What we have discussed in this chapter so far is how nakedness and changing attitudes to it have developed in long-term perspective, and what the meaning is of these changes in sociological terms. What I would like to do now, though, is to provide a theoretical explanation for how it is actually possible to apply vari- ous contexts to nakedness, as in the case of naturists for instance. Many might still feel rather suspicious of naturist practice and of naturists as well, on the basis that since it involves nudity it must involve some hidden sexual agenda. In practice, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. As we know, Elias argued in his theory of the civilising processes about the rise of firmer controls over moods, drives and emotions through various levels of self-restraint, but in his later study of sport and leisure he provides an explanation for how some of these firm con- trols could be released in a controlled and ‘safe’ manner:
While the routines of life in these societies, public or private, demand that people keep a fairly firm hold on their moods and drives, their affects and emotions, leisure occupations as a rule allow them to flow more freely in an imaginary setting special-
ly created for these activities and in some ways reminiscent of non-leisure reality. While in the case of the latter the scope for manifestations of feeling is narrowed or confined to special compartments, leisure activities are designed to appeal to peo- ple’s feelings directly and to arouse them, though in varying ways and degrees. While excitement is severely curbed in the pursuit of what one usually regards as the serious business of life – apart from sexual excitement which is more strictly con- fined to privacy – many leisure pursuits provide an imaginary setting which is meant to elicit excitement of some kind imitating that produced by real-life situations, yet without its dangers and risks. (Elias and Dunning, 2008: 25)
This model applies to the naked recreation of naturism rather perfectly. The enjoyment of it comes from the release of tensions and shameful feelings that are almost legendarily attached to the notion of being seen naked in public, but at the same time the sexual aspects are being kept on the ‘leash of restraint’. Elias and Dunning refer to this type of controlled excitement as mimetic, because it is cre- ated out of the balanced tension release from imaginary contrasting emotions such as fear and pleasure, joy and sadness, or, as in the case of naturists, main- taining a balance between sexual tensions and enjoyment related to not letting them loose – or simply doing something they are not expected or ‘supposed’ to be doing.
But none of these leisure activities would be possible, especially in relation to naturism, if broader societal and developmental processes were not in place, such as the formalising ones which, as argued by Wouters (2007), towards the end of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth started to diminish and be counterbalanced by informalising ones. The foundation for the rise of theory of informalisation developed by Wouters was Elias’s and Dunning’s study of sport and violence where the notion of ‘controlled decontrolling of re- straints on emotions’ (2008: 77) was first introduced. Using Wouters’s concepts of ‘second-nature’ and ‘third-nature’ forms of behaviour, we shall be able to shed light on naturism with an additional level of complexity.
Wouters uses the basic rationale of Elias’s theory in order to introduce the concept of ‘second nature’,39 which relates to the ‘conscience-dominated type of
personality’ (2011: 140) where the disciplining and controlling aspects gradually become part of personal habitus, or simply more automatic. Second-nature be- haviour includes the deeply ingrained feelings of shame that surround most peo- ple’s nakedness. What Wouters did, through the introduction of the concept of ‘third-nature’ behaviour, was to encompass all those types of behaviour that have begun to occur as part of informalising processes, meaning emancipation from some of the rigid controls, especially in the area of sexuality:
39 The concept of ‘second-nature personality’ and its connection with the notion of ‘habitus’ was introduced in chapter 1 above.
164 6 Nakedness as a theoretical problem
this emancipation of emotion involves an attempt at reaching back to ‘first nature’ without losing any of the control that was provided by ‘second nature’. Thus, the rise of a ‘third-nature personality’ demands and depends on an emancipation of ‘first nature’ as well as ‘second nature’ (Wouters, 2011: 153).
Again this shows another angle of theorising and understanding the mechanisms that allow for naturists to practise their nudity in a controlled manner without reducing their actions to purely sexual group activity. Even though the ‘first nature’ concept is crucial to understanding the other two, it exists purely theoret- ically, because every person after being born is instantly subjected to the forces of socialisation. It exists more in the form of irrational social ‘fear of the slippery slope’ (Wouters, 2011), in which people worry that one ‘immoral’ deed will provoke the collapse of a person’s morality altogether. One of the best examples given by Wouters is the case of the corset, which was designed to keep a wom- an’s morality, humours and emotions disciplined through physically disciplining her body. There is a correlation between the popular use of corsets and the lack of clothes among the nudists, which corresponds to the process of relying upon the standards of behaviour solidified during the development of the processes of formalisation, to become reliably automatic and allow for emancipation of cer- tain rigid prohibitions.