Do you think children should be allowed at nude beaches? Personally, I've never been to a nude beach, so I don't know what their policies tend to be when it comes to the underage.

I've been to nude beaches in Europe and I've seen kids. For some reason it didn't bother me, probably because every one was doing their own thing. No one was gawking, except for me, of course.

I also been to the nude beach in Sandy Hook, NJ, but I don't remember seeing kids there.

I cannot see this being allowed in America. I frankly am baffled to see kids in the public showers at our beach. Always did kind of creep my out anyway that they let kids and creepy old guys naked in the same place.

As for whether or not they SHOULD be allowed. Obviously, not alone. That's a given. But if they got parents, I really think there's not much cause to stop them from going. Right or wrong; it'd be their choice and not something that the kid really is endangered from, so they can't be prohibited.

I could so write a story about this.

Actually this reminds me of a Victor Borge joke, he said his little niece went to the beach one day and there were a lot of children, and he asked her were there more boys or more girls there? She said 'it's hard to tell, nobody had any clothes on.'

I know there are places where children are exposed to nudity, nudist camps and such. I have been to Nude beaches and I can't recall seeing any children wandering around just adults. Oh and in case your wondering, I had my suit on.

Tony Marino wrote:

I know there are places where children are exposed to nudity, nudist camps and such. I have been to Nude beaches and I can't recall seeing any children wandering around just adults. Oh and in case your wondering, I had my suit on.

So you just go to stare?

Nudist camps? Really? But there'd only(or mostly) be other kids their own age there? That's slightly(emphasis placed here) better than parading them around naked in front of God only knows what kind of creeps.(Not saying that anyone who goes is a creep but you can't tell me a place where children are known to frolic around in their birthday suits will not attract some people you'd rather not have around your kids.)

Any kid who lives in a family will be exposed to nudity throughout their life. No need to drag 'em to a clothless beach to experience it. In principle, I guess you should be legally permitted to take the kids with you if the beach allows it(although I think the beach has a right to ban kids if they want to; I just don't feel there's really a case for a law mandating that the tykes stay home), but that doesn't necessarily mean it's something you SHOULD do. There's lots of things that you shouldn't do but that the law shouldn't forbid you from doing, and I think this kind of falls into that boat. (I know who this will definitely ignite. )

Children should not, I repeat, not be allowed at nudist beaches. Period. If the kids are really little, they're being exposed to nudity way too early. If they're a curious underage teenager, they can wait till they're 18. Both scenarios are poor parenting, in my opinion. While I'm not against nude beaches, it's an adult thing and should remain that way.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

Tony Marino wrote:

I know there are places where children are exposed to nudity, nudist camps and such. I have been to Nude beaches and I can't recall seeing any children wandering around just adults. Oh and in case your wondering, I had my suit on.

:biggrin:

So you just go to stare?

Nudist camps? Really? But there'd only(or mostly) be other kids their own age there? That's slightly(emphasis placed here) better than parading them around naked in front of God only knows what kind of creeps.(Not saying that anyone who goes is a creep but you can't tell me a place where children are known to frolic around in their birthday suits will not attract some people you'd rather not have around your kids.)

Any kid who lives in a family will be exposed to nudity throughout their life. No need to drag 'em to a clothless beach to experience it. In principle, I guess you should be legally permitted to take the kids with you if the beach allows it(although I think the beach has a right to ban kids if they want to; I just don't feel there's really a case for a law mandating that the tykes stay home), but that doesn't necessarily mean it's something you SHOULD do. There's lots of things that you shouldn't do but that the law shouldn't forbid you from doing, and I think this kind of falls into that boat. (I know who this will definitely ignite. )

Actually I think in Nudist camps its families that go and there are kids of all ages. Oh I agree with you I am sure that these places do attract some undesirables but there are people that are serious about what they consider natural. I would not subject my kids to it but hey thats me.

LOL as far as me observing it was the closest beach around to one of my friends and we used to meet up with other friends to go there it just happened to be a bathing suit optional beach. Hey the entertainment was certainly worth it and like I said, I never saw any children on the beach, matter of fact most people looked to be definetly over 21.

I would have got a kick out of going to a nude beach when I was a kid! But no I dont think kids should be allowed there or anywhere where adults are naked.

RobbieFTW wrote:

I would have got a kick out of going to a nude beach when I was a kid! But no I dont think kids should be allowed there or anywhere where adults are naked.

I would narrow that done a bit and say that, IMO, kids shouldn't be allowed to be anywhere where adults are leisurely nude. Something like a locker room, for example, where people are showering and changing, I see little problem with.

Tony Marino wrote:

Actually I think in Nudist camps its families that go and there are kids of all ages. Oh I agree with you I am sure that these places do attract some undesirables but there are people that are serious about what they consider natural. I would not subject my kids to it but hey thats me.

LOL as far as me observing it was the closest beach around to one of my friends and we used to meet up with other friends to go there it just happened to be a bathing suit optional beach. Hey the entertainment was certainly worth it and like I said, I never saw any children on the beach, matter of fact most people looked to be definetly over 21.

Families? Okay, creepy! "Hey Mr. Stevens!" "Hey Bobby!" Nope, pass.

Sure, sure, sure! I didn't know they even had them in our neck of the woods. But hey, I'm used to Jersey beaches where you gotta go inside to get naked(unless you're some kid of a foreigner, apparently ). If you wanna stay outside, you at least need skimpy swimwear. I don't think I'd even set foot on a clothing optional beach. I get enough skin when they do force you to cover up.

Tony Marino wrote:

I have been to Nude beaches...Oh and in case your wondering, I had my suit on.

Tony, I'm sure that wasn't because you felt "inadequate". Was it because you didn't want anyone to know they could use you to pitch a tent?

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:

Children should not, I repeat, not be allowed at nudist beaches. Period. If the kids are really little, they're being exposed to nudity way too early. If they're a curious underage teenager, they can wait till they're 18. Both scenarios are poor parenting, in my opinion. While I'm not against nude beaches, it's an adult thing and should remain that way.

I DISAGREE, repeat DISAGREE with your opinion.

Clothing Optional (nude) beaches are not "an adult thing" it is for family naturism and kids just naturally like running around naked. When quite young parents often have a problem keeping them in their clothes.

Europeans have been doing this for about a hundred years now and only puritan America seems to have a problem with nudism. Since the late 1920s nudists have been battling American authorities to let them live their clothing free, body acceptance philosophy and only in a handful of enlightened places are public nude beaches allowed. Here in Miami-Dade county it was a years long battle to finally convince the county that by putting up signs the clothing optional beach fell into the category as "a place set apart" for nudity, in compliance with the state anti-nudity laws.

While it is mostly adults on the beach sometimes you see whole families, including kids. The kids accept it as quite natural. There have been numerous studies of this dynamic for decades and the conclusion is always that it is healthy for kids to be exposed to nudity, that all sorts of questions about how their body will develop are answered and it takes some of the taboo mystery away from what the other gender looks like. In other words they grow up with a healthy attitude toward the human body and not with such prudish hangups that so many in our culture live with.

Now, I have personally been to nudist events where children were present and it was no big deal. They seemed quite comfortable, just as the adults.

OK, here is a staged foto, seeing how many ppl we could get in a hot tub at one of our nude pool parties. Counting the kid, there were 18 of us.



Oh,and for the Christians, don't forget that Jesus was baptised nude with many ppl around and nudity was not the big deal for him that his followers seem to have today.

His followers asked, "When will you appear to us and when will we see you?"

Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample them, then you will see the child of the living one and you will not be afraid."

From the Gospel of Thomas

I think that if a child is being taught at home, by nudist parents, a certain way about nudity, then it should be fine to let them on a nude beach. But I feel they should be covered because at something as public as a nude beach, who knows who is taking cell phone pics of the little ones. Yeah, I know it is probably rare, but I would have never put my child at danger like that.

Chris wrote:

Do you think children should be allowed at nude beaches?

With other adults? LOL. No.

No I don't have a problem with clothing optional beaches but I think they should be strictly for the 18+ crowd. Kids shouldn't have access to them.

There are nudist colonies and there are children there, nudity is no big deal to kids. NUDE does not = SEX. If it was a beach where the culture was all about sex, say, a swingers beach retreat then obviously that wouldn't be appropriate. But an actual nudist beach, I think kids go to them all the time.

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:

Children should not, I repeat, not be allowed at nudist beaches. Period. If the kids are really little, they're being exposed to nudity way too early. If they're a curious underage teenager, they can wait till they're 18. Both scenarios are poor parenting, in my opinion. While I'm not against nude beaches, it's an adult thing and should remain that way.

Whoa, sorry Mandy but I'm going to have to disagree with you here. From a psychological standpoint, there is no danger in exposing children to "nudity". The only danger would be for one to expose a child who grows up in an environment where nudity is considered taboo. In this case, it could be traumatic in some way a) being exposed themselves and b) observing others being "exposed". However, if we assume that this child has grown up in an environment where nudity is considered normal, natural and beautiful, there is no danger. Our society imposes moral standards of decency on us and since we (non-nudidsts) are brainwashed by our society to view nudity as "shameful", "sexual" and "indecent" we are naturally opposed to the idea. Families that grow up in any number of the thousands of nudist colonies around the world would not view things the same way.

It is not "poor parenting" to raise a child with standards that you may not consider to be "the norm" in your society just because you view it as taboo. Conversely, raising a child to have a good sense of self confidence, self control, and not to be ashamed of themselves or to have a narrow view of physical beauty IS good parenting. An argument could be made that children who grow up in nudist colonies don't suffer these sorts of problems which are common in non-nudist societies. How ironic it is that we live in a society that says nudity is taboo, yet it objectifies women, embraces pornography and defines masculinity by the size of a mans dick. Trust me, it is often WE who are the perverts, not the nudists!

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

I cannot see this being allowed in America. I frankly am baffled to see kids in the public showers at our beach. Always did kind of creep my out anyway that they let kids and creepy old guys naked in the same place.

Not to call anyonen out or anything, but point in case! ^^

^^^^You calling me a creepy old guy(What does that make you or Shale? ) or are you worried about little kiddy ole me? I'll guess the latter. Because I had to do that stuff as a tyke. Nowadays, I typically change in the stalls. (Just in case one of ya'll is spying on me) It's my experiences there that lead me to believe that kids probably should not be on nude beaches.

thepossiblepolice wrote:

There are nudist colonies and there are children there, nudity is no big deal to kids. NUDE does not = SEX. If it was a beach where the culture was all about sex, say, a swingers beach retreat then obviously that wouldn't be appropriate. But an actual nudist beach, I think kids go to them all the time.

Ideally, nude does not equal sex. I agree. I also agree that kids don't see it that way either. A kid could probably go to a nude beach and not be scarred for life. I don't think it's protecting the kids' vision that people are concerned about.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

^^^^You calling me a creepy old guy(What does that make you or Shale? ) or are you worried about little kiddy ole me? I'll guess the latter. Because I had to do that stuff as a tyke. Nowadays, I typically change in the stalls. (Just in case one of ya'll is spying on me) It's my experiences there that lead me to believe that kids probably should not be on nude beaches.

I wasn't calling you a creepy old guy. I was merely pointing out that your response was typical of conservative American thinking. People that cling to "family values" and demonize public nudity when most such Americans (not particularly you) also have very perverted ideas about nudity (otherwise why consider it offensive). It's likely that your personal experiences were traumatic to you in such a way to make you fear nudity or recognize it as something to be avoided. But its also likely that you grew up in an environment where nudity was initially considered taboo or inappropriate to begin with. By the way, how old are you anyway? I sensed that you were somewhat young based on many of your responses but I never got around to asking before.

^^^^I am hardly typical of anything. I know many conservatives more than twice my age. You got people of all political beliefs of all ages. I also wouldn't classify my experiences as traumatic, you make it sound so sinister. I just take steps back and think about things. I don't think the ideas about nudity are perverted; just different than yours. If anything, I think conservatives ideas about nudity might be even a little more accepting than you'd think. And as for my environmental view of nudity growing up, I think it's more liberal than many people I know. Heck, now that I think about it, I notice some conflicts in your theories about me.

So no, I am anything but typical. Believe me.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

^^^^I am hardly typical of anything. I know many conservatives more than twice my age. You got people of all political beliefs of all ages.

Be that as it may, your responses when it comes to most political issues are typical of a young right wing conservative who isn't very "worldly". I don't know you, but I know many people who would routinely answer exctly like you in many cases. Coincidence?

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

I also wouldn't classify my experiences as traumatic, you make it sound so sinister.

There is nothing necessarily sinister about the common experiences we have in youth that go towards coloring our personalities as adults. The point you're missing is that you feel uncomfortable with the idea of public nudity (particularly when it comes to children) because by your own admission this is something that was forced on you as a child.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

I just take steps back and think about things. I don't think the ideas about nudity are perverted; just different than yours. If anything, I think conservatives ideas about nudity might be even a little more accepting than you'd think.

How do you figure? In what way?

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

And as for my environmental view of nudity growing up, I think it's more liberal than many people I know. Heck, now that I think about it, I notice some conflicts in your theories about me.

Or is it that you really just see what you want to see and believe you are the way you picture in your mind? I can't say for sure, but I can say this: your statetment are nothing if not inconsistent because your previous comments about your experiences "as a tyke" seem to contradict this notion. The more I think about it, the more you prove yourself to be exactly how I imagine you. I'm not making wild assumptions here, I'm simply going off of the things that you say yourself. But I welcome you to prove me wrong, or to change my mind in some way. Describe some things about you that would be atypical of a young, right wing, conservative that's experienced different cultures. What are your atypical beliefs for such a demographic?

By the way...how old are you again? :biggrin:

Young conservative / old liberal, ah labels! We could both go on all day about ages and people we know that "are exactly like you." Color me uninterested in that discussion.

I admire your attempt to profile me(psychology student?) but I honestly think you're making it much more than it is. lol But as a writer, I admire the good dramatizing of the insignificant.

In just plain living, everyday life. Least that's been my observation(maybe you know different people). There's not just one "way" about it; it's just a general attitude.

You act like I want to convince you. I doubt either of us care what the other thinks. lol My experiences as a tyke are proof that I didn't have some uptight upbringing about nudity; IDK where you see the inconsistency. As for my atypical beliefs, what is the "typical" I am comparing against? ( Of course, now we're off topic. ) IDK what it is you're trying to prove here. Maybe you just like hanging out with me, hence the long quotes.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

^^^^You calling me a creepy old guy(What does that make you or Shale? ) or are you worried about little kiddy ole me? I'll guess the latter. Because I had to do that stuff as a tyke. Nowadays, I typically change in the stalls. (Just in case one of ya'll is spying on me) It's my experiences there that lead me to believe that kids probably should not be on nude beaches.

thepossiblepolice wrote:

There are nudist colonies and there are children there, nudity is no big deal to kids. NUDE does not = SEX. If it was a beach where the culture was all about sex, say, a swingers beach retreat then obviously that wouldn't be appropriate. But an actual nudist beach, I think kids go to them all the time.

Ideally, nude does not equal sex. I agree. I also agree that kids don't see it that way either. A kid could probably go to a nude beach and not be scarred for life. I don't think it's protecting the kids' vision that people are concerned about.

Maybe not, but creepers are out there no matter what, and a kid in a bathing suit is probably MORE attractive to them than a nude child, because I think many of them are turned on by innocence. Parent's have the job of protecting their children no matter where they are. I don't think that kids are being molested at nude beaches any more than they are being molested at home, or at their relatives houses.