No Pockets

Our musculoskeletal frame provides some natural “perches”–the head, the shoulders, the hips–as well as “posts”–the neck, the wrists, the ankles. These anatomical opportunities gave rise to the development of hats, necklaces, bags, belts, bracelets, and anklets, all of which can be used as decorative accessories, or more for a certain functionality, or both. A charm bracelet that includes an actual key, for example, or a belt that has a decorative buckle and also has a sheath for a pocket knife – these exemplify both aesthetic and practical objectives. Even rings on fingers or garters on thighs can be used to carry items, or those armbands that people use to hold their phones or MP3 players while they exercise. Backpacks, fannypacks, satchels, and fishing hats are further examples of items that are not necessarily clothing per se but are designed to fit on the (nude) human body and to supplement it with utilitarian purposes of transport and/or storage. There are some naturist-friendly manufacturers who make towels and caps with pockets – very useful indeed, and not just for naturists!

Since the neck and shoulder muscles gain strength simply from holding the head aloft, many cultures have built on that strength by practicing the transport of bundles or vessels on top of the head, without securing the loads in any way. Why don’t these loads fall off? Practice. That, and the sense of balance we have from our inner ears. The tumpline is another great example of using your head for transport. Especially in areas like ancient Mesoamerica, where there were no beasts of burden, the tumpline enabled a corps of workers–or, unfortunately, slaves–to retain the use of their hands while transporting stone or other construction materials from far away. The same nearly naked laborers could then climb with the materials right on up the steps of a building in progress like the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico.

Use of the tumpline. Codex Mendoza, folio 62r.

Here’s another good way to “use your head”: Tales are told of Africans fleeing slavery into the hinterlands of the Americas who carried seeds or grains of rice in their richly and densely curled hair. The seeds would be planted to sustain free societies (quilombos or cimarrón communities) far from the colonial European governments of the major cities. Certainly this is an ingenious logistical use of one of the body’s naturally occurring phenomena!

Another entirely natural “hack” that people use frequently, myself included, is to rest my pen over my ear. And of course, it’s very common to clamp items with our arms against our sides, or our chins against our chests, or we grip something in our mouths – usually for a very short period of time if whatever it is needs to stay dry! Finally, the nude gentlemen in the cartoon below are modeling a few more examples of natural perches. As you can plainly see, they’re wearing glasses that rest on their noses and ears, and one of the men is smoking a cigarette that can be held in his mouth: