I'm not sure this is a big problem at social nudism events. I've never noticed it happening to anyone at any of the events I've attended, and besides, how many people are looking below the waist when they are socializing?
I'm guessing this is more of a fear -- as in, "ohmygawd, what if . . ." -- than anything else. That's why there are guidelines: simply cover up with a towel or something if it does happen.
It is a tempest in a teapot because unwelcome erections are spectacularly rare. I have never seen one at a resort. Rarely at a beach. But some guys have become outraged at the towel requirement, even though they are likely never to need it.
The last time I got an unwelcome erection in a social setting, I was a hormone addled teenager on his first day (1974!) of figure modeling in his first week as a college freshman. I had zero experience of coed social nudity, zero awareness of nudism, and no idea what to expect. (The class was full of attractive college coeds, and that is what I'm going to blame.) There was no "towel" option.
But you know what? I adapted and the next day, the problem didn't come up. Got a short lecture from the teacher. No harm, no foul.
I understand what you are saying but kicking a young guy out of a resort for the reason he has an erection to me goes against the point nudist and naturist have been trying to make. I was at a resort when a young man was asked to leave and he did so without any argument. My only thought was the nudist community probably just lost a young person that it needs as part of the community. And as most guys know when suddenly in high school the math teacher calls on you to go to the board to work a problem the only problem you are concerned with is the boner in your pants. I think there are solutions but like most things it requires education. As a world we do a horrible job of teaching our children about their bodies and the stages it goes through. First thing is we need better sex education about a host of topics. Parents shoud be the first line of education but often they are not. Next, if a nudist or naturist group wants young males to come to their group or facility they need to be prepared and tell the patron how to handle the issue before it happens, towels ready, places they can go for a short cool down, etc. But one of the worst things to do to new young people is to kick them out for a completely natural reaction. We want to say being nude doesn't mean we want to have sex but then that doesn't mesh with a spontaneous reaction. I can say that I was not thinking about sex in my senior math class when I was called to the board, lol. If an erection comes with aggresive talk or action then I understand removing someone from your facility but it mostly happens to young men who really would like to avoid the situation. When I invite young guys to a naturist event it is what they ask about the most and is a concern. I take the time to explain what they can do if it happens prior to it happening. We have to give them time to get use to being nude. The over reaction is much like what happens to women who breast feed in public. Should nudist women not breast feed babies at a nudist event or facility because it offends some people? The older I get the more appreciative I am for my parents and older siblings who taught me how not to freak out over natural human behavior. Thanks for sharing your opinion on the topic and bringing it up for discussion.
If you go to a naturist club or event, there are rules. By attending you are agreeing to the rules, including the ones you think are unreasonable. I don't know of any club that would instantly throw you out if you get an erection as long you do something, anything, to make it less visible.
What is going on inside your head is irrelevant. It is what is going on in the other visitors heads that matters to the operators of a facility.
Fred, I understand what you are saying but look at your comment, "what is going on inside your head is irrelevant, It is what is going on in the other visitors heads that matters to the operators of a facility". That is exactly the argument that nonnudist give for not wanting nudist to have the freedom to be nude at beaches, parks, hiking trails, and anywhere else. When nudist agree with nonnudist for why you should not be nude the nudist community is really in trouble of becoming irrelevant.
Yup. And it is something we have to live with. Life is an extended compromise between what we'd like to do and what the world wants us to do.
I would never go naked anywhere that had an explicit rule against it. Nor would I go naked anywhere that most people in that environment would be seriously offended. WNBR, Bay to Breakers, nude beach, these are all safe places for nudity. We need more of those, not to push ourselves onto people who don't accept us.
When I am hiking, I do a minimal cover with my hat until I determine whoever I meet is okay with nudity. Obvious I'm naked, but also obvious I'm not there to display myself. I've had people thank me for the courtesy. But if they don't just pass on by, I've never had a problem with putting the hat back on my head should conversation ensue. Some hiking areas, the coverup isn't useful because nudity is expected.
If I were at a nudist resort and got erect I would follow the same policy.
If I were at the B2B and I became erect, at my age, I'd celebrate. All about time and place.
I have felt for quite a while that nudists are too concerned with what the anti-nude crowd thinks! Being nude is NATURAL, wearing clothing when not needed for protection against the cold or against occupational hazards is ridiculously unnatural!!! The anti-nude crowd is so pleased that we are catering to their wishes, as we are forced into a corner, and they are diligently working to make that corner smaller as they take away more rights! All the while our conciliatory attitude makes this easy. As much as I disagree with SOME of the 'alphabet' people's inclusiveness, they have obtained MUCH more acceptance into society than nudists. They didn't gain this by letting what others think control them. There is a dilemma here, since most social nudists are folks that are family oriented, and have jobs to consider, but we should be less concerned with offending those who want us to bow to their sick attitudes about the nude body!
The problem is that we are vastly outnumbered by the anti-nudist crowd who often control the legal system and our employment. The "I don't care" crowd isn't of much use to us.
The question is how to push hard enough to expand our fringes without triggering a reaction that really could shut us down..
Male sexuality is demonized; female sexuality is protected and esteemed, even if vulgar and degenerate. There seems to be a concerted effort to label an erection as predatory, crude, and offensive. It is a sign of health and virility. Men should be proud, if anything. Sometimes they are random. Those who claim it is because of what we are thinking are trying to "thought police" men. This campaign is just another way to control men and a double standard, among other things.
Firstly, thanks for addressing this topic - great that you are sharing your thoughts. Your comments are common sense and contextual, and I agree wholeheartedly. Yes, celebrate our masculinity in a way that is natural and acceptable in a group situation. If an erection occurs when there is some doubt it may offend in a nudist situation then I would say the person needs to act in a discrete way. I don't agree with barring a person if an erection is not threatening others - self awareness and discretion is essential as well as others who hold authority. Rules of engagement and common sense should prevail. I believe in inclusivess rather than alarmist reactions - sometimes a fine balance I know.
I think the complaint is that the rules of engagement are wrong, therefor they shouldn't prevail. Requiring discretion is a violation of their rights.
I'm saying that if you join a group or club or attend a formal venue, you've agreed to the rules. If you can't agree to the rules, don't join. Make your own club or join a different one you can agree with.
Doesn't bother me either. I know nudist females who are not bothered and I know nudist females are are seriously bothered. A guy ticked me off because his attitude is that nobody has the right to be bothered.
I can’t help but think: where did this come from? Not your usual free-ball hiking adventure. Myself: nude is natural. Erections are natural. End of discussion. I find the notion that a boner is “threatening” as absurd. Imagine telling some woman: your boobs are too big. I find that suggestive. However, it takes all kinds as they say. As is, I’m now at an age where I reflect wistfully of the time when erections came so easily.
This came from another guy on another blog who was outraged that he couldn't just wander around in the fully upright and ready for takeoff position without people giving him the stink eye and management asking him to do something about it.
Women don't think or feel like guys. (Duh!) I talked to my wife about it. I've talked to women at nudist events. I've talked to textile women. (It requires a certain level of familiarity before even bringing the subject up won't mark you as a pervert. And to get honest responses, not what they nervously think you want to hear.) The rules are designed to make these women more comfortable.
I see their point and an organization gets to make their rules however they think is economically viable. If nobody objected, erection mitigation rules wouldn't be a thing.
There are, of course, bold and self confident women who couldn't care less. I have met quite a few, some on the trail. And as I noted, during the Bay to Breakers, guys sporting intentional erections and painting themselves or wearing weird costumes to draw attention don't seem to phase the participants a bit. It is considered entertainment and nobody cares if it is sexual. The unintentional erections aren't even noticed.
Most of the world is not San Francisco and most nude beaches are not Cap d'Agde.
However, there are many women who see an erection and it internally sets off a trigger. Any woman over the age of 13 has probably been hit on by creeps (guys who don't - or won't - get her "NO" signals) so often that there is a defensive assumption built up. I don't know if it is *instinctively* seen as a sexual advertisement or if it is learned at a very basic level and it may not matter.
There are also men who will want to protect their women and ***adults who want to protect the children*** either from a potential predator or from potential discomfort. A few guys who might feel their own insecure heterosexuality threatened.
A lot of nudists do not think there is any such thing as a nonsexual erection in a physically mature male. Even if there were, it would be impossible to tell them apart. Doesn't matter if they are right or wrong, that is their internal reality and it isn't going to change.
That is why clubs and resorts have the rules they have. They have a right to rules that not everyone likes. People get emotional over what makes them emotional.
I personally don't care in the slightest if the guy I'm hiking with gets hard as the Rock of Gibraltar. The pool area at Olive Dell is a different matter.
I don't believe that male sexuality is being demonized. The male sex has demonized itself. There are far more sexual assaults perpetrated by males than females.
I think the naturist, nudist community would be better off if there were more females. As long as the male sex wants to be motcho and disrespectful by displaying erections it's never going to happen.
When I first attended my first nudist resort I was informed of what to do in case of an erection. I agreed to those rule, I did not feel diminished as a man to be respectful of others.
There isn't as much respect in the world these days. Many people think they are the center of the universe and the world needs to arrange itself accordingly. Taking account of the feelings of others is considered a sign of shame and weakness.
I was approached at Gunnison Beach (Sandy Hook, NJ) by a young man who apparently assumed that because I was male and alone that I was looking for some frisky company - at least his erection was signaling that as he approached me. He was wrong on all counts. I don’t believe for one minute that erections are involuntary for anyone over 20. It all depends on what’s on your mind and why you are where you are.
Certainly after you've been experiencing nudism for a day or so, the novelty has worn off. A man can learn fairly quickly to simply not have an erection when he doesn't want one. Otherwise my art model career would have been extremely short.
I will say that what happens when he's asleep or when he first wakes up in the am is involuntary.
Most erections on a nude beach are textile guys who don't give a crap about other people's sensitivities.
Erections are a loaded (pun intended?) subject in nudist circles, and I can understand why. I get why so many women feel threatened and/or objectified. As a man, I'll never know what women experience in the workplace or elsewhere. So, I wouldn't feel right about having a hard-on in a social situation.
Still, I sometimes feel as though the taboo goes too far. In my youth I did a lot (really a LOT) of nude modeling for professional photographers in New York City. Many were fairly big names: Kenn Duncan, Phillip Leonian, Arthur Tress, Stanley Steller, Tom Caravaglia, Darlene Rubin, Ken Haak, Roy Blakey, Peter Hujar, and others. With more credit due to those excellent photographers than to myself, I'm proud of those collaborations. I readily share most of the resulting images with anyone interested in seeing them. But among those dozens of photos are two showing my erection. I was a young man with a healthy libido. I was a model doing a job. One of those two photos is, I think, a work of art. I'm proud to be the model, yet I rarely show it to anyone. I channel lots of time and energy into promoting and "normalizing" non-sexual nudity, and that single image could possibly undermine my reputation. As a result, that piece of art stays hidden away in a folder, as if the mere fact that men get erections is a dark secret.
No dark secret. I doubt if it would affect your reputation at all. You are not the same person as you were then. I would have no problem with your work of art. I'd publish a "best of" on substack and include it as one of many. I do have a couple of photos that include "minimal" erections and one drawing from 50 years ago. Not really "works of art," though.
That's an interesting idea (posting a sort of gallery of my professionally photographed nudes), but I don't own the copyrights to the images. I've previously published a few, but only if I'd had a chance to discuss it with the photographers and/or their estates.
The first time I posed for an art class, I was a hormone addled 18 year old who'd never been socially nude in a coed context before. Something came up, probably from thinking about how attractive the coeds drawing me were. I didn't even realize it had happened. The class was amused, I was terminally embarrassed, and the teacher told me not to let it happen again. It didn't, at least not so obviously. Things settled down completely after a couple classes.
Not something I'm ashamed of but also not something conducive to continued employment.
I'd write about it here but It isn't really a "nudist" experience. There are probably some who would not appreciate it. It was the 70s and I think people, especially college kids, were more understanding.
OTOH, B2B usually has several guys flaunting and fluffing their erections. Textiles often want their pictures taken with them, nobody visibly complains, and the cops do not bother them, which they could legally do. Go figure.
I try to be discrete about ordinary nudity, except when I'm part of an agreed clothing optional situation. My nude hikes are remote and I rarely meet anyone unexpectedly. Spontaneous erections just from nudity have been a thing of the past for 50 years. There are people who consider a visible penis to be a weapon out of its holster, never mind an erection being a weapon that is cocked and loaded. I don't like offending people even if I think they have no legitimate reason to be offended.
My feeling is if it is an adult male, not appropriate. If it is a 14yo boy, it's fine, natural at that stage, but his parents and his Naturist Community should teach him not to flaunt it and how to handle them apparently. This is one reason why I think it is important that teens don't drop out at those years, as it normalizes puberty for the younger kids. Even better, why those parents who want to raise their children in homes with Naturist morals and ethics to send them to one of the AANR kids camps where such things are discussed, along with regular camp activities.
It is one of those things where even a little bit of discretion can save a lot of heartburn.
In a specifically nudist environment, especially in family settings, it is easy enough to be discreet until it passes. Once a guy is past that "OMG!" phase, erections are as rare as teeth in a chicken.
But it is contextual. Wouldn't bother me in a hiking partner because it isn't something of interest to me. When I was in my 20s, (40 years ago!) I did private party stripping. Sometimes, the erection was part of the show. I mentioned the Bay to Breakers and the nude art show I went to where erections happen, and nobody seems to care. None of those would be considered "nudist" events, and the participants aren't necessarily nudists.
I'm not sure this is a big problem at social nudism events. I've never noticed it happening to anyone at any of the events I've attended, and besides, how many people are looking below the waist when they are socializing?
I'm guessing this is more of a fear -- as in, "ohmygawd, what if . . ." -- than anything else. That's why there are guidelines: simply cover up with a towel or something if it does happen.
It is a tempest in a teapot because unwelcome erections are spectacularly rare. I have never seen one at a resort. Rarely at a beach. But some guys have become outraged at the towel requirement, even though they are likely never to need it.
The last time I got an unwelcome erection in a social setting, I was a hormone addled teenager on his first day (1974!) of figure modeling in his first week as a college freshman. I had zero experience of coed social nudity, zero awareness of nudism, and no idea what to expect. (The class was full of attractive college coeds, and that is what I'm going to blame.) There was no "towel" option.
But you know what? I adapted and the next day, the problem didn't come up. Got a short lecture from the teacher. No harm, no foul.
I understand what you are saying but kicking a young guy out of a resort for the reason he has an erection to me goes against the point nudist and naturist have been trying to make. I was at a resort when a young man was asked to leave and he did so without any argument. My only thought was the nudist community probably just lost a young person that it needs as part of the community. And as most guys know when suddenly in high school the math teacher calls on you to go to the board to work a problem the only problem you are concerned with is the boner in your pants. I think there are solutions but like most things it requires education. As a world we do a horrible job of teaching our children about their bodies and the stages it goes through. First thing is we need better sex education about a host of topics. Parents shoud be the first line of education but often they are not. Next, if a nudist or naturist group wants young males to come to their group or facility they need to be prepared and tell the patron how to handle the issue before it happens, towels ready, places they can go for a short cool down, etc. But one of the worst things to do to new young people is to kick them out for a completely natural reaction. We want to say being nude doesn't mean we want to have sex but then that doesn't mesh with a spontaneous reaction. I can say that I was not thinking about sex in my senior math class when I was called to the board, lol. If an erection comes with aggresive talk or action then I understand removing someone from your facility but it mostly happens to young men who really would like to avoid the situation. When I invite young guys to a naturist event it is what they ask about the most and is a concern. I take the time to explain what they can do if it happens prior to it happening. We have to give them time to get use to being nude. The over reaction is much like what happens to women who breast feed in public. Should nudist women not breast feed babies at a nudist event or facility because it offends some people? The older I get the more appreciative I am for my parents and older siblings who taught me how not to freak out over natural human behavior. Thanks for sharing your opinion on the topic and bringing it up for discussion.
If you go to a naturist club or event, there are rules. By attending you are agreeing to the rules, including the ones you think are unreasonable. I don't know of any club that would instantly throw you out if you get an erection as long you do something, anything, to make it less visible.
What is going on inside your head is irrelevant. It is what is going on in the other visitors heads that matters to the operators of a facility.
Fred, I understand what you are saying but look at your comment, "what is going on inside your head is irrelevant, It is what is going on in the other visitors heads that matters to the operators of a facility". That is exactly the argument that nonnudist give for not wanting nudist to have the freedom to be nude at beaches, parks, hiking trails, and anywhere else. When nudist agree with nonnudist for why you should not be nude the nudist community is really in trouble of becoming irrelevant.
Yup. And it is something we have to live with. Life is an extended compromise between what we'd like to do and what the world wants us to do.
I would never go naked anywhere that had an explicit rule against it. Nor would I go naked anywhere that most people in that environment would be seriously offended. WNBR, Bay to Breakers, nude beach, these are all safe places for nudity. We need more of those, not to push ourselves onto people who don't accept us.
When I am hiking, I do a minimal cover with my hat until I determine whoever I meet is okay with nudity. Obvious I'm naked, but also obvious I'm not there to display myself. I've had people thank me for the courtesy. But if they don't just pass on by, I've never had a problem with putting the hat back on my head should conversation ensue. Some hiking areas, the coverup isn't useful because nudity is expected.
If I were at a nudist resort and got erect I would follow the same policy.
If I were at the B2B and I became erect, at my age, I'd celebrate. All about time and place.
I have felt for quite a while that nudists are too concerned with what the anti-nude crowd thinks! Being nude is NATURAL, wearing clothing when not needed for protection against the cold or against occupational hazards is ridiculously unnatural!!! The anti-nude crowd is so pleased that we are catering to their wishes, as we are forced into a corner, and they are diligently working to make that corner smaller as they take away more rights! All the while our conciliatory attitude makes this easy. As much as I disagree with SOME of the 'alphabet' people's inclusiveness, they have obtained MUCH more acceptance into society than nudists. They didn't gain this by letting what others think control them. There is a dilemma here, since most social nudists are folks that are family oriented, and have jobs to consider, but we should be less concerned with offending those who want us to bow to their sick attitudes about the nude body!
The problem is that we are vastly outnumbered by the anti-nudist crowd who often control the legal system and our employment. The "I don't care" crowd isn't of much use to us.
The question is how to push hard enough to expand our fringes without triggering a reaction that really could shut us down..
Male sexuality is demonized; female sexuality is protected and esteemed, even if vulgar and degenerate. There seems to be a concerted effort to label an erection as predatory, crude, and offensive. It is a sign of health and virility. Men should be proud, if anything. Sometimes they are random. Those who claim it is because of what we are thinking are trying to "thought police" men. This campaign is just another way to control men and a double standard, among other things.
Thanks you for this open and frank article
I (even at 71) still get random erections !
All I can say is, "Congratulations!" 😊
Well “ le de frickin da” ! Lol!!🤣🤣🤣
Yes, erections are a natural occurrence. So is flatulence. One should try not to flaunt either in polite naturist society.
Firstly, thanks for addressing this topic - great that you are sharing your thoughts. Your comments are common sense and contextual, and I agree wholeheartedly. Yes, celebrate our masculinity in a way that is natural and acceptable in a group situation. If an erection occurs when there is some doubt it may offend in a nudist situation then I would say the person needs to act in a discrete way. I don't agree with barring a person if an erection is not threatening others - self awareness and discretion is essential as well as others who hold authority. Rules of engagement and common sense should prevail. I believe in inclusivess rather than alarmist reactions - sometimes a fine balance I know.
I think the complaint is that the rules of engagement are wrong, therefor they shouldn't prevail. Requiring discretion is a violation of their rights.
I'm saying that if you join a group or club or attend a formal venue, you've agreed to the rules. If you can't agree to the rules, don't join. Make your own club or join a different one you can agree with.
"They aren't welcome at a nudist resort"
Why not, they are beautiful, and FEEL great too........IF anyone is "offended", they can stick their snowflake woke heads in the sand!!!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Good article. Erections don't bother me or my (female) partner, but I think we're probably in the minority!
Doesn't bother me either. I know nudist females who are not bothered and I know nudist females are are seriously bothered. A guy ticked me off because his attitude is that nobody has the right to be bothered.
My husband and I feel the same, they don't bother us but we also believe others sensibilities should also be respected.
There's a time and place for everything.
Exactly right!!
I can’t help but think: where did this come from? Not your usual free-ball hiking adventure. Myself: nude is natural. Erections are natural. End of discussion. I find the notion that a boner is “threatening” as absurd. Imagine telling some woman: your boobs are too big. I find that suggestive. However, it takes all kinds as they say. As is, I’m now at an age where I reflect wistfully of the time when erections came so easily.
I understand your wistfulness. 😏
This came from another guy on another blog who was outraged that he couldn't just wander around in the fully upright and ready for takeoff position without people giving him the stink eye and management asking him to do something about it.
Women don't think or feel like guys. (Duh!) I talked to my wife about it. I've talked to women at nudist events. I've talked to textile women. (It requires a certain level of familiarity before even bringing the subject up won't mark you as a pervert. And to get honest responses, not what they nervously think you want to hear.) The rules are designed to make these women more comfortable.
I see their point and an organization gets to make their rules however they think is economically viable. If nobody objected, erection mitigation rules wouldn't be a thing.
There are, of course, bold and self confident women who couldn't care less. I have met quite a few, some on the trail. And as I noted, during the Bay to Breakers, guys sporting intentional erections and painting themselves or wearing weird costumes to draw attention don't seem to phase the participants a bit. It is considered entertainment and nobody cares if it is sexual. The unintentional erections aren't even noticed.
Most of the world is not San Francisco and most nude beaches are not Cap d'Agde.
However, there are many women who see an erection and it internally sets off a trigger. Any woman over the age of 13 has probably been hit on by creeps (guys who don't - or won't - get her "NO" signals) so often that there is a defensive assumption built up. I don't know if it is *instinctively* seen as a sexual advertisement or if it is learned at a very basic level and it may not matter.
There are also men who will want to protect their women and ***adults who want to protect the children*** either from a potential predator or from potential discomfort. A few guys who might feel their own insecure heterosexuality threatened.
A lot of nudists do not think there is any such thing as a nonsexual erection in a physically mature male. Even if there were, it would be impossible to tell them apart. Doesn't matter if they are right or wrong, that is their internal reality and it isn't going to change.
That is why clubs and resorts have the rules they have. They have a right to rules that not everyone likes. People get emotional over what makes them emotional.
I personally don't care in the slightest if the guy I'm hiking with gets hard as the Rock of Gibraltar. The pool area at Olive Dell is a different matter.
Ahhh, yes those were the days!
I don't believe that male sexuality is being demonized. The male sex has demonized itself. There are far more sexual assaults perpetrated by males than females.
I think the naturist, nudist community would be better off if there were more females. As long as the male sex wants to be motcho and disrespectful by displaying erections it's never going to happen.
When I first attended my first nudist resort I was informed of what to do in case of an erection. I agreed to those rule, I did not feel diminished as a man to be respectful of others.
There isn't as much respect in the world these days. Many people think they are the center of the universe and the world needs to arrange itself accordingly. Taking account of the feelings of others is considered a sign of shame and weakness.
Agreed.
BINGO!
I was approached at Gunnison Beach (Sandy Hook, NJ) by a young man who apparently assumed that because I was male and alone that I was looking for some frisky company - at least his erection was signaling that as he approached me. He was wrong on all counts. I don’t believe for one minute that erections are involuntary for anyone over 20. It all depends on what’s on your mind and why you are where you are.
Certainly after you've been experiencing nudism for a day or so, the novelty has worn off. A man can learn fairly quickly to simply not have an erection when he doesn't want one. Otherwise my art model career would have been extremely short.
I will say that what happens when he's asleep or when he first wakes up in the am is involuntary.
Most erections on a nude beach are textile guys who don't give a crap about other people's sensitivities.
Erections are a loaded (pun intended?) subject in nudist circles, and I can understand why. I get why so many women feel threatened and/or objectified. As a man, I'll never know what women experience in the workplace or elsewhere. So, I wouldn't feel right about having a hard-on in a social situation.
Still, I sometimes feel as though the taboo goes too far. In my youth I did a lot (really a LOT) of nude modeling for professional photographers in New York City. Many were fairly big names: Kenn Duncan, Phillip Leonian, Arthur Tress, Stanley Steller, Tom Caravaglia, Darlene Rubin, Ken Haak, Roy Blakey, Peter Hujar, and others. With more credit due to those excellent photographers than to myself, I'm proud of those collaborations. I readily share most of the resulting images with anyone interested in seeing them. But among those dozens of photos are two showing my erection. I was a young man with a healthy libido. I was a model doing a job. One of those two photos is, I think, a work of art. I'm proud to be the model, yet I rarely show it to anyone. I channel lots of time and energy into promoting and "normalizing" non-sexual nudity, and that single image could possibly undermine my reputation. As a result, that piece of art stays hidden away in a folder, as if the mere fact that men get erections is a dark secret.
No dark secret. I doubt if it would affect your reputation at all. You are not the same person as you were then. I would have no problem with your work of art. I'd publish a "best of" on substack and include it as one of many. I do have a couple of photos that include "minimal" erections and one drawing from 50 years ago. Not really "works of art," though.
That's an interesting idea (posting a sort of gallery of my professionally photographed nudes), but I don't own the copyrights to the images. I've previously published a few, but only if I'd had a chance to discuss it with the photographers and/or their estates.
The first time I posed for an art class, I was a hormone addled 18 year old who'd never been socially nude in a coed context before. Something came up, probably from thinking about how attractive the coeds drawing me were. I didn't even realize it had happened. The class was amused, I was terminally embarrassed, and the teacher told me not to let it happen again. It didn't, at least not so obviously. Things settled down completely after a couple classes.
Not something I'm ashamed of but also not something conducive to continued employment.
I'd write about it here but It isn't really a "nudist" experience. There are probably some who would not appreciate it. It was the 70s and I think people, especially college kids, were more understanding.
OTOH, B2B usually has several guys flaunting and fluffing their erections. Textiles often want their pictures taken with them, nobody visibly complains, and the cops do not bother them, which they could legally do. Go figure.
I try to be discrete about ordinary nudity, except when I'm part of an agreed clothing optional situation. My nude hikes are remote and I rarely meet anyone unexpectedly. Spontaneous erections just from nudity have been a thing of the past for 50 years. There are people who consider a visible penis to be a weapon out of its holster, never mind an erection being a weapon that is cocked and loaded. I don't like offending people even if I think they have no legitimate reason to be offended.
My feeling is if it is an adult male, not appropriate. If it is a 14yo boy, it's fine, natural at that stage, but his parents and his Naturist Community should teach him not to flaunt it and how to handle them apparently. This is one reason why I think it is important that teens don't drop out at those years, as it normalizes puberty for the younger kids. Even better, why those parents who want to raise their children in homes with Naturist morals and ethics to send them to one of the AANR kids camps where such things are discussed, along with regular camp activities.
If the guy is flaunting his erection in everyone's face, then it can be quite offensive.
It is one of those things where even a little bit of discretion can save a lot of heartburn.
In a specifically nudist environment, especially in family settings, it is easy enough to be discreet until it passes. Once a guy is past that "OMG!" phase, erections are as rare as teeth in a chicken.
But it is contextual. Wouldn't bother me in a hiking partner because it isn't something of interest to me. When I was in my 20s, (40 years ago!) I did private party stripping. Sometimes, the erection was part of the show. I mentioned the Bay to Breakers and the nude art show I went to where erections happen, and nobody seems to care. None of those would be considered "nudist" events, and the participants aren't necessarily nudists.
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