Performative disgust with the naked male body
I've been thinking about the reasons men have become less comfortable in non sexual nude settings and I think it is partly driven by homophobia and a trend towards setting an expectation for young men that they need to act disgusted at the sight of another naked guy. A conditioned reaction to communicate their heterosexuality. I wonder if this keeps men from even wanting to experience mixed gender non sexual nudity. Also, now that the younger generation seems much less concerned with sexual labels maybe the tide will turn and we will see the re-emergence of more casual attitudes about nudity. Interested in others' thoughts on this. Thanks!
What sources are you getting your information from?Its not been my experience.
It has been mentioned here thousands of times, about the cultural differences between the US and GB. I have no doubt that is a contributing factor in what he is seeing.
ClothesfreeMatt wrote:I've been thinking about the reasons men have become less comfortable in non sexual nude settings and I think it is partly driven by homophobia and a trend towards setting an expectation for young men that they need to act disgusted at the sight of another naked guy. A conditioned reaction to communicate their heterosexuality. I wonder if this keeps men from even wanting to experience mixed gender non sexual nudity. Also, now that the younger generation seems much less concerned with sexual labels maybe the tide will turn and we will see the re-emergence of more casual attitudes about nudity. Interested in others' thoughts on this. Thanks!
I think you may have a point there. I remember incidents in my college dorm shower room where some guys seemed to go out of their way to emphasize their masculinity and heterosexuality, perhaps (as you say) as a defense against being hit on by other men. I wonder if it matters that you, as a gay guy who maybe hadn't decided to come out yet, might have taken these remarks as accusations or potential threats of being outed.
Or consider a guy who had been taught that homosexuality is bad and evil and disgusting. He suddenly sees another naked guy for the first time and ... isn't disgusted, but actually turned on a little. So he's confronting something in himself that he doesn't like, and is trying his best to suppress it, and to convince others that he's really straight as an arrow.
But now that gender roles are more fluid, maybe we will see a turn of that tide. I hope so. It would have been far healthier if some of the guys in my dorm just came out and said, "Yeah, I'm gay. But frankly, you're not my type, so relax." (And If they said that I am their type, I could say with equal confidence "Thanks, but you're not my type." And that would be that.)
In a way, that's what we all need to adjust to we're introduced to when we're introduced to heterosexual nudism. When a person sees a person of the opposite sex naked outside the context of a sexual situation, it's a new experience for that person. We get turned on, and we know that it's not appropriate to be turned on, but it takes a little while for us to get desensitized to the sight of a nude body. Just like being naked in the shower in a college dorm or gym.
That's the price we pay for living in a society where the only social nudity that's permitted is what we experience when we're going to have sex. It's burned into our brains from the moment we start wearing clothes, and reinforced by what we see in the media.
I've been thinking about the reasons men have become less comfortable in non sexual nude settings and I think it is partly driven by homophobia and a trend towards setting an expectation for young men that they need to act disgusted at the sight of another naked guy. A conditioned reaction to communicate their heterosexuality. [/quote
I'm not sure if men, younger men in particular, are less comfortable with nudity or if they interpret it differently than older generations. Rather than speak of nudity, I will specify exposed penises, and offer that they are considered solely sexual by younger men, whether awkwardly or not.
Pre-Covid I was in the men's locker room of a nice fitness gym in Chicago with a friend who was a member there. Having lived nearby, I was aware of the local gay demographics, and wasn't surprised that my friend pointed out one members there as a gay porn star. Rather than a 70s porn stach, this guy was all-American clean cut handsome, a grandma's dream, as were his friends, and they all looked proper and modest with large tight towels wrapped snugly around them in the steam room. I asked other locals about this and was told that he and other hunk-types don't do public nudity since they expose themselves only for sex and money. In comparison, my friend and I were the naked old dudes who could care less. Regardless of our orientation or interest, they would not cast their pearls to us swine.
Don't wonder about that : religions and national-- conservative politicians like Kocinsky in Poland, Orban in Hungary, Putin in Russia and Trumpigan with his "moral majority" of skinhead Ed weapon fans show the way!
Thanks for the responses, I'm not even talking about guys being comfortable being naked, but rather a popular notion in the US at least that the proper reaction for a man who sees another man naked is to be "grossed out". I think it is driven a bit by the desire to quell any notion about being gay, but maybe that's getting to be less of a factor.
Seems to me that the proper reaction is to be apathetic to seeing a naked body outside of a sexual situation.
I think the world has been sexualised so much, and nudity is equated with sex, that people think they will be hit on if naked. Women seem to be more comfortable with seeing each other naked, though media in bad in promoting the so called perfect body. All people need to be more accepting of their, and other people's, bodies.
It's weird, with this new generation they're all liberal and gender fluid and sexually ambiguous and when it comes to male nudity... They're just as judgy and weird and shaming.
Seems to me that the proper reaction is to be apathetic to seeing a naked body outside of a sexual situation.
I think the world has been sexualised so much, and nudity is equated with sex, that people think they will be hit on if naked. Women seem to be more comfortable with seeing each other naked, though media in bad in promoting the so called perfect body. All people need to be more accepting of their, and other people's, bodies.
Theres an impressive amount of wisdom in this thread! I remember a few years ago stepping into an Abercrombie Fitch store where the clothes were barely lit but the huge murals of half-naked young men with perfect abs were the focus. Men have become just as objectified and shamed - as women. Our real enemy to fear goes back to fear itself.
Nor mine, and infact I have read about the increase in new memberships at nudist resorts were some resorts are expanding with new campgrounds and cosrtruction of housing to accomodate the sudden intrest of people looking to shed clothes and masks to regain some sort of public interaction.
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