Hey, Look Me Over! A Few Thoughts on Hotel Exhibitionism

Since I've already shared that I don't mind looking at naked people, I might as well admit that I'm not averse to a bit of hotel exhibitionism, either. Apologies to anyone who knows me and is now imagining me unclothed.

Hotels bring out the exhibitionist in a lot of people, celebrities in particular. Celebs do it for the PR, obviously, while the rest of us are presumably inclined because no one we know will see us. (In contrast, I don't walk around naked in front of my apartment's windows because I know the people who live across the street. Also, my apartment is often chilly. It's my hunch that people act friskier than usual when in hotels because (a) hotels are intrinsically sexy, and (b) people staying in hotels tend to get bored.

At a hotel, I never bother to shut the draperies unless I'm sleeping, and I've even been known to stroll naked onto a balcony or terrace. First, I'm not packing anything no one has seen before, and second, if you don't want to see it, you can always look away. Mind you, I don't stand out there and display for hours (or even minutes) on end. I just don't worry about things the way I would at home. And I'd never do it in, say, the Middle East—the truly awful Sex & the City 2 comes to mind—or most of the American South.

After the jump: Your opportunity to make me feel less like a dirty bird—or shame me into behaving more appropriately.

All of which leads me to three questions.

1. Have you ever stood naked on a hotel balcony?

2. Have you skinny dipped in a hotel pool? The ocean? With anyone you didn't know until that trip?

3. Would you go to an adults-only (i.e., topless) pool in Las Vegas? Would you let your spouse go without you?

Answer in the comments or at the discussion I started on TravelPost.

P.S. The photo is of the Hotel Fasano in Rio, from photographer Mario Testino's book MaRIO DE JANEIRO, which got me thinking about exhibitionism in the first place because it has lots of naked people in it, including at the Fasano—and although I've stayed there I wouldn't stand naked on that balcony, that's for sure. I might feel differently if I were a Brazilian model....