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Ion Mittler: Look at the human
Conservative nudism
Liberal nudism
Hedonistic nudism
Incestuous nudism
Four categories of nudism, six social contexts
Content warning:
This report contains descriptions of various situations with a sexual tone between adults or children, which can be shocking for some readers.
I did not make my own surveys of the topic nudism (which is also called naturism in some circles). I present here instead a summary that uses people’s discussions at the internet site quora.com as the data source. These discussions include more than 300 comments, which are written by more than 200 persons, most of whom are citizens of western countries.
In Great Britain as many as 14 % of the population practice nudism at least sometimes. In Finland nudism appears to be a much more marginal phenomenon: less than 1 % of the population confess being its practitioners. In Finland social mixed nudity is more typically mixed bathing in sauna, which is occasionally practiced by even a quite large share of the population. Attitudes of the finns concerning mixed bathing in sauna have been charted in survey Q03.
This report scrutinizes 17 separate discussions, whose topic is nudism. The discussions are marked with letters A – Q. In the context of the comments cited in the report is always mentioned the symbol of the discussion, from which the comment was taken. English is the original language of these discussions, so the quotes are an untranslated original version.
The comments of people that are cited in this report were collected from the website quora.com on 27 august 2022. When writing this summary on 8 february 2023, some of the comments cited here had already been removed from the discussions, either by the user or the administration of Quora. The Wayback Machine, which records the history of internet pages, does not archive the website quora.com at all, so it can be difficult to verify afterwards that some comments that are cited here, but were later removed, have been in these discussions on 27 august 2022.
Some of the discussions contain (even at the level of the title already) attitudes that refer to sexual hedonism among adults, or to sexual interaction between an adult and a child. Representatives of conservative nudism try to avoid such a reputation, that their activities would have anything to do with such extreme phenomenons. Many kinds of styles of nudism are found in the world, within which the conventions and moral attitudes differ from each other greatly.
A, published 2 october 2017: “What was is like the first time you took your clothes off at a nude beach? Was it liberating or embarrassing?”
https://www.quora.com/What-was-it-like-the-first-time-you-took-your-clothes-off-at-a-nude-beach-Was-it-liberating-or-embarrassing
B, published 30 january 2022: “Have you ever been to a nude beach with your family?”
https://www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-been-to-a-nude-beach-with-your-family
C, published 17 july 2022: “Do nudist women look and enjoy nudist men’s penises?”
https://www.quora.com/Do-nudist-women-look-and-enjoy-nudist-mens-penises
D, published 2 april 2021: “Do you find yourself getting aroused when you sunbathe naked?”
https://www.quora.com/Do-you-find-yourself-getting-aroused-when-you-sunbathe-naked
E, published 9 may 2022: “Have you ever gotten so horny at a beach, and thankful you weren’t a guy with a boner?”
https://www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-gotten-so-horny-at-a-beach-and-thankful-you-werent-a-guy-with-a-boner
F, published 4 august 2022: “When a woman is on a nude beach, and she happens to get horny, what does she do?”
https://www.quora.com/When-a-woman-is-on-a-nude-beach-and-she-happens-to-get-horny-what-does-she-do
G, published 20 october 2016: “Is it okay to have a hard-on at a nudist beach?”
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-okay-to-have-hard-on-at-a-nudist-beach
H, published 31 july 2018: “Have you ever gotten or seen an erection at a nudist beach camp?”
https://www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-gotten-or-seen-an-erection-at-a-nudist-beach-camp
I, published 12 september 2020: “What do nudist families do when someone has an erection?”
https://www.quora.com/What-do-nudist-families-do-when-someone-has-an-erection
J, published 17 february 2022: “As a nudist female teenager, what do you do when a boy gets an erection?”
https://www.quora.com/As-a-nudist-female-teenager-what-do-you-do-when-a-boy-gets-an-erection
K, published 10 december 2020: “Is it illegal to have an erection on a nude beach in front of a child?”
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-illegal-to-have-an-erection-on-a-nude-beach-in-front-of-a-child
L, published 19 august 2022: “My family are nudists. I have noticed that my teen boy gets an erection, when his younger siblings sit on his lap. They don’t seem bothered by it. Should I make them stop anyway?”
https://www.quora.com/My-family-are-nudists-I-have-noticed-that-my-teen-boy-gets-an-erection-when-his-younger-siblings-sit-on-his-lap-They-dont-seem-bothered-by-it-should-I-make-them-stop-anyway
M, published 18 january 2019: “What was your most mischevious experience at a nude beach?”
https://www.quora.com/What-was-your-most-mischevious-experience-at-a-nude-beach
N, published 14 may 2018: “Is it OK to masturbate at a nudist beach?”
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-ok-to-masturbate-at-a-nude-beach
O, published 10 september 2021: “Anyone (m/f) go to a nude beach and openly masturbate, knowing people were watching? How did it feel?”
https://www.quora.com/Anyone-m-f-go-to-a-nude-beach-and-openly-masturbate-knowing-people-were-watching-how-did-it-feel
P, published 22 february 2022: “As a nudist, have you ever masturbated in front of your family?”
https://www.quora.com/As-a-nudist-have-you-ever-masturbated-in-front-of-your-family
Q, published 20 april 2022: “Is it okay to masturbate on a nude beach at 13 years old?”
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-okay-to-masturbate-on-a-nude-beach-at-13-years-old
All these discussions are mutual exchange of opinions between such people, who participate in being nude at a swimming beach. The discussions don’t seem to have hardly any “outsiders”, who have not at least tried nudism some time.
Four different subcultures of nudism can be detected in these discussions: conservative, liberal, hedonistic, and incestuous, in which some extent of sexual contact is accepted between an adult and a young child who belongs to the same family.
| Trend of nudism => |
con. |
lib. |
hed. |
inc. |
| share of the discussers ~ |
35 % |
50 % |
12 % |
3 % |
| being nude in public |
OK |
OK |
OK |
OK |
| erection in public |
— |
OK |
OK |
OK |
| masturbation in public |
— |
— |
OK |
OK |
| erotic caressing of child |
— |
— |
— |
OK |
Through this approximate and inaccurate statistics I try to give some kind of a perception, what kind of trends of nudism are personally supported by the people, who participate in the discussions that are under scrutiny. Compiling such statistics is not even possible very meaningfully based on the free-flowing narrations that are found in these discussions, but maybe this estimation is better than no estimation at all.
The legislation concerning nudity, sexuality and children is unclear and ambiguous, at least in the eyes of an ordinary citizen, so I will not attempt to tell as certain information, which of these four styles of nudistic behaviour are legal in Finland, and which are illegal. I deem it probable that conservative nudism (and mixed bathing in sauna that follows a similar behaviour) is legal in Finland, but incestuous nudism would be illegal. Would liberal or hedonistic nudism be legal in Finland, if there are both adults and children present, I will not try to guess an answer to that question in this text.
Nudism and mixed bathing in sauna enjoy some kind of a benefit of doubt granted by the freedom of conscience and the unclear circumstances, compared to other circumstances, in which leading a child to nudity or behaviour of a similar kind would lead even to a prison sentence for the adult — even if the act were otherwise similar, but the scene of the occurrence is a nudist beach or a sauna in one case, and any other environment in the other case.
In discussion H it is asked, whether the practitioners of nudism have ever seen an erection with boys or men at a nudist beach, and what do they think about it? With a sample of a bit more than 20 respondents, the opinions are distributed so that 35 % of the discussers regard erection as socially incorrect in the context of nudism, which should be avoided. If an erection takes place anyway, it should be bashfully hidden under a towel, for example.
The general impression given by the some 300 comments in all the discussions leans also to such a direction, that clearly less than half of the participants in the discussions (perhaps one third) represent such traditional conservative nudism in their thinking, which many discussers would call “the real nudism”. A man’s erection is considered an undesirable taboo, because it might be a sign of sexual arousal, which does not belong to the context of social nudity according to the worldview of conservative nudism.
In the data table afore it has been estimated that some 35 % of the discussers represent conservative nudism, and the remaining 65 % of discussers represent some of the three other trends of nudism.
In discussion N it is asked, whether it is acceptable to masturbate at a nudist beach in a visible place, so that other people see it. 80 % of the approximately 45 respondents take a strictly negative stance on this, but 20 % have an approving attitude toward the matter. In a more extensive scrutiny, an approving attitude toward masturbation at a nudist beach does not seem to be quite so common among all the 300 comments: it is rather at a 15 % level, approximately.
In the data table I use such an estimation that some 15 % of the participants in the discussions approve masturbation in a visible place at a nudist beach. The remaining 85 % are conservatives or liberal nudists, who do not approve masturbation in public. There were 35 % of conservatives, so 50 % remains as the share of liberals.
Some 3 % of all participants in the discussions tell in an approving tone about situations, in which an adult has masturbated together with one’s own child, maybe also practically helping the child in masturbation. Some of these comments mention also having sex with a child.
The 15 % of discussers, who approve masturbation in public in the sight of other people at a nudist beach, can be divided on this basis into the 3 % share, who approve incestuous masturbation together (or even sex) within a family with children, and the 12 % share who do not approve this.
Such a manner of compiling statistics might not be the most scientific possible, and this statistics can be assumed to be very imprecise. These figures are not blindly pulled from a hat either, whoever, as they are based on the statistical analysis of comments written by more than 200 people who practice nudism, in the manner that was described afore.
A nudistic lifestyle that takes place in reality is also a different thing than the attitudes of people who practice nudism, which have been expressed anonymously on the internet. The rules of behaviour at a nudist beach have a great impact on what kind of behaviour can occur at the beaches of nudists. It is quite common in the society that the rules of behaviour are always more conservative than the opinions of the most liberal people being present, concerning what kind of behaviour would be acceptable. (This applies to ordinary swimming beaches too, where swimming suits are worn, and the opinions of people visiting there concerning the limits of acceptable clothing and behaviour.)
Traditional conservative nudism, in which any kind of behaviour that refers to sexual arousal is forbidden, is visibly on display in these discussions. This would seem to be the second most popular attitude among the discussers, with a share of some 35 % of all discussers. In Finland the culture of customs at public nudist beaches might probably be conservative, nearly without exception. The opinions of people who visit a nudist beach can nevertheless be varying in Finland too, similarly as in these discussions.
The most puristic mindset of convervative nudism is represented by these five men, for example, who participated in the discussions G and K:
[G 209 M] “I have been to nude beaches many times over the years, and have yet to see someone walking around with an erection. True nudists will conceal … if it occurs, as nudity is not about sexuality.”
[G 227 M] “Socially unacceptable. Take a swim or lay on your stomach until it passes. And it always happens, nudists are just respectful when it happens.”
[G 216 M] “I wouldn’t say normal. Does it happen? Yes. I admit to being guilty from time to time. Does it happen often? No. I’ve learned to control them [erections] … most guys learn to control them. Takes practice.”
[G 218 M] “The family-friendly resorts would frown on showing off an erection. After one warning, you might be asked to leave, or just as likely, banned for life.”
[K 248 M] “I think most men would cover up, if they did [get an erection]. If they didn’t [cover], I would worry if I had kids with me.”
[K 246 M] “Legal or not, how would you like for a man to stand in front of your children with an erection? … So why do you need to ask this silly question?”
Not even the representatives of conservative nudism can promise that no man who is present at the nude beach will ever get an erection. According to the etiquette and the rules of behaviour, men have the duty to conceal the matter from outsiders, by covering one’s genitals with a towel, or by lying on the ground on one’s stomach, or by hiding oneself in the deep swimming water.
Is a man’s erection at a nudist beach always a spontaneous reaction, without sexual interest toward the nudity of third parties having anything to do with the matter? According to the puristic perception “there is nothing sexual in nudity”, but majority of the nudists who participated in these discussions seem to admit that looking at nude bodies is sometimes also an erotic experience. The nudists who support the manners of bashfully covering one’s erection admit this a bit more seldom than others, but at times they will too, as in these cases:
[H 83 M] “The first time I went to a nude beach, which was at the age of 20, I did get semi-hard at seeing the nude women there, but I learned then how to mentally suppress my erection.”
This story could have ended with the words “but then I got used to women’s nudity, and I no longer feel it as erotic at all”. The story does not end like this, however, as this man rather tells that he has learned to “suppress his erection”.
[G 224 M] “I came close one time, when presented with a focused view of a woman’s crotch and boobs at the pool. I immediately felt my cock start up, and wanted to avoid it. As much as I liked the view, I looked away before it got far.”
For women it is possible to let one’s thoughts wander more freely, for practical reasons, also in the circumstances of conservative nudism, because a woman’s sexual arousal is not seen by outsiders very clearly. Some discussers mention this point of view:
[E 1 W] “I regularly get excited at the beach, thinking how the old man I’m looking at would … and I get wet [at the crotch]. I said many times that, indeed, women have an advantage on nude beaches. We don’t need to use a towel or run into the ocean’s cold water to lose a boner.”
[A 22 W] “I was a little nervous, and because I wasn’t used to it [nudity], I got incredibly turned on and wet [at the crotch] the first few times.”
[C 197 M] “My two sisters always look at other men’s penises, whenever we go to a nudist resort. In fact they enjoy watching and comparing men’s [penis] sizes, and frequently discuss width, length, etc.”
[C 198 W] “I certainly look [at penises]. Whether or not I enjoy, depends on the penis.”
[C 199 M] “Women can’t help but look [at penises]. … Compliments about another person’s naked body are kept to themselves, although I have gotten praise from women about what my appendage looks like.”
Some amount of emotional charge that is sexual in tone may occur in the context of conservative nudism, among women as well as among men. Women do not have a practical need to restrain their thoughts, because their arousal will not so easily cause such changes in one’s body that third parties would notice, as happens with men. In order to avoid an erection, a man needs to observe moderateness of some kind in his thinking, at least if he has the ability to get an erection without physical stimulation. The lowered ability of middle-aged and elder men to get an erection brings new kinds of liberties, so that they can have as unrestrained thoughts as women, without a very great risk of achieving an erection.
There are two kinds of people at swimming beaches that observe the etiquette of conservative nudism: those for whom the ideological ideal of nudism about the complete nonsexualness of the nude body is true, up to the level of their thinking (or at least an objective, toward which they aspire), and then those for whom this is not true, and toward which they do not aspire, but they can nevertheless behave in a manner that conforms to the etiquette of conservative nudism.
How common are these two ways of thinking, at a typical conservative nudist beach? It is difficult to form a clear perception based on these freely flowing discussions. Such an impression is formed in survey Q03, which concerns mixed bathing in sauna among finnish people, that some 86 % of finnish adults regard mixed bathing in sauna as a situation that sometimes has a sexual tone. The respondents of that survey represented quite evenly the whole general population, whereas in research R02 the discussers are all nudists, who are a small fraction of the population, which specializes in and is accustomed to being nude. While more precise statistical data is not available, I use such an assumption that approximately half of the visitors to conservative nudist beaches feel nudity to be occasionally erotic. At the most liberal beaches one can assume this share to be greater, even similar to the 86 % that concerns mixed bathing in sauna.
Some 50 % of the participants in the discussions under scrutiny seem to be of the opinion the one should take an approving stance toward the erection of boys and men at nudist beaches. They nevertheless deem it absolutely reproachable to masturbate or to have sex in the view of other people. This could be called “erection-favouring” nudism, but I use the term “liberal nudism” for it. Some supporters of such thinking call conservative nudism “anti-erection” in these discussions.
There are many such nudist beaches in the world, where the stance is approving concerning the erection of boys and men, and one does not need to hide it in any way. In that case there is one thing more in sight in a social situation, which can bring thoughts related to sex on people’s minds. And one reason more, why the mainstream population might reproach the lifestyle of nudists, because of the question whether it is legal and morally acceptable that an adult man intentionally allows children to see his penis in erection, or that small children or teenage boys are allowed to display their penis in erection to a large group of unknown adults.
I have no information, how such situations would be interpreted under the legislation of Finland. Elsewhere in the society such circumstances would be easily interpreted as sexual harassment of a child, but does the legality of the matter change, if the same thing occurs at a nudist beach? Or in the home of any family with children? I do not know the answer to these questions.
An approving stance toward erection at a nudist beach, without having to go hiding it bashfully somewhere further aside, offers to men and boys such a freedom to think any kinds of thoughts about other people, which in conservative nudism is practically possible only for women and those usually a bit older men, who will not get an erection very easily without physical stimulation. That is why I call such a convention “liberal nudism”, because it offers to men and boys more possibilities to the treat the nude bodies of people nearby with liberal erotic interest, as there will be no reprehending attitudes toward an erection that might possibly occur.
Nevertheless, approving erection at the nudist beach does not yet mean that all practitioners of nudism would have forsaken the ideological conviction that “there is nothing sexual in nudity”. Some of the supporters of nudism want to explain the situation in the best way: that the erection of boys and men, which may occur at the nudist beach, is a completely nonsexual thing, which is caused by other reasons than erotic interest in the nude bodies of people around oneself.
The first two men in these stories know that when sleeping on one’s back, one is usually forgiven an erection also at the conservative nudist beaches. Majority of boys and men get spontaneous erections during sleep.
[G 235 M] “If you fall asleep on a nudist beach, and get a boner that way, then no one can blame you.”
[H 72 M] “I tend to lay back on my chaise lounge chair, with a pair of really dark sunglasses on, pretending to be asleep and unaware of my erection. I watch as folks pass by, and some folks glance at it. Some folks look at it quite intently as they pass by, and I’ve seen some folks turn around and come pass by a time or two, to look at it again. I’ve never gotten into any trouble on account of it.”
[K 245 M] “We go to family-friendly naturist resorts [where there are adults and children], and I have an erection most mornings. I never hide it, but equally never flaunt it. No-one has ever complained.”
These three stories are set in the circumstances of conservative nudism, but the narrators have an attitude to life similar to liberal nudism. Such a perception is transmitted through these stories, that men’s erection is not a completely exceptional sight even at conservative nudist beaches. Erections in the sight of outsiders are tolerated to some extent, if the man is in a quite peripheral location sitting or lying, and does not stand or walk in everyone’s sight with an erection.
Also the next story seems to be set in the circumstances of conservative nudism. The man does not succeed in keeping his erection as a secret from outsiders, as the rules of behaviour require, but the woman on a blanket nearby handles the situation according to the etiquette of liberal nudism:
[G 242 M] “The whole premise of nudism is being natural and at peace with your own body, whatever its shape or condition. If you get an erection, don’t worry about it. It will pass. It happened to me once in Spain, when I was much younger. The woman on a nearby towel, who had been the proximate cause of my condition [erection], told me a bit later that she had been flattered by my body’s reaction to hers.”
The point of view varies in the next comments by liberal nudists, who takes a realistic and liberal stance toward the possible reasons for the erections of boys and men, and who takes a puristic (and perhaps a bit naive) stance to the matter. A liberal attitude toward the erection of boys and men seems to be particularly common in a nudistic lifestyle that is practiced in the home of a family with children.
[G 217 M] “Normally women and men are not sexually aroused on a nudist beach. Young boys can have a kind of erection, which has nothing to do with sexuality but is a natural reaction of the body, over which no control is possible. Everybody knows it is not sexual, and accepted for that reason.”
[I 163 W] “At nudist locations you see a man’s penis in many different states, from barely there to full-blown hard. You have to accept it happens, a bit like erect nipples.”
[I 273 W] “True nudists understand [that] erections are [merely] physiologic, just like yawning and sighing.”
[J 135 W] “Generally in the nudist lifestyle, inadvertent erections are frowned upon. They expect the guy to cover himself politely or leave the area. To me that’s one of the most ridiculous policies. … No matter what you do, we’re all sexual beings. When a male is aroused, it’s going to happen. Some would say that nudism isn’t supposed to [be] about sex. Okay, maybe some will try to convince themselves that [this] is the case. At the end of the day, our very existence is based on us being attracted to one another. … Nudity is tied together with sexuality.”
[G 207 M] “I do not see a problem with it, because everybody there is naked, and if you see something that excites you, there is nothing wrong with getting an erection.”
[J 148 W] “I started going to clothing-optional beaches, when I was 16. … If it was guys my age or college guys [who got an erection], it was flattering and a bit of a rush. Sometimes I’d be talking to a younger man, and see that he was getting, uh... happy. How can you help it, warm sun, nude bodies all around you.”
[J 141 M] “Be proud that he was so attracted that way, he did get hard. I don’t [get an erection] when I see any woman, just certain [of the most attractive ones].”
[J 149 W] “I have always loved making penises hard [with my nude beauty], it has always made my vagina so wet.”
[I 161 W] “When growing up in my nudist household throughout the 90’s, my male relatives would get erections from time to time, and we would just wait for them to pass. However, being a curious girl, I would look at them. In hindsight, pretty intently.”
[L 189 M] “Since i was 7 or 8, I started having erections when seeing the [underage] girls [of the same family] at home naked. My mom never minded it.”
[I 155 M] “Erections were seen. The boys are teenaged, and it does happen, if you’re nudist in a home setting. ... All the boys have been erect, including the father.”
[H 60 W] “Growing up in a nudist family in Tennessee, my family would be nude around the house pretty much all the time. Erections were more common in this setting, however there were times when on nudist outings (beaches, camps, resorts, etc.) that I’ve spotted erections. They were normally spotted on younger boys and teens. From my recollection, they didn’t do much to hide them, and would normally subside after a minute or two. I always liked looking at them, personally. When you’re a teenage nudist, who’s interested in boys her own age, it’s hard not to stare.”
[G 228 M] “Adolescents who have erections are ignored. Adults know that they should cover themselves with a towel.”
Several discussers mention this principle, that adult men are expected to bashfully hide their erection from outsiders, but this is not required from young children and teenagers. This is perhaps some kind of a compromise between conservative and liberal nudism. There can hardly be practical need for such segregation, because anyone over 3 years of age would learn the same methods for hiding one’s erection, which adult men are using, if they were told that one should act in that way. Allowing teenage boys to have an erection publicly on display is a conscious choice in these communities, which is based on some motive or logical reasoning that is not known to me.
Liberal nudism seems to have a similar situation as in conservative nudism, that approximately half of the people who are present interpret the situation in a manner that conforms to puristic ideology, as completely neutral and nonsexual, perhaps sincerely believing that everyone else too experiences the situation in the same way. The other half of the people who are present experience the situation in a very different manner, as outright sexual and arousing (at least sometimes occasionally, when one encounters particularly attractive nude persons).
Is it possible that the conservative or liberal nudists, whose thinking is puristic, never notice that a quite large share of the people who participate in the activities have a very different attitude toward nude bodies than they themselves have, and contrary to the puristic ideal of nonsexualness? This would require some amount of gullibility and social blindness, but in survey Q03, which concerns mixed nudity among finnish people, we encounter many persons who perceive the reality around themselves precisely in that way. Without being able to notice and recognize, what kind of sensations and thoughts their nudity inspires in many other people around themselves. The situation is greatly furthered by the fact that those other people keep their poker face as carefully as they can, and fully aware that the more naive party in the setting believes them to have different cards in hand than they have in reality.
An estimated 15 % of the participants in these discussions approve sexual activity fully openly in the sight of third parties, in the context of a nudistic lifestyle. Most of them accept public masturbation only, but some approve also having sex in public. Some of them approve such activity only in case there are only adults present. Others accept sexual activity also in the presence of teenagers or young children, or when it is performed by children.
[Q 256 M] “The only kind of beaches, where masturbation and sexual activities are welcomed, are hedonistic beaches. … Always private, and mostly not accessible for minors.”
[N 96 M] “Our local beach has an area at far end, that is used as a pickup spot for gay guys. If you go down wrong trail and wander by there, chances are that you will see masturbating men. Alone or in groups. But on rest of beach you would be quickly asked to leave, if you tried it.”
[N 95 M] “Common sense has to prevail. If it is a family-oriented nudist beach, then I would say no, don’t push it and risk being arrested. As much as I love to jerk off outdoors and in front of people, I always ensure it is accepted, before I do at such places. There are just some naturists … genuinely embracing the nudist lifestyle, without any sexual connection. So it is only right and proper, they are respected also.”
[N 111 M] “That would be public lewd behavior. You may be arrested, fined, jailed, and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of your life.”
[N 112 W] “It is NOT OK!! Perverts who do that are precisely the reason, why communities who have allowed nude beaches to exist, end closing them.”
[J 139 W] “These kind of things were usually frowned upon, which is exactly why I encouraged it, when I was a younger teen [girl]. If I really liked the guy, I’d suck him off. Otherwise a handjob [to achieve orgasm].”
[N 92 W] “Nudists [who] used to visit the Cap d’Agde naked city [in France] sometimes seem to live in another world [in other places too]. At the adult beach stretch, where public sexuality is common, large groups of single men are always actively and openly masturbating. It’s a fully normal sight, occasionally you see couples masturbating as well. Circles of men around a couple having intercourse may sometimes be a bit annoying, but usually they are respectful.”
Masturbation or having sex at a swimming beach is in most countries legal only when it happens in a fenced private area, which is not interpreted as a public space. Private clubs are usually quite expensive, and poorer folks may illegally have a similar lifestyle in the remote corners of public nudist beaches, which the wealthier folks practice legally at their fenced holiday resorts.
In some countries there is a subculture of homosexual men acting at the frontier zone of legality, or in rare cases a heterosexual subculture, in which people spend time in a group larger than one occasional couple at the remotest corner of a public nudist beach, mastrubating or having sex. (Wealthier sexual hedonists reserve a private and fenced swimpool for such activities.)
The regular visitors to such a nudist beach usually know about the matter, and understand not to walk “along the wrong path”. Also the police will become aware of the matter, after a few reports of an offence, but most of the time the police will “look the other way”. Practically it constitutes an unofficial sex beach for adults, which has been given the approval of the society quietly and behind the facades, but not officially and publicly, because politicians don’t like to explain to people, why such is allowed.
The activities mentioned in these narratives could be described rather with the term “sex orgies” than “nudism”. In the opinion of conservative nudists, such is not “real nudism”. On the other hand, neither is liberal nudism necessarily “real nudism” in their opinion. Persons who practice masturbation or sex at a swimming beach might not perceive to be “nudists” in their own opinion either.
Cap d’Agde and other similar hedonistic holiday centers market themselves as holiday resorts for nudists, and most of the visitors probably are liberal nudists, who do not participate in sexual activities in a public place, also not when they visit places of this kind. This blurs the conceptual border between nudism and sexual hedonism, if most of the participants behave in a manner that is typical for liberal nudism, and sexual activity in a public place is the hobby of a small minority only — but watching it as a bystander might be morally approved, maybe also experiencing sexual feelings, if liberally thinking nudists are concerned, who accept sexual sensations for themselves also when looking at nude people around themselves at any nudist beach.
One group of practitioners of hedonistic nudism perceive being indeed “nudists”, and even nudists who live and think in a way that is as correct as possible: some families with children, in which the adults raise also their children into a nudistic lifestyle. These people spend time at home constantly naked, and meanwhile might approve also masturbation openly in the sight of all family members. Such activity is probably illegal in many countries, particularly if the party who masturbates in view of the whole family is an adult.
[P 177 W] “Everyone of us have complete freedom to masturbate anywhere in our house. Sometimes my son gets an erection looking at me, and starts masturbating. Looking at him, I get wet [at the crotch], so we masturbate together.”
[I 175 W] “If in the family setting my husband becomes erect, he can relieve himself [by masturbating], or I will bring him off by hand [in view of the whole family]. I wouldn’t do oral in front of the kids, because that’s the same mouth I kiss them with. If my sons become erect, they can openly relieve themselves [by masturbating in everyone’s sight]. If a guest were to get an erection in the presence of my daughter and me, I’d be curious to know what instigated it. A lot of times, while nudists are used to seeing everybody nude, sometimes the act of bending over in front of someone, or the angle or position they are sitting at, can be erotic, and through no fault of their own [it can] lead to an erect penis. So with mine and my young daughters’ consent, the guest would be allowed to openly relieve themselves [by masturbating, while looking at the other people who are present].”
An adult masturbating in the view of children (and possibly looking at nude children who are present), which is mentioned in these stories, would probably meet the criteria of a sexual crime in Finland. Anywhere else in the society such activity would be regarded as a crime, so it would be peculiar if the same thing were legal at the home of a family, which is a severely punishable crime everywhere else.
In the narratives concerning liberal nudism that is practiced at a swimming beach, it is typical that if a man or a boy gets an erection, people wait for some minutes, and then the erection passes by. In the narratives concerning liberal or hedonistic nudism in a home environment, such a thought appears emphatically often that if a man or a boy gets an erection, it is necessary to “take care of the matter” immediately, i.e. to acquire an orgasm by masturbating. As if getting an erection would mean nearly without exception, that the man or boy needs an orgasm immediately.
Some 3 % of participants in the discussions under scrutiny told about childhood experiences, which include sexual activity that possibly meets the definition of incest, in which siblings of the same or opposite gender caress the genitals of each other until orgasm. Such situations are mentioned in some 15 % of such narratives, which describe one’s childhood in a family that practices nudism daily in their home. I don’t have information, is it legal in Finland to consciously allow such behaviour between very young or teenage children of the same family.
In a few stories also the father or mother participates in the caressing of a child’s genitals, and in a rare case an adult has sex with a teenage child. In such a case it is quite undeniable that some characteristics of a crime are met. In none of the stories is it mentioned that children of the family would have had sex with each other.
[I 151 M] “Growing up in a nudist family with three brothers and two sisters, erections were quite common. ... We would all be in the tub washing each other, and would get erections from all the touching. ... We were never told to hide it, nor be ashamed to ejaculate, if we rubbed our penis, or a sibling was rubbing it.”
[Q 249 M] “Our boys enjoyed jerking off at our beach house in Jamaica, on a nude beach at age 9 and 11. … Two young boys stroking each other’s penis, watching [how] people walking by looked at them.”
[I 158 M] “In my family I usually am allowed and even encouraged to ‘take care of it’ myself [by masturbating], either once at home or at a nudist resort. Best of all, usually one of my sisters give me a hand to help with my hard situation down there. ... I’m not bothered by them watching me masturbate. In fact I find it arousing, which allows me to take care of it faster.”
[I 156 M] “When we are on holiday (at a nude resort), we will be naked, and if I get an erection, then my mum or sister will jerk me off to get rid of it.”
[J 137 W] “As a teen my household was and is still nudist. It was common for my brothers to get erections. Sometimes not even over anything. My dad was erect a lot as well. I’d honestly just stare. I touched them sometimes too, and started having sex with my dad when I was 15.”
At home the adults of the family can decide themselves the rules of the game, what is acceptable and normal in “nudism”. At a public nudist beach the rules of behaviour are decided by someone else, and the collective morality of nudists is more conservative than the morality of a couple who are more liberal than average. Perhaps for this reason, nudism that occurs in a home environment among a family with children seems to be more susceptible to a “slippery slope” theory, in which moral rules are given up one small step at a time, until no morality of any kind is left eventually. In quite rare cases the outcome can be even incest, which is subjectively deemed as a “natural” way of life.
If “naturalness” is a central and absolute value in one’s thinking, then moral principles of any kind can feel as limitations that are disturbing and unnecessary, because there are no moral rules in the nature. The nature is moralless, and naturalness is free from rules invented by humans. The modern civilization is not a “natural” state for a human.
The stories of people that are cited afore indicate that it is more natural in the opinion of liberal nudists to approve sexual desire and men’s erection, than to reproach these with a conservative attitude. In the opinion of hedonistic nudists, it is more natural to carry out one’s sexual desires in view of others than to pretend that such desires would not exist. Dogs do so too, it is natural. In the opinion of incestuous nudists, it is more natural to guide children into sexual experiences, than to observe rules that do not exist in the nature, which forbid it.
In this report I classified nudism into four categories: conservative, liberal, hedonistic and incestuous. A hedonistic nudity culture could have been divided more precisely in three parts: masturbation independently in public that targets oneself only, sexual intercourse in public with one’s permanent partner, and intercourse or caressing of genitals that is practised with random third parties. The last mentioned of these, as an activity between equals and without economic transactions, is common mostly in homosexuality only. In heterosexuality it is more typical that men hire women for charge as their companions.
Each category could be divided into even six social contexts, which would involve slightly different moral and legal points of view:
1) activity among adults
2) activity between adults and teenagers
3) activity among teenagers
4) activity between adults and young children
5) activity between teenagers and young children
6) activity among young children
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