Wisconsin Freshman Marvels at Homeless Man Masturbating on Purple Line
EVANSTON – When Jeremy Schlitz, a Weinberg freshman from Elkhorn, Wisconsin, took the Purple Line to go to his aunt’s Oak Park condominium, the last thing he expected was to see public masturbation.
“It just didn’t cross my mind,” Schlitz said, shaking his head in awe. But when he boarded the southbound train, the first thing he saw was a homeless man furiously pleasuring himself in plain view of everyone on the cab.
“Everyone pretty much ignored it, so I figured that it was normal,” Schlitz said. “We don’t have that up north.”
The homeless man, whom Schlitz described as being in his “mid-to-late fifties” and “bearded,” made quite an impact on the freshman, who intends to study sociology.
“I grew up in a pretty sheltered town,” Schlitz explained. “It was rare to see a homeless man defecating on a park bench, let alone masturbating in public!”
Schlitz added, “It really shows you how progressive Chicago is, culture-wise.”
After taking pictures of the masturbating man with his iPhone, Schlitz tweeted “man masturbating on #purpleline. i’m learning so much! #smalltownboy.” Schlitz explained that the tweet was retweeted by several of his friends back home, who were presumably impressed by the artistic and cultural environment of Chicagoland.
On his trip returning from his aunt’s, Schlitz said that he did not see anyone masturbating, but added that there was only one other person in his cab and that perhaps his fellow passenger was too shy to pleasure himself in front of only one other person.
“I bet he felt awkward,” Schlitz hypothesized. “My professor talked about that, it all has to do with socialization.”
Whether or not the masturbating man was performing a social field experiment or simply deriving pleasure from the manipulation of his genitalia was something that Schlitz intended to research in the future, he said.
Schlitz said, “I asked my Human Sexuality professor about discussing it in class, but he just got nervous and hurried away, muttering something about a fucksaw.”
Honestly I don’t think they think about it much. Depending on the circumstances in which they became homeless (and how long they remain homeless) shame is something we are taught. When you loose or no longer have a need for shame, shame is no longer a deterrent. Our ape cousins, Chimpanzees for example, sex is part of their culture. Public sex is part of their culture. Chimps and bonobos use sexual bonding like us humans do “boys will be boys” and such (comparing sizes and mutual masturbation etc…)
I think it’s about the same for the homeless. If we look at indigenous tribes across the world, nakedness is just something normal and parents have sex in front of the children so fourth and so on. At the end of the day, we are animals by nature and civilized by self domestication. I’m sure natural desire and instincts (as I’ve been saying) is the natural driving force. Masturbation is normal and all species do it, and they do it openly.
That leads me back to how long someone has been on the streets. I’m sure that in the beginning they tried to keep it civil and secret and private; looking for some place to some safe vulnerable “me time”. And after a while, after all the hiding and all the searching and…I just assume instinct of sexual needs takes precedent over public sexual opinions. Basically the reward is worth the risk.
Let’s make it slightly personal; I’m sure you’ve woken up with that unsightly painful boner, horny and just want it to go away. What do you do about it? Do you even think about it or do you just reach down and start rubbing right there in your bed? I think it’s the same for them. Sleeping on the streets doesn’t make morning wood disappear, and in that hypnogogic state between awake and sleep, they just take care of business so they can go back to sleep (or get up and mosey about). Do it enough times, I’m pretty sure you begin to not care if someone is even watching you. To play pocket pool with a total lack of self consciousness about what you’re even doing.
Now I’ve never been in their shoes, never talked to them about it either. But I do know how animals are. And I know how PreContact indigenous tribes were. Indigenous tribes today without modern contact. That’s where I draw my answer from. Shame is taught. And if it can be taught and learned, it can just as easily be unlearned. And I’m sure being in particular or certain situations can trigger a faster abandonment of personal shame. Example, are you willing to shit your pants? How many stores are you going to ask and be told they don’t have a public restroom before you just don’t give a fuck and drop your drawers? Sexual needs are not so different from the needs of bodily functions. You can only suppress it for so long. I’ve pissed in public because there’s no bathroom available, you haven’t stepped around the tree or behind a bush? I think it’s about the same.
I hope my thoughts help answer your question. Now by no means am I an expert. I’m just an enlightened individual who pays attention to the natural world.