You know how some tribes have traditionally gone stark naked all the time? Australian Aborigines, some Nilotic tribes, Amazonian Indians.
Our habitual way of thinking about sexual arousal has to do with removing clothes. What about when there’s nothing to remove? Ever wonder about that? How do they get it on?
Maybe they’re not as sex-obsessed as we are. Maybe for them it’s just a natural part of life, when you lie down at night and snuggle and cuddle, you just do what comes naturally. But in our civilization, there are sexual enticements bombarded constantly. Maybe the traditionally naked tribes don’t need enticements in the media all the time, they just do it when they do it.
So far as I know, very few people in the world go completely naked. Usually, when you read about such a tribe, there’s always something worn, even if it is only a single leaf hanging down from a belt and covering the loins. There’s also various forms of ornamentation and jewelry elsewhere on the body. Perhaps these are commonly removed for sex?
I’ve seen early American books such as the Leatherstocking Tales refer to an American Indian as naked, when he was wearing a loincloth, leggings, and a breastplate. It’s all relative.
Again, it would vary from tribe to tribe, but it could be for religious resons (Hiding this or that part from the eyes of evil spirits) or modesty. Perhaps having ones buttocks and breasts exposed is common, but to uncover ones navel would be shockingly wanton. Also, some tribes cover the genitals not to conceal them but to artificially enhance the size to intimidate rivals. It’s all a matter of custom and rite, and naturally each tribe would vary.
The good Doctor’s quote is bothering me. I mean, I would think that whenever you see the genetalia of whatever sex you happen to be attracted to, your body would naturally react in an “oh boy, you know what I can do with that!” sort of way. And anyway married people have seen each other naked repeatedly yet most continue to be stimulated by each other’s nudity, right?
When Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Columbia, they found that the Chinook and Clatsop tribes there wore nothing below the waist. Both sexes. And that was in winter!
While it’s true that it doesn’t snow very often in winter in those parts, typical wintertime high temperatures are around 45[sup]o[/sup] F (also the typical wintertime low temp). These people must have been tough.
Don’t think so, Sheepy. Nudists don’t go around in a state of constant arousal (I know, I’ve seen pictures). If you’re conditioned to associate naked=sexually aroused and available, it’ll work that way, but that conditioning can be broken pretty quick. And while married couples can and do get aroused by seeing their longtime spouses naked, most of the time they’re naked together they’re not in a sexually excited state. Usually, an atmosphere of intimacy occurs, arousal begins, and is enhanced by the nudity.
And frankly, plain old genitals are not in and of themselves that erotic. I’ve practiced medicine for 17 years, and done thousands of pelvic exams on women, some quite attractive. But in the context that I’m viewing them, it’s about the least erotic thing in the world. Most of my colleagues say the same thing, and we think it’s pretty strange when one of our fellow docs gets in trouble for molesting patients.
OK, so you’re sitting around with your other tribesmen and eveyones naked and you think to yourself, “Shit, I look like all these other guys. What can I do to express my individuality, show my social status, and most importantly, get chicks!?!?!” Then it strikes this guy, “I know! I could put a big stick through my body!”
Yeah…I think this is what happens, and before you know it people have coasters in their lower lip, rings that make their necks 2 feet long, and animal bones the size of 2X4’s in their noses.
Chronos, I wrote “stark naked” because I literally meant stark naked, i.e. not wearing anything at all, not even an itty bitty leaf over the genitals. The tribes I cited in the OP really have all been like that (though the modern world has pretty much trashed their traditional life by now, meaning that they wear the dingy castoff rags of the scum of civilization instead of the proud dignity of their naked bodies).
I’m aware of the metaphorical meaning of “naked” used loosely to mean people wearing clothing you consider insufficient. The most extreme example of such hyperbole I ever heard was a very religiously conservative man criticizing women for being “naked” when what he meant was they were wearing knee-length skirts. This sort of exaggeration is better ignored.
Occam, you’re right that decoration, tattooing, scarification, and bod-mod are what happens when you don’t wear clothes. People have the innate urge to decorate themselves one way or another.
The John Boorman film The Emerald Forest had a remarkable sequence when some white predators enter the Amazon rain forest and raid an Indian tribe. They capture all the young women and make them prostitutes in a whorehouse. They force them to wear clothes so they will take on the role of whores. Then the Indians have a counter raid and liberate the women. It’s a striking scene as they run from the whorehouse, tearing off their slut clothes, returning to their original nakedness and becoming themselves again. It was a powerful statement on the use of clothing for immorality.
When I went to a partially-nudist gathering in the States, it took all of about 5 minutes to get used to the naked people.
Nudity tends to discourage erotic fantasy–you see just how blobby (and, well, average) the average Joe and Jane are.
After a while, I ended up with this train of thought running through the back of my head: which would charge over the hill first–anti-nudist fundamentalist stormtroopers or National Geographic photographers…
I was going to ask this quesiton too. It’s not too bad when you’re wearing clothes, because you can sit down and sort of hide it by crossing your legs and pulling your pants up higher and make all the fabric hide it…or so my brother told me anyway! :wally
just a tad hard to hide it when there is nothing to hide it with tho, I’m thinking. think I’ll stick to wearing clothes.
Also, getting off the track a little, I was just wondering how they go in winter. Call me materialistic, but thermal stuff just barely keeps me warm! :rolleyes:
Most of the naked peoples are/were in the tropics. No winter. However, there were the Tasmanians and the people of Tierra del Fuego, who went naked in wintry conditions, and faced the icy Antarctic blasts with no covering. They had a different understanding of the human body’s needs. The cold apparently didn’t bother them much. They had other ways of adapting.
One response to the OP is a device used by the women of certain nude Amazonian tribes (women who are naturally without pubic hair).
It’s a little belt with a string attached. The string goes down between the vulva lips and is pulled taut and fastened in back. Its effect is to deepen and lengthen the vaginal crack. It makes the labia look longer and bigger. This is a way to emphasize the shape of the vulva and look more sexually attractive to men. These people have solved the question of how to be sexier than unadorned nudity, while still remaining totally naked.
I dated a girl who generally went naked when at home. It didn’t take long at all (minutes) to get used to seeing her naked. Same thing with my wife, I have only been living with her for 8 months and just seeing her naked doesn’t arouse me at all. However, in both the cases I mentioned if they were wearing something I thought of as sexy, that was a definite turn on.
I’ve visited both and they are decidedly un-erotic. The people who you’re with are just like the people you’d be with on a regular beach or park - just without clothing. No big deal and not much to worry about.
I have a theory that I call “The Christmas Present Phenomenon.” One reason that lingerie and sexy clothing work to arrouse us is the idea of what’s hidden under the wrapping. Sure, a woman in beautiful lingerie is exciting, but its taking the lingerie off (unwrapping the present)that adds so much to the experience.
