To me, one of the benefits of nudism is that you seem to learn a new level of sexual control the way people learn skills in The Matrix -- except instead of installing a skill, it's already there and you just have to enter the activation code.

Control isn't just about restraint, which is important, but that it's also about the ability to feel sexy (however we define it for ourselves) without it necessitating action. We quickly learn the subtleties in arousal, giving us more control over it.

Think of it in terms of another strong urge: hunger. You don't stuff yourself into a food coma in the middle of the afternoon when your blood sugar drops just a little, so you grab a little snack or drink some water to sate yourself so you can put off "meal hunger" until later. In fact, if you can do that, then that later hunger doesn't compel you to gorge, but to eat a healthier and tastier meal.

Same with nudity and sex. If you can feel early stages of arousal, you can head it off before it manifests as an immediate need for physical satisfaction. You're getting a less intense but sustained kind of sensual awareness, and when the time is right, the stronger sexual urge isn't about getting from arousal to orgasm so quickly.

Thing is, your body already knows when it's time for sex or not, but we don't get to activate that feature unless we experience some form social nudity. We, especially men, close ourselves off from any kind of sensuality, and that "hunger" builds up pressure. Then - like someone who only eats when he's starving, then binge eats - we associate nudity with sexual release to the point where it's one in the same.

To me, this explains why some guys are so afraid to get naked in locker rooms with other men. They're terrified their body will have the only reaction it has when their skin is exposed, and that they might be gay because of it. Well, if we accessed that part of ourselves that understands nudity doesn't necessitate arousal, we could be confidently naked around anyone - men, women, gay, straight, clothed, naked, private, public - with no anxiety at all.