Men gathered in a room in silence to commune and masturbate for an hour on a hot Sunday afternoon in North London, seems, on the face of it, either a waste of time, because we could equally do this in the comfort of our own homes, or shameful exhibitionism and just weird.
In fact, there is something deeper going on. It is the shameless expression of men performing sex on themselves in a safe space that quickly fills the air with sexual energy and testosterone, that feels natural. Facilitated by Gareth @gtvlondon, we are greeted and seated in a room laid-out with white sheets, a mattress in the middle of the floor, and cushions and towels placed around it. We arrange ourselves in front of the mattress as if at an altar. And it feels like that, as if we are attending an ancient ritual written in the eons of time and performed by groups of men ever since. It doesn’t feel seedy or even hypersexual at first, in the way that it does in a sauna. This is intimate without the need for body-to-body intimacy.
Gareth instructs us in some breathing exercises to bring us into the space and relax. We undress. There’s music and as each man begins to explore his own body, any insecurities quickly fade as we watch each other around the circle, until one after another, the eight or so men reach their climax.
Events like this enable men to explore their sexuality in a safe, consensual way. The rules are clearly laid out and nothing is a surprise apart from the sense of natural communal togetherness, naturism and that there is nothing to feel shameful about.
Catch @gtvlondon on their Naked Men Talking Podcast for more interviews exploring naturism.
David Ledain 