Because religion was used to control the masses. Using fear of going to hell to corral them into doing their bidding.
So among other things, they started to say that sex and nudity are sins and should be hidden.
Originally Posted by JandK
What does open sexuality do to society?
It promotes healthy relationships, self-esteem and overall happier population.
Originally Posted by JandK
Is there any way to look at what happens?
Yes. We have thousands of years of evidence of what society was like before Christianity rolled up and demanded people act a certain way or they'd be sent to hell. (Including very notable societies like Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome)
There's nothing explicitly wrong with sex. The whole taboo regarding it is simply vestiges of the means of control used in a prior time (After many, many civilisations had been thriving and successful before such a notion came about).
With the lack of evolution stemming from the fact that no-one wants to be the one to go against the status quo (Which is very much the case for Japan's heavy censorship of nudity, America forced them to outlaw nudity in media during WW2 as a means to control the population and no politician wants to be the one to upend the arbitrary laws regarding it, which is exacerbated by the nation's deep rooted sense of tradition) as well as some misappropriated logic that hiding sex and nudity is somehow helpful to people.
Again, this isn't hard to uncover. It's very easy to find out all this stuff by doing research into when things started becoming taboo and why. Much of it stems from when Christianity was being used to control most of Europe, wherein ideals were instilled into various societies which have permeated beyond the church and into the general populous and from there has persisted throughout the various colonizations made by the British (Including Australia and America).
As far as actual impacts on society as a result, if anything we've seen much more detriment as a result of such prudence in regards to sexuality. Lots of prejudice against homosexuals leading to hate crimes and self-esteem issues (When people can't openly be who they are). To this day we still have epidemics of teen pregnancy (Thanks to sexual education being a footnote in academia), continual prejudice against LGBTQ communities and people feeling uncomfortable actually expressing themselves if they deviate from the typical sexuality. All of this, a direct result of shying away from sexual expression and calling anything but heterosexuals "Sinful" or "Evil" and even then, trying to hide away sex because "Won't someone think of the children!" (Ignoring the fact that whether you hide it or not, every child will go through the process of puberty in which their body prepares itself for sexual reproduction...)
