private matters

clothed or naked?

Bonobos masturbate in public, or in the open. Do bonobos ever show shyness in their sexual practices? I'll ask questions on this. 

I'm interested in the fact that human sexual activity largely occurs in private, though there are occasions, in subcultures, when it occurs before a selected public, and becomes more thrilling for that.

Humans have often been described as the most social animals, a fact upon which civilization depends. Less acknowledged is that we're the most private animals. Cats like to go to semi-private places to defecate, and cover up their doings. We've built structures in which we're surrounded on all sides, where we make ourselves totally invisible to our peers, and our doings our flushed magically away out of sight, out of mind. And we have boudoirs for the other thing. 

The private, enclosed nature of the sexual act adds to ignorance, especially among the young. Think too of the general attitude to nudity. Interesting to think that we're the only species for which the term nudity has any relevance. These days, more often among enlightened parents, at least little boys and girls have baths together. I never had a bath with my sister as a kid. With my brother, yes.  

Seeing another's genitalia stimulates interest in your own. That's if you see them. I mentioned bathing with my brother as a young kid, but I don't recall looking at or seeing his genitals. I suppose I wasn't interested at the time, and it took me quite a while, I suspect longer than average, before I became much interested in my own uncircumcized equipment.  

Only the other day, in the changing room of the public baths/swimming pool, I found myself taking a surreptitious interest in other men's genitals. What little I saw reassured me somewhat. I noticed at least one man going very much out of his way to conceal his cock on coming out of the shower. Was he ashamed of the size of his equipment, or was it some more general shame about nudity, or the exposure of the private parts? If so, was it his upbringing or culture or religion?

It's an odd scenario, a place where men come together in nudity, briefly, in a society where public nudity is generally unacceptable. It's hard to carry off such moments with nonchalance. 

I recall, years ago, seeing a man in this sort of setting, walking freely and it seemed proudly through the change rooms, in spite of having very little in the way of tackle, as the benighted classes call it. I was full of admiration of course, but I also wondered - did he know? Was it bravado? Was he simply beyond such juvenile anxieties? In any case I wished I could be so struttingly unconcerned. Not that my tackle is small of course - my released penis sweeps menacingly across the floor like an anaconda on steroids. 

Given the complexities of public nudity alone, it's hardly surprising that the human sex world is a threadless labyrinth.