films would not get passed.
“I’m proud but also slightly ashamed that I have to compromise. Maybe it’s good that I put myself in a slightly uncomfortable zone.”
Filmmaker Sam Loh, 50, who directed erotic thrillers Siew Lup and Lang Tong, said he tries not to self-censor despite the rating system. “If the film warrants the pushing of limits, I will really just go ahead and still do it because I think it’s not in my position or authority to censor a film.”
Both films received an R21 rating, but Lang Tong, which premiered in 2014, had three minutes cut for its commercial release, including shots from two lesbian scenes.
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After two R21 films, director Sam Loh is preparing the third film in this trilogy. PHOTOS: mm2 Singapore
While Sam, who has a 16-year-old daughter, understands the need for regulation for younger audiences, he does not believe in cuts for R21 movies since they are already given the highest rating. “Personally I still feel it’s kind of stupid that other people decide what you’re allowed to see. There’s already a rating system in place. Trust that rating system to work and don’t control things too much.”
Racy appeal
According to IMDA records, the proportion of films or videos given restricted ratings have remained “fairly constant” in the past three years. But based on the distribution and exhibition circuits, it does seem like Singaporean audiences are becoming more receptive to higher-rated films.
Low Zu Boon, SGIFF’s programme manager, said the committee is aware of the guidelines and that some films may run into problems with censors, but this does not affect their programming decisions.
With the festival’s history of no cuts to films, when films do exceed the R21 rating, they would have to either withdraw the film or appeal the decision.
SGIFF programme executive Olivia Tay added: “There’s no shortage of an audience for films with a higher degree of sexual content.” Giving Loh’s films as an example, she noted that audiences snapped up tickets despite their higher rating.
Founder of film distributor Anticipate Pictures, Vincent Quek, 29, said while he has yet to bring in R21 films to avoid losing audience members, he thinks Singapore viewers generally gravitate towards controversial content and has plans to bring them in in the future.
“If you call attention to it by talking about how bad it is or how morally incorrect it is, you’re going to draw people to it,” Vincent said.
“Does that mean people are ready for it? Yeah, I think so.”
Although many Singaporeans are still squeamish, views on nudity have progressed since 20 years ago. Artist Ernest, who appeared naked as transgender prostitute Lola in Bugis Street (1995), said he faced a lot of backlash when the film premiered. It was only screened in Singapore with an R21 rating on its 20th anniversary.
As expected of a seasoned actor, his take on nudity is practical: “I was more honoured that I got the roles. Honestly, if Steven Spielberg says ‘I’ve got a role for you, Ernest, and you’ve got to take off your clothes.’ Do you think I’d say no?”
Ernest, who has appeared on stage and on screen in the buff multiple times, added: “You are born naked. You die naked. What are you afraid of? How can you be disgusted by a naked body if you see yourself naked every day?”▝
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