Why The Wealthy Are Less Prudish About Nudity Than The Middle Class

Attitudes toward nudity as a class and caste marker

Bathing of Court Ladies in the 18th Century, by François Flameng (1888)

source: @_ArtMuseum on X

A UK Telegraph article proclaimed that it is deeply Middle Class to get uptight about nudity. Historically, the middle class has been the most prudish and considered themselves the gatekeepers of morality while both the upper and lower classes have been more libertine. This archetype includes middle class social conservatives but also extends to middle class liberals. For instance, middle class coded liberal women are at the forefront of the neo-puritanical age gap hysteria. The Hippies who embraced nudity were generally from the upper middle class while it was the working class who were the most appalled by their conduct and decorum. Even the old masters and Rococo paintings depicted nude aristocratic women, who one would think would be too prudish and guarded of their privacy to be allowed to be painted nude.

source: @Starkian7789 on X

While Americans are very uptight about nudity, the wealthy travel a lot to Europe, and the wealthiest attend European boarding schools. Thus it would make sense that wealthy Americans would adopt a more European attitude toward nudity. However, there is now an inverse of this trend, where the European middle class is starting to adopt a more American attitude toward nudity. This is due to American influence and mass immigration ruining social cohesion.

The wealthy also tend to have much higher self esteem and body image, thus feel less shame about their nude bodies. However, since the wealthy are on average better looking they do not want too much unwanted attention from the lower classes. Having low status people involved codes an activity as low status, which is a barrier to mixed class nudity, as can having too many old people scare off high status attractive young people.

source: @royllovians on X

Unlike the working class and much of the middle class, the wealthy have more access to sports like swimming, and going to athletics clubs, spas and saunas, which may involve some degree of nudity. The trend of ending communal showers in public schools applied even to upper middle class and wealthy public schools, with the only holdouts at private boarding schools or sports camps for the wealthy. Upper class coded people are more likely to let their guard down at amenities where they are around people of a similar pedigree, spaces that the middle class simply doesn’t have access to.

source: r/CommunalShowers

source: r/CommunalShowers

On the other extreme, proles and the working class are more likely to have been to Jail or the military, where there is also communal nudity, though that is often a more negative association. This could explain why working class guys have more of this machismo hang-up that it is gay coded to be nude around other guys or consider wearing speedos gay coded, which upper class coded swimmers and water polo players wear.

There is also a class horseshoe trend around age segregation. For instance, the wealthy have dinner parties for family friends and have family friends mentor their sons and daughters. Similarly, working class Mexican families have backyard barbeques where they invite over the whole block, and in the ghetto, teenage guys get groomed by older men into gangs. It is the middle class coded demographic that has extreme age segregation and overall social atomization.

source: @bronzeagemantis on X

While I am not implying that communal nudity is degenerate, the wealthy can handle degeneracy a lot better, as can close-knit homogenous environments better than more diverse lower trust environments. People are much more comfortable being nude around people who are genetically closer, which explains why more homogenous nations like Scandinavia and Japan are more relaxed about communal nudity. People are much more cautious and guarded about nudity in mixed economic and social class, ethnically mixed, but also mixed aged settings. Unbelievably, in Ancient Rome all social classes bathed together nude, which was the only egalitarian experience in an extremely hierarchical society.

Source: r/CommunalShowers

source: r/CommunalShowers

A reason why upper class coded people are more tolerant of trans people using their preferred restroom is because there is an assumption that people are not going to misbehave or engage in lewd behavior, as country clubs and exclusive gyms have much higher standards of conduct. The wealthy are in these perceived safer bubbles and less worried about sexual predators, who they associate with the lower classes. However, the ultra wealthy have their Epstein and Weinstein types.

There is a decline in college traditions of streaking or undies runs, which in part is due to the White demographic decline at universities, as communal nudity is sort of White coded. Not to mention that the proliferation of iPhones means a risk of nude pics getting online, which explains why Zoomers are even more uptight about communal nudity than Millennials. However, a smaller affluent private university might be more open minded about nudity.

My observations from the gym showers in college from the early 2010s, was that White athletes who seemed upper middle class, as well as European and Chinese exchange students, were more comfortable showering nude around other guys. In contrast, Mexicans and nerdier White guys were more modest. While East Asian women are more conservative in their swimsuit attire, East Asians are more ok with communal nudity in same sex settings like a college gym shower or a Korean spa.

The wealthy are able to isolate themselves from the ills of mass society in these bubbles where it is still like the 1980s or earlier. However, despite income inequality increasing, there is also cultural homogenization among the classes which entails a decline in venues where nudity is tolerated, even among the wealthy. This is also due to upwardly mobile/new money from the middle class causing the wealthy to adopt social and cultural attitudes of the middle class.

As America’s upper class becomes more ethnically diverse, especially with Indian tech elites, it might become more prudish about nudity. While the new Silicon Valley upper class is more nerdy and utilitarian, there is the whole Burning Man crowd which embraces nudity. Frankly, most Silicon Valley types should probably keep their clothes on. Despite the stereotype of Jewish elites being pervy, I have noticed that upper class Jews have more hang-ups around nudity than wealthy people from more Germanic backgrounds, though there have been some Jewish hippies into nudism.

Young Upper Class White South African Woman with her Black Maid

An exception where upper class coded people might be naked in front of lower class coded people is in front of the help. For instance, a rich lady walking around her home nude in front of her female maid or a spa where wealthy women are dotted upon while nude by a servile female staff. Unlike the wealthy, middle class coded people have hang-ups about getting a massage, both the nudity aspect and having the masseuse in a subservient position to them. However, upper class coded people, especially women, will be less comfortable having men from a lower social or economic status seeing them nude.

"Moorish Bath" by Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824 – 1904)

source: @artofcasanova on X

There was a period during the 19th Century when proles swam nude while the upper class adopted early swimsuits that covered their entire bodies. While the upper class can be very guarded about their privacy, young upper class coded women like to show off their skimpy bikini pics on Instagram, as a status marker, and are under more social pressure to look sexy as they are surrounded by more high status males. However, skimpy bikinis are so widespread, including among proles and the middle class, from Latinas to Redneck women.

source: @artforintrovert on X

One of my observations from visiting beaches in SoCal, that are frequented by the ultra wealthy is that wealthy families are more likely to let their daughters wear skimpy bikinis, even at a fairly young age than middle class parents might. A wealthy dad might have looser morals, as they were more likely to be Chads who did well with the opposite sex in their youth. Though, obviously a lot of alpha male fathers can be overprotective because they know from personal experience what high status men are capable of. Regardless, it is middle class coded men who have more neuroticism about things like how their daughter presents herself in public to male strangers.

source: @AdamasNemesis on X

A lot of these wealthy families who let their daughters wear skimpy bikinis to the beach have larger families, which may seem contradictory, as higher fertility is often associated with social conservatism. However, that combo signals vitality. Not to mention that parents with only one offspring tend to be especially overprotective. The wealthy get married and start families more yet are also more hedonistic. In contrast, the middle class is both more prudish and has declining family formation.

The wealthy have more privacy with their larger homes where they can let loose, like go skinny dipping in their pool. The other extreme is the poor who live in cramped quarters with zero privacy. It must be the middle class coded living arrangement that causes them to be more uptight about not being nude in front of family members. Those with more siblings are probably going to be less uptight about nudity, which is relevant to fertility trends, and I speculate that preferences for nudity could be hereditary.

source: r/CommunalShowers

While younger generations have become more socially liberal in the West, nudity is ironically the one area where people have become more conservative. In contrast with the Hippie culture’s embrace of nudity, much of today’s Left hates nudity because it exposes inequality amongst peoples’ bodies. Basically, the Left wants to turn everyone into homogenized asexual drones. Liberals also have this obsession with radical bodily autonomy. For instance, the ACLU sued school districts to ban communal showering in the 90s, and now there are changing cubicles in locker rooms to be more inclusive of trans people.

source: @christovari on X

In contrast with pro-middle class populism, attitudes toward nudity might explain why someone like Bronze Age Pervert will defend the wealthy while having contempt for the middle class. BAP probably views the wealthy as having more vitality, beauty, and less slave morality. BAP’s wet dream would likely be to create a caste system where the ruling caste are nudists while only proles wear clothes. Regardless, certain social and sexual traits and practices function as caste markers.