Kochi: The depiction of a woman’s naked upper body should not always be regarded as sexual or obscene, the Kerala High Court observed while discharging a mother from a criminal case in which she was accused of making a video of her children painting on her semi-nude body.
“Nudity should not be tied to sex. The mere sight of the naked upper body of the woman should not be deemed to be sexual by default. So also the depiction of the naked body of a woman cannot per se be termed to be obscene, indecent, or sexually explicit. The same can be determined to be so only in context,” Justice Kauser Edappagath said.
The single-judge bench pointed out that nude female sculptures in temples and other public spaces are considered as art or even holy, reported Bar and Bench.
The high court also pointed out that the naked male body is judged with a different yardstick than the female body.
“Body painting on men is an accepted tradition during ‘Pulikali’ festivals in Thrissur, Kerala. When ‘Theyyam’ and other rituals are performed at the temple, painting is conducted on the bodies of male artists. The male body is displayed in the form of six-pack abs, biceps etc. We often find men walking around without wearing shirts. But these acts are never considered to be obscene or indecent,” Justice Edappagath observed.
People who consider a woman’s body to be inherently obscene consider it to be merely an object of desire.
“When the half-nude body of a man is conceived as normal and not sexualised, a female body is not treated in the same way. Some people are so used to considering a woman’s naked body as an overly sexualised one or just an object of desire. There is another dimensional view about female nudity- that is, female nudity is taboo because a naked female body is only meant for erotic purposes,” the judge said.
