Skinny Dipping

A phrase kept popping up during conversations....
I noticed that all American girls think it's
cool to go "skinny dipping" (SD), and it is supposed
to be secretly at night under influence of alcohol.
In fact, if you make a profile at match.com you
will find that ALL American girls think it is a
turn-on (whereas tattoos are more like 50-50).
So much for diversity. At first, I didn't understand
what they meant. I thought SD to be some
sacred American youth ritual of a delicate
semi-erotic nature. When I finally realized that
they are just talking about plain nude swimming, I
asked a friend what the **** that was all about
because we constantly do that in Scandinavia in
full daylight, and she told me it's an important
part of American culture because people don't
have exposure to nudity over here. So they learn
about that ... stuff..... by jumping in the ocean naked
after the prom... or something like that. I fail
to understand how this ritual, if it only be of
educational value, manages to stay on the
"turn-on" list of many an adult female all over
this country. Maybe I should just start doing it
drunk at night time instead.... I see the point
of getting totally naked if you're from the midwest
and have your first contact with the ocean, as a
kind of back-to-nature appraisal. But apparently,
the simplest actions can be raised to mysterious
and powerful rituals if performed under the
influence of alcohol and the illusion of breaking
a taboo....

But hey, if everything natural turns us on when we
have discarded it for a while in search of civilization,
we should stand a pretty good chance of staying
excited the next hundreds of years as we devote
ourselves more and more to modern life. Not long
from now, the daring ritual of being outdoors
secretly at night and maybe even looking at the
stars will be considered a turn-on and naughtily
referred to at our match.com profiles.