Reading Joanna's excellent rant set me thinking about exhibitionism. She wrote 'I enjoy being seen nude, and have no problem at all being okay with the idea that someone might find the sight of my body to be beautiful and sexually appealing. I don't want to be the object of someone's fixated lust when that type of attention is not invited or appropriate, but I'm also not going to recoil in disdainful horror if someone is aroused by the sight of my nudity and wishes to respectfully inquire as to whether such an interest might be mutual.'
Now I consider my 70 year old body with its flab, droopy bits and operation scars to be 'interesting' rather than particularly sexually attractive but I did get a degree of pleasure on the WNBR in Brighton being seen by all those people. Does this make me an exhibitionist?
I do not become aroused to the extent of even the beginnings of an erection in such situations but there is a definite sexual frisson when I wonder what people might be thinking as they look at me. I also get a similar buzz when I post a naked photo on the Naktiv site. I have never been one to make a display, dressing up in fancy clothes to get noticed, more often when clothed I feel awkward and wrongly dressed. This often occurs because I wear the most casual outfit I think I can get away with and then feel embarrassed that I might look too scruffy – probably I often do but I just don't like clothes. However when I'm going to be naked in public, on a WNBR ride or to a lesser extent on the beach, I make a real effort to look my best, hair washed and brushed above and below, nails trimmed etc. I even planned body paint last time at the WNBR but the queue was too long.
So yes I do like to 'show' the question is where does 'showing off nude' stop and 'exhibitionism' with all its negative connotations start? I like to believe that the negative side only starts when some kind of aggression or threat is implied. What do others think? Do you get a sexual buzz from being seen naked as I do?
Personally, not get sexually aroused, but there is an element of an erotic feeling about it. We all want to feel attractive, and by the site of some people seeing us in our naked bodies, we might get that adrenaline rush, knowing that we are attractive to some people. So I also don't mind people seeing me nude. I can also say the same when it comes to seeing other people. I think its part of naturism, appreciating the wonders of what other people's bodies are, appreciate how wonderful nature is, keeping in mind to always be respectful.
I have to totally agree with what Joanna said.'I enjoy being seen nude, and have no problem at all being okay with the idea that someone might find the sight of my body to be beautiful and sexually appealing. I don't want to be the object of someone's fixated lust when that type of attention is not invited or appropriate, but I'm also not going to recoil in disdainful horror if someone is aroused by the sight of my nudity and wishes to respectfully inquire as to whether such an interest might be mutual.'
"Meerkats in the dunes"! LOL! Classic, man.
One day I was at a long time unofficial co-op beach, Muir, in Marin.The path led to the clothed side and one had to traverse a rocky boulder strewn area to get to the western nude side.As the sun set behind the high ground I put on my suit and walked to the clothed side where the sun still shone. A very lovely girl passed me and I looked at her as my mind raced off into fantasy. I then realized I had just seen her naked on the other side but my reaction was quite different.
My experience and perception suggests that there is no more or less sexual appeal in a naked environment as there is in a clothed one.
On a day to day basis going about ones business, visually appealing people may come to your attention. Men and women in the sense that you appreciate beauty or handsomeness when you observe it.
Thus in a clothed environment one might observe that a women is strikingly tall. Another has wonderfully formed breasts, or partially well proportioned hips and waist. Often it's disappointing that you can't observe these people naked. Not for reasons of sexual obsession but because of appreciation for someone who has a particularly attractive form.
Within a naked environment it's much the same thing for me at least. You notice and appreciate people with particularly attractive forms. There is no sexual gratification in this. It's like observing and appreciating anything else in nature that particularly strikes you. The way the light catches a pool of water. The way a fern overhangs a brook etc. The primary difference is that in nature you can drink a scene in. With people you need to discretely glimpse a glance here and there without staring too intently.
I think the only time you ever really get a thrill out of being observed while dressed or otherwise is when you notice yourself being noticed. That is to say, you're suddenly aware of someone's attention. In circumstances where you're "on display" so to speak, it's understandable that some nervous excitement is experienced.
I think Joanne's anthropological based ideas about nudity and sexuality have some sound basis in that humans are by nature highly sexual. Probably in the same way that many species on the planet are when you observe them in their reproductive prime.
To this end, when there is the ever so slight potential for a sexual encounter, even if this is a completely unfounded speculation, your mind and body will act accordingly.
I suspect within those that have little to no consciousness of their general state of being all of these things come as a bit of a mysterious surprise. By the same token I would venture when you have an intimate and in depth knowledge of yourself, very little comes as a surprise let alone a mystery. Hence the ancient "Know thyself" 🙂
I've been to five now and with the one exception (one man with a shout of exhibitionists!) all the rides have been greeted with cheers and applause with plenty of shouts of "good for you" and "good on yer!" OK with a lot of lol's but all good natured.
The first WNBR I went on was Portsmouth in 2012. The reception was certainly not so much 'just a group of people……' more a case of street theatre greatly appreciated by the audience with cameras clicking like mad. A good time was had by one and all.
Popular perception is very difficult to nail down as I suspect it has nothing to do with people and more to do with the way the press and advertising industry manipulates us into thinking that others are thinking something. Take WNBR as an example, are members of the public horrified or amused or dont have much of a reaction? Last year in Cardiff I was around the museum with my daughter as they cycled past and there were plenty of spectators of all ages. No-one was overcome with shock, no ambulances were called, no-one was arrested, it was just a group of people cycling by. MAYBE we make it a big deal by worrying too much.
Exhibitionism is a psychological disorder – defined by the psychologytoday.com diagnosis dictionary as: "Exhibitionism, which involves exposing one's genitals or sexual organs to a stranger, falls under the psychiatric sexual disorders category of paraphilias, "abnormal or unnatural attraction" or obsession with unusual sexual practices or with sexual activity involving nonconsenting or inappropriate partners."
I dont think the frisson of excitement or sensual feelings people get when going naked in public in the kind of social situations most of us experience comes anywhere close to exhibitionism, especially when most others are also nude and consenting to see and be seen. If it goes wrong it is because some wrong thinking person reads the situation as an appropriate time for sexual activity, although, in my humble experience ,over many years, i have never seen this type of behaviour, never seen a male aroused or felt anything amiss. Perhaps i have led a sheltered life and avoided the wrong places, alhough the Cap D'Agde fields its fair share of wierdos at times and the meercats in the dunes at Studland used to be a bit odd.
Yes that is how I read it too. In the popular percwption however there is no clear dividing line. It is that dividing line I am intersted in clarifying.