Every other species in the world gets to go out in their birthday suit...

Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – 42 points – 12 months ago

... but when humans do it, it's automatically NSFW.

I'm not encouraging people to go outside like that, to be clear. I'm just curious. Back before clothes were invented, humans must've walked around naked before covering up for some period of time, right?

Somewhere in between that and now, covering up became the norm, and now our brains are wired to complain about how naked we feel if we try to not wear clothes. When did the shift happen?

(Edit: fixed typo)

For one, unlike most mammals, humans don't have fur that can keep them warm

You try coming to the equator and telling us you need to keep warm.

Last I checked even mammals that live along the equator still have hair or fur.

Clothing, fur, and hair protects you from the sun better than sun screen. So yes

So when flowers rub their gametes on passing animals in the hopes that those animals transmit them to other flowers, it's fine, but when I do it, everyone loses their minds???

Well I don't think most animals have to worry about their outfit being safe for work since they're all unemployed freeloaders

Meanwhile bees and ants are unpaid interns

Human have covered themselves from the elements basically as long as it was possible for them to do so

I believe there's a good number of tribes near the equator that don't wear much, so not sure it's even universally NSFW, esp. if your job is a hunter/gatherer. But people wear clothes to protect from sun/pests/plants also. Would imagine we started wearing clothes as soon as we learned how, as it has many benefits, and then the sexualization came as a result of no longer seeing all the parts, and being curious.

humans must’ve walked around naked before covering up for some period of time, right?

Some still do, but they tend to wear some kind of genitalia covering.

Contemporary humans have disproportionately large penises compared to many other animals. Perhaps when we started evolving larger penises we co-evolved small dick jokes ("I was in the pond!"), leading to habitual use of various types of penis-hiding clothing.