History Main / NationalGeographicNudity

* In ''VideoGame/StoneIdol''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/stone-idol]], a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws'', main and single one character, a rogue archer antrophomorphic fox is nude throughout the game, wearing only an utility belt. There is no reaction or comment on nudity in game and there is no in-game sexual content.

* The Lands of Aniethia, the kingdom where the game ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws'' takes place has no nudity taboo. All in-game characters, both allies and enemies are always nude, wearing only equipment belts, but there is no sexual content in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws'' all characters, both allies and enemies are always nude.
* In ''VideoGame/StoneIdol''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/stone-idol]], a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws'', main and single one character, a rogue archer antrophomorphic fox is nude throughout the game. There is no reaction or comment on nudity in game and there is no in-game sexual content.

* In ''Webcomic/SwordsAndClawsScars'', a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws'', all characters, except a single one, are always nude.

* In ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/swords-and-claws]] all characters, both allies and enemies are always nude.
* In ''VideoGame/StoneIdol''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/stone-idol]], a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/swords-and-claws]], main and single one character, a rogue archer antrophomorphic fox is nude throughout the game. There is no reaction or comment on nudity in game and there is no in-game sexual content.

* In ''Webcomic/SwordsAndClawsScars'', a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/swords-and-claws]], all characters, except a single one, are always nude.

* In ''Webcomic/SwordsAndClawsScars'', a spin-off of ''VideoGame/SwordsAndClaws''[[https://colonellazuli.itch.io/swords-and-claws]], all characters, except single one, are always nude.

* In ''Webcomic/SwordsAndClawsScars'' all characters, except single one, are always nude.

** When Homer travels as a missionary to a remote Pacific Island to teach the tribe living there about the Bible, he is disappointed with the lack of nudity, leading the the tribal chief to explain that Christian missionaries have already taught them "the gift of shame". Another tribesman then points across the bay and notes: "The naked women are all on ''that'' island." Homer looks forlornly toward the other island, from which he can hear female giggling.

* The 1937 adaptation of ''Film/KingSolomonsMines'' provides a surprising example from TheThirties of topless African tribeswomen.
%%* ''Film/TheMission''
%%* ''Rapa Nui''

%%* ''End of the Spear''
%%* ''Film/TheJewelOfTheNile''
%%* ''Film/{{Walkabout}}'' (though for most of the film, there's only one tribesman)
* ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy'' is another example, although it ''is'' a comedy. The protagonist (a Bushman from the Kalahari Desert in Africa) wears only a loincloth that covers his genitals but bares his buttocks. He sets out on a quest across the continent for reasons too complicated to mention here, precipitating a (for him) fascinating voyage of discovery and nonstop ValuesDissonance. Along the way he sees many non-Bushman Africans, both black and white, and is puzzled by their "multicolored skins," and the fact they often have different colored "skins" on different parts of their body (i.e., clothes). He also spies a woman in her underwear (a lacy white bra and slip) and wonders why she has covered herself with cobwebs.
%%* ''Film/TheEmeraldForest''
* ''Film/NowhereInAfrica'': A plot point. Walter and Jettel, are German Jewish refugees from Hitler, who fled to Kenya but were interned as "enemy aliens" by British colonial authorities when war broke out. Recently released from internment, they see some Kenyan women walking by topless, carrying their burdens atop their heads. Walter dares Jettel to take her top off and walk like the native women do, and she does. Then out of nowhere he turns nasty and asks if she made any "friends" while interned. It turns out that he knows about the British officer she had sex with.
%%* ''Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês,'' or ''How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman''
* As mentioned above, 1950s-1960s nudist "documentaries" such as ''Blaze Starr Goes Nudist'' or ''Garden of Eden'' take the subculture version of this. The flood of random nudity these films brought was influential in loosening the rules until these movies were all but forgotten afterward — although there are the occasional throwbacks, such as ''Nudist Colony of the Dead'' (1991) or ''Nudist Camp Zombie Massacre'' (2010).

* The 1984 film ''Film/TheBounty'', about the famous mutiny, features Mel Gibson, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and a fair number of topless Tahitian women. This film was, after all, much more dedicated to historical accuracy than the earlier movies.

* ''Film/MedicineMan'' has several scenes with almost or completely naked men, women and children, including a pair of shots of a line of [[MaleGaze women buttocks]] when said women are helping the heroine in her scientific research. But since all naked people are Native American, the movie got a PG-13 rating.
* Referenced in Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/KingKong2005'', when the executives to whom Denham is speaking ask if his picture will have "boobies" in it. He is less than amused.
* ''Film/{{Papillon}}'', after the titular character is adopted by some South American tribespeople.
* ''Film/QuestForFire'', set in the Stone Age. Ika is naked throughout the movie. In particular, Creator/RaeDawnChong was cast as Ika because she was the most comfortable with nudity. She remained nude and covered in body paint between takes [[MethodActing to stay in character]].
* ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren The Clan of the Cave Bear]]'', set in prehistoric times, does this in the Clan Meeting scene, with several female members of other clans casually bare-breasted.
* ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'' had a nude beach populated entirely by old men, much to the disgust of some of the main characters.
* ''Film/TraderHorn'' (1931) shows quite a bit of this as Horn and his protege Peru travel up an African river. Somewhat atypical for the era in that Peru, the young man of the pair, is shown quite obviously titillated by some of the comelier half-naked African women.
* Parodied in Creator/PeterJackson's {{Mockumentary}}, ''Film/ForgottenSilver'', where the first color film ever made was supposedly banned and forgotten because of its extensive National Geographic Nudity.

* ''Legong: Dance of the Virgins'' (1935) had an all-Balinese cast going about daily activities. Many of the women were topless. This was a "goona goona" film, half-documentary, half-drama, one of many made in that period. [[note]]The ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legong legong]]'', a sacred classical dance, really is performed only by girls who have not reached puberty.[[/note]]
* For most of ''Film/{{Tabu}}'' (1931), the Tahitian girls are dressed modestly enough in sarongs. But in the ceremonial dance scene, the female dancers wear nothing but grass skirts.

%%See ZeroContextExample for more information.

* In ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', one of the tri-videos in the ship's library in an 'educational' movie about the ''shocking sybaritic rites of the Amazons of Venus!'' that "everyone watched and pretended not to". The trope is lampshaded when Venusian HalfHumanHybrid B'Elanna Torres shows Chakotay a page from ''Magazine/NationalGeographic'' of an Amazon of Venus "bedecked in [[DiamondsInTheBuff jewels]], a sword harness, and not much else" that's being used as a pin-up.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* As suggested by the trope name, there are plenty of cultures in the world who are [[ValuesDissonance completely fine with nudity on a level that would make Westerners squeamish]]. Some documentaries censor the naughty bits as a result; many more do not. Oddly enough, this can work in reverse for those same cultures. There are many African tribes where having women go topless is considered completely normal, but having them bare their legs is considered highly provocative. The members of these tribes often have the same reaction to the sight of women dressed in shorts as Westerners do to the sight of women not wearing tops. (And in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really that long ago that Western civilization [[SocietyMarchesOn had a taboo]] against women [[OldTimeyAnkleTaboo showing their legs]].)
* Of course, there are plenty of cultures ''in the west'' that are more or less fine with nudity on a level that would make other parts of the west squeamish. Most states in UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, for example, have at least one UsefulNotes/{{nudis|m}}t club, while Europeans tend to be more relaxed about topless sunbathing and smaller/tighter swimwear on men.
* Interesting fact about the TropeNamer: The media studies work ''Reading National Geographic'' found that, aside from choosing to represent areas of the world with images that reinforce specific themes (the Pacific islands are idyllic, East Asia is eccentric and a decade behind the times, African children smile when doing backbreaking labor, etc.), what nudity is permitted in ''National Geographic'' depends on who's doing it. African, Native American and other "primitive" people get their naughty bits published, while European vacationers on a nude beach... don't. And in a strange case of RaceLift, persons with borderline skin tones will have their skin ''darkened'' in order to be acceptably nude. The magazine made an exception with some lighthearted MemeAcknowledgment in their [[MilestoneCelebration 125th anniversary issue]] (October 2013) by printing a graph showing the frequency of nude images published in the magazine by decade.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/TheMission''
* ''Rapa Nui''
* ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}''
* ''Literature/AtPlayInTheFieldsOfTheLord''
* ''End of the Spear''
* ''Film/TheJewelOfTheNile''
* ''Film/{{Walkabout}}'' (though for most of the film, there's only one tribesman)

* ''Film/TheEmeraldForest''

* ''Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês,'' or ''How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman''

* The 2010 documentary ''Babies''

* ''The Emerald Forest''

* In ''Rocketship Voyager'', one of the tri-videos in the ship's library in an 'educational' movie about the ''shocking sybaritic rites of the Amazons of Venus!'' that "everyone watched and pretended not to". The trope is lampshaded when Venusian HalfHumanHybrid B'Elanna Torres shows Chakotay a page from ''Magazine/NationalGeographic'' of an Amazon of Venus "bedecked in [[DiamondsInTheBuff jewels]], a sword harness, and not much else" that's being used as a pin-up.

* In ''Rocketship Voyager'', one of the tri-videos in the ship's library in an 'educational' movie about the "shocking sybaritic rites of the Amazons of Venus!'' that "everyone watched and pretended not to". The trope is lampshaded when Venusian HalfHumanHybrid B'Elanna Torres shows Chakotay a page from ''Magazine/NationalGeographic'' of an AmazonGirl of Venus "bedecked in [[DiamondsInTheBuff jewels]], a sword harness, and not much else" that's being used as a pin-up.

* Averted in ''Farewell to the King'' (1989). Although it was filmed on location using Borneo tribesmen, the women wore tops because the producers didn't want their movie to be BestKnownForTheFanservice.

The {{Trope Namer|s}} is ''National Geographic'' Magazine, which sometimes shows topless women when running an article on tribal cultures where the women don't customarily cover their breasts. Almost all PG-13– or R-rated movies owe their ability to show ''any'' skin to old UsefulNotes/{{nudis|m}}t films in this vein, such as ''Holiday in the Sun'' or ''Garden of Eden''. The trope originally concerned innocent and rather tame nudist documentaries; when the nudists of the time successfully fought for the right to show nudity on the silver screen for nudist films under the justification that it wasn't sexual, filmmakers used the new loophole to make hundreds of {{B Movie}}s using the setting to allow them to show flesh.

* Parodied in Creator/PeterJackson's [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie "documentary"]] ''Film/ForgottenSilver'', where the first color film ever made was supposedly banned and forgotten because of its extensive National Geographic Nudity.

* Parodied in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': in one strip, Hobbes claims that he only reads ''National Geographic'' for the hot ''tigress'' babes.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d, along with a hearty helping of DeliberateValuesDissonance, in a humorous postcard from the 1950s showing, first, a white couple in the Victorian era (a suit and hat for the man and a hoop-skirted dress for the woman) staring disapprovingly at an (American) Indian couple wearing nothing but loincloths. ''Then'' it shows, a century later, [[StereotypeFlip the]] ''[[StereotypeFlip Indians]]'' [[StereotypeFlip in all-covering Victorian garb, and now they're the ones staring disapprovingly at the great-grandchildren of the white Victorian couple]], who are parading around in swimsuits that bare their arms, [[ShowSomeLeg legs]], and [[BareYourMidriff midriffs]].

* In the Chilean comic ''ComicBook/Mampato'' in Rapa Nui, when they travel to Easter Island in the 16th century, women appear all topless, although they appear quite little and usually in the background.

Films such as ''The House on Bare Mountain'' or ''The Beast that Killed Women'' nominally took place at a nudist colony or whatnot, but dropped this outside random shots of naked (or usually just topless) women -- and never, ''ever'', naked men.