Two nudism stories this week give a differing view points on spending time in the buff. Over on the Daily Beast (found through Smitten) Arianne Cohen wrote about going to a nudist dinner party. Guests stripped down as they arrived and sat on hand towels provided by the host. Cohen kept her legs closed but some of the (ahem) ballsier guests weren't so modest. Although Cohen didn't become a convert (the "dinner guests seemed free, getting a dopamine high off the rarity of what we were doing. I was not high."), she does bring up several interesting points.

Part of the taboo of being naked in casual situations is that people aren't used to separating nudity from sexuality. Disrobing in the presence of others usually means you're about to get it on, making you sexualize your and the other person's bodies. Your think about how pert your breasts are, how it will feel to touch the hair on his lower back. Of course, nudity doesn't have to be like that. According to Cohen, the naked dinner wasn't erotic at all.

There was no sexual vibe. Through three courses of Indian food, I found that my need to check out men’s packages had passed in its entirety, and that skin is just another set of clothes.

Jack Murnighan's essay on Nerve highlights the eroticism of everyday nakedness. In a piece called "Urban Naturists," (subscription required) he writes about the flashes of skin he sees, and provides, to his New York City neighbors through the windows of their respective apartments. "The transgression, the furtive access of the glimpse, renders tantalizing bodies and bits that, on a date, might be underwhelming." Two settings, two completely different views of nudism in the home.

Murnighan ends his essay with what surely must be the appeal of nudism:

Clothes can be shed, they can be sloughed, they can be shucked, dropped, lifted, un-zipped, -button or -tied, but most of all they can be escaped, leaving behind your day, your life, your vanity, your artifice.

Do you go naked in your home? Do you always close your blinds? Would you ever go to a naked dinner party? How do you feel about nudity in general? Let us know in the comments.