Exhibitionism

Not to be confused with Exhibition.

Sometimes, people show themselves uncovered, or naked to other people they don't know. They usually do this to get attention. The person who does this is called an exhibitionist. The behavior is called exhibitionism.

Naked exhibitionist woman on a Budapest street in 2007.

Exhibitionism occurs because of different things: Usually, exhibitionists are extroverts. Exhibitionists often get a good feeling when they show their breasts, genitals or buttocks to strangers to shock or frighten them.^[1]

Less severe forms,are mooning, streaking and flashing.

Also note that to get attention, people must do this at a place we others do not expect it. Undressing before visiting a sauna, taking off or changing clothes at a beach are perfectly normal.

So there are different settings:

• There are certain medical conditions that make a person exhibitionist. An example of this is histrionic personality disorder.^[2] Exhibitionism is one of the symptoms of the condition. People may get good feelings from showing their naked breasts, genitals or buttocks.
• Sometimes people have developed exhibitionist behaviors to compensate for things that they cannot get.
• More and more, people take pictures or videos of themselves naked, or getting naked. They then upload this material on the internet. Sometimes they also get pleasure from such actions.^[3]
• In some cases, people are not really exhibitionist, but they use nudity as a form of protest, or as a form of emphasis, to get their message across more easily.
• As outlined, mooning, streaking and flashing are behaviors that some no longer consider exhibitionist.

Many countries have laws against exhibitionism.

Common use of the term

All of the following are usually considered exhibitionist

Nude in public

People celebrating at a festival, in the nude

There is a movement called "Nude in public", wehere people get nude. They then get pleasure from other people looking at them when they are nude, or when they get nude. This behavior is clearly exhibitionist

Flashing and mooning

Women flashing at a festival in Poland

Students mooning at Stanford University in 1995, intended as an unspecified protest and a world record attempt

When people expose their genitals or breasts for a short time, this is called flashing. If they show their buttocks, it is usually called mooning.

Streaking

Someone flashing (or streaking) around a sports arena during a game

When people perform things in the nude, at a public event, this is usually called straking. People enganging in this show up naked, at public events.

Related pages

• Voyeurism