Are these nudism bashers confused, or just plain malicious? Read through and see how they paint a fearful picture with skillful innuendo. Count them, and see how many totally wrong ideas these writers are openly promoting about the nudism lifestyle. From usanewsandviews.com Nude Camping; itТs not just for adults anymore УIt makes me a bit freaked out that people would think of nudity as a sexual thing,Ф 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 AmericaТs nudist camps for kids.

According to the New York Times article entitled, УOld Enough to Make a Lanyard, and to Do It Nude,Ф children running around nude playing volleyball, pudding toss, mini-golf and a campfire sing-along, is like any other Уfamily-like environment.Ф The Times points out that parents who enroll their pre-teen and teen age kids to the nationТs growing number of nudist camps geared for that age group arenТt very concerned about it and in fact find it a wholesome and safe environment. Actually, according to the Times, УСThe Nudist Association, the larger of two nationwide, sees this as a place to train Сyouth ambassadorsТ to what nudists call the СtextileТ world.ФТ 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 personТs 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 Уcamper of the dayФ because she braved a bee sting on her foot can now say, УI've spent my life around nudist resorts; this is the first time I've ever been around kids my own age.Ф 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 УprogressivesФ in a prehistoric, pre-civilization kind of way. You see, people were not confined or controlled by the УtextileФ 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 donТt 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 doesnТt 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 elseТs 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, УwatchingФ 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.

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it is very interesting that someone with so many degrees cannot provide any empirical evidence to support his argument. no quotes on a higher incidence of teen pregnancy, stds, crime, poor performance in school, lack of self-esteem, in any comparative way with textile children. on the contrary, young men and women see each other as they are in an everyday setting. and they get past the "what does he/she look like" part and start finding out what kind of people they are. bathing costumes did not exist until a century or so ago, so it is not a prehistoric notion.

this is both misguided and mean-spirited. the condescending sarcasm is definitely not that of a true academic. it is the misuse of degrees after ones name to insist one knows more than someone else, without it necessarily being true. the man is wrong, and i feel sorry for him.

Mr. Walfield is just another money grubber trying to sucker the true conservative who is unhappy with the lack of respect and responsibility in the world.

In fact, Mr. Walfield's irresponsible article shows he and his kind have nothing to do with real conservative thinking but are rather leaches. He doles out huge globs of pretensions along with his pompous writing style in a vein effort to mimic people like Buckley and Will as he parades around without a shred of respect for the truth.

If you follow the links, you will notice the real content from William F. Buckley and other conservative thinkers is on their own site, not his. He links to these other sites that he has absolutely nothing to do with. He pretends his web site is serving conservative interests, but you can see for yourself the man is unabashedly attempting to grub money from the hard work of real conservatives.

It should come as no surprise Mr. Walfield is all too eager to lambaste anyone who doesn't agree with his bombast position-d-jour if he hopes he can upset someone enough to cough up a few bucks to support his sorry excuse for real caring.

Stuffed Tiger

Calmnude and StuffedTiger I cannot agree with you more. Those are my feelings exactly. The guy is out to make a buck, and he trying to use big names to to justify his cause.

Kim =^.^=

While this poor misguided soul has every right to his opinion, an opinion shared I might add by many uninformed or misinformed about this lifestyle, trying to convince someone like of his abysmal ignorance reminds me of the adage: Never try to teach a pig to whistle, it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.

I hate to say it, but I think this guy actually believes he is right and a few months ago I would have agreed with him heartily. If you don't truly understand that nudism is not a sexual thing, and if you've never experienced this, you worry about what our teens would be doing at a nudist camp. I'm sorry to say, his arguments made sense to me to some degree because I shared them so short a time ago. The problem is people just don't understand what nudism really is and they feel like they need to protect kids from it. Perhaps this guy really is well-meaning, just uninformed about the truths of nudism. If he spent a day at a nudist resort he'd probably see things differently.

Melissa

melisssa, i dont really know if he would see anything differently. he might be one of those people who would look for things to justify his position, as small and insignificant as they might be to the whole picture.

to comment, yes this man appears to be a "conservative for cash".

and he would probably be a " (fill in the blank) for cash" if it paid better.

I think your right about that Calmnude. Some people have their minds made up with out even looking at the otherside. I had the same fight with people over the Harry Potter books. This woman was criticizing me because I let my kids read the "Harry Potter" books. She said the books were evil because they taught kids about witchcraft. I asked her if she had read them and she said no. I told her I had and read them with my kids and found the fun and entertaining. She just left hasn't talk to me since.

Kim =^.^=

The big difference between most "textiles" and most "nudists" is that most of us know what it is like to wear clothes or go nude.Most textiles don't have the same experience so their ideas and opinions are formed in ignorance,which as i have stated in other threads is the cause of misunderstanding,prejudice and even,in extreme cases,fear. This persons blurb is only a result of this ignorance,most textiles can't seperate nudity and sex,how can they when it is used continuously to sell products and movies,and so can't understand how people can go around naked without getting the urge to jump on top of each other in one big orgy....misunderstanding. Another thing they keep complaining about is our attempt to make the naked human form more acceptable,well whats wrong with that,we all have a naked body,most of us live with someone that has a naked body,hell i have friends that have naked bodies,why should we be afraid of them,what harm does a naked body do. Education + exposure = understanding + acceptance. Sorry about the long post,but this is a subject i am VERY passionate about.

I eschew words like "textile"... think of people as either being open-minded or close-minded. Many of the closed minds are woefully repressed. Probably not their own fault. A lot of this comes from upbringing & religious instruction. Opening a closed mind is not easy. Takes an inquiring mind. That notwithstanding, there will always be at least a dashed line in the USA between nudity and sex, since the pervasive repression of social nudity leaves occurrences of nudity as perceived to be part of or prelude to sex. Most movies with nude scenes associate them with sex. Gentlemen's clubs with nude dancers reinforce the linkage. So in minds of most Americans, these two words become welded together. But times are changing. Nude recreation is growing more popular, and eventually the stigma will fade, just as it already has towards divorce and unwed mothers. However, I doubt the USA will ever be as liberal about nudity as Europe, where it's common on beaches and TV -- so common that it's no longer a big deal.

Grin & bare it ;)