ABSTRACT
Almost every aspect of human bodily behaviour is brought under the regulation of social control: codes and customs govern even the simplest of our natural physical actions. Pressures towards cultural conformity are particularly evident where the behaviour concerned involves the display or exposure of the naked body. If the concept of 'modesty training' seems alien or odd, this is probably because children are expected to learn many rules of behaviour, including those of modesty and decorum, without the formal and explicit instruction which we tend to associate with the idea of training. What happens in practice is that the child's actions are continually subjected to parental evaluation which has the intention, and usually the effect, of modifying and shaping his future behaviour to conform with social expectation. Evidence from anthropological sources also demonstrates that the social conventions which decide how physical modesty shall be expressed are neither universal nor static.
