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