I think the question of whether or not someone is clothed has limited bearing on their erotic appeal. Fashion is designed to be erotic – either by what it shows or what it doesn’t. Granted there are clothes that are inherently un-”sexy”, but generally society follows a sexualized trajectory. Look at the Greek and Roman phallic art, or the covert (but rampant) sexual exploration of the Victorian era. Our society is no different.
I think the heart of this article is right: naturists have gone so far to deny that there could be any hint of sexual feeling involved in a naked gathering that it almost becomes suspicious. Denying any amount of sexuality in a naturist situation is like denying that anyone could be thinking about airplanes. It might not be happening, but it might be. Either way, that is not the purpose of the experience.
From a personal place, I would be lying to say that there isn’t something erotic about seeing my wife laying naked on a beach. But there are appropriate times and places to explore that eroticism. A public arena isn’t one of them – and this is an understanding that I think most adults share.
I think it’s a pity that the naturist community seems to be almost more obsessed with this question then others are. We seek so fervently to disprove it that we inadvertently validate the claim. I agree with what has been said before – nudity is erotic, because we are sexual beings. That being said, I think it is no more or less erotic then the majority of other social interactions we have. Nudity may add another layer of thought, but ultimately it’s something that we as a community need to be able to wrestle with. In so doing, we may have to look at and assess the sexual components of any interaction – which is not something most people seem overly keen to do.