Being naked in the bath or bedroom is one thing. You have privacy. You can relax. You get to feel the comfort of nudity without social pressures. Being naked on a nude beach or at a nudist camp is another thing. There's the novelty of being naked in places and situations not normally reserved for such attire, as well as in the company of others. But everyone is respectful and understanding. You can still relax, because there's no fear of being caught, getting in trouble, or being judged negatively by your peers. That's because wherever you are, if you're surrounded by [practicing] nudists, you're supposed to be naked.
Being naked in places where you're NOT supposed to, however, is another thing entirely. To revel in the thrill of that taboo, you perhaps have to be a bit twisted. Call it exhibitionism if you like. What I am here to argue is that the enjoyment has anything to do with "forcing" (or even the chance of) unsuspecting people seeing you naked. Maybe that's a thing, too. I wouldn't know. Although I remain skeptical about how accurately derogatory stereotypes reflect reality.
What I do know is this: There is some added thrill to being naked where you're not supposed to. It is true that in these cases there is a risk of being caught. But it is not the risk that excites me. The thought of being seen is a source of anxiety: something to be avoided, not sought out. It is, rather, the transgression of the taboo that excites me. The addition of nudity where it does not, normally, belong. Turn the situation into an organized nudist one, and it loses some (if not all) measure of excitement. If I could be naked anywhere and everywhere in public, with the caveat that I would never be seen by anyone, it would be a dream come true. In fact, the only thing preventing me from being naked in a whole lot more places is precisely that fear of being caught. I don't want - much less need - to expose myself to anyone. I just want to be naked, in places where you're not supposed to.
Addendum: I think there is also an element of acknowledging the gulf between fantasy and reality here. I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses. But I'm really trying to legitimize what I feel is a legitimate...call it a sexual fetish, if you like, but I don't think it has to even be sexually explicit. We just have a history of defining sexuality as deviance, and looking at how desires manifest in antisocial patterns, and using that as an excuse to demonize the desire, which is a very critical, sex-negative perspective. The alternative is to recognize that in many cases a so-called "sex crime" is an improper and maladjusted realization of what is at its heart a legitimate sexual feeling. That people are sloppy and short-sighted - especially when their base desires are raging - should not be taken as an indictment of sexual desire, but of human fallibility itself.
What I mean to say is, there may be some psychological thrill in the risk of being caught, but I don't see how this maps to reality. Maybe there are unscrupulous perverts (actually, there are probably many of them) who haven't reached this conclusion before getting to the point of thinking going naked in some public situation is a good idea. They simply haven't thought it through to a sufficient extent. In my case, I am highly analytical, and tend to think things through to the point of neuroticism, and so I can recognize that some things that seem exciting in fantasy are actually plain terrifying in reality.
And so that's why, that although when I sit here and fantasize about playing naked elevator roulette - stepping into an elevator naked, and gambling on the chance that the next floor it opens on won't have any people ready to step in - it seems, to be honest, intoxicatingly exhilarating, but it's not something I would actually go out and do. I want there to be a situation in which you could play this game, but where the risks would be simulated. Not eliminated - because if you step into an elevator in a nudist hotel where everybody is naked and nudity is expected, then it loses much of its thrill. But simulated, in a way similar to how we can live vicariously through movies and video games, enjoying action and adventure with no real threat to life and limb.
I really think there is so much more potential in entertainment media to cater to people's sexual desires (especially the unusual ones that are harder to satisfy in reality), but so much porn is low brow, and there is so much stigma surrounding sexually explicit media, that I don't think a fraction of that potential is being realized. And that just plain sucks. How long is it going to be before I can play a well-developed virtual reality public nudity simulator? And if "polite" society doesn't want perverts getting their rocks off in antisocial ways - e.g., by exposing themselves in public - why aren't they supporting this kind of personal entertainment?
Because of some stupid moral agenda, I know. The same illogical reason why people who oppose abortion also criticize contraception. They don't care about sexual health and wellbeing, they just want people to suffer for their sins. Thing is, there will always be fanatical zealots of this sort in society, and that's fine. What I don't get is how they have so much power and influence over the majority of the population? All we have to do is stand up and say "no more", and that'll be the end of it.
