I’ll add to the current trend in this post…
I know a young (18) man who got upset,and actually came to me to vent because he’d seen a female friend’s breasts. She,apparently felt like he was her brother,and it was within her comfort zone to change her top,and bra with him present. She’s an amply busted young thing (17),yet he was upset. He said quote “She’s not my girlfriend,and I don’t want to see them!”
The point I’m making is,male or female,people get upset seeing errogenous zones exposed unexpectedly. This is especially true if the person who is exposing themselves is a stranger,and it’s somehow worse if it’s accidental. (The polite horror factor kicks in.) I personally don’t want to see any male’s genitals,with the exception of my husband.
I don’t have a problem being in the same room as friends who are changing clothes,but I’ll still turn aside,just as I did in the High School girl’s locker rooms. Even though everyone is stripping stark naked,you turn your gaze aside,to give them a little bit of privacy,it’s respectful.
What ** Mockingbird ** fails to acknowledge,is that there are “social boundaries” that we are raised with,that govern our reactions to events. We are raised with the idea that we don’t expose “those areas” to anyone who isn’t a doctor,our parent’s if we are very young,or our lover if we are sexually active. It is reasonable to expect that we won’t see a stranger’s “sexual equipment” randomly in public. It is also reasonable to be upset if you do,no matter if it’s a young child “exploring” or an older gentleman. I’ve had to find a young boy’s mom,and let her know her little guy was proud of his maleness. We both realized that he did not yet understand that kind of discretion,and she handled it well. It still made me feel…odd though.
This excludes,of course,(with good reason) nursing mothers. The breasts are serving a non-sexual purpose in that case. I still think that whenever possible,the mother should use an appropriate “throw/shawl/blanket” to be discreet,but I can understand on a hot summer day,in the park with your other children how any cover would be too much. In any case,it’s fairly reasonable if you think about it,that a woman with a very young baby might be breastfeeding,and so when she does,it shouldn’t be a shock.
I don’t think Rubystreak was at all unreasonable in her reaction. She felt it would mortify the man if she told him,(and she’s probably right) and so could not. She was still politely horrified,on the man’s part,and for herself. She needed an outlet,and so she came here.
Rubystreak I do think you should let your friend know,that maybe he needs to buy swim trunks that have a set of built in underwear. If you can’t tell him this,maybe your friend could. I’d let him know before his “trouser snake” gets some sun though.