Stephane Deschenes Responds to Toronto Police Report

Following the arrest of an elderly man accused of sex crimes against children, the Toronto Police stated that he "gained access to children through his affiliation with various nudist organizations around the world".

In a swift response, the Director of the Federation of Canadian Naturists, Stephane Deschanes, took exception to the insinuation that nudist and naturist groups were providing access to pedophiles. Here is the entire press release:

The Federation of Canadian Naturists, like everyone else, is committed to stopping sex offenders and to helping their victims. However, we take exception to the Toronto Police Service Sex Crime Unit's (New Release May 13, 2010, 10h56) characterization that the accused "gained access to children through his affiliation with various nudist organizations around the world".

Unlike organized sports, religious institutions and other activities coordinated by civic organizations, children in naturism are not left in the care of a person in authority. Naturism is based on family participation and children are usually in the care of their parents. As such, being affiliated with a naturist/nudist organization would not provide any more access than joining any other group. In fact, children in naturism may be less vulnerable because naturist environments tend to have a stronger sense of community than the general society. People in naturist clubs look out for each other and are very aware of what is happening in their environment. Individuals with nefarious intent are often easier to identify if they are in a naturist environment.

A multitude of scholarly research studies on this topic in psychology and sociology have shown that children reared in an atmosphere containing casual family social nudity benefit from the practice. Children raised in naturism learn to accept the human body and recognize that everyone is unique. Comfort with nudity combined with naturist values lead to a healthy self-image and strong self-esteem. Although good parenting is by far the most important factor in raising children, naturism helps to promote their confidence and understanding about their bodies.

It is clear that being dressed has not kept children safe. Those who prey on children are attracted to any place where children can be found. It is a sad reality that predators have been found as priests, teachers, scout leaders, hockey coaches, etc... It is therefore unrealistic to suggest that we should avoid any place that might attract them since we would rob our children of all of those institutions that are so important to their upbringing.

The best thing we can do is to teach our children the confidence to speak up when people do things that make them uncomfortable. If they are not ashamed of their bodies, they are much more likely to tell their parents when someone does things to them that they don't like. If we are informed, we can help them. Whether nude or clothed, children should know that being touched in certain ways is wrong and they should have the assertiveness to speak up.

For further information: Stephane Deschenes, Director, Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN), stephane@FCN.ca, Cell: (416) 219-5856, www.FCN.ca

Fear-Mongering

Kent Hanlin, an investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol, is passionate about his calling, which is apparently to put all the state's children in jail. He's going all over Nebraska speaking to school children with lines like these:

“We have girls who take topless pictures of themselves and e-mail it to their boyfriends, thinking it will help keep him (in the relationship),” he said.

“Boys do nasty things with video and send it to their girlfriends,” he said. “They may change (the images) to include a sex act.”

“I have seen where they hold the cell phone over the stall and shoot photos,” he said. “Yeah, they think it’s funny. But a picture like that could make you a registered sex offender.”

“People take pictures for yearbooks, then digitize them where it becomes a porn case and hate crime,” he said. “Another case was described (by the predator) as a ‘potential’ — one where the girl was in a cheerleading outfit and eating a lolly. The picture was later digitally enhanced.”

“If you have pictures of people partying, you love it as a cop. Why not give it over as evidence to arrest you?” he said. “And I can go to a chat room as an invisible visitor. I have a lot of tricks to follow the information.”

“This thing is all around. It’s in your back yard,” Hanlin said. “The predators go where you are at. They are at the malls and swimming pools. They can sit in a city park or in the yard by the daycare and start taking pictures, and you can’t stop them."

“These online predators say, ‘Trust me, I know what I’m doing.’ They are good, and they are fast,” he said. “By the end of the conversation, they know a girl’s chest size. More boys don’t tell if they are victims. Boys think they are macho and quiet.”

“A stranger is someone you don’t know,” he said. “They may give you their name and photo, but they’re still a stranger. It could be a bad guy.”

“You become a statistic, and you become a victim,” he said of Internet offenses.

OK, admittedly there are some very nasty people in this world, and kids should be taught to have common sense, but with all this fear-mongering we are turning our children into paranoid recluses.

Kids who are constantly warned of stranger danger come to see the world as a very threatening, dangerous place. Every interaction puts them at risk. For some young kids, they don't even understand the distinction between "stranger" and "strange" – so they think that anything out of their ordinary experience can be a threat.

And just how dangerous is the online environment for children? Anastasia Goodstein reports for PBS:

The biggest myth that has been perpetuated by well meaning law enforcement, Internet safety advocates, and the media is that the Internet is teeming with predators who are waiting for your child to post just enough information so they can find them and abduct them. In "Totally Wired," I relied on this stat: "Out of the 800,000 kids that are reported missing each year by the Justice Department, only 150 cases involve 'stereotypical kidnappings,' in which a child is taken by a stranger, held for ransom, or killed." Now there is new data from some of the lead researchers in the field that is putting online stranger-danger in even more perspective and clarifying who is really at risk.

Take the time to read Just the Facts About Online Youth Victimization where researchers present the facts and debunk myths. A little common sense and proper parenting, folks, and stop allowing television talking heads and hysterical law enforcement investigators to ruin the lives of your children.

"Unless you intend to raise them as nudists"

"Curious in Maryland" writes to "Dear Annie":

I am the father of two sons, 7 and 11. At what point do you stop dressing or being naked in front of your children? I come from a minister's family, and my wife comes from a somewhat dysfunctional family. Let's just say they are at the other end of the spectrum and leave it at that. My wife still gets dressed and undressed in front of the boys, and thinks nothing of coming out of the shower naked while the boys are in our bedroom watching TV. I sometimes get dressed in front of them at home or at the changing room at the pool. What do you think?

Annie's answer:

Parents of the opposite sex should not be undressing in front of their children after the age of 4. Unless you intend to raise them as nudists, both of your boys are too old for this. The 11-year-old will be going through puberty soon and will become plenty confused if he is inadvertently aroused by his mother. Insist that every member of the family have some privacy.

There's a lot wrong with this little exchange, but let's focus on the phrase "unless you intend to raise them as nudists". I tend to think that Annie meant to use the words in the sense that nudism was completely out of the question, such as when you would advise someone who was loading a gun with the safety off with "unless you want to blow your head off".

But the true result of Annie's advice is that she basically told the man that family nudity was perfectly OK only in the context of nudism.

This is very strange. If the boys are too old for nudity at home, what is it about nudism that would suddenly make it appropriate? If the 11 year-old is susceptible to arousal by the sight of his nude mother, what would make him less inclined to get excited by the sight of a crowd of nudists? Annie's answer is far too ambiguous.

The correct answer to "Curious" is this: There is nothing wrong with the human body. Many studies show that children who are exposed to normal, natural nudity at home grow up with healthier attitudes about sex, and their own bodies. Chances are your boys are not even paying attention to your casual nudity, and that of your wife, and are much more interested in watching television. Since you are all comfortable with nudity, you might consider family nude recreation, which will further normalize your bodies to each other, remove the societal stigma or taboo, and wash away any shame you are feeling. More information on family nudism can be found at the websites of the American Association for Nude Recreation and The Naturist Society.

When Do They Need a Fig Leaf?

: The New York Times today has an exploration of childhood nudity, how it's so natural and spontaneous, and the hang-ups of the adults who struggle to deal with it.

For many parents, allowing a child to run around naked at home is perfectly natural, an expression of physical freedom that represents the essence of childhood, especially in the summer. But for others, unclad bodies are an affront to civility, a source of discomfort and a potentially dangerous attraction for pedophiles. These clashing sensibilities can create conflict, even when the nudity in question takes place at home.

With all the regulations and ordinances against public nudity in America, how long will it take for lawmakers to begin looking behind closed doors, such as in the case brewing against Jasmine Trail in North Carolina? The American distaste of any public display of flesh is irrational to the point of being paranoid, that the mere sight of a nude toddler is bound to attract perverts, pedophiles and child killers. The DA in the Jasmine Trail investigation is going after the nudist campground, not for any specific complaint or incident, but merely because the fact that there are nude people on the property must mean that something untoward is going on. Usually people are upset when they see actual nudity, but in this case someone is going after nudity that cannot be seen.

Aly Mandel, 41, a school psychologist and mother of five in Highland Park, N.J., said she, too, felt ire from extended family members for allowing her daughter Ava, now 6, to roam naked in and around the house when she was younger.

“My mother, it used to drive her crazy how naked Ava was,” Ms. Mandel said, explaining that the girl abhorred clothes. “My mother-in-law also, they both felt it crossed the line of what was appropriate. My mother-in-law would come in and automatically say, ‘Ava, put on your clothes. Put on your underwear.’ ”

There is no rational reason for ordering a toddler to put on clothes. People will always tell you that it's "indecent", or "inappropriate", but they cannot tell you why. It's transference of adult shame, built up over years of cultural mores and religious teachings. This is what nudism and naturism allows people to unlearn. In as little as 10 minutes a first-time social nudist will realize that all the modesty, all the hiding behind clothes, all the body issues, and all the discomfort of textiles on flesh suddenly begin to melt away. The sight of a nude person of any age is no longer shocking, it becomes normal.

Sometimes it’s the grandparents who are more permissive. Robert Kohlbrenner thought nothing of it last summer when his grandchildren, two boys, ages 4 and 10, and a girl, 6, asked if they could skinny-dip by the dock on a very hot day at his home on Oneida Lake in upstate New York.

“I think it’s fun for them,” said Dr. Kohlbrenner, 58, a psychologist in private practice, who found out later that his son did not approve. “If you can’t do it when you’re a kid, when can you do it, you know?”

How about all your life? Last weekend I saw a couple who appeared to be at least in their seventies, wearing nothing but floppy hats, socks and shoes. They were walking hand in hand by the pool, comfortable with their own nudity just like innocent toddlers. Forget ambition, forget the paper chase, or the pursuit of money - if you want true personal peace, just get naked and have some fun like those skinny-dipping children.

Around the age of 3 or 4, children begin to differentiate between what’s private and what’s public, experts say, and they usually begin to feel modesty soon after. But parents’ attitudes play the largest role in determining whether children are comfortable being naked at home, said Lawrence Balter, a psychologist at New York University and the editor of “Parenthood in America,” an encyclopedia.

“If someone has what appears to be an overly strong reaction to seeing young children running around naked, it tells us about their own hang-ups, their own inner conflicts,” Dr. Balter said.

Yes, thank you. Beware the person who overreacts to simple, non-sexual nudity. Anyone who can only see something sexual in nudism and naturism likely has psychological problems that are more than cultural. When Rep. Mark Foley attacked nudist camps for having children on the premises, he later turned out to have an attraction to teenage boys. When Rev. Ted Haggard attacked homosexuals from the pulpit, he later admitted to having gay sex with a male prostitute.

John Louie, 38, a vice president at the Mattel toy company, said that he is “definitely protective” of his daughter, but that modesty plays a larger role.

At a party at a friend’s home recently, Mr. Louie bristled when the hosts let their 4-year-old daughter splash naked in a children’s pool, and his wife allowed Rebecca to join in. “I don’t want to see her naked and, frankly, I don’t want to see other kids running around naked either.”

Well why not? What is it about the sight of naked children which causes people to bristle and turn away? I would think most people would smile, or laugh, at the sight of chidren at play, clothed or unclothed. Bottling up the natural instincts of children to shed their clothes only teaches them body shame, that there is something wrong and repulsive about their flesh. Adults should not be transferring their own guilt, false modesty and irrational fears to their children. We are all born with nude bodies, we all see ourselves when we change clothes or bathe, so why is it so shocking when we see someone's else's nude body?

We need to step back in time a little bit, when nude swimming at the YMCA was the norm, when kids skinny-dipping in a local pond were the inspiration for a Norman Rockwell illustration, and when schools required gang showers after physical education classes. There is nothing wrong with the sight of a human body that some good old-fashioned social nudity cannot cure.

UPDATE: Here is a good response to the NYT article from a naturist.
UPDATE 2: Whatever happened to naked summers?

FBI Investigating North Carolina Nudist Resort

WITN News reports that North Carolina District Attorney Scott Thomas and the FBI are looking into the Jasmine Trail Nudist Campground "where kids are naked with adults, and the campground's website that shows pictures of naked kids."

Thomas says his office is looking into whether any state laws like indecent exposure or exploitation are being broken. He's also asked the FBI to take a look at the Jasmine Trail website and advertisements to see if any federal laws are being violated.

Another big concern is the possibility that places like Jasmine Trail could attract pedophiles. Thomas says, "When you have children involved and children being exposed to other adults and certainly other adults not even related and they're there with no clothes on it certainly, in my mind, raises a security issue and safety issue for the child."

Thomas says he wants new legislation to ban children from nudist venues. AANR is defending the resort.

American Association for Nude Recreation spokeswoman, Carolyn Hawkins, says there is nothing inappropriate, lewd, sexual, or perverted about what's going on. "Having a child at a nudist resort...It's just one of the, in my opinion, one of the greatest things that I've ever done in my life. My children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren are all nudists."

It needs to be said up front and clearly that there are NO COMPLAINTS against Jasmine Trail, this is entirely a manufactured controversy by an overzealous attorney general who is not interested in the law, but in furthering his own political career.

Be sure to watch the video here from WITN TV, which treats the subject like Chris Hansen entrapping child predators on Dateline, with the reporter standing outside the resort saying that the owners refused to talk to him. AANR spokesperson Carolyn Hawkins in a phone interview is no match for DA Thomas and Human Services Director Bob Johnson, who are interviewed on camera expressing their concerns about "fit" parents and conflicted children. Johnson says that in an ideal world family nudism would be OK, but that in a realistic world such activity is bad.

"We would have to look at the area from the standpoint of neglect and I think it would be a very easy case to prove."

This has been coming for some time now, with increased hysteria over pedophiles, child pornography, and teen sexting. Make no mistake here - with the involvement of the FBI, these people intend to bust the owners and members of Jasmine Trail for child exploitation, neglect, indecent exposure and child pornography, which would be the beginning of the end for all family nudist venues.

Take children out of nudism, and you kill nudism. Simple as that. This is Mark Foley all over again, but this time with the FBI involved, and in a region of the country which might be more willing to condemn nudism. In the minds of these public officials, and through the damning television report, the people at Jasmine Trail have already been found guilty.

NOTE: It appears that all photographs of children have been removed from the Jasmine Trail website, which is tantamount to an admission of guilt. Morley Schloss and Sunsport Gardens are about the only ones left in naturist cyberspace willing to post photos of children engaging in wholesome nude recreation.

Naked Parenting Ruled Not Neglectful

The Utah Court of Appeals ruled that a man who walked around nude in front of his adoptive children was not neglectful, reversing the finding of a juvenile court.

Details of the case are sketchy, and that's one of the reasons for the reversal, but it appears that there were other circumstances that the court found "troubling" about the case, and the children will remain in state custody because they are without proper care.

The bottom line seems to be that this man was failing as a parent, and he even agreed with the court on the dependency issue, but his arrest for "lewdness" was inappropriate, and mere nudity was not a reason to put him in jail.

Had the court upheld the lower court decision, any parent showering or bathing with their children, taking kids to a nudist venue, or even changing clothes in front of a minor child could be considered engaging in lewd behavior.

If anyone has further details on this case, please contact me at nudiarist@gmail.com.

Teaching Her Children Well

Short but sweet, an essay by Jennifer Matten shows how the human body can and should be part of a family's experience.

In this all-female household, there are no locks on bathroom or bedroom doors. The three of us wander around in various states of undress. I brush my teeth in the buff while my younger daughter, who is 5, sits behind me on the toilet, singing to my rear end. My elder daughter, 8, sticks her head into the shower to ask me about the various “yuck” factors of puberty, about the feminist and anthropological ramifications of shaving my legs, about the real low-down on babies finding their way into their mommies’ bellies.

I tell my girls that what they are seeing when they see me is a real woman. I show them where their little fists and heels pressed against the skin of my belly when they were inside me. I explain nipples, birthmarks, sex. I shake my booty. They shake theirs. We are absurd. We are lovely.

Indeed they are.

The Big Bad Wolf

Dr. Peter Cumming, associate professor at York University and coordinator of the Children's Studies Program there, says that the Internet and cell phone cameras are "the big bad wolf" in society. that the uproar over sexting is today's version of the public outrage expressed over Elvis Presley shaking his pelvis on stage in the 1950s, and that making criminals out of teens for expressing natural curiosity over their own sexuality defies common sense.

"It would be very unlikely to see dozens of news stories announcing that some children we caught playing spin-the-bottle, or doctor, or strip poker," he says. "Yet many of the cases brought forward have been on the same level of innocence and experience as those activities. "In other words, kids are playing spin-the-bottle online."

Cumming goes on to argue that a distinction has to be made between nudity and child porn, a challenge which also faces nudism and naturism today if the lifestyle is to continue to exist as being family-friendly.

Debunking Myths About Child Nudity

Must reading from Dr. Paul Rapoport.

The prime myth is that all photographs of child nudity are illegal. This is no longer in the background but considered a specific "fact." In early April, Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post left no doubt: "Nude photos of minors -- even if the minor is you --are child pornography." Not only is there no basis for that absurdity in jurisprudence in North America, it maligns family snapshots as well as photos in the arts, medicine or naturism; and it declares the sole purpose of a lack of clothes to be immoral, harmful sexuality.

Monkeying Around

Sue Redfearn, writing in The Huffington Post, says, "You might want to sit and think a minute before taking your kid to see gorillas and the like."

Her reason? Gorillas poop and eat it, they play with their genitals, and have copious sex with each other.

Sounds like a typical American teenager. The only difference is that teens don't eat their own poop, but eating at Sonic qualifies as an equivalent.

Poor Sue got all flustered because the poop eating was witnessed by her 3 year-old who then needed an explanation, and it got even worse when a teenage boy jockeyed for a better position in order to take a photo of the hungry ape.

This incident took place at the Washington Zoo, and coincidentally the same thing happened in the same place some years ago when I took my daughter to the zoo. A young gorilla pooped, grabbed it from his anus, and proceeded to eat it like a twinkie.

To this day we still laugh about it.

Another time two elephants were going at it at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. I still have that photo.

Both times I didn't have to explain because my daughter already understood how bodies function.

Sue admits, "maybe I don't get out much." That's an understatement. Sue apparently does not watch NatGeo, Animal Planet or Discovery on television, where animals do all sorts of interesting things, like eating each other, and feeding other dead creatures to their young. Or maybe Sue does watch these shows with her daughter and finds it easier to explain cannibalism and murder in the animal kingdom than it is to talk about sex and excrement.

Anyone out there that has or had children knows that kids love a good poop or fart joke. There's really nothing funnier than just saying the words, they will roll around laughing for hours.

Not at Sue's house, though. At Sue's house, such things are "virtual car wrecks", with animals behaving like "drunk rugby players".

To her credit, Sue took this as a learning moment and asked the Ape House curator why the gorillas eat their own poo. It turns out that they do it for perfectly natural reasons, like being too lazy to seek out fresh food, or to recycle all the vegetable matter that did not digest completely the first time through. The curator also said, "It's rather amusing to me to watch visitors react. There are parents who use it as an educational opportunity, and then parents who move their child quickly away."

As with the bodily functions of apes, the way human bodies work can be easily explained without getting all red in the face. It's really sad that people cannot handle the sight of natural animal activity, and imagine how difficult it is for them to talk to their own children about the way their own bodies work.

Children are curious about everything, and if parents are too uptight to answer questions in a matter-of-fact and honest manner, kids are going to seek out their own answers, which can lead to disinformation.

In our textile society, kids become teens become adults, and throughout the entire growing process they constantly wonder what other people look like under their clothes. Be honest now, it's a natural thing. In nudism and naturism, that barrier is broken immediately, the curiosity is fulfilled, and body parts become very unimportant.

The reason kids laugh at gorillas eating poo or having sex is because they are encountering something completely foreign to them. Kids will also laugh if they see someone else naked because it's something they rarely or never encounter. I grew up attending nude swims at the YMCA, and seeing my friends without clothing was completely ordinary. No laughing, no pointing, no joking, no big deal.

By making nudity taboo, we have made monkeys out of ourselves. Try explaining that to your kids.

No Bikini

Watch this short film about a little girl who refuses to wear her bikini top to summer swimming lessons. People actually put bikini tops on female babies and toddlers as a conditioned response, never questioning why anyone would do such a silly thing, and this girl's mother does the same to her, assuming she will be half naked without the top. The film makes a wonderfully simple argument for normal, non-sexualized nudity, and effectively debunks the notion that a topfree child is somehow pornographic.

The Daily Newds 1/20/09

• An Australian sports club has imposed a six month ban on a member for streaking.

  A member - who didn't want to give her name - said the six-month ban was "ridiculous".

• "Hanging Out" is the name of a nude musical revue in California.

  From the moment they dropped their robes our merry band of birthday suit-ers (which was also the name (Birthday Suit) of one of the 23 numbers) didn’t bat an eyelash or flash a blush as they gamely sang and danced.

• Spencer Tunick is back in Mexico City again, this time for more intimate photos of 40 subjects instead of the 20,000 people he gathered in May 2007.
• Calendar Girls in Hampshire, England, is holding a nude photo contest in anticipation of the arrival of the hit musical.
• The advice given to the mother of a three year-old who loves being naked is to invent an imaginary therapist and use bribery to get her to put on clothes.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Playing "Doctor"

Boulder investigators are looking into an "incident" involving a 6 year-old boy and an 11 year-old girl who apparently took nude photos of each other with a cell phone.

According to the police report, (police spokeswoman Sarah) Huntley said, the incident happened in June when the children were playing outside one of their homes in Boulder. They took photographs of each other partially or entirely naked on the 11-year-old girl's cell phone, Huntley said.

One of the parents found the pictures, she said.

The YMCA official had a legal obligation to report it to the principal, and the principal was obligated to contact police, Huntley said. Officers have notified the Boulder County Department of Social Services, and detectives will follow up with the agency.

"If it was determined the pictures led to some behavior, we could investigate that," Huntley said.

Detectives? These are children! It's normal for kids to "play doctor". It's healthy curiosity to want to see what real bodies look like. A clinical psychologist agrees:

Playing doctor is a normal behavior in children, especially pre-school children who have not yet received the school-based warnings about personal and body privacy. While children may be touching and looking, it’s more curiosity than anything else. It does tell us that they are at a stage where they are curious about these body parts — so it’s time to talk to them about body privacy.

Yes, talk to them. This is not a crime. Can't they just give kids cell phones that don't have cameras? They will still be curious and experiment but at least there won't be photographic evidence to throw prudish adults into hysteria. Dr. Christine Todd offers some advice to parents who discover their children engaging in sexual behavior:

In an insightful article on this topic, Dr. Maria Sauzier (1984) suggests providers ask themselves five questions about the behavior. First, is it age-appropriate? It is very common for two-year-olds to walk around the house with their hands in their shorts. However, most five-year-olds should know better. Second, how prolonged is the behavior? If a child constantly engages in sexual play and never moves on to other topics, there may be more cause for concern. Third, can the child handle the feelings they are experiencing? Play is characterized by laughter and light-heartedness. Little girls often giggle as they raise their skirts over their heads. If children who engage in sexual play look anxious or guilty, or become extremely aroused, it is probably time to give the matter more attention. Fourth, is there any sign of one child forcing another to engage in sexual play through bribes, name-calling, or physical force? If so, this requires immediate attention. Finally, does the child know more than you feel is normal at this age? It is very unusual for a preschool child to imitate intercourse. This may indicate the child has witnessed or been exposed to adult sexuality.

Better add cell phone photos to the list, too.

Look, the 5 year age difference between the children is somewhat troubling, but it should be up to the parents to work things out. Unless the 11 year-old was abusing or forcing the younger child to pose for the photos, this is just kids being kids, and the police have no business investigating the sexual development of children.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

In Defense of a Naked Toddler

Ellen Friedrichs has a wonderful essay on the trials and tribulations of letting her toddler be naked in parks, playgrounds and swimming areas.

I have this idea that the more I let her be naked now, the more accepting of her body she will be later. I don't know that any studies would back me up. At this point, it's just a hunch. And it's a hope, grown out of a decade spent working with teenage girls who hate their bodies, that somehow my kid will be an exception.

Ellen gets scolded by other parents and park personnel, and is even approached by a cop who advises her to clothe her child because of potential perverts. Ellen, rightly so, worries more about a potential pooping incident than the threat of a child molester.

Clothing is unnatural, and children sense this, shedding their coverings whenever they are wet, or too hot. Adults who enter a nudist lifestyle have to overcome the stigma brought about from all the years of being told that the body is something to be ashamed of. Once the shame aspect is removed, suddenly clothing becomes heavy and uncomfortable, and the impulse to remove it all becomes very strong. After swimming, sunbathing, hiking or doing just about anything outdoors in the nude, it's very difficult to imagine going back to textile mode.

For children, nudity is a natural instinct, unencumbered by adult modesty and shame. Kudos to Ellen for allowing her child to hold onto the innocence as long as possible.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Wrong, and Wrong Again

Even with all the information about the benefits of breastfeeding, and the fact that laws protect women from indecent exposure when nursing their children in public, some people still don't get it.

A woman writes to Dear Annie about the behavior of her nudist relatives at a family event:

These brothers let their children, ages 8, 6 and 4, go swimming naked. Then one of the wives took off her bikini top to nurse her baby. My daughter was completely shocked and could not sleep that night because she had been so embarrassed in front of her friends.

Annie responds:

We can only imagine your daughter’s mortification to have her friends see the relatives au natural. They showed poor judgment and lack of consideration for others. And, at a public lake, they could have been arrested for indecent exposure.

After giving this bad advice, Annie does suggest giving these relatives another chance.

First of all, nobody is going to arrest these children for indecent exposure. It's a ridiculous suggestion.

Secondly, the nursing mother had every right to take off her top to feed her child. Period. End of story.

My response would have been:

Dear Angry, my advice is to calm down. First of all, the laws protect nursing mothers, so this woman did nothing wrong. No woman should be ashamed to feed her child. I suggest that you do a Google search for breastfeeding and take this opportunity to talk to your daughter and explain to her that what this woman did was perfectly natural and healthy, and extremely beneficial to her baby.

As for the skinny-dipping children, as long as the behavior was not lewd, there is nothing wrong with childhood innocence. It's a good thing that these families are raising their children not to be ashamed of their bodies. Once they hit puberty, it's likely that they will become more self-conscious and begin to wear swimsuits anyway. Let them have this youthful freedom while it lasts. Instead of being angry, you should talk to these brothers about nudism and listen to their side of the story. Whenever their is a cultural clash, dialogue leads to understanding, but anger only leads to resentment.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Erring on the Side of "Safety"

A Pasco County caseworker has blocked two children from having visitation rights with their grandparents who live in the Lake Como "nudist colony".

A spokesperson for Eckerd Community Alternatives acknowledged that there was no legal reason for the action and stated "...if there is any concerns about any situation, we always err on the side of the safety and well being of the child."

Arguments will be held before a judge next week. If children are prevented by the courts from visiting a nudist resort, it's a precedent that threatens all family nudism in America. AANR and TNS should be all over this one.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Protecting Children from the Word "Sex"

Australia's Advertising Standards Board decided that the word "sex" used in a billboard ad for erectile dysfunction drugs is harmful to children.

The board said in a report yesterday it had been persuaded to change its earlier decision by the continuing volume of complaints about the advertisement - 220 since it first appeared in February last year - and by increasing community concern about the sexualisation of children.

"The board considered that while this advertisement does not sexualise children, it brings the issue of sex before them," it said.

"The board noted that debate within the community about the sexualisation of children has crystallised community concern about the unsolicited exposure of children to advertisements dealing with sexuality."

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Poor Judgement

A Vancouver man admitted that he had exercised poor judgment when he stripped his 3 year-old son for a World Naked Bike Ride event. The man was arrested and later released after many of the cyclists descended upon the police station in protest.

Not all the cyclists who made the trip through Vancouver's tourist-crowded downtown core supported the protest.

One cyclist who declined to give her name said the man took off the boy's pants.

She said most of the cyclists did not agree with the situation and would not be protesting.

"The leaders of this event do not support what the guy did," she said.

"I think that's wrong. The kid's a minor."

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Australian Artist Defends Nude Photo of Her Child

Polixeni Papapetrou has spoken out on the controversy revolving around the nude image of her 6 year-old daughter on the cover of Art Montly Australia.

"[Politicians] were seeking to shame my family in a bid to establish their moral position," Ms Papapetrou told a Wintec audience during a talk on the ethics of child photography.

The artist said her work was about the changing social landscape of childhood and was misinterpreted by adults who sought to project adult sexuality on to the child.

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Australia Debating Tougher Censorship Laws

In the wake of the Bill Henson and Art Monthly Australia nude child controversies, some in Australia are calling for strict new censorship laws, specifically aimed at banning nude images of children. Gabriela Zabala-Notaras writes about the causes and effects such legislation can have on artistic freedom.

Serious art by its very nature is provocative, challenging and sensitises its audience on many different levels. That is why it is feared by the powers-that-be and especially under conditions of growing social and political tensions. An essential element in the political calculations of Rudd and other Labor politicians is to create a climate where artists begin to self-censor, steering clear of subjects or themes deemed too controversial out of fear of reprisals or loss of funding.

Labor’s open orientation toward Hetty Johnson and other right-wing layers has nothing to do with protecting children. It is driven by the perceived need, on the part of the entire political establishment, to divert attention from rising inflation, cuts in living standards and the deepening international financial crisis—issues that inevitably produce social conflict that cannot forever be contained within the existing political framework.

The latest art “scandal” serves to distract from these vital questions, while simultaneously creating a climate of moral panic to justify attacks on democratic rights, including freedom of expression, directed against all working people.

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