‘If I went to a nude beach I’d walk around with an erection all day’.

How often do we read words of that type in relation to naturism? Quite often. And the truth is no, no you wouldn’t. Because -we keep underlining this- despite the nudity, it’s non sexual. Naturism is non sexual, and in those situations there’s no sense of sexual arousal to manifest itself.

I’ve picked out a few photographs, featuring three or more people (above). Why ‘three or more’? In life, we can wander around naked in front of a life partner or significant other without becoming sexually aroused, very often. We know what the other person looks like naked, and while they may arouse us in certain situations, they don’t do that all the time, depending on circumstances.

So some photos of naked couples could be assumed to be of a couple who are in this situation. But that whole ‘I’d get an erection looking at naked women’ schtick…at least one person in all of the photos above isn’t a ‘partner’, so they’re looking at the third person in a sexual way, right? Wrong. In naturism, there’s no sexual triggers. Indeed, in many ‘group/publicly naked’ scenarios there’s no sexual triggers.

Many people who participate in one of Spencer Tunick’s many installations won’t identify as being naturist, so their experience of being in a mixed gender nude scenario will be even more limited than that of someone who does identify as naturist. Do you see any erections? No, everyone is resolutely flaccid.

Simply because there’s no sexual triggers involved. So, please, don’t keep on with the ‘I’d be running around with an erection all day if I visited a nude beach’ nonsense. It’s simply never going to happen.

Despite the presence of two beautiful female avatars he remains flaccid

In a sense, Second Life’s mechanics can teach us this in its own small way. To become erect, the male avatar has to do something -push buttons.. Because he’s probably more wrapped up in the conversation on screen, pushing those buttons isn’t top of his priorities, even when surrounded by lovely naked women. And naturism’s like that too in real life. You aren’t focussed on how beautiful her breasts are, more the conversation -often about mundane topics. And removed from the sexual triggers, there’s no erections.

No erections on these naturist beaches

People simply get on with whatever they’re doing, reading, tanning, swimming, talking, drinking coffee… Sex, and arousal, is not on their minds. Neither will it be on yours.

Ella