# Nudist camps and Men
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 4, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281 "2003-07-04T19:50:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/1 "2003-07-04T19:50:37Z")
How do men keep from having an erection for a good portion of the time at Nudist camps/colonys? I imagine that eventually, you’d be desensitized to people being nude, but what about the time before? I imagine that it would be more of a problem at youth camps, because the males there are just starting to notice the opposite sex and have a lot less control.
:o
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/2 "2003-07-04T20:35:35Z")
Have you ever seen _real people_ - NOT airbrushed magazine centerfolds or surgified Hollywood stars - naked?
This is not always a pretty picture.
Haven’t been to one myself, but most folks I’ve talked to who have been say it’s not as big an issue as people think. You get used to naked people quickly, and like I said, the average person - pot belly, wrinkles, surgical scars, butt acne, etc. - is not nearly as entrancing as the near-naked crap you see on TV and in the movies.
What I’ve always wondered about nudist camps is how the issue of women and menstruation is handled. At it’s most basic, it would be just plain rude to leave little red seat prints on the furniture. Sure, tampons work, but leaks happen.
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### Author:  [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/3 "2003-07-04T20:48:25Z")
Ewwww. Thanks for ruining any pleasing images in my head Broomstick.
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### Author:  [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/4 "2003-07-04T21:05:43Z")
Broomstick, here is your [answer](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111833&highlight=Women+manage+camps).
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### Author:  [@Mith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mith)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/5 "2003-07-05T02:49:08Z")
Aslan, thanks for the trip!
that link sent me into the wonderful world of period prints!
i love it! how great!
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### Author:  [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/6 "2003-07-05T02:55:19Z")
A bit off topic, but I wonder if there is a lot of “accidental” sex at nudist camps? I could just picture that happening somehow.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/7 "2003-07-05T04:01:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duderdude2 \*
> \*\*Ewwww. Thanks for ruining any pleasing images in my head Broomstick. \*\*
Bet it also quashed any incipient erections, too, didn’t it?
See, nudity in real life isn’t always as fun as the fantasies, is it?
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### Author:  [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/8 "2003-07-05T06:39:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Aslan of Narnia \*
> \*\*How do men keep from having an erection for a good portion of the time at Nudist camps/colonys? I imagine that eventually, you’d be desensitized to people being nude, but what about the time before? I imagine that it would be more of a problem at youth camps, because the males there are just starting to notice the opposite sex and have a lot less control.
>
> :o \*\*
I think you’re making a logical error here. Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people. Usually they need some sort of physical stimulation to become physically aroused.
If you are the type of person that can become erect by **merely seeing** a comely nude body, the least of your worries would be visiting a nudist camp.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/9 "2003-07-05T08:17:18Z")
Lots of nude beaches and sunning areas in Berlin, of all places.
For the most part, think of your Aunt Ruth and Uncle Fred, pasty white and showing their naughties. Not a pretty picture. You might have more of a problem getting it up after that image.
Yeah, there were a few hot looking folks, but if you were ever in danger of springing a woody, all you have to do is look over in another direction, watch and listen to the fat guy fart while eating a hot dog.
That oughta do it.
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### Author:  [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/10 "2003-07-05T08:25:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freyr \*
> \*\*I think you’re making a logical error here. Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people. Usually they need some sort of physical stimulation to become physically aroused.
>
> If you are the type of person that can become erect by **merely seeing** a comely nude body, the least of your worries would be visiting a nudist camp. \*\*
WTF?
**I** can get wood by the mere sight of a comely nude(or clothed) female body.
You’re saying I should be worried?
pfft
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/11 "2003-07-05T14:00:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people.
You younger people may not know this, but back in the fifties a man named Hugh Hefner actually tried to earn a living selling a magazine with pictures of nude women inside. Of course, as Freyr points out, people weren’t interested and Hefner’s magazine disappeared within a few months. Since then, nobody has ever tried to sell pictures of nude people.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/12 "2003-07-05T14:55:03Z")
“Lots of nude beaches and sunning areas in Berlin, of all places.”
For a lot of guys being naked for the first time on the beach with the air & ocean rubbing against them is enough to get things up.
(I used to surf at Blacks beach alot)
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/13 "2003-07-05T14:58:17Z")
Your first few times, I’d think being nervous would… reduce… the problem. I’d be uncomfortable as hell, anyway. After a few times, you might get used to it and then you’re good.
According to a friend of mine who spent a day at a nudist camp a while back with her boyfriend, walking around with an erection is something of a _faux pas_.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/14 "2003-07-07T00:33:32Z")
Context is everything. You experience unclad women as sexually arousing to the point of inspiring an erection because the opportunity to see them that way pretty much coincides with opportunity to have sex. (Even then, once you’re in an ongoing relationship, even in the steamy early period you’ll find that you see each other unclothed going to and from the shower or changing clothes etc and it doesn’t prompt a rush of erotic interest every time it occurs).
I lived on a clothing-optional commune in California (where else?) in the early 1980s. I remember being in the sauna and one of the female members came in and took off her clothes and sat down with me. I definitely saw it as a flirting opportunity but the absence of clothes didn’t really play a role.
On the way back to my folk’s home to be present for my sister’s wedding, I passed through Las Vegas and the signs and ads promising REAL NUDE GIRLS seemed really weird and anachronistic.
Are you capable of walking down the block and seeing women in tight blue jeans on the sidewalks without getting an erection? I bet you may find them quite attractive but you hardly ever respond with physical arousal. Partially because you’re used to seeing women in blue jeans.
Context.
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### Author:  [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/15 "2003-07-07T00:53:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freyr \*
> \*\*I think you’re making a logical error here. Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people. Usually they need some sort of physical stimulation to become physically aroused.
>
> If you are the type of person that can become erect by **merely seeing** a comely nude body, the least of your worries would be visiting a nudist camp. \*\*
This is ridiculous. If ANYONE agrees with Freyr, speak up, please.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/16 "2003-07-07T01:47:11Z")
Well, I “can” become erect merely by seeing a comely nude body, if I stare at it and let that happen, which is easier if the beforementioned nude body is a photograph or a person who is posing or behaving in a sexually provocative manner that encourages staring, and it is also more likely to happen if it’s a person with whom I have a sexual history (the sight of her being associated with sexual things).
But I would definitely say I do not _tend_ to become erect merely by seeing a comely nude body.
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### Author:  [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/17 "2003-07-07T02:19:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freyr \*
> \*\* Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people. Usually they need some sort of physical stimulation to become physically aroused.
> \*\*
Would this be _projecting?_
Just because _you_ cannot attain a woody by the mere sight of a comely nude body, doesn’t mean others dont.
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### Author:  [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/18 "2003-07-07T02:39:43Z")
In a venue where everyone is naked, it quickly loses the mystery and the air of doing something forbidden.
Without those aspects, which are socially conditioned, it renders nudity neutral and not instantly erection inducing.
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### Author:  [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/19 "2003-07-07T02:58:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Freyr \*
> \*\*I think you’re making a logical error here. Most people, if not all, don’t get erections at the sight of comely nude people. Usually they need some sort of physical stimulation to become physically aroused.
>
> If you are the type of person that can become erect by **merely seeing** a comely nude body, the least of your worries would be visiting a nudist camp. \*\*
I must be a freak then, because looking at beautiful naked women gets me hard. So, dare I ask, if this is the _least_ of my worries, what else do I have to be concerned about?
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nudist-camps-and-men/186281/20 "2003-07-07T03:17:02Z")
I just read (Newsweek, Time, one of those) an article on nudist camps, and they mentioned that everyone, men and women, were required to bring towels with them to sit on. No nude bits on chairs.
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