It is summer. It is hot. We want to wear as little clothes as possible, preferably none at all. But we are not among indigenous African people, who happily don\u00b4t cover the upper half of their body and often just cover the rest with a loincloth or skirt. We are overwhelmed – if not by prudishness, certainly by a certain uptightness.<\/p>\n
Accordingly conditioned as we are in our culture, we of course wear underwear and then clothes on top. We like the thin East Indian cotton \u2013 perhaps the East Indians have found the most elegant solutions in dealing with the heat. With their loose and comfortable and yet light clothes.<\/p>\n
But we Europeans apparently have to learn it again every year\u2026and another challenge is to be dealt with, that is not exclusive to the season. For the more can be seen of the body, the more people seem to be offended. Especially if it\u00b4s not at the pool or on the beach \u2013 more tolerance is present there. Mostly. But Inhibitions are always part of he game that can become downright prudishness.<\/p>\n
Who ever had to deal with a more or less public erection as a boy \u2013 I remember a legendary situation to this day (!) of a man of my acquaintance who, at the time 14 years old, had a well noticeable one on the three meter – diving board at the local swimming pool \u2013 more than thirty years ago\u2026or who as a girl or woman had to struggle in dealing with the inappropriate visibility of her nipples \u2013 know what I\u00b4m talking about!<\/p>\n
I believe, that this is one of the reasons why women in summer wear the extra layer of a bra even though their bust might not need it otherwise\u2026 But an expressive nipple can create great embarrassment in her owner and others \u2013 and that\u2019s something we usually want to avoid \u2013 for our sake and that of others.<\/p>\n
One piece of jewelry in my embarrassment basket is an experience at a rather posh event in Malaysia. I was in my midtwenties at the time. I don\u00b4t remember the occasion \u2013 it could have been the opening of an orchid garden or a charity event for children in need. At any rate it was a hot tropical day and I wore a thin cotton dress \u2013 at least rather tightly woven and thus dismissed the rather uncomfortable bra. I wore elegant shoes with high heels \u2013 which makes me quite tall \u2013 about 5\u20199. At the entrance a friendly Malayan was awaiting us who happened to be much shorter than me. His job was to equip us with name tags. So he wrote my name in beautiful writing on a fine paper sticker and then stuck it approximately where men have the pocket on their jackets \u2013 and to our shared embarrassment the thin white sticker crumbled, the cotton material had produced some tiny folds \u2013 because my left nipple hat become stiff and thus became super visible. And not only to us \u2013 there were other amused witnesses to this. At least they were amused, I prefer evoking humor rather than prudish admonishing.<\/p>\n
Besides prudishness and shame and embarrassment are a matter of culture anyway. A dear Italien friend gave a vivid account of his first visit to an East German sauna, accompanied by his then girlfriend and her mother. To his dismay he had to learn that naturally nobody wore bathing trunks. Not in the sauna nor anywhere else. Everybody was naked. All the time. So he was busy all day most tense hiding his persistant boner with a towel in this temple of relaxation.<\/p>\n
When the nipple of a prominent woman makes itself noticeable in a cheeky way, i.e. because her clothes slipped out of place, the lighting is too harsh or the penis of a well known man erects himself in an unsuitable moment \u2013 the media immediately cry: \u201cnipple-alert\u201d or \u201cboner-scandal\u201d \u2013 as if this was an intentional provocation. Well, wouldn\u00b4t that be nice \u2013 if one could actually control this most people would rather avoid it. Exactly because it suddenly draws the general attention towards something that should be rather intimate and personal and therefore causes shame and embarrassment among the concerned. Suddenly something is not the way it should be \u2013 no matter how strong the effort to maintain your composure. But your own body overwrites our intended self- expression.<\/p>\n
We are natural beings \u2013 even if we like to forget that and believe, we need to control ourselves in order to appear civilized or even decent and noble. Howevr, biology doesn\u00b4t care about status either. It can happen to the queen as easily as to the pope\u2026 Perhaps not nowadays \u2013 their age and public position permit a certain mercy in these regards. But most likely both of them had certain experiences at their times and learned to deal with it\u2026<\/p>\n
By the way, many women don\u00b4t consider a boner too unpleasant \u2013 especially if it is on their account. But that of course depends on the circumstances: the spectrum is wide from provocative table dancing to a woman wearing a mini skirt on a bike \u2013 which arouses an elderly gentleman to a woman, who is spontaneously hugging the man of her heart and is greeted on more than one level.<\/p>\n
And of course conspicuous boners have been \u2013 exactly because of their attachment to embarrassment \u2013 more or less successful gagmaterial in slapstick movies. Inappropriately visible female nipples are not exposed to a similar spectrum \u2013 simply because they\u00b4re far less spectacular. Furthermore it seems to be more legit in our culture to make fun of men in this regard rather than of women. Probably because men are met with more dignity otherwise. That makes the dishonoring more amusing…and all of this wouldn\u00b4t be so funny, if prudishness wasn\u00b4t still so very common.<\/p>\n
But isn\u00b4t it actually fantastic, that we are able to react in such natural ways? That a man can be stimulated physically by something that excites him? That a woman can react to a tender touch in such a charming non-verbal way?<\/p>\n
The wonderful thing about these reactions is that they are always real and absolutely honest. You can hardly fake them. It\u00b4s a moment of special authenticity and you experience the miracle of the human biology. It is like suddenly blushing with an erotic wink. It should actually make our lives sweeter and not considered shameful or embarrassing: we should celebrate more that we are natural beings and love our bodies because of it\u2026and maybe that of the other too\u2026 In this sense: may we all have a charmingly erotic summer!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is summer. It is hot. We want to wear as little clothes as possible, preferably none at all. But we are not among indigenous African people, who happily don\u00b4t cover the upper half of their body and often just cover the rest with a loincloth or skirt. We are overwhelmed – if not by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[262,250],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-en","tag-science","tag-society"],"yoast_head":"\n