[description: portrait of a smiling man at the park, erection peeking out of his shorts]
It's frustrating arguing with people who think "exhibitionism" consists of pulling down your pants in front of little old ladies on park benches. These people clearly don't get it - and have only exaggerated stereotypes of deranged individuals to go on (severely damaging the fetish's reputation). Perhaps there are people genuinely like that out there - I've never met one, and I'd challenge anyone who hears about one in the news or through the grapevine to dig a little deeper and find out the true story separate from the embellishments and assumptions that people naturally make - often without even realizing they're doing it.
Try to imagine this scenario: you hear something (or you read something), and your brain instantly conjures an image in your head, unavoidably colored by your own experiences and perceptions. Before long, you start forgetting which parts of that image are backed up by the original facts. Then you go and tell somebody else about it in your own words, and they assume the parts you don't even realize you've made up are part of the original report! Anybody who's concerned about exhibitionist behavior should make the minimum required effort of actually talking to an exhibitionist. At the very least, when exhibitionists speak up about their own behaviors, you should shut up and let those who have firsthand experience talk.
And what I'd like to say at this moment, is that there is a huge difference between, on the one hand, finding pleasure in violating the taboo of exposing certain "private" parts of your body in public locations, potentially in the presence of unsuspecting strangers (the whole point being that they don't know), or sharing that moment with like-minded perverts (not sticking it in the faces of god-fearing prudes), as occurs when I post these images online - and, on the other hand, outright exposing yourself to those strangers, to a reaction of shock and horror, and general social disruption. They are two completely different things in my mind, and as an exhibitionist, I can't understand why anyone would even want to do the latter. (The irony inherent in "the thrill of getting caught" is that, generally speaking, actually getting caught is an instant boner killer).
