RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Taller wrote:

But, as a gay man, you're MUCH MUCH more aware of these things in the world around you. Because it's all the little signals you have to tune into to know who is safe, who's a potential lover, who might kill you... you know... the important things.

Which, it seems to me, describes the situation of women everywhere. I remember a discussion somewhere where a guy was complaining because he was approached by another man who seemed to be hitting on him, and he was freaked. A response came from a woman: "Welcome to my world."

She went on to say that she herself entered that world when she started developing breasts. Suddenly, it seemed that somebody had given all men license to stare at her and try to hit on her. What made the situation worse was that she was a small woman, so the threat of assault was amplified by that. So she developed a sense of reading the little signals that you spoke of that let her know when she was in danger.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Definitely exposure and desensitization to the sight of other naked men is a big factor in determining reactions in males. I have a bunch of military buddies from all different divisions of the armed forces who are more open to the sight of another naked male and openly joking about male anatomy. They are all hedero to the best of my knowledge, but are not above dropping trousers to get a rise out of someone or insight a good laugh. There are also some friends who have had more sheltered lives who turn there head at even the thought of knowing what was about to happen to avoid seeing something, but remaining respectful. It is an acquired taste of humor developed by some. Exposure is just a fundamental key to helping and cultivating a more healthy outlook to the image of a naked male to others. That is why high schools enforce mandatory showering in gym classes, not just for hygienic reasons

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

The nude male form being treated as a joke is a whole other issue.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Your observation matches my experience well. I work with a broad spectrum of people of different ages and cultures. There is a strong reflex to demonstrate that a man is straight by expressing discomfort at even no sexual nudity. I dont want to see your junk!

It is common even in LGBT youth, I speculate that this is because they did not grow up skinny dipping and nude in lockerrooms like my generation did. They play video games in their rooms. They have been saturated by sexualized nudity in porn etc. with very unrealistic norms as to body shapes and sizes. They express their anxiety by body shaming or nude shaming others.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Yup. There's that ole "nudity=sex" thing again. When the only nudity you're exposed to is designed to provoke "impure thoughts" (as we Catholics used to call it), then nudity is going to arouse you as reliably as Pavlov made his dogs salivate at the sound of a bell.

The cure for this is more exposure to nudity, not less, IMO.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

I cant remember the number of times (its a lot) I(we) have has social naturist conversations where someone will say something like......you know its amazing that this is so normal I totally forgot Im naked.

Its a joyous moment....

...and something people who think being naked is always about sex will never experience.

I find that rather sad.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

StevieLorna wrote:I cant remember the number of times (its a lot) I(we) have has social naturist conversations where someone will say something like......you know its amazing that this is so normal I totally forgot Im naked.Its a joyous moment.......and something people who think being naked is always about sex will never experience.I find that rather sad.

I agree 100% with what you said. But I think that people who think that nudity is never about sex are almost always children who haven't achieved puberty or older people who have lost interest in sex. The rest of us are doomed. The joyous moment comes when we find that we can lay that mindset aside for a little while, and examine the world through a different and better lens.

I have found that the joyous moments are the ones that are different from less joyful moments. A good meal is a joyous moment after a period of fasting. Listening to a symphony is a joyous moment after a week of nothing but traffic noise and telephone conversations. I might even suggest that joy disappears in an environment which is perfect in every way, because those joyous moments stand out from the rest of our humdrum world.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

I cant remember the number of times (its a lot) I(we) have has social naturist conversations where someone will say something like......you know its amazing that this is so normal I totally forgot Im naked.Its a joyous moment.......and something people who think being naked is always about sex will never experience.

This to me is what healthy nudism is all about, something to strive for. It's not that nudity ALWAYS equals sex. Nor is it about nudity NEVER being sexual. It's about normalizing nakedness so that the naked male body just is, not the sense it's performing. For that reason, I prefer the word naked (without clothes) than nude (clothing removed).

If we were rational about nudity, we should equate it with taking a shower. Even a man with a strong libido would be quite stinky if he had fewer showers than sex. Nudity equals showers would lead to male performance anxiety over how he rubs his soap bars and TN would have a large suds support group. Sex on the other hand would be coincidenta, and the world would be a cleaner and more comfortable place.

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Yes. There is conditioning by parents, peers and society working either in harmony or at variance with personal perceptions, feelings, curiosity and natural attraction.

There are also straight people who would act or act horrified at the sight of a naked person of the opposite gender, because that was the right response conditioned, required to avoid sending a message or expected by those around for whom you had concern, respect or fear.

Also there is mere curiosity, comparison and genuine interest. You could be amazed, empathetic, have found a person with similar life experience, or not yet fully socialised to naked bodies. Or perhaps you have never seen a naked human - imagine that. It would be like an alien experience!

It would indeed be wonderful if you could casually say you find someone attractive, ask their sexual orientation and relationship status and then simply ask if they would like to date. All with no innuendo or shunning. The response needs to be as casual and polite as the question!

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RE:Performative disgust with the naked male body

Marketing uses any human response to SELL.
Fear, horror, loss, empathy, pretentiousness, many others and of course sexual attraction.

They hire psychologists and do trials to leverage human response for profit. Many of the products they sell also leverage chemistry and illusion to move a fake product far removed from the image created and manufactured for maximum profit.

Women have been exploited by visual media because men have a strong visual response. On the other hand, men are exploited in literature because woman have a stronger emotional response.
Now with facespook exploiting your every post, you should see more of adverts that elicit a response from your personality, interests, age, income, location, status, job, etc. so the adverts that dont work on your ilk will be hidden. That is not to say your enjoy, agree with, or want to see those adverts. Just that they work on your type!!

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