Naamloos

In the heat of battle, photographer Horace Bristol captured one of the most unique and erotic photos of WWII.

Bristol photographed a young crewman of a US Navy “Dumbo” PBY rescue mission, manning his gun after having stripped naked and jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot. The Marine was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul.

“…we got a call to pick up an airman who was down in the Bay. The Japanese were shooting at him from the island, and when they saw us they started shooting at us. The man who was shot down was temporarily blinded, so one of our crew stripped off his clothes and jumped in to bring him aboard. He couldn’t have swum very well wearing his boots and clothes. As soon as we could, we took off. We weren’t waiting around for anybody to put on formal clothes. We were being shot at and wanted to get the hell out of there. The naked man got back into his position at his gun in the blister of the plane.”

Evgeny Mokhorov, 2012

Another’s reply:

There are many things about this topic.

First, sexualization. A person doesn't need to be nude to be sexualized by another one. I think this point is rather important.

Now, i don't think the real problem here is if there's people who cannot separate nudity from sex. Let me elaborate.

I ignore how big is that group of people who won't get naked unless they're in the shower. But regardless of the size i think that group is loud. They organize, they complain, they force the rules so that people who enjoy casual nudity cannot do it easily. These people won't accept something as simple as live and let live. And unfortunately they don't want to differentiate a naturist from an exhibitionist. For these group we're all sick. But i would like to believe that if people understood the difference maybe things would be more peaceful for naturists. I remember a video of bodypainting in New York, the comments from some people were horrible. Calling those participants animals and worse.

However there's something else. Our sexual urges are also part of our nature. A naturists who goes to their backyard to take the sun or is watching tv isn't naked because they're aroused. But if there's someone who besides the comforts of a naturist life also enjoys it from a sexual point of view, that's not bad either. That's also natural. If they want to take pictures of themselves naked and aroused in their homes or in the woods and post them on the net, let them be.

The line that should not be broken is when someone uses that nudity or that sexuality to cause discomfort to others. When someone strips naked to expose themselves to others who didn't want to see them, that's what's bad and wrong.