MultiO Studies
Dennis Craig Smith and others
The Naked Child >>
Growing Up Without Shame
1981, 1986, 2015
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER I:
The naked family
--- Nakedness within the family: depraved or desirable?
--- “You are corrupting and damaging your child for life.”
--- Are you unconsciously seducing your children if you allow them to see you nude?
--- Current available research does not indicate that nudity...has any kind of predictably negative effect
--- Not seeing parents and other family members nude causes sexual trauma and poor sexual adjustment
--- Some concepts accepted by “experts” are antiquated and no longer applicable today
CHAPTER II:
From naked children came these adults
--- They felt openness about the body was healthier for their children, so they became nudists
Grace
--- I was born a nudist
--- “By nature, I’m somewhat of a loner.”
--- “I don’t think you should make a child do something just because you believe in it.”
--- “I was a virgin until I was out of high school.”
Richard
--- From an open family to the seminary and back
--- “We felt there should be more religion in our home.”
--- “Why should I start wearing pajamas just because we now have a baby girl in the house?”
--- “My first wife was the first one I actually went to bed with.”
--- “Thing is, I have seen other women nude, also.”
--- “They exposed us to the best...”
Mandy
--- “To this day I idolize my father — he can do no wrong — and my mother is my best friend.”
--- “I don’t seek out nudism as a social affair.”
--- “My ski club has skinny dipping parties but I don’t participate.”
--- “I was becoming a woman, and we celebrated it together.”
--- “Sex games in camp? It just wasn’t done.”
--- “I am a sexual conservative, but tolerant.”
--- Do you think it is reasonable to equate sex with nudity?
--- Does the nudist home environment place too much emphasis on sex?
--- “I feel I’ve become a new person; I’ve shed an old skin.”
Deborah
--- A young nudist growing up
--- First sexual experience
--- Masturbating at six
--- “We go around the house nude all the time.”
--- Penis envy?
--- Unconsciously seducing the children?
--- Does nudity lead to sex?
David
--- Father won custody on the grounds mother was a nudist
--- “Most of my friends wouldn’t like the camps because they’re too tame, too respectable, for them.”
--- Back and forth between parents since he was five
--- Became disenchanted with nudism
--- Sex games among the children at the camp and at the convention
--- “I didn’t take up masturbation as a hobby until I was about twelve.”
--- “Is there such a thing as vagina envy?”
--- What about incest and open physical families?
--- “It is far more provocative and sexual for a woman to be in a tiny bikini than totally nude.”
--- “Is being a bisexual somehow related to having been a nudist?”
Julie
--- “I always felt loved”
--- First sexual intercourse at fifteen
--- Masturbation and preadolescent exploration
--- Extramarital sexual relationships
--- Bisexual or homosexual experiences
--- Personal involvements as an adult
--- Looking back on her open family
Clara
--- ”I feel sure there are other elements of life that are far more significant.”
--- “It’s not a philosophy, so you don’t try to make converts.”
--- “It could have been a church camp.”
--- “We are surrounded by nudity at the beach, only it’s not total.”
--- “Its not going to save the world.”
Mark
--- Always a nudist
Carla
--- A casual attitude about nudity
Philip
--- Grew up in nudism
--- Needed a calm place
Allen
--- “I can’t believe I was ever so uptight about other people’s skin.”
June
--- Nudist camp helps her cope with the problems of being a single parent
--- “I assumed my nudist days were over”
Carl
--- “If you want to know, anybody who wears clothes to swim is crazy.”
Jake
--- “I am immediately apologetic for having caused embarrassment.”
Edgar and Louise
--- Parents of four grown children
--- “Our children are all good citizens.”
Sue
--- “Nudists and motorcycles ahead.”
--- “The first time I had intercourse, I didn’t want it at all.”
--- “Most of our close friends are...comfortable without clothes.”
--- “Oedipus complex? Never!”
Jesse
--- I look particularly angelic
--- The Picture of Innocence
--- Mapplethorpe's image changed his whole life
From the correspondence
“I feel really good about who I am
--- Canadian family
--- In summary
CHAPTER III:
The clothing phenomenon and the body taboo
Clothing
--- The history of dress and adornment
--- Clothing and the forbidden fruit
--- Nakedness reserved for our sexual partners
--- Are we inconsistent in our avoidance of nakedness?
--- Are we all exhibitionists?
--- Clothing as a sanction of behavior
--- The naked primitive
Modesty
--- What is the origin of modesty? Are we modest by nature?
--- The true basis for modesty
--- Underwear and the counter cultures collide
--- The history of modesty
--- Modesty and body functions
--- Nakedness: a body minus clothing
Body taboo
--- The taboo of the human body
--- Some contemporary opinions
--- An experience in social nudism
--- Psychological aspects of nudism
-- --- Breaking of the Taboo
-- --- Shame and modesty
-- --- Shock and diffused attention
-- --- Eroticism
-- --- Near nudism and pseudonudism
-- --- Community nudism
--- Summary
CHAPTER IV:
Conflicts and issues
--- “The test that suppresses a cheap tract today can suppress a literary gem tomorrow”
--- A family is torn apart
--- “Immorality is like a vulture which steals upon our youth, striking its terrible talons into their vitals”
--- The crusade against “filth”
--- Why are parents so anxious to make children self-conscious about their bodies?
--- Did he put his hands down there?
--- Some of Anthony Comstock still lives
--- This time we see perverts under every rock
--- Our muddled attitudes about nudity and sexuality
--- There are good signs on the horizon
--- Free from the dangerous preoccupation with the mystery
--- Step-by-step
--- Europe shows the way
--- Landmark films that carried the message of change
CHAPTER V:
The children of the nude beaches
CHAPTER VI:
Therapeutic environment
CHAPTER VII:
Personal impressions and reactions
--- A study of nudism
--- Nudist phenomenon
CHAPTER VIII:
Family Ties
--- The Sight of My Eye
--- All the Pretty Horses
--- The Bending Arc
--- The Family of Mann
--- The Remove
CHAPTER IX:
Immediate Family
--- Our Farm — And the Photographs I Took There
--- Hold Still
--- Ubi Amor, Ibi Oculus Est
CHAPTER X:
What does it all mean?
--- “Have you no modesty, no maiden shame?”
Appendix A:
The empirical data: a closer look
--- A look at the respondents’ replies
--- The analysis: research foundations
--- The research method
--- Social nudity sample demography
Table 1. Educational and marital status of social nudists
Table 2. Occupational status of social nudists
--- Mental health indicators
--- Social development
--- Sexual development
Table 3. How would you describe your sex life as a teenager?
Table 4. Sex play with other children
Table 5. Sex play with brothers and sisters
Table 6. Incidence of sexual intercourse with relatives
--- Present sexual functioning
Table 7. Present sexual self-labels
Table 8. Present sex life (description by self and others)
--- College group demography
--- Attitudes and opinions about nudity
Table 9. Mean response values by groups for the sexual attitude and opinion questions
--- Summary
Table 10. Change in attitude to social nudism
Appendix B:
The protocol
--- The questionnaire
--- Personal interview form
Notes
Literature
Index
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