That “Rude” Problem

These days, Viagra and its similar medications are all the rage to help produce erections in men who can no longer achieve or maintain them as easily. About the only sector of society that doesn’t sing its praises are nudists. Indeed, men are told to avoid erections or risk ejection from clubs and resorts. The underlying assumption is all erections are sexual in nature.

There will always be those who insist that erections are caused by sexual thoughts, and all you have to do is control your thoughts. Spock and Tuvok would be amazed at how well some of us humans have disciplined the mind. Some will say, with a very straight face, that even when you’re not thinking sexual thoughts, your brain interprets various stimuli as sexual. Despite this, control is the key.

That’s a rather far cry from, “Don’t worry, it rarely ever happens. And if it does, cover it with a towel, lie on your belly, or go for a swim until it goes away.”

The general consensus in society in general is that while erections certainly occur due to arousal, they also happen when the man is NOT aroused. This happens especially if the man is in fine physical health. Those who, like me, deal with issues like diabetes and heart disease will know what I mean. In the world of naturism, the issue isn't so cut and dry.

A writer to a naturist forum adds that if one were to stand around talking to anyone "while ‘sporting’ an erection," clubs will ask that person to leave and "never come back." Oddly enough, the writer then adds that once social nudism has been experienced, it won’t be an issue. Talk about comforting! (And don’t I love sarcasm?)

While I’m glad for the second part, I find the “erection means ejection” part rather unfortunate. In my opinion, if some naturists/nudists have problems with the fact that men have involuntary erections at times, then they aren’t true nudists. I especially worry about the message sent to young boys who, too young to experience sexual thoughts as we adults would understand the term, still have the occasional erection. If there were no sexual overtones and the erection was clearly involuntary, forcing a man, or a boy, with an erection to leave a club would be patently unfair (though I suppose the owners can do whatever they want). Would we throw a woman out because her clitoris was erect? Would we even notice?

Some exclusively heterosexual men have erections while being examined by a male doctor or when undergoing a massage, therapeutic or otherwise platonic. It doesn’t happen every time, and it may only happen just once, but it happens, and practitioners know it has nothing to do with sexual desire. If they can take it, why can’t we?

Now, if someone is clearly flaunting it in a place where this shouldn’t happen, then he’s the one with the problem. But if it simply occurs while playing volleyball, enjoying a recital, working as a crossing guard, doing taxes, or just snoozing and being lost to the world, then he’s not the one with the problem.

Indeed, this brings up another point: Except for nudists, people in general aren’t used to seeing other people nude. This may, in part, explain why they are not accepting of nudity in general and nudism in particular. Could nudists be reacting similarly to erections? Maybe if we saw erections more often in situations that did not evoke sex, we could accept them for what they are: naturally-occurring phenomena at times which don’t always suit us best.