Nude Camping, It's not just for adults anymore

USA News and Views ^ | 07/26/03 | Paul Walfield

[westgirl123]

The Times points out that parents who enroll their pre-teen and teen age kids to the nation’s growing number of nudist camps geared for that age group aren’t very concerned about it and in fact find it a wholesome and safe environment. Actually, according to the Times, “‘The Nudist Association, the larger of two nationwide, sees this as a place to train ‘youth ambassadors’ to what nudists call the ‘textile’ world.”’ Apparently, there is a movement to convert or at least desensitize us all to nudity. Perhaps they even want us all to be so desensitized that we also stop seeing the connection between nudity and sex.

[anniegetyourgun]

I think I'm going to be sick.

[Norse]

The scary thing is that some people would actually SEND THEIR KIDS to participate in this program. Who are these people?

[prairiebreeze]

Haile who was named “camper of the day” because she braved a bee sting on her foot

Lucky it diden't sting her on the butt. More proof that some people don't have the sense that God gave a goat.

Prairie

[Bluntpoint]

We need more nude "fat" camps.

That would be the best incentive for kids to eat right.

[anniegetyourgun]

The same people who buy the kegs, leave the car keys and house for teens - and then leave town. Or the parents who entertain porn hounds, pedophiles, and other sickos in their homes - and then wonder why their daughter was abducted, raped, and murdered. I have a tough time believing their so-called shock at the aftermath. It's hard to fathom how much such people hate their children.

[Lazamataz]

Why the unnecessary excerpting?

[MeekOneGOP]

[EggsAckley]

Heheheh, THANK YOU MnM. I needed that. hellinahandcart and I have been fighting this scourge, but alas, I will be on a camping trip for a week.

Your contribution is greatly appreciated!


~</;o)

[EggsAckley]

*PING*

[AppyPappy]

©2003 Paul Walfield All Rights Reserved

[elfman2]

There really are nudists who really do disassociate nudism from sexuality. Their problem is that they're magnets for swingers and their newer members are fresh meat for predators. They're seeking a utopia that requires a high level of suppression of men's sexual nature, and it can't be defended without great effort.

[elfman2]

" We need more nude "fat" camps. That would be the best incentive for kids to eat right"

Ever been to or seen pictures of real nude beaches or retreats? They are fat camps.

[Bluntpoint]

Viagra would not produce a "woody" at one of these beaches!

[hellinahandcart]

Forget it. We've got the Paul Walfield Fan Club here.

Both westgirl123 and political_chick ONLY post excerpts to Paul Walfield articles. That is probably all they will ever do.

What this does is make me dread the sight of the name "Paul Walfield" in the author line, and lessen the probability that I will ever read an article of his, but they don't care.

[eno_]

Brilliant! You can eat all you want, as long as you do it naked while everyone else watches. Better than Atkins.

[MeekOneGOP]

         Nude Camping; it’s not just for adults anymore
 

    “It makes me a bit freaked out that people would think of nudity as a sexual thing,” said Michelle Jones, a 15 year old nudist from Texas.  Michelle is among a number of girls and boys, ages 11 through 18 who are happy little campers at one of America’s nudist camps for kids.  According to the New York Times article entitled, “Old Enough to Make a Lanyard, and to Do It Nude,” children running around nude playing volleyball, pudding toss, mini-golf and a campfire sing-along, is like any other “family-like environment.”

The Times points out that parents who enroll their pre-teen and teen age kids to the nation’s growing number of nudist camps geared for that age group aren’t very concerned about it and in fact find it a wholesome and safe environment.  Actually, according to the Times, “‘The Nudist Association, the larger of two nationwide, sees this as a place to train ‘youth ambassadors’ to what nudists call the ‘textile’ world.”’  Apparently, there is a movement to convert or at least desensitize us all to nudity.  Perhaps they even want us all to be so desensitized that we also stop seeing the connection between nudity and sex.

So just how long do you have to be nude to start believing that being clothed is what brings out a person’s sexuality?  Not to be glib, but if the kids who are enrolled in nudist camps and the parents that send them see no connection, perhaps not liking clothes is just a symptom of a far greater difficulty.

While most people would like to believe they have something special about them, something unique that places them far away from the maddening crowd; the nudists seem to be the maddening crowd.

The Times article explains that up to just recently, preteens and teens had no place to express their abhorrence for clothing, at least not in groups and out in the open.  Not anymore though, Haile who was named “camper of the day” because she braved a bee sting on her foot can now say, “I've spent my life around nudist resorts; this is the first time I've ever been around kids my own age.”  It has to warm the cockles of your heart to know that young teenage girls, especially brave ones can now romp in the fields and dance in the meadows with others her own age, boys included, nude and free from any heretofore human realizations or understanding of why that is not a good idea.

It seems the nudists view themselves as “progressives” in a prehistoric, pre-civilization kind of way.  You see, people were not confined or controlled by the “textile” industry tens of thousands of years ago.  They were free to frolic with the mammoths and giant sloths, never having to worry about catching their cuffs on a tusk or fang. Though, they probably had other things to worry about.

The bottom line is that there are large numbers of people who have children that think nothing of placing those kids in summer camps so that the kids can parade around sans textiles, with other teens.  Not being a prude by nature, it is especially difficult understanding why these nudists are incapable of seeing the accident just waiting to happen.

 

In fact, why is it that the attorney generals or state legislatures are oblivious to the potential and very real distorting of the mindsets of these young people by their mothers and fathers who apparently don’t have the parenting skills of ally cats?  Though, Congressman Mark Foley of Florida is an exception and is in the process of trying to stop the insanity of a clothes free camp for teens.

More importantly, this doesn’t have to be a question of morality, but rather of child safety and child endangerment.  What parent of a preteen girl would like to see their child prancing around nude in the woods or bouncing around a volleyball court with a bunch of teenage boys who are also so attired?  The folks from the skin-only side of the playing field would like you to believe that because they hate clothing, they are above human impulses and desires.  It may be possible that some are in actuality quite to the contrary of their ranting, and now seem to be bringing children into their world and throwing that fact into everyone else’s face.

Not being a libertarian, the notion of allowing people to be who they want to be without governmental interference or even private interference, so long as they are not hurting anyone, is still usually a good one.  However, in these circumstances, where children are involved, someone else is getting hurt and it should be stopped.

While some of the teens involved may find it not harmful, even wholesome to be running around nude with other teens and supervised by adults, “watching” their every move; it is not.  If anything, the fact that a group of teenage boys think the idea of a camp full of nude teenage girls is where they want to spend their summer vacation, only adds to the reasons why it is not a good idea.

----------------------

Paul Walfield is a freelance writer and an attorney with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and post-graduate study in behavioral and analytical psychology.  He resided for a number of years in the small town of Houlton, Maine and is now practicing law and writing political commentary.   Paul has his own website at

www.usanewsandviews.com.

 

Paul can be contacted at paul.walfield@usanewsandviews.com  

 

©2003 Paul Walfield All Rights Reserved

[EggsAckley]

I still don't get the excerpting thing. Seems like it defeats the purpose..............

hmmmm.

[garbanzo]

More from the I-hate-the-body crowd...creating neuroses for the past 2000 years.

[MeekOneGOP]

My pleasure. Full text on #17 . . .

[CindyDawg]

If your two year old run outside naked while you are trying to dress her ,SS is called though.

[elfman2]

"More from the I-hate-the-body crowd...creating neuroses for the past 2000 years."

Yea, and look how successful all those nudist tribes are.

Look at and all the wonderful contributions to mankind they've made while being free to "love-the-body" at any moment. If anything, I think clothes give men a break from their sexual nature to accomplish something greater than that directed by their instinct for the next babe or the next release.

[eno_]

Riyahd good, Tahiti bad? Where would you rather have your desk next week?

[garbanzo]

Look at and all the wonderful contributions to mankind they've made while being free to "love-the-body" at any moment.

While I don't have any hard data to back it up, I would suspect that people in many of those tribes are actually happier and have fewer psychological disorders than many moderns. I think we are a more comfortable society but that comfort comes at a very high emotional price. Even among Western nations, the US has a high level of emotional discomfort which is actually hindering our progress I think.

[Bluntpoint]

Sometimes, when I am really feeling too good about myself, I look at myself naked in the mirror.

I then slink away, put my stretch pants back on and buy a quart of Cherry Cordial Ice Cream... and cry.

[Publius6961]

If your two year old run outside naked while you are trying to dress her ,SS is called though.

You raise a great point.

Nutcases from both extremes are tedious.
The thing I've noticed most about these threads is that merely having a discussion about the subject is slapped down by the neurotics.

Those I fear the most. I loathe the thought police.

[elfman2]

"While I don't have any hard data to back it up, I would suspect that people in many of those tribes are actually happier and have fewer psychological disorders than many moderns."

I don't doubt what you suspect. And I don't have any hard data, but I suspect that without our help, they die at exceptionally high rates from illnesses we cure. I also suspect that they clash and war over resources that would be sufficient to maintain more than 10 times their numbers in modern societies, with all our neurosis producing stresses. Additionally, I suspect that the time of many primitive people that where at one time potentially brilliant is taken up by tedious, unrewarding and unchallenging tasks needed to survive, however therapeutic they may be.

[sheik yerbouty]

What about poison ivy?

[cricket]

. . .Nudism. . .is 'first level' Communism and exercise in denial! (all persons NOT created equal. . .will play on the 'equal/level playing field. . .)

By their 'gifts' they will not be known/acknowledged. :^)

[jws3sticks]

Love it!

Play volleyball.

Get lucky!

Play volleyball.

Go for it...

[elfman2]

"Riyahd good, Tahiti bad? Where would you rather have your desk next week?"

Didn't Gogan die at an early age of syphilis? Paradise doesn't last. Papaete's an overcrowded, commercialized and polluted city not far from any 3rd world capital. I live in Key Largo, best of both worlds.

[jetson]

You got that right. Just went to the wifes company picnic at a swim club and saw enough blubber to fill a dumpster. It is horrifying how FAT alot of parents and kids are these days. The thought of them nude is mind altering.

[Bluntpoint]

Mind altering and winky deadening.

[jetson]

A roger to that.

[ModelBreaker]

I would suspect that people in many of those tribes are actually happier and have fewer psychological disorders than many moderns. I think we are a more comfortable society but that comfort comes at a very high emotional price. Even among Western nations, the US has a high level of emotional discomfort which is actually hindering our progress I think.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, most of mankind's great achievements were accomplished by folks who were distinctly uncomfortable at the time.

Prancing around naked and happy on the beaches--to the extent that image correctly portrays any human society in history--is a dead end, a result of too much comfort and abundance. Eventually, reality will intervene and such a society will have to don their 'textiles' and deal with it--or face extinction. Face-to-face with reality will almost always be uncomfortable.

My suspicion is that the Western notion that such societies actually existed is about as valid as the notion that the plains indians lived in harmony with nature and respected all men and women, no matter how diverse. That is, these notions are unexamined fantasies of the 60's. These memes will live at least until every baby-boomer has gone to the grave.

No matter how much the boomers insist that discomfort (sexual or otherwise) is a social construct, they are wrong. Over time, it is part of the warp and woof of human nature.

[garbanzo]

I'm not one of these back-to-nature luddite types - we bring some good things like medicine and electricity. At the same time we bring a lot of bad things as well and after modernization, a lot of the primitives end up as poor drunks living in a cinder block apartment somewhere. My hope would be to combine modern technology and development with the sort of holistic approach that leads to a greater degree of happiness. What's the point of producing all of this stuff if we can never enjoy it?

[garbanzo]

Some degree of discomfort is necessary. Even in primitive tribes you do have to gather food. But the process is usually not onerous and in many places pretty easy and doesn't take up most of the day. The question is the degree of discomfort and the price we pay and who pays it. Perhaps insanity is the price you pay for modernity. I'm just asking if it's altogether worth it.

[Bluntpoint]

My hope is to some day have a great big house and an expensive car and never have time to enjoy either.

[mewzilla]

Mr. Deer Tick, meet the nice nude campers. Nude campers, meet hungry Mr. Deer Tick.

[inquest]

You're equating modernity with clothes? In my observation, our society has been getting nuder over the past few decades, and more neurotic over the past few decades. I can't think of too many problems today that can be solved by encouraging people to run around naked, but I can think of plenty of problems that can be solved, or greatly alleviated, by teaching kids that self-"expression" (either bodily or in some other in-your-face nonverbal manner) is not the way to make healthy contributions to society.

[garbanzo]

---My hope is to some day have a great big house and an expensive car and never have time to enjoy either.


Even if you had time to enjoy, you often can't just because the amount of work you did to get it so twisted you that what you have simply isn't satisfying.

[eno_]

HEY! That's MY LIFE you are talking about.

Now if I can only adjust my schedule around getting my BMW in the shop...

[elfman2]

" My hope would be to combine modern technology and development with the sort of holistic approach that leads to a greater degree of happiness. What's the point of producing all of this stuff if we can never enjoy it?"

No doubt. I think getting there is more of a task of interactively taking the best of both worlds through a kind of surgical precision and reorganizing the parts, not by casually blending everything attractive among them together and celebrating diversity.

Nude summer camp for teenagers? I'd have never opened a book again. (Of course if it were held over my head for grades, I'd probably be a scholar.) But no way would I let my daughter trade off her innocents and become fresh meat to those dead enders. Let me see, music camp, photography camp, volleyball camp, or nudist camp… such a hard decision…

[garbanzo]

----In my observation, our society has been getting nuder over the past few decades, and more neurotic over the past few decades.

I think we're getting more schizophrenic - we have a mixed set of values. In some ways we are more open but in others we are hopelessly Victorian. We can acess nudity on the internet but not on TV. We can say things in one place but not another. We wind up having to live six different lives to please all sorts of pretended authorities and it takes a toll on us.


--- I can think of plenty of problems that can be solved, or greatly alleviated, by teaching kids that self-"expression" (either bodily or in some other in-your-face nonverbal manner) is not the way to make healthy contributions to society. ----

The question is whether or not making a contribution to society outweighs an individual's need for happiness.

[garbanzo]

I would only disagree to the extent that I consider nudity not to be a bad thing. I think one of the keys to modernity's ills is the hatred and contempt of the body and it expresses itself in any number of ways.

[lawdude]

"...stop seeing the connection between nudity and sex."

I fail to see how one can have sex while clad!

He, "If I had known you were so...so tight, I would have taken my time!"

She, "If I had known you were in such a hurry, I would have removed my panty hose!"

[Publius6961]

No matter how much the boomers insist that discomfort (sexual or otherwise) is a social construct, they are wrong. Over time, it is part of the warp and woof of human nature.

Great verbalization of common sense conclusions of an informed mind.

It's mind-boggling that in the 21st century, many still are unaware that art, leisure and "activism" are artifacts of a society where creativity has elevated us beyond the necessity of spending every waking hour surviving.

The world and specifically the U.S. is populated by neurotics, 21-80+, going on 12... who know that they are the center of the universe.

[inquest]

In some ways we are more open but in others we are hopelessly Victorian. We can acess nudity on the internet but not on TV.

If you can turn on TV nowadays and call it "Victorian" then you have very odd sensibilities. And there's plenty of nudity on certain cable channels.

The question is whether or not making a contribution to society outweighs an individual's need for happiness.

Happiness as defined as... expressing oneself to those around them. Hence they must be able to derive as much happiness from their society as they can, but be under no obligation to contribute to society's happiness. Such is the origin of the neurosis.

And again, I have to wonder about your sensibilities if you're implying that our problem today is that people just have too much of an obligation to their society and aren't paying enough attention to their own desires.

[inquest]

The taboo against nudity is not the result of "hatred and contempt of the body" but is simply a safety valve that's been judged necessary to maintain civilized behavior. It's the same reason why sex is kept private. Not because it's inherently evil, but because it gets out of control otherwise.

[westgirl123]

Hi hellinahandcart:

You are right, at least about me caring. You seem to be saying that it doesn't matter if the writing is good or informative, just that I posted the articles that matters.

If you don't like good conservative writing, that is your business. Just the same, your ranting does give me a chuckle.

Westgirl123