Nudity
European explorers in the 17th century viewed the lack of clothing they found in Africa and Oceania as showing a lower state of nature. Although they admired the nudity of Greek statues, Indigenous nakedness made them feel superior. Colonizers valued nudity in art but thought nakedness in daily life was evidence of racial inferiority. Depictions of naked savages entered European popular culture in the 18th century in stories of tropical islands. Europeans focused on images of Pacific island woman with bare breasts.