Shame at nakedness symbolizes the human condition of being seen as an object.

Evidence

Modesty and in particular the fear of being surprised in a state of nakedness are only a symbolic specification of original shame; the body symbolizes here our defenseless state as objects. To put on clothes is to hide one’s object-state; it is to claim the right of seeing without being seen; that is, to be pure subject. This is why the Biblical symbol of the fall after the original sin is the fact that Adam and Eve “know that they are naked.” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 784

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing interest in small acts of decorum toward corpses — the body as defenseless object — and to the ‘immodesty’ moral panics theme of article #2. — connects to: Being objectified by another’s look constitutes an inescapable existential guilt — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 72; Shame is fundamentally experienced in the presence of another person — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 659; Shame is the recognition of being as the Other sees one — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 660 (+7 more)
• ADDENDUM: The body-as-object reading of modesty directly bears on the cross-cultural moral panics over immodest dress in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — clothing as claiming see-without-being-seen subject status.

Broader Connections

• Being perceived as an object by another creates communal shame and alienation #corroborates (0.85)
• Shame first reveals one’s factical body because the Other’s look falls on embodiment #expands (0.80) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 97
• Being visually seen and commented on makes the girl’s body an object to herself. #exemplifies (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 738
• Bodily dress norms imprint deeply enough to feel naked when they are lifted. #qualifies (0.75) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 413
• Woman’s aging shame stems from being an object for man’s mediation #exemplifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1709
• Stripping a people’s sanctity prepares them for becoming expendable naked life #exemplifies (0.72) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 518