Forced-male nudity. This would be the term I would often search for in the days of Yahoo! Groups. Often drawn to titles under companies like “Academy Men” or even “Sharpshooter Studios” (granted, the latter was far more playful and softcore), I was both fascinated and turned on by situations where men found themselves not only vulnerable, but forced into often very public scenarios where their clothing is taken from them in varying ways.

For this type of fetish to work for me, it would have to start at the beginning of the situation. With a man fully dressed and seeing the realization dawn on them and they’re soon going to be naked and, often, the only one in such an exposed state. It’s more about the removal of the clothing and the tense and slow build-up even before the first article of attire is taken.

However, it’s also important that these were fictional situations. It is far more entertaining to me when everyone is a participant (including the soon-to-be-embarrassed party), but acted out with such authenticity that you can feel the tension sparked up in the quickening pulses and snapped open in the exhilarating shudders of rapid breathing.

“Sharpshooter Studios”, on the other hand, is often known (and rather notorious) for these situations where the acting is sub-par. And honestly, I kind of like that, too. There’s a certain playfulness and charm in the innocence of guys that seem very ready to participate in a fictional situation beneath the thin veil of acting out nervousness. That, I think has it’s place, too.

But, even with the more hardcore directions of “Academy Men” where uniformed men are stripped or forced to strip fashioned in the theme of leather and BDSM, I’d often stop when it got to portraying pain, despite the fact that the men being put in these scenarios were still a participant.

To me, it’s all about just embarrassment and how the clothing is removed in either playful or serious situations beneath the fiction of lights, camera, action.

So, once Pilot shed his clothes and sat down in a non-chalant, almost masculine manner of being unbothered and unashamed of letting himself be seen in this way, one of the first things I, of course, asked him about was the subject of ENM:

So, whenever I watch an ENM scene, umm, especially one with forced nudity, I tend to get kind of excited. Usually if it’s just focused on the nudity. So, you remember the movie, “Bullet” that I wrote about, umm, where Mickey Rourke forced those two dudes to strip, um, what was your take on that in that situation, do you think it was justified? And also, what is your take on them being in public like that?

Yeah, um, so I had actually completely forgotten about that scene from “Bullet” when I read the article. Um, this embarrassed-male-nudity thing is a little more about clothing than it is about nudity was my take-away. I think it always seems that clothing is like a communicative thing, right? I mean, in theory whatever clothes you choose to wear communicating something about yourself. And that has always felt like a language that I don’t quite know how to speak. So I almost wonder how much of that is, sort of, ya know, about the embarrassment part of nudity and whatever way of presenting yourself. The barrier you had against the rest of the eyes of the world is taken away rather than having something explicitly to do with nudity. That was a question that I had. I don’t know if I’m right.

You are. I mean, to me, it is about the removal of the clothing.

Yeah, but does that center around the removal of the clothing or the consequent nudity afterwards? I’m still viewing them as slightly separate things where, maybe, this could just be where my barriers around nudity are and not fundamentally being embarrassing. Somebody, someone, somewhere, some educated socialist will throw tomatoes at me for saying, Clothing is a social construct.

I was thinking, Oh, well, they can’t signal that they’re from the right side of town, anymore, right? So how much of that is playing into it? But I suppose there’s also a lot of, ya know, throw tomatoes at me, but the cultural construct around agency there, as well. They had to be forced to remove their clothes. So that can also be the kind of thing where it’s like, Oh, somebody forced you to strip. That’s the emasculating part of it. So it becomes a power thing. It’s just kind of an interesting idea, right… past a certain point, imagine how much harder it’s going to be in their circumstance where you’re just basically looking to get some clothes and a ride back to where you’re from. It almost seemed to be more difficult to run around like this (acting like he’s covering himself) the entire time as opposed to just being able to walk down the street.

Um, a-a-and, so… I love men being put in these fictional situations when there’s exposure in rather embarrassing situations. Um, what is your take on that fetish, on the ENM fetish and how, how it poses as an excitement to some people?

Yeah, I can certainly see the idea of also forcing vulnerability of any sort being appealing under certain circumstances. ‘Cause you can be guarded if you’re comfortable in your own skin. Their first layer of armor against the world getting stripped away. I can certainly see putting someone in a position where they’re suddenly a bit dependent. I feel weird executing that on somebody, though.

I mean, we’re talking fiction.

Yeah, it’s certainly an interesting way to get at just the general idea of how masculinity is presented. Right?

Umm, so you said your approach to nudity is more European. Ummmm, I actually find that to be the case as well as we are a nation founded by prudes..

Yeah.

Umm, however, growing up in this country, despite how liberal my attitude is, is towards this, I still feel that my perspective has been affected by this country’s approach to nudity. Umm, would you say the same for yourself being in America even in this age where information is everywhere, that your perspective has been affected by that, even a little?

Yeah. Yeah, certainly with my ability where I’m mostly comfortable by my own nudity, it’s definitely the case that I get startled every time male nudity is presented in any sort of media. Um, just because it is, like, men are always at least wearing a loincloth.

(we laugh)

Um, context is not super important, you know? You get the superhero movies where the superhero goes through an explosion and his uniform is mostly torn but, like, the nipples and the crotch are still covered. Every time. Doesn’t matter how the explosion happened; Doesn’t matter if the man walked through fire.

So I still get startled by it every time that happens. And I think that it’s just a product of the general prudeness around it. It’s like it still catches me off guard. Even it it’s where we have straight women be like, This is kind of nice. The fact that we seem to be slowly swinging in the other direction means that they get the same eye candy heterosexual men have been getting in mass media forever.

Exactly.

But it’s still mostly so closed off and conservative around that kind of stuff. There’s always that moment where it’s like, Wow, that’s surprising. And then don’t usually examine why it’s surprising. It just sort of catches me every time.

So, umm, in my article, Why So Private Dick (shameless plug) I talked about hooow frontal nudity, how frontal male nudity is starting to be more prevalent.

Yeah.

Umm, however, when it comes to ENM scenes umm, or scenes concerning forced exposure, there’s still a long ways to go. You, being a heterosexual male, do you, yourself, see this in films and TV and the media in general and, again, what is your take on that?

Um, I don’t know how much media there is that I’ve consumed like that, recently, where the embarrassment is part of the component around it. So, prior to reading your article, I don’t think I’ve actually thought about it in a long time.

Yeah. I mean, not being embarrassed by my own nudity, I just wind up getting confused about it when I see stuff like that were it’s like, you don’t have to take those short little steps around when you’re naked.

Like, why don’t you just walk? I mean, even if you’re gonna keep yourself covered, it is possible to keep your hand in front of your crotch or both hands in front of your crotch and carry a normal gait.

But the artistic purpose seems to be, Well, let’s make it relatable for all the men in the audience by having the character completely change the way that they’re physically presenting while in the nude beyond the fact that their clothing is missing. And that does seem to be how it gets played for laughs but also, I know friends of mine who would be really deeply embarrassed to have their pants tear while they’re on a boat with their friends. I mean, even if it’s, like, one ass cheek coming out because your swim trunks tore. ‘Cause, you know, you sat on a rock that was sharper or rougher than you were expecting, something like that. I definitely have friends who would be just wearing a towel for the rest of the time and be deeply embarrassed. And I wouldn’t try to be making them uncomfortable in that circumstance. I have learned my lesson about teasing other people around their barrier. But, it is still sort of surprising to come across that. Especially ‘cause, like, on average, we all kind of look similar. Like, the shoulders to hips ratio of most men is roughly the same. I almost wonder how much of it also men being specifically insecure about their penis? I do wonder how much an influence pornography has had on that? ‘Cause, obviously, those guys are under the kind of selective pressure where, it’s like….

Ye-e-e-e-es…

There’s a million men in Hollywood and those that get cast are three standard deviations out from the norm. Where, it’s a little bit weird thinking that there’s an ideal anyways, because that’s for heterosexual men. If you’re endowed like that, a foot long, and, like, a Coke can thickness? You’re going to hurt most of your partners if you’re not extremely careful. And even at my not pornstar-size self with that, I have to be careful. And so, it really seems to have the comparison issue and then there’s the men-are-never-supposed-to-be-naked issue. I think that, sort of, cross-legged position makes it feel much more acute for folks and even having to walk differently on camera. Like, I would actually be very curious to talk to the director and the actors and be like, Did someone have to consciously direct you to walk that way? Or was it, Oh, I’m naked, therefore I walk differently, I move differently? Because I think that would be somewhat insightful to learn the perspective from the actors and the directors. Did the actors need coaching on how to be embarrassed while being nude?

I mean, I’ve seen pornstars, though, that are less hung than that. (Directing my attention to his penis.) Ya know, umm, but, actually, umm, talking about that fetish, um, that, that scene I wrote about in “Righteous Gemstomes,”..

Yeah.

When I talked about the beefy redhead not showing anything..

Yeah.

And, and, I equated that well, if a woman was put in that situation, how often, how often is it that we see a woman even in that kind of situation where she’s forced to show everything.. Now, you, you see it plenty of times, I think I remember, even umm, this one movie “Lovely and Amazing” with Dermot Mulroney and, umm, this British actor, I can’t remember her name, if you, if you saw her face, you’d know who she is, and there’s a scene in there where she’s completely naked and you see, you see her full frontal, right? Umm, while Dermot is in a sheet, half covered in a sheet. And, I remember in an interview, he was saying, Yeah, I mean, like, we, we were both pretty exposed in that scene… And I remember thinking, Mother fucker, what do you mean you were both pretty exposed? You were covered by a sheet, she, she was showing full bush. What do you mean?

Yeah, yeah. And, and it says something about: Nude female, desirable; Nude man, objectionable, where there’s this, like, weird construct.

It is one of those things that just because I’m insecure about how I look, I’m still fairly comfortable with it. Like, okay, so there’s only a limited amount that I can do about this, I’m just going to try to act as comfortably with myself.

I think that’s a perfect point to end this article on. This is an interesting contrast. The feelings Pilot says about himself. He’s a very attractive guy. But it comes down to a few things.

We are all our own worst critics. More often than not, no one can tear us down better than ourselves. The mirror can be your best friend or a savage beast that’s hell bent on making you feel like you’re the ugliest person in the room. But, coming from someone that deals with these kinds of demons, I think it’s important to recognize these fears and doubts. But only see them and see what they’re doing to you. And then realize that that is not reality. This is not your reality. You are better than that.

To me, being comfortable with one’s self is really the epitome of this whole forced-nude-male fetish.

I keep stressing fictional. And that’s my stance on it. These stories I write, this fetish I have, I’m fully aware that it’s most likely an extension of my perspective. I’m not going to say that it’s due to an insecurity or that it’s because I’m upset about something and I’m taking it out on other people. I really fuckin’ hate it when harmless fetishes are devolved into nothing more than the result of some emotional damage. That’s the same excuse several people use for those that are part of the queer community. Oh, you weren’t loved enough, so that’s why you’re this way. No, fuck that noise.

I’m really all about the fantasy. This situation? It’s not something I want to see played out in reality. And what Pilot said about him not wanting to make a friend more uncomfortable in an already deeply vulnerable state? That’s what I think, too.

To me, the ENM fetish is far more effective when everyone is in on it. Where everyone has a real desire for the outcome. That, to me, is far better and spicier.

Again, it gets me back to the same point I’ve written about before. Be the change you want to see in the world. When it comes to the embarrassment fetish (especially when it involves forced removal of clothing in varying ways) there’s still just way too much focus on women. I say, create it yourself, in any way shape or form. Form communities and gather people that are just as passionate about this fetish as you and just write it. Film it. Just create something that is entirely your own and something that not only would probably be a turn-on, but something you can feel great that you accomplished, that you contributed to the world.

That is my take on ENM.