The Introverted Detective: Public Indecency Standards

The societal standards have changed from century to century. In the 1800s you could probably get arrested for wearing skimpy clothing. Today? You have to be nude to get arrested. Let's dig into what public indecency used to be and still might be.

Courtesy of rare historical photos

Indecency would be, for example, running around nude in a public place. You can be arrested for that and should be arrested for that. Ohio's law states having sex in public, exposing yourself in public, or looking like you are masturbating or having sex in public will get you a criminal record and a reputation as a sex offender. It is not okay to do any of this, nor should it ever be. Urinating in a public place is also an arrestable crime.

It changes constantly when it comes to what is decent and indecent in society's fashion. It also depends on where you are. Puritans were probably tolerating less than other villages would, for example. Without any further introduction, I give you what I found on public indecency from the 1700s and onward.

Theatrical Scandal

We love theatre and movies today, but I can tell you that the Puritans did not. Women and some races of people were not allowed on the stage years later. Theatre did not have a particularly great start in the 1600s era and it was rather hard for women and foreigners to act even after it finally made it. Do you know why blackface happened? Black people weren't allowed to act on stage for a while. Do you know why men were in drag for Shakespeare? Women weren't allowed on the stage for a while, too. Surprisingly, Quakers did propose a form of theatre and got vetoed every time by the English Crown. You could get arrested for performing a theatre production in the 1600s.

1700 Massachusetts put in a law that lasted 40 years preventing any space for theatre. It was considered immoral. Shows still happened in secret, however. The late 1700s was the time theatre fought back legally by forming an association. They successfully repealed the previous law preventing it five to ten years later.

There were plays that discussed sexual topics and there were scandals as a result. Art has been censored throughout time. Less of the sexual topics are being censored as time goes on. What is decent today would shock someone from the 16 to 1800s easily, including any discussion of sexual anything. Sex was taboo, which is still true in some communities today (depending on where you were raised). Homosexual topics were highly taboo, as well, though I can tell you that it was still happening in secret. There is nothing new under the sun, dear readers. Just because society won't talk about it doesn't mean it didn't happen. At any rate, sex and homosexual topics were considered off the table for a long period of time and still make a lot of our society uncomfortable. That doesn't mean some people didn't try to put it in their productions, though.

Clothing

Women in pants is a common one that gets spoken of, as well as women getting arrested for swimsuits that we'd never consider illegal today. People wore more clothing swimming way back when than we do currently. Bikinis caused much scandal when they came on the scene. While we're at it, we'll consider tattoos and how they were attached to crime and prostitution. Women with tattoos were considered very bad news. Today none of this matters to us because most of us wear jeans and shorts out in public daily. Women wearing pants is not front-page news, nor is a woman lounging in a bikini. You'll only get arrested if you take that off and run around nude. Tattoos are also not an issue these days.

If anything looked like lingerie on top - even if fully clothed otherwise- the silhouette was enough. The open dress was one dress that only pregnant women were supposed to wear from the 16 to the 1700s. I mentioned the Puritans, right? They influenced fashion more than you think. Flashing ankle was scandalous in the 1800s. This came from a society that wanted to suppress lust as much as possible, which is why sex was such a curiosity that more Puritan youth had sex outside of marriage. This usually ended in a shot-gun wedding, should the woman become pregnant.

Do you remember those youth events that didn't let you wear a bikini without a t-shirt over it? If you think the bikini is scandalous, try the one-piece being a scandal. 1907 was the beginning of the one-piece bathing suit. A swimmer got arrested for it because it came above her knee. The first one resembled a wetsuit, which for us is more decent than most garden-variety bikini tops. Society then did not like it. That rule about not wearing a bikini without a t-shirt is now absolutely hilarious to me.

Flapper dresses were a scandal by themselves. Phryne Fisher played with fire by dressing herself as she did, and the only reason she could was her money and position. Flapper is slang for "young prostitute". These dresses were moral uproar in the form of fabric. Add to that list bullet bras (bras that are shaped like they sound), mini-skirts, sheer shirts, women's tuxedos, slip dresses, and the 2000s trend of thongs being visible. The thong one I do agree with, however, as that is rather tacky. I also get perpetually frustrated by shirts that show my bra no matter how skin-colored it is, so I do think white sheer shirts are annoying, too.

Dancing

Is shimmying scandalous to you? It was in 1920. It was banned in some places. Is Elvis' dancing offensive to you? That was 1950. Madonna was considered too sexy, as well. Finally, we get to grinding on the homecoming dance floor and twerking. Dance and sex have been connected in many people's minds for years. Yet, in 1900, the turkey trot, bunny hug, and grizzly bear were shameful. If you let them happen in a dance hall you could be in trouble. Below the turkey trot is demonstrated, and it looks so tame that I can't even believe it was discouraged. The bunny hug looks like an excuse to be cheek-to-cheek, but not much else. I'm putting the videos for the bunny hug and the grizzly bear at the end for you to watch. It is absolutely hilarious.

Dance, as Footloose suggests, is taken as a sexual act in some people's opinions. What many see as innocent fun is taken as indecent activity. Puritans did not completely ban dancing, but forbid mixed (or mixt) dancing because it encouraged adultery in their opinion.

Jazz music and dancing caused no loss of scandal, given the ragtime dances attached. There are specific singers that were considered indecent, like Josephine Baker. It also happened more in places like brothels or gentlemen's clubs early on. Prohibition fueled private, secret clubs and ended up fueling jazz music and dance. Private clubs hired more black musicians (the culture jazz originated from). The origin of this music also has a great deal to do with racism. Jazz got blamed for a lot it didn't do due to its place of origin and the racism. We're not even talking about the sexy nature of jazz dance, yet, either. Move over bunny hug, because a new dirty dance has come to town. The charleston didn't get such a warm welcome.

I didn't want to put Josephine Baker doing the charleston on here because she isn't so clothed in most of her dances, but I found a video of her dancing that shows off her personal style. It's worth watching. This is the tamest one I could find. Forewarning, she is an exotic dancer in most of the videos you find her in. Be prepared for some nudity and moulin rouge style of dance if you do look up more of her dance footage later.

Conclusion

Check out the bunny hug and the grizzly bear down below if you have time to do so. Today there are some of these standards that still apply and many that haven't applied for years. It also depends on your community and how you were raised, as well as where you were raised. I hope you enjoyed a look at the history of public indecency today and then. This was only a brief snapshot, so check out my sources down below.