Bronwyn Williams.

The Economist recently ran a piece looking at the decline in supply, if not demand, of nudity in Europe, which has historically embraced the practice, with its naked saunas, topless adverts and nudist beaches. The Economist posed several possible causes behind the great cover-up. Firstly, it speculated that body positivity (or the lack thereof), exacerbated by the proliferation of picture-perfect, if entirely fake, images of the body-perfect across social media, had resulted in a growing sense of shame among the formerly confident Europeans.

Next up, was the idea that “Peeping Tom” bystanders with smartphone cameras had rather spoiled the fun, by taking and sharing images of nude bathers online. Lots of activities do rather lose their appeal when captured and shared with the general public, rather than just being enjoyed by those actively participating in the moment. The last reason speculated that human migration and cross-cultural tourism, which is increasingly bringing more conservative cultures into conflict around values, are putting social pressure on locals to be more modest.