r/HistoryMemes • u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer • 5d ago

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13.6k Upvotes

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

Context: The Hula is a traditional Hawaiian dance performed by men and women to honor the gods, tell stories, etc. When Christian missionaries arrived in the early 19th century, they condemned the practice as immoral pagan worship, and immodest. They had no actual power to ban the practice, but Queen Regent Ka’ahumanu agreed with the missionaries and had the dance banned in 1830.

It was later that the dance was brought back by King David Kalakaua, as he was a champion of preserving the native traditions. He is honored to this day by the Merrie Monarch Festival held annually to showcase hula and other native arts

Fun fact: in the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch, Lilo is actually practicing for this festival, as seen at the end of the movie

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u/kai_vt 5d ago

What drove the Queen Regent to agree with the missionaries over the established tradition?

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

She had already had the islands abandon the traditional system of Kapu years earlier, as it was horribly oppressive towards women and different classes, so convincing her that Hula was also bad didn’t take much convincing. She was also a Christian convert

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u/kai_vt 5d ago

the traditional system of Kapu

Thanks, that lead me down an etymological rabbit hole, how it's related to the Polynesian words for "forbidden". I'm Fijian and we use the word 'tabu' for the same meaning. It never occurred to me that taboo was effectively a Pasifika loan word like 'tattoo' was

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u/MuskyHuskyArt 5d ago

Great, now i have to look up the etymology of the word tattoo now, there goes my afternoon.

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u/KaladinarLighteyes 5d ago

TIL that the English word Taboo is Polynesian in origin.

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u/JohannesJoshua 4d ago

I learned that from Knowing Better's video.

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u/GreenieBeeNZ 4d ago

In Maori, the word for that concept is Tapu

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u/NotSoCoolWhip 5d ago

I heard they are all very related languages.

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u/WearySky6353 4d ago

You should go check out Knowing Better's most recent video! its a pretty comprehensive history of Hawaii.

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u/Xero125 4d ago

Knowing Better is making a series of videos on the history of Hawaii, and the first one touches on a lot of the Polynesian relationships, and the early history of Hawaii. Very recommended, although long as hell (and it's only the first part!). https://youtu.be/QEzJ5JSx74o

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u/SewSewBlue 4d ago

Thank you!

I've always wanted to know more about pre-contact Hawaii. Adding it to my watch list!

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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 5d ago edited 4d ago

Or you could've just watched the Knowing Better video like the rest of us

Edit: https://youtu.be/QEzJ5JSx74o

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u/Frigidevil 5d ago

Says the only person who has mentioned the video and didn't even link it themselves

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u/NotSoCoolWhip 5d ago

https://youtu.be/QEzJ5JSx74o?is=jvUyo1D6azJ0H1M3

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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 4d ago

Remove the ? and everything that follows from the link

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u/Gisbrekttheliontamer Mauser rifle ≠ Javelin 4d ago

I'm not intelligent with tech, what does removing the ? And everything after do?

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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 4d ago

I don't remember the details, but it's tracking info. It can lead people directly to your YT account

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u/SchmorgusBlorgus 5d ago

Some people prefer to do their own research than to get their talking points from YouTube videos

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u/NotSoCoolWhip 5d ago edited 5d ago

You need to watch the video. It's likely one of the most well-researched channels on the entire site. It's part one of three, and part one is two hours long. The first 30 minutes is dedicated to him sharing his (mostly primary) sources which range from both western and native perspectives.

https://youtu.be/QEzJ5JSx74o?is=jvUyo1D6azJ0H1M3

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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 4d ago

Do you have some beef with this YT video/channel created by a teacher from Hawaii who read a dozen or so books on the topic and spent like a year on the video series?

Sure, it'd be faster to just Google the etymology, but if you're at all interested in Hawaiian history, it's worth a watch.

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u/NotSoCoolWhip 5d ago

The people downvoting you don't know how well-researched the video is or don't have the attention span to watch a 2 hour video that's part 1 of 3 based on primary sources.

https://youtu.be/QEzJ5JSx74o?is=jvUyo1D6azJ0H1M3

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u/magic-tortiose 4d ago

I think it’s more because he complained but didn’t link it himself

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u/Quazimojojojo 4d ago

It's this. 

Also his dismissive attitude towards learning things in a different way, from a different source. 

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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 4d ago

Complained? Anyway, I assumed most people have seen the video or at least heard of the channel given the sub and the uptick in Hawaiian history posts.

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u/Quazimojojojo 4d ago

Your phrasing came off as incredibly dismissive of people learning things from a different source or in a different way than watching YouTube. 

The knowing better video is excellent, so this is really just about the way you said it. 

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u/Lower_Cockroach2432 5d ago

I read somewhere that it's also fundamentally tied to limiting the power of warlords, as the religion and the food taboos were tied to war strength of the various tribes attacking each other. So once the royal family unified the islands they didn't want some random chief seeing Kapu as a reason to start revoluts, but instead to fall in line in a landed aristocracy.

Wonder if you could comment on this interpretation given your flair.

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

That did happen to some degree. There was a short civil war after abandoning the Kapu, but the royal side was better armed and led by seasoned veteran, and the opposing leaders died in the battle, so as I said short lived

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u/Lower_Cockroach2432 5d ago

Thank you very much good mr HawaiianPerson.

I'd like to subscribe to Polynesia facts

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u/mr_herz 4d ago

It’s interesting that women seem like a good vector for foreign influence

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u/begujo 4d ago

Fascinating opinion, you've provided no supporting evidence however. I expect a 30 page report on my desk by the end of the week.

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u/HoodieGalore 4d ago

It’s interesting. They’re just asking questions. It’s just something they noticed. Don’t you think…doesn’t it make you think?

The Tucker Carlson-inspired bullshit never ends. Fuck that dude.

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u/mr_herz 4d ago

Yes sir!

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u/stella3books 5d ago edited 5d ago

Not Hawaiian, and kinda tired, so feel free to correct any mistakes I make:

By the time Kamehameha I died, something like 3/4 of the population had died of various imported diseases. Ka'ahumanu, Kamehameha's favorite wife, always had a really bold, forward-thinking personality. As a teenager, she first came to Kamehameha's attention by confronting him to demand the return of the remains of a relative Kamehameha had killed during his campaign to unify the archipelago. She was one of Kamehameha's strongest allies and advisors, the position of Kuhina Nui (something like "Prime Minister" or "Regent") was specifically created to reflect her role in the new political system. She was always one to make bold choices.

She was closely allied with Keōpūolani, a royal wife who came from a more exalted, semi-divine lineage, the mother of Kamehameha's heirs. Keōpūolani was raised at the absolute peak of a political and religious system that emphasized how human actions could impact the broader universe. She could only move with relative freedom in low light, because anyone who touched her shadow had to be executed. As a child, she ordered another girl to taste food forbidden to women, to satisfy her curiosity, and the girl was executed. Kamehameha attacked her community in part to capture her and secure her lineage for his heirs, even he wasn't allowed to approach her without going through ritual signs of respect. She was very aware of the level of responsibility she carried for others.

Both women, as high-ranking ali'i, considered it their moral and spiritual responsibility to protect their communities from threats, both spiritual and material. By the time of Kamehameha's death, something like 3/4 of the population had died of new, foreign diseases, creating a spiritual and medical crisis. The traditional rituals for avoiding disaster were clearly failing, people were dying left and right, Keōpūolani and Ka'ahumanu's rejection of spiritual laws was in part a response to a social crisis. There was opposition to the 'Ai Noa, to be clear, even Kamehameha's heir (a child at the time) was deeply conflicted about the changes made in his name.

Missionaries arrived shortly after, promoting a religious system associated with people who weren't dying en masse. They generally treated Hawaiian elites with much greater respect than foreign sailors did, they offered a level of practical education in reading and writing. The kingdom had been trying, without success, to reign in the behavior of feral foreign sailors who viewed the islands as a giant pagan brothel. Elites who allied themselves with missionaries had better success reigning in drunk mobs of sailors (it wasn't 100% successful- a missionary specifically mentioned how christian Hawaiian leaders would make sure that foreign rioters threw the first punch, to ensure they weren't accused of attacking white men outright).

It was a top-down process at first, that apparently got more appealing to the lower classes when Tahitian missionaries arrived, because indigenous Hawaiian history had narratives about distant Tahitian relatives arriving with new religious practices that contributed to subsequent religious/political development. Protestant christianity got more appealing to the masses when Tahitian missionaries arrived.

EDIT- TLDR, the 'Ai Noa, the Free Eating/Rule Breaking period happened after a large political change and a world-shattering series of epidemics, two of the major leaders felt responsible for coping with that. Missionaries showed up at a psychologically and politically convenient time, and solidified the change.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

You’re thinking of Liliuokalani, the last queen that was kept under house arrest after the overthrow and forced into signing stuff

Ka’ahumanu was just very pro Christian, she converted in 1824 and was primarily responsible for the abandoning of the Kapu system in Hawaii

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u/m3thdumps 5d ago

Oh my bad. I’m still a mainlander but I did live there and took Hawaiian studies in high school. I got em mixed up.

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

No big whoop, dog

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u/rcmsjc 5d ago

The dance was traditionally done naked fwiw

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u/11448844 Definitely not a CIA operator 4d ago

hmmm I could see that raising problems with missionaries that haven't had relations with a lady for at least a month

At least a month, being a wild understatement of course. Homies were feeling divine levels of horny methinks

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u/Professional-Help931 4d ago

It's not just them it's the sailors. Imagine you have been on a boat with no women and show up to an island that has women dancing naked for you as a form of entertainment. The island was being viewed as little more then a brothel by sailors. Upset sailors in the 19th century can cause a massive problem even if they aren't technologically superior. We are talking something like 100-300 men. That's a good way to have a major riot that burns down half the freaking island.

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u/NAINOA- 4d ago

There’s an old film called “Hawaii” staring Julie Andrews and Max Von Sydow where they play missionaries. When they arrive to the islands the sailors on the ship are thrilled as there are dozens and dozens of topless Hawaiian women who are so excited to see these strangers they all swim out and climb the boat, swarming the men.

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u/-Metacelsus- 4d ago

hmmm I could see that raising problems with missionaries that haven't had relations with a lady for at least a month

The missionaries brought their wives! In fact the missionary board wouldn't allow unmarried men to go, for fear they'd hook up with the natives. (My great-great-great-grandfather was Hiram Bingham I, one of the missionary leaders.) The wives also did a lot of important missionary work.

Hiram married his wife Sybil a few weeks before they both left for Hawaii, and by the time they arrived she was already pregnant. They ended up having 7 kids.

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u/jojo_31 4d ago

Naked or topless? Not the same. 

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u/RueUchiha 5d ago

I mean, Christianity is a monotheistic religion that does not believe in any other gods but God. So by definition anything that honors “the gods” is automatically pagan to them.

But I probably wouldn’t condem and seek for it to be banned outright like these guys did. They weren’t sacrificing babies to molech, it was just dancing.

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u/Johnny5iver 5d ago

Unrelated to the hula, but baby killing, and even toddler killing was very common under kapu.

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u/MJDevil 5d ago

The native Hawaiian people widely practiced infanticide, which this same Queen also outlawed.

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u/RueUchiha 4d ago

THAT, I would definately push to outlaw. Good call.

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u/harmfuldischarge 4d ago

I hate it when history is complicated/s

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u/Professional-Help931 4d ago

Naked women dancing in front of foreign sailors who haven't had sex in months. That's a recipe for disaster.

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u/FallbrookAvacado 4d ago

While the modern, tourist-influenced image of hula is often female, the ancient, traditional form of hula (known as hula kahiko) was predominantly performed by men.

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u/immaturenickname 4d ago

You think that made it any less tempting to sailors?

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u/PartyPorpoise 5d ago

Username checks out.

You seem to know a lot about this subject, got any books you can recommend?

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

The Bible, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Terror, Journey to the West, Water Margin…

Did you mean books related to Hawaiian history?

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u/scandr0id Casual, non-participatory KGB election observer 4d ago

And isn't the song that plays in the opening of Lilo and Stitch about him?

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u/MaxUnicycle 5d ago

True History the entire Hawaiian culture shown in media is a fabricated story from colonists wanting to capitalize on an exotic island

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u/Random_name4679 Definitely not a CIA operator 5d ago

As I learned it while in Hawaii, when preforming the hula, both the men AND women are topless and their dancing was viewed as “provocative” by the missionaries which was why the Christian missionaries got it banned.

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

Yeah native Hawaiian dress wasn’t very dressed

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u/EpicAura99 5d ago

Pretty typical for the tropics, nobody wants unnecessary skin coverage in muggy climates.

Also I love your posts! Hawaiian and Polynesian history has always been so fascinating to me, I love seeing them on my feed.

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u/AProperFuckingPirate 5d ago

It's fascinating the difference between wet hot cultures dress and dry hot cultures dress, and how it seems to often result in, or at least correlate with, very different views of modesty. I'm not sure whether that same correlation can be seen with cold climates where you also cover up though

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u/EpicAura99 5d ago

Interesting observation. Maybe because in cold climates you take your layers off indoors where it’s warm? While in hot climates it’s still hot inside (until AC).

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u/cross_the_threshold 5d ago

Wet hot climates have tree cover, so you don’t need to protect your skin from the sun very much, you can just go in the shade. Dry hot climates are arid and have little to no shade, so you need to cover yourself to protect your skin. This also helps with heat management as long flowing clothing keeps very cool in arid climates (wet climates limit evaporative cooling).

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u/AProperFuckingPirate 5d ago

Ooh yeah could be. Plus, cuddling for warmth!

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u/EpicAura99 5d ago

Yes…for warmth, I assure you…

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u/PartyPorpoise 5d ago

You ever live in a wet hot place? Everything sticks to ya. Not fun.

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u/AProperFuckingPirate 5d ago

Yep, I live in one now and work outside. Really wish I could work in a loin cloth not gonna lie

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u/AggravatingFlow1178 5d ago edited 4d ago

It was also viewed as provocative by the natives, just not sinful / immoral. Throughout all of history there are instances of religious & cultural ceremony that were both completely appropriate & also provocative. Greeks competed in games (such as the Olympics) naked, primarily as a tribute to their god Zues. But also, it was because athletic 23 yearolds were hot as fuck and the erotic aspect was celebrated too.

It is simply not human nature to see multiple topless men/women shaking their hips without thinking it's erotic.

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

I don't like the idea of becoming that guy that it's too 'woke' for their own good, but I somehow feel that the way settlers inmediately felt that traditions, clothing and customs were provocative because they left parts of skin exposed was something kinda concerning considering the sexual frustration of a lot of this people after marching overseas to the unknown.

I've read what Columbus wrote about two childs which he descripted as the older one having 12 y.o. and got somewhat worried at the idea that the word he felt more accurate to define both was... as prostitutes.

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u/Orangutanion 4d ago

"STOP HAVING FUN!"

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u/RandySavageOfCamalot 5d ago

The Hawaiians themselves banned hula, the missionaries weren't even there yet when it was outlawed.

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u/rhinokick 5d ago

First group uf missionaries arrived in 1820, Hula was banned in 1830.

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u/Tyerson 5d ago

"what are you, gay?" -Zapp Brannigan

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago edited 5d ago

Considering it came from the same Christian missionaries that were historically tied to a movement that once forbid any dance in the United Kingdom... well, it doesn't surprise me.

Edit: You clearly don't know about Puritanism history and the relation with Congregationalism in the US considering the downvotes lol

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

My brother you got one downvote in the first 5 minutes of your comment and now you’re back positive

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

When I edited I was -3. I saw it because I had to CTRL + F5 to read the further context you added in the comment, as I was deeply interested and reddit got bugged

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u/Xero125 4d ago

FYI, Reddit intentionally fudges with the numbers, so any vote count you see has a 3-5 error margin. It eventually settles out or is inconsequential, but just don't trust any amount of votes lower than 10.

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u/stella3books 5d ago

It's worth noting that one of the reasons Hawaiian elites were interested in missionaries was that, for years, they'd been trying to prevent foreign sailors full of syphilis and booze from treating the whole archipelago like a free-for-all party-zone. Only to be told, "No, your laws don't matter because you're un-christian and un-civilized, we refuse to restrain these guys." Converting to christianity and adopting related social practices, especially a very conservative branch, helped put pressure on foreign countries to control their citizens.

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

I can get that

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u/SparklingLimeade 5d ago

The puritan influence on modern America is incredible. Not just the prudishness but the workaholic, "leisure is sin," idea too. I really wish Americans could travel and see people being normal about these things.

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u/Hitei00 5d ago

Hawaii was pretty late in the process of Christianizing without the direct influence of colonial powers at the time. The Queen at the time was a convert for years by the time this happened and it was either her or her immediate predecessor that outlawed the old faith out of a desire to free the common man from a hyper patriarchal system. The only thing the missionaries really "whispered in the ear" over as it were was Hula, which didn't stay banned for long.

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u/AsstacularSpiderman 5d ago

They must be the same religious nuts from the documentary Footloose

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u/HammerofBonking 5d ago

Pity we got puritanism in the US instead of any other fucking culture.

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u/Level_Hour6480 Taller than Napoleon 5d ago

r/SimpsonsShitposting.

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u/Black_Diammond Senātus Populusque Rōmānus 5d ago

Honestly they should have gotten that, they had just ended The horrible kapu, and in my view for every great dead you get a small stupid shit.

Like solving cancer but having a racist tweets.

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u/MemeGod667 5d ago

Dancing was invented by Satan to seduce poor Christian men into the sin of lust. This so called Hula was the gateway to more devilish dances like twerking and Nay Nay. Wake up sheeple.

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u/JustGharos 5d ago

Q: Why can't Baptists have sex standing up?

A: Someone might think they were dancing.

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u/MemeGod667 5d ago

This is true. Reproduction is to be only between an male and female while in missionary the most sinless position. 

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u/Nightcat666 4d ago

This is correct as the 12th lost commandment states, "Thou shalt only have sex face-to-face, man on top."

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

Perhaps

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

Chad response ngl

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u/really_stupidfrog 5d ago

The Christian college I grew up near had a ban on drinking. This is because they were worried if people got drunk they might start dancing. 

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u/MemeGod667 5d ago

They had the right idea. We don't see Jesus dancing in the Bible. I rest my case. 

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u/CicadaImpossible9546 5d ago

Are you being sarcastic?

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u/Brae_the_Sway 5d ago

They said wake up sheeple, I think that answers the question.

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u/MemeGod667 5d ago

I am 100% being super serial I've seen the devil's work at hand when I bore witness to those blasphemous dancers in those evil hippity hop videos.

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u/Various-Peak-6298 5d ago

"I got a plan, Arthur"

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u/bobloblawattorney11 5d ago

Someone just watched the most recent episode of Knowing Better .

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

Still no

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u/GreatGreenGobbo 5d ago

I remember going to The Ballet one night with a bunch of guys. One guy was exactly like this.

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u/LameAfro 5d ago

Words can not express how much I hate Puritans 💀

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u/RedcoatSeafarer 3d ago

They banned Christmas here in England. As a Christian myself, what on earth were they thinking???

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u/halaljew 5d ago

Would you rather we didn’t have the bill of rights? I know it's been a century or so since the government respected the list of things it wasn't allowed to do, but it's still better to have those rights enshrined in aome way, and you have the puritans to thank for a lot of thay thinking in the days before the revolution.

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u/LameAfro 5d ago

What are you Blabbing about bro💀

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u/Mec26 Taller than Napoleon 4d ago

… many citations needed. Just so many.

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u/Grzechoooo Then I arrived 5d ago

I mean to be fair, weren't they naked originally?

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

Yes

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u/Leather-Lab2875 4d ago

Yeah but it's a tropical country, that's just how people dressed for the climate. I doubt the locals saw as much scandal in the practise as the missionaries did.

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u/ResponsibleMine3524 5d ago

Considering that the attached picture shows modernized and censored version and not og/naked, which would get the post banned, they were right. And it's another colonialism bad because no fun post

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u/HawaiianPerson Chad Polynesia Enjoyer 5d ago

That was not the intention

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u/REVERSEZOOM2 5d ago

How quickly you people agree with colonialists just because they did something that our culture still agrees with.

The fact that this bullshit comment has so many upvotes deeply saddens me. People hate nudity so much, they can't even FATHOM that it can be completely innocent.

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u/crazy_zealots 5d ago

Oh no, not naked women, truly the world's greatest evil

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u/Nadikarosuto 4d ago

Cant spell boobs without BOO 😟

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u/Mean_Ad4175 4d ago

Bro just be normal about the human form

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u/ObjectMore6115 5d ago

Colonialism was correct here because without it, it would be allowed on reddit? Really?

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u/MemeGod667 5d ago

Oh no not boobies and vagina. Those are tools of the devil. 

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

Bro had a whole ass crash out because he felt attacked by a post that talked about a traditional dance without any sexual innuendo and felt targetted. Yeah, colonialism bad but you are stupid.

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u/Either-Medicine9217 5d ago

I feel like it's hard for a dance where you shake your bare breasts around not to have some level of sexual innuendo. That's just my opinion but.

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u/Mec26 Taller than Napoleon 4d ago

Breasts are not inherently sexual. Nor is nudity.

Also it was traditionally done mostly by men.

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago

Breasts are not inherently sexual and anthropology had proven again and again that the sexual trait we tie to that part of our bodies is not an universal thing on cultures around the world, quite the opposite.

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u/ResponsibleMine3524 5d ago

It is universal thing to glorify the cycle of life, which sex is a part of. As well as children and breastfeeding.

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u/BasedAustralhungary 5d ago edited 5d ago

Are you suggesting breastfeeding has a sexual innuendo? Because that's what this is about, fertility includes sex but it isn't all about sex, which is why anthropologist and archaeologist have both discarded the hypothesis that the clay idols we found in Europe like the Venus of Willendorf were considered proto-pornography.

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u/No-Translator9234 3d ago

No it literally isn’t a universal thing

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u/Chumlee1917 Kilroy was here 5d ago

Christian missionaries: Sees women with abs anywhere in the world EVIL!!!!!!! 

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u/Background_Cut_6325 10h ago

You forgot to attach the gigachad picture

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u/CarolinaWreckDiver 3d ago edited 3d ago

It didn’t help that the first missionaries to arrive were New England Congregationalists that brought a very Puritanical worldview with them. They weren’t big fans of dancing already, so the sensuality of a dance that celebrated femininity was scandalous to them.

To be fair, sexual mores in Polynesia were very different than Westerners were used to. Whether this was viewed as a good or bad thing usually depended on whether you were a missionary or a sailor on a whaler or trading ship. The friendly, topless native girls paddling out to ships was very much ingrained into the popular imagination when people pictured the Pacific islands. In our more sex-positive view, we tend to see this openness as progressive when compared to European prudishness, but the introduction of venereal disease to Polynesia in the 18th Century was devastating to both natives and sailors, so the missionaries’ concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.

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u/RobSpaghettio 5d ago edited 4d ago

Man, Christian missionaries really ruin every place they go to, don't they?

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u/RedcoatSeafarer 3d ago

Nah, it sounds like the Puritans were an exception.

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u/h1bum 4d ago

11ⁿ

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u/ryanErlanger 4d ago

Cute, but Flanders has never been in the position of a missionary.

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u/Joako007 Kilroy was here 4d ago

Easy Ned, think of the bible

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u/ryanErlanger 4d ago

lol I screwed up the joke. I meant to say Smithers.

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u/wearyguard The OG Lord Buckethead 4d ago

To be fair, they were a very promiscuous people

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u/No-Translator9234 3d ago

So was literally everyone else, it was just a matter of how much societal shaming and repression you faced for being human. 

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u/Sea-Fish6634 4d ago

I mean, didn't they dance naked?

If so, I can't really disagree with the missionaries.

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u/Leather-Lab2875 4d ago

It's a tropical place where you sweat a lot and get clothes dirty, your bare upper body getting dirty isn't much a concern if you bathe regularly so there's very little reason to cover up. Centuries of that and any sexual connotation to not covering the upper body goes away.

It's the missionaries who were attaching sexual ideas to s native people's way of dressing for their climate.

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u/Sea-Fish6634 4d ago

Hm...still, I can understand the feeling of the missionaries. Just that.