The law generally prohibits nudity in public places in the United States. Nudity is also generally illegal on a person's property if the naked person is visible to the public, for example through an open window or sunbathing naked in the yard. In some countries, non-sexual nudity or toplessness is legal. However, public or private establishments may establish a dress code that requires visitors to wear prescribed clothing.
Public nudity is often prohibited as a matter of moral regulation. Nearly every state has laws about lewd behavior or indecent exposure. However, the application of these laws depends in part on the context or situation (for example, artistic expression or commercial enterprise) and on whether the activities are sexualized (for example, sunbathing or swimming naked, as opposed to simulated or real intercourse between naked people). A Canadian legal advice website notes that Canada has a tangle of confusing and inconsistently enforced nudity laws.
What constitutes inadequate circumstances varies by jurisdiction, but nudity is legal in a much wider range of circumstances than many people assume. Brazil has around 35 open spaces or mostly open to the public where it is possible to practice nudism freely, and its only public spaces are 8 beaches. The public nudity section is one of the few areas of the Criminal Code that requires the consent of the attorney general to file an indictment, which implies a certain gray area surrounding what constitutes illegal nudity.
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