)
"At ----, bathing in a state of Nature was _de rigueur_ for the
_elite_ of the bathers, while our Sunday visitors from the slums
frequently made a great point of wearing bathing costumes; it was
frequently noticed that those who were most anxious to avoid
exposing their persons were distinguished by the foulness of
their language. My impression was that their foul-mindedness
deprived them of the consciousness of safety from coarse jests.
If I were bathing alone among blackguards, I should probably feel
uncomfortable myself, if without costume." (Private
communication.)
A lady in a little city of the south of Italy, told Paola
Lombroso that young middle-class girls there are not allowed to
go out except to Mass, and cannot even show themselves at the
window except under their mother's eye; yet they do not think it
necessary to have a cabin when sea-bathing, and even dispense
with a bathing costume without consciousness of immodesty. (P.
Lombroso, _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1901, p. 306.)
"A woman mentioned to me that a man came to her and told her in
confidence his distress of mind: he feared he had _corrupted_ his
wife because she got into a bath in his presence, with her baby,
and enjoyed his looking at her splashing about. He was deeply
distressed, thinking he must have done her harm, and destroyed
her modesty.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95