The Naked Child Growing Up Without Shame
<< Chapter VI >>
Therapeutic environment
(From:
Nudist
Society,
1971)
William Hartman and Marilyn Fithian
The first mention of the possibility that nudism might represent a beneficial and therapeutic environment came from the psychologist Maslow, who had recorded this particular idea in his summer notes. He states, “I still think that nudism, simply going naked before a lot of other people, is itself a kind of therapy, especially if we can be conscious of it, that is, if there’s a skilled person around to direct what’s going on, to bring things to consciousness.” (Maslow, 1965, p. 160)
Maslow also made brief reference to Sidney Jourard’s work The Transparent Self on self-disclosure and emotional honesty as a significant aspect of mental health. Personal conversations with Jourard suggested his interest in the extent to which nudism could prove to be a facilitator of honest encounters, and whether or not it would encourage individuals to be more transparent and open in their interaction with others.
An initial uneasiness while disrobing is experienced by all newcomers to a nudist resort, but it is overcome almost instantly.
“Where complete exposure of the body, except for protection from sun, rough soil, etc., is the universal practice in a group, there is no embarrassment or self-consciousness due to one's own nudity. The modesty attitude does not vanish along with the taboo, but its manifestations are almost diametrically reversed. Any gesture of concealment becomes an attribute of immodesty. Such gestures or attitudes were never observed; they would be socially discountenanced.” (Warren)
Another book which had some bearing on the present subject is Alexander Lowen’s The Betrayal of the Body. Lowen, as a student under Wilhelm Reich, has a strong physiological orientation suggesting that much mental health comes from a positive body image and from relating meaningfully through touch contacts with significant other persons in one’s life.
In the survey taken during the summer of 1964, many nudist respondents indicated that their main motivation for participation was the complete relaxation possible in the nudist setting. They stated that when the final stitch of clothing is removed, the mind is completely freed from many restrictions of our culture and civilization and that complete freedom and relaxation are then possible. Many of these comments raised the question in the mind of the senior investigator as to whether or not problems created by clothing in a clothed society could best be reached and dealt with by the removal of clothing that had caused, or contributed, to these particular problems. This was the second inkling that nudism might be regarded as a therapeutic community.
Table
Satisfactions from nude sunbathing
(Total n=3,057) : (Male n=1,799) : (Female n=1,258)
Frequency (Percent)
• Relaxation
489 (16.0%) : 282 (15.7%) : 207 (16.5%)
• Freedom from clothes
360 (11.8%) : 211 (11.8%) : 149 (11.8%)
• Desire for an all-over tan, enjoying the fresh air while sunbathing
351 (11.5%) : 191 (10.6%) : 160 (12.7%)
• Freedom from sickness
346 (11.3%) : 215 (12.0%) : 131 (10.4%)
• Engaging in nudist activities with others of similar interests
301 (9.9%) : 176 (9.8%) : 125 (10.0%)
• Mental health
245 (7.9%) : 158 (8.8%) : 87 (6.9%)
• Sports (swimming, volleyball, tennis, shuffleboard, badminton)
205 (6.7%) : 143 (8.0%) : 62 (4.9%)
• Friendships as a result of nudist participation
170 (5.6%) : 107 (6.0%) : 63 (5.0%)
• Recreation
165 (5.4%) : 104 (5.8%) : 61 (4.9%)
• Concern for children
156 (5.1%) : 75 (4.2%) : 81 (6.4%)
• Concern for family
122 (4.0%) : 54 (3.0%) : 68 (5.4%)
• Status, honesty
86 (2.8%) : 46 (2.6%) : 40 (3.2%)
• Self-acceptance for what you are
48 (1.6%) : 29 (1.2%) : 19 (1.5%)
• Desire to view nude members of the opposite sex
13 (0.4%) : 8 (0.5%) : 5 (0.4%)
Our third insight came when forty-five outsiders were taken into a nudist setting and their reactions to the nudist phenomenon recorded. Many of these volunteers commented on the wholesome and beneficial setting that they perceived the nudist situation to be.
At a convention during 1965 a gentlemen who had completed our questionnaire and personality test asked if he might be of further help to us in connection with the research. He offered to provide us with a copy of his psychiatric discharge from the armed forces and a statement that his participation in social nudism had provided a more beneficial experience and therapy than all of the hours of psychiatry he had undergone both in the service and following his discharge. Discussion and correspondence greatly influenced our thinking regarding the extent to which nudism could be considered a therapeutic environment.
One of the major advantages of a nude marathon is the ability to deal openly with individuals who feel they have inadequate genitalia or breasts.
As word of our research spread, a number of professional people from various parts of the country indicated a desire to visit nudist parks and to make some observations and compare notes with us. Our discussions with them indicated that, in their opinion, nudism might be the most therapeutic setting possible for certain sex offenders such as voyeurs and exhibitionists. While no published experimentation along these lines had as yet been done, it furthered our thinking that nudism might well be a therapeutic medium for people with problems of a sexual nature that might be responsive to professional treatment in such a setting.
One psychiatrist reported having taken a female patient to a nudist park for therapy. After having considerable difficulty convincing the manager that this was a proper and approvable activity, he introduced his patient into a nudist community. He reported verbally that positive results were achieved, but he asked not to be identified because of probable censure by his medical colleagues.
Another specific suggestion came collectively in the form of written case histories from psychiatrists in various parts of the country. They had corresponded with the senior authors after hearing about this research. They were asked if they would submit any available case histories regarding the effect of nudism on patients they might have referred to a nudist park as a therapeutic environment. In these situations it was presumed they did not meet their patients there, nor conduct any therapy in the nudist setting. They were asked also to submit any case histories that would support the proposition that the nudist experience was negative, traumatic, or detrimental to their patients. Case histories which they supplied will be presented later in the chapter.
A further suggestion about the possibility of nudism as a therapeutic setting came from Lawrence Casler based on his observations made in an Eastern nudist park. Casler stated, “The practical implications of nudism as a method of therapy for sex deviates and others are both exciting to contemplate and amenable to research. In short, the most interesting thing about nudism seems to be not that it exists, but that so little has been done to learn what it has to teach.” (p. 323)
Many people feel that nudism encourages warm relationships that lead to the development of favorable human values to be passed on to children.
A recent (1967) study by Leonard Blank and Robert Roth sheds further light on nudism as a therapeutic community. After reporting their own original research, they state in discussing their data: “Social nudism may provide a sublimated outlet for personality features whose deviant form of expression would be voyeurism and exhibitionism” (p. 399). They go on to note that, “the environment of social nudism may promote benign influence on the nudist, perhaps a mental-health influence” (p. 399). This is most significant coming from these particular authors, since their personality test data on nudists suggests that more psychopathology exists among nudists than the population on which the test was standardized. It follows that many nudists may intelligently seek the most desirable cultural opportunity in which to satisfy their unique personality needs. For these persons nudism would represent an ideal social situation.
Additional evidence on nudism as a therapeutic environment came from the experiences of the two non-nudist authors in conducting three weekend counseling sessions where interaction patterns were obviously affected by the removal of clothing. Follow-up studies of the participants after these experiments support the positive and beneficial natures of both the counseling experiences and the removal of clothing as a catalyst, or facilitator, of more positive and profound human encounters than would otherwise have been the case. This refers to clothed marathons conducted during the same time period, which served roughly as control groups in comparing interaction in clothed versus nude marathons.
A nude marathon combines nudism as a therapeutic environment and an intensive weekend counseling experience, usually extending from Friday evening to Sunday evening, and in some instances including twenty-four hours of interaction without a break.
A psychologist Paul Bindrim indicated the six ground rules to which each participant agreed before the beginning of the weekend session.
1. To remain with the group for the entire session and avoid subgroupings.
2. To participate in all scheduled activities.
3. To remain in the presence of persons who would be nude, and feel free to remove their own clothing or to continue to wear their clothing as they wished.
4. Be known by their first name only, if this was their desire.
5. Refrain from any use of alcoholic beverages and drugs throughout the session.
6. Refrain from photography or overt sexual expression which might prove offensive to other participants in the group. Overt sexual expression was defined as any activity which would be socially inappropriate in a similar group wearing clothing.
Nudism per se may not prevent delinquency, but nudist social activities which involve interest and participation might prevent exposure to delinquent situations.
The typical approach taken in the three marathons we conducted was to meet the participants initially for several hours of “getting acquainted.” Nude swimming was more comfortable to make the transition from the clothed to the nude world when participants disrobed and entered the warm swimming pool under the cover of darkness.
Directed sensitivity training in the pool, including the touching of hands, shoulders, and necks and “eyeballing” was followed by participants leaving the pool and going into a darkened room, where they took turns in viewing themselves in a full-length mirror while the projection of patterned slides clothed the nude body with multicolored designs so that one was able to view others without the feeling of embarrassment that might occur with stark nudity.
The projected patterns appeared like textured material on their bodies, and they each had an almost involuntary reaction to touch themselves in order to feel the “laces, velvets and satins” they appeared to be clothed in. As a result of these events, within a brief time people were able to overcome the initial shock of disrobing, of being nude, of looking directly at themselves and others nude, and of running their hands over their own bodies.
Before retiring for the night, a discussion period was held so that all feelings aroused and evoked by the foregoing activities could be fully expressed and discussed. Participants then retired to their own sleeping bags.
The routine for Saturday and Sunday included three meals a day, face-to-face group therapy, psychodramatic methods, sensitivity and movement work in the pools, and, in the case of the first marathon, a nature hike led by the owner of the park. Group cohesiveness did not appear to be related to the extent to which nudity was experienced. In other words, restricted nudity in the due to weather conditions did not appear to lower appreciably the ”we“ feeling of the group. There was little doubt, however, that group nudity did enhance cohesiveness as contrasted to clothed marathons we had previously experienced. Size of the group was also a major consideration here: More cohesiveness developed in the marathon which consisted of ten members, half the number found at each of the other marathons.
Bindrim reports the main conclusion of this experience in evaluating the responses of the twenty participants of the first marathon held in June of 1967 as follows:
«
Nudity apparently facilitates group interaction in a marathon. In the evaluation seventeen of the twenty participants felt that the factor of nudity increased their ability to open up to each other emotionally and to achieve a greater degree of authenticity and transparency; one felt it neither facilitated, nor detracted, from his interaction; and two expressed no opinion. Clinical psychologists, who were among the participants, felt the group had interacted and had become therapeutically functional more rapidly than clothed marathon groups that they had previously experienced.
«The facilitating of emotional transparency by nudity may be understood in terms of prior conditioning. Most persons in our society generally experienced nudity only with persons with whom they are intimate. Nudity in a marathon may therefore invoke a conditioned feeling of intimacy, which in turn results in greater emotional openness.
»
Bindrin makes the following suggestion with reference to the conduct of nude marathons:
«This initial experiment indicates that nude marathons warrant a more intensive and controlled study, including careful statistical evaluation and comparison with clothed marathons. It also demonstrates that overt sexual expression by participants will not occur and need not be feared by the therapist who wishes to encourage nude physical contact and yet not overstep the present boundaries of social decorum, in this respect, it is desirable that the therapist experience a marathon of this type before conducting one and that the ground rules be followed before attempting innovations.»
A second marathon, held six weeks later, produced essentially the same results with the exception that since it was held in a private home, some of the participants felt that the group size, which again numbered twenty participants, was too large and that a more favorable experience might be had with fewer members.
The third nude marathon was conducted by the two non-nudist authors of this report in October, 1967, in a private home. This marathon was designed for couples; the major purpose was to observe the effect of a nude marathon on a husband-wife relationship. The suggestion had come from several of the participants of the earlier marathons, where in several instances men had expressed a desire to share the effect of this experience with a wife or girl friend. Two members of the first marathon group returned to the second — one with his wife and another with his girl friend.
In the third marathon, eight of the participants represented four married couples, the remaining two participants were a single male who had attended the first marathon and a single professional woman.
Several open-ended questions produced various responses in terms of benefits accruing from the marathon, such as openness to others, better self image, different basis for beauty, closer relationship to spouse, acceptance of oneself as a person, greater degree in freedom in touching other people, more relaxed feelings, less anger and “up tightness,” and ability to resolve formerly felt conflicts between sexual and sensual feelings. Two women said they were able to express more positive feelings toward men in general and toward their husbands in particular.
Seven of the ten participants, three males and four females, stated that the nudity helped resolve sexual curiosity. The follow-up session was held six weeks later in the same home in which the marathon took place. Specific expressions were sought as to the extent to which gains made during the marathon had been maintained. In general, the participants indicated that they felt that gains were achieved in interpersonal relationships with others including more freedom and openness. Much closer and warmer marital bonds and a greater ease in expressing warmth and expression between spouses were also reported.
One young woman who had always conceived of herself as being homely, and who took great care in buying clothes in an attempt to camouflage her figure, had been so overwhelmed by the positive things said about her figure that her whole self-concept had markedly changed. Several remarked that her actions seemed to have also changed. She seemed to view herself as a much more worthwhile person. Her husband has sent personal and written comments to one of the authors on several occasions to express his gratitude for the resolution of a situation he felt had caused considerable marital difficulty in the past.
Another participant in the follow-up reported that he had been able to terminate two of his therapy groups, as had been suggested by the group members during the marathon, and was now able to make friends in other kinds of social situations. He was continuing in only one therapy group because of his interest in a girl member of that group. He expected to be able to terminate the group in the near future once he had a more solid relationship with the girl so that they would see each other in a more normal situation. He had secured a job and was happy in his work. He had made other female contacts and been able to have a satisfactory sexual experience. He was the one unmarried male in our group, and, because of some homosexual experiences in his background, we were interested in what effect this would have not only on him, but on other group members, since he informed the group of his proclivities in this direction.
He became less threatened by women. He learned how to hold hands, look into eyes, put his arms around and be relaxed with the opposite sex. Not just one woman, but six women. The women expressed to him how they felt about him as a man. Involvement in the nude activities helped him view himself in a much more favorable light. Going through the same touch experiences with the men he found was not nearly as pleasurable and enjoyable an experience. The men on the other hand who had homosexual fears found he did not threaten them. A better understanding and a greater acceptance of themselves and others seemed to take place. The response from a man regarding his reaction to the nude aspect of the marathon was, “I felt people who were willing, to come nude to a marathon and had never been nude before was indicating immediately a willingness to open up emotionally as well as physically.” His wife’s reaction to the same question was: “Beautiful — one of the greatest things that I have ever experienced.”
We turn now to some specific evidence that indicates that nudism is a wholesome or positive setting for meaningful interaction with beneficial results to participants that would not have been possible in comparable clothed situations.
The case history on which we have the most nearly complete details is that of Tom, who approached us at a convention and, as reported earlier, offered to supply information regarding his personal history. He felt that it clearly reflected the extent to which, for him, nudism was a therapeutic environment. We have more than thirty pages of material that he allowed us to review, including twenty single-spaced pages of psychiatric case material that recommended his discharge from the service with 60 percent disability. The diagnosis was schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type. The extensive case history describes the patient as a thirty-three-year-old divorced Caucasian male whose family history includes divorce of his parents, a number of traumatic incidents in childhood, his marriage and divorce, his relationship to his children and his ex-wife, his injuries sustained in combat in Korea, and the final resultant mental and emotional conditions that suggested the desirability of his discharge from the service. Included in the case history are the patient’s difficulties with alcoholism and homosexuality and the unsuccessful attempts to resolve these problems. He reports a longstanding interest in nudist magazines, which created problems for him in the service because the suspicion of military authorities was aroused when they were informed of his receipt and possession of these magazines. It was these magazines, however, that finally interested him in seeking an opportunity to attend a nudist park, and his reactions to that experience are now reported in his own words:
«
I entered social nudism in October of 1965. My first visit was while I was on a weekend pass from my Air Force base hospital where I was a psychiatric patient. My first experience was while I was under sedation (about 800 mgs. of Thorazine daily). I was very tense and concerned about embarrassing myself as only a thought would need to cross my mind to cause this, a condition that had existed since childhood.
Late as it was in the season few people were present and in a matter of a few weeks I was able to approach the nudist park without any mental or physical reservations.
It was during October and November that I was able to relax for the first time since I was admitted to the hospital in July. Of the few people present in the nudist park, I found them extremely broadminded, open to discussion of any subject without embarrassment or hesitation. I felt comfortable discussing my hospitalization, and found a general feeling that the nudist environment was thought of by the nudist themselves as an ideal environment for me.
»
Tom goes on to explain that he had some meaningful heterosexual relations with various women, including sexual intercourse that was more meaningful and significant to him than in his marriage. He indicates that for the first time in his life, meaningful psychological and emotional components were present in his relationships with women, and how important it was to him that women helped to overcome his feelings of inadequacy by pointing out to him that his penis was certainly average in size, quite a bit longer than some, and that he certainly was a fine physical speciman. From the female author’s point of view there certainly was no observable physical reason for his sexual insecurity. How much of this change is attributable to nudism per se is difficult to determine, though Tom gives credit primarily to his nudist experiences for the improvement. A concluding paragraph indicates that after his discharge from the service for psychiatric reasons and while he was working in a office building, his nudist affiliation affected his interaction with his fellow employees.
«Being known as a nudist has a very desirable effect on me in the conversations I have with non-nudists. What their assumptions are in respect to a nudist is still rather vague to me, however, since becoming a known nudist, I find that both men and women who I work with, know me, or have reason to engage me in conversation are far more open, discuss things that I am sure they would otherwise hesitate to discuss, and express feelings, desires, and motivations in the most intimate detail with what I consider the confidence one only has with a doctor, priest, or psychiatrist. I find this extremely interesting, informative, and a basis of reevaluation of myself while not necessarily forming an opinion of the other person.»
It is doubtful that any generalizations should be taken from this case history in itself, since it is possible to interpret similar situations in almost any way one might wish to do so. The inclusion of this one was primarily to document, in the words of a nudist, the extent to which he feels nudism has been a therapeutic environment for him and to give some background on him as a person from the psychiatric records he provided in connection with his discharge from the service.
Father and son.
We maintained a file of all psychiatrists who corresponded with us. After much of our data had been gathered, we wrote to each of them and asked, “Have you ever referred patients to a nudist park for mental, physical, emotional, or social-health reasons? If so, do you have available case histories showing positive, negative, or unchanged results from such referrals that you would feel free to provide us?” In response to these requests the following case histories were received:
«
Case No. 1: Twenty-five-year-old Caucasian female with four children. Headaches, dyspnea, digestive disturbances, abdominal cramping and tight feeling, extremely nervous and hypertensive, menses not normal. Suggestive symptoms all seemed to center around digestive disturbances that really had no serious physical cause.
Patient gave history of having been brought up in strict puritanical atmosphere, where she never was allowed to observe parents in nude states and had no sex education or sexual experiences until marriage. Conceived three children without benefit of orgasm or any pleasurable sexual feeling; patient stated she had never experienced orgasm, had seen her husband only rarely without clothes.
Patient was advised, since she lived in the country with no close neighbors, to sunbathe an hour daily. As she became accustomed to nudity, she accepted her husband’s nudity freely. Later they were advised to apply for membership in a nudist resort. After much deliberation the move was made. A most remarkable change was observed: The patient after some sex education and knowledge of anatomy began to have normal orgasm; within a very short time most of the patient’s symptoms disappeared, or were greatly relieved; some treatment was instigated to complete her return to health.
At this writing, twelve months after first visit, patient is as normal mentally and physically as any person could be.
Case No. 2: Twenty-year-old Caucasian female, single, working in a factory. Patient extremely nervous, highly excitable, insomniac. Patient raised by widowed mother, father died when four years old, two brothers, one two years older, one eighteen months younger.
Patient states she had no sex education as child, was severely beaten by mother when caught “playing” with herself at age eleven; she observed younger brother in active masturbation numerous times but didn’t realize what the act meant at that time. Has not dated nor had any sexual experiences. Even though patient is not living at home, she expresses fear of masturbation because of childhood experience, yet complains of desire and morbid curiosity in other sex. Has not seen her male counterpart since observing her brother at age fifteen.
Patient was loaned several books from our library, to wit: Sex Without Guilt, Sex and the Single Girl, and An ABZ of Love. Patient was introduced to nudism through a publication and urged to visit a group one time; this she did and later took membership. Within several weeks patient met an eligible man and at present is engaged to be married.
Without any drug or manipulative therapy whatever, patient was completely restored to normalcy. Patient was advised to use masturbation as chief means of sexual relief until in her own mind she was ready for coitus.
Case No. 3: Jack was twelve years old, white male child. Jack was brought to this office for examination and treatment by his parents. Jack’s problem was that he had been caught several times scraping the paint from the windows of the girls’ dressing room at school.
His parents state they had caught him peeking in the window of their daughter’s room at home. Repeated spankings did nothing to dampen Jack’s quest for knowledge.
The local court sent Jack to the city for psychiatric evaluation. The doctor found Jack to be completely without psychosis and normal in every respect. The court then put Jack on probation for a year. It was during that time that he was brought in.
After reviewing the child’s history, I determined it was the parents and not Jack that needed attention. During several interviews I was able to ascertain the parents had in no way given their children any form of sex education. The two daughters, one a year older than Jack, and one eighteen months younger, both displayed a normal healthy curiosity regarding the opposite sex.
I advised and persuaded the parents to start taking the children on outings where swimming nude would be normal happenstance in the course of the day. There are many creeks and secluded swimming spots in our national forests in many parts of this country where they were afforded complete privacy. The parents were instructed to include themselves in the activities. They continued their activities the full summer and into the winter months for some time.
During the interval of time the parents spent with their children, they state there were numerous questions. These were answered, the parents say, without the usual embarrassment most families go through. The children came to accept their bodies with no curiosity or the usual experimentation non-nudists are subjected to. During the two and a half years I was able to see the family I saw three children develop well-integrated personalities, and two adults cement their relationship with their children into an enviable family unit.
Nudism produces family solidarity.
Case No. 4: A thirty-eight-year-old Caucasian female, widowed with two children. She had been employed at a government air base until recently when she was given a medical retirement.
Chronic eczema covered 90 percent of the body, her appearance ran from red raw to thick scale — she had received full medical treatment at a government hospital. Prognosis was nil. Condition was static.
Her mental condition was poor and, as could be expected, her outlook on life was bad, she complained constantly of headaches, gastric neurosis, and insomnia.
Since she had run the gauntlet of medical science, I advised her that there was one last chance. I suggested sunbathing completely nude — after I explained the therapeutics involved she complied and immediately began to improve.
Several weeks later I received a distress call from the patient explaining a house had been started next to her that completely destroyed her privacy. I asked her to come to the office for a discussion not possible over the phone. Late that afternoon I was able to see her and talk to her. I advised her to contact a group of nudists in the next county, which she did. I assured her she could have privacy if desired, on their grounds. I was fortunate in being able to see her weekly and evaluate her progress. Aside from the eczema clearing up within fourteen weeks, her mental outlook completely changed, her hypertensive headaches completely left, she began sleeping the night through, and has not complained of her former gastric disturbances.
After the first few awkward days as she put it, she became used to complete nudity and joined in the usual nudist activities. She persuaded her children to accompany her. Now both mother and children are in excellent health.
»
A professional college in one of the behavioral sciences in an Eastern university heard of our research and corresponded with the senior author offering to help in any way he could. After determining that he had been to a nudist park, it was suggested that he write his experiences as they occurred; this he did in a letter shortly after the correspondence began.
«
It was pleasant to be reminded again of social nudism; its honesty is quite refreshing in the realm of academic pretense that I seem unable to get away from. I’d be happy to share my observations about social nudism and commend you for making the study. Donald Johnson’s book was probably the reason we began to take the movement seriously. Before that we had supposed these things existed only in imagination — a necessity for a certain kind of dirty joke.
Ultimately we made two trips on adjacent weekends with our five-year-old girl. She loved it, enjoyed the games that were supervised by one of the members, and never spilled the beans. . . . We were sort of shaken when she had bragged about the prizes she had won in some races at camp to a group of schoolteachers. We questioned her frantically (almost) to find out what she had said about clothing. “Absolutely nothing,” was her reply. We never felt that it was difficult for her to keep still about it, although she knew quite clearly of our anxiety about revelation.
Summarizing, it is a very plain, wholesome, free experience. It is unfortunate that we had to drive almost a hundred and fifty miles one way to get to a camp. It was apparent that most of the members use nudism as their primary social outlet, such as a church group often functions.
If we had joined the club we would have had no intentions of participating in their midwinter social events.
It was our impression that a complete cross section of people belonged. Some not well educated, slightly “sick,” or at least relegated to the fringes of social strata. (You have to be sort of this way to even consider nudism seriously.) Others were very well educated, economically successful, in some cases quite talented in the arts. It was inappropriate to “type” the membership into any class.
Growing up in the heart of the Bible Belt, with its attitudes of (non) body acceptance, I was concerned about my own prurient characteristics. It was encouraging and somewhat of a relief to conclude that nakedness is not obscene, or even exciting — it is more wholesome, healthy, and honest psychologically speaking, and wonderfully unrestricting physically speaking. If anyone goes to a nudist camp to get thrills, he will either leave it, or change his mind and become healthy, because it is much too honest and open to feed “secret” desires. It is also wonderful for body acceptance because you can usually see all kinds of bulges and sags and wrinkles walking around in “used” bodies. To see these people accept themselves and glow with natural personalities, is, I think, wonderfully therapeutic.
My wife enjoyed particularly swimming in the nude; unfortunately she doesn’t tan, she burns, and this takes away much of the appeal of the camp. We saw no pressure to conform in the camp, that is, if for any reason, psychological or physical, one wanted any part of his clothing on, it was not noted as being prudish. Such was the authenticity of the camp we went to.
We shared these experiences with one other family and two ministers, the latter agreed that I would probably lose my job if my activities were revealed. This threat, plus the distance and cost of getting there, plus the fact that there wasn’t really a hell of a lot to do there — read, play volleyball, and get sunburned — are the reasons we did not continue.
»
The foregoing statement by a behavioral scientist who found nudism to be “wonderfully therapeutic” was included in this chapter as an opinion from a man trained to make objective observations.
No dirty clothes to wash.
The following two responses from nudist males reflect a changing emphasis in nudism as a therapeutic environment over the last three decades. Nudist research of thirty years ago emphasized therapeutic aspects from a physical standpoint; current emphasis suggests the importance of mental, emotional, and social factors with decreasing significance attributed to the physical. The first is from a man in his middle fifties:
«The biggest help I have received from sunbathing is the relaxing of my nerves and body from everyday tensions of the business world. Just to lie in the sun (not noonday sun) and allow the breeze to float over your nude body is like a message over your entire body at one time. Secondly, I was married for fifteen years before my first wife passed away. Doctors said I was sterile, and no hopes of children. But with her passing, and nervous tension mounting, I went to a nudist camp and experienced the tension relief and after attending camp pretty regularly, and living at Olive Dell for seven months, then regularly going up weekly for about two years, I remarried. Immediately, my wife became pregnant. I went back to the doctor, and he felt my nudist activity had cleared up my sterility and after tests found I was real potent. The doctor told me that he had known of other cases of sterility in both men and women that cleared up after exposing the private parts to the sun and breeze.»
The following quote is from a male in his mid-twenties:
«The benefits are hardly physical, in terms of sunbathing, but rather mental — the rather peculiar mixture of puritanism and sex-exploitation that in our society is much easier to cope with if one can occasionally fraternize with a group of people who are quite unself-conscious about their bodies. Things are put in a much different perspective, and one which to me appears more nearly “normal” than the norms of many segments of American society. Having done this, the foibles going on daily around us are much more lucidly seen — one need not accept them as normal for never having experienced anything else.»
No case histories were received and no interviews conducted where nudism was depicted as untherapeutic or as traumatic or undesirable. Future research may disclose some nontherapeutic or traumatic or traumatic aspects of nudism. The closest we came to securing any data of a negative nature was in the several paragraphs written by a psychiatrist who, after doing his own “private investigation into social nudism” and desiring not to publish his material, sent it on to us for possible use.
«
Nudists are strongly sex motivated in enrolling and staying in the nudist ranks. The female breasts and genital areas of both sexes are attempted to be equalized with other customary unclothed areas of the anatomy. There is strong evidence that the breast and genital areas are given more attention than the nudist philosophy advocates. This is explained by a multitude of reasons including the predominant custom of members to be governed by the dictates of clothing as custom in a society that so mandates. American nudism, for the most part, is generally confined to weekends.
Exhibitionism and voyeurism is expected and encouraged without being overtly obvious to embarrass the members. Self-discipline in mandates to a code of behavior that goes beyond these lines of sexual gratification is explicit and conformed to by most members. Chances for secretive exploitation as to sex adventure is sporadically present at nudist parks. The puritanic philosophy is a banner, an excuse for many people to enroll in nudist parks; therefore, the ratio for population of nudist and non-nudist classifications would indicate that there is a greater chance of sexual exploitation, invitations, even if fulfillment of such are to be consummated outside the auspices of the park regulation confines.
Nudism is disappointing to the sexual image ego of oneself or to another, including both sexes. Nudism can be frustrating in that self-conditioning of visualizing the naked body does not satisfy instinctive sex curiosity and sometimes aggravates the need for further exploitation.
»
This is the only negative or critical statement that could be secured relative to social nudism or to nudism as a therapeutic community.
Social nudism removes “the mystery of the skirt,” dispels fears, reduces sexual curiosity, and helps both sexes feel more relaxed with each other.
Some writers claim that social nudism destroys sexual interest (Valensin, pp. 100-101), and a few of our single respondents pointed out that this had cut down their overt interest in the sexual area. Several people we have talked with who are non-nudists speculate that, since nudists have to repress their “natural” sexual urges, social nudism therefore is deleterious to sexual functioning. Our research does not support this; it indicates either an increase of interest within marriage or no difference. Only a few indicated a lessening of interest. Some non-nudists have contended that experiencing nudism as children would lessen sexual interests as adults; we, however, are more inclined to view it as a shift in area of importance, from sex per se to that of a total relationship.
One mother said she had been a nudist as a child and that she and her husband had recently joined. She felt that nudism had been a great benefit to her in terms of her own sexual learning and ability to accept the same and opposite sex without curiosity. She felt that it was important that her children have the same opportunity. Further, she and her brother were never involved in the sex games of the other neighborhood children, and in dating there was neither curiosity nor fear of boys.
We feel that nudity is helpful in developing relationships, especially with the opposite sex; if the individuals are not “hung up” on body taboos, they can feel comfortable and at ease in viewing their own bodies as well as that of another. If they can be comfortable nude, the probability is a greater ease in clothed situations.
In the area of observable sexual differences, nudist children may have an advantage over a great many other children in our culture who have never been exposed to the same or opposite sex in the nude. We view this is a positive aspect of nudism, for both the children and adults. It not only gives children the opportunity to see that they are like other boys and girls, but it gives the parents the opportunity to notice that Johnny and Jane are developing at about the same maturational rate as the other youngsters their age.
Nudism gives parents the opportunity to make sure children are developing at the proper maturational rate for their age.
In talking to nudists about their children and nudism, they frequently noted that nudism is a good way to deal with sex education. If children are freely able to observe sexual differences, they develop a better understanding, at least, of the physical differentiation when parents talk about sex with their children.
Many of the parents mentioned this aspect of nudism. A forty-one-year-old mother said that “as a mother of three young girls, I feel the children are forming healthy attitudes toward sex education. I feel there will be wholesome acceptance of the facts of life because we are more able to discuss these things in our family. In spite of our casual ways, we instill the need for respecting others’ privacy in the home. The children are made aware that all people do not feel as we do, and their feelings should be respected. In short — there is a time and place for everything.”
A fifty-three-year-old nudist grandmother, who with her husband raised her three children in nudism, stated that friends and neighbors considered their children “above average in behavior. And as for moral standards. I’m sure they could compete with anyone.” Apparently they are an extended nudist family since their sons-in-law have also accepted nudism and join them at camp whenever they have the opportunity.
A couple who were part of our Drop-Out response said they planned on rejoining because they felt that it would be a good influence on their thirteen-year-old as he went through puberty and adolescence.
Many parents point out that their children exhibited no shame or curiosity about their bodies. As a thirty-six-year-old mother says, “My daughter is two years old and is the only child on our block who is not ‘ashamed’ or curious about another’s body. Hers is a wholesome attitude toward her own body and others.”
A thirty-one-year-old married female says:
«It gives the children a chance to associate with other children as well as adults and to learn that there is nothing about the body that they must be ashamed of.»
A male respondent indicates:
«I enjoy watching the children learning that their bodies are to be proud of and not an object of shame.»
The following excerpt from an interview with a woman in her late forties reflects her feelings about nudist activities.
«The satisfaction that I derive from social sunbathing are many, but first and foremost is having my husband well again and free from the tensions of his work. He was becoming a problem to live with in his former state of mind. For myself it is a pleasure to look forward to every weekend at our home away from home.....After seeing and observing the young boys and girls with the good qualities they are showing while I am with them, I only regret that we did not know of nudism when our son was growing up and to have reared him in this healthy environment.»
“My son and daughter will grow up in a nudist camp, and I hope my expectations for a moral life for them will be further aided by their participation in social nudism."
A number of nudists have indicated that they thought nudism had drawn their family unit closer together. They felt it was an activity they all enjoyed, shared, and participated in. The general indication was that nudism enabled their children to participate in clean, wholesome life with plenty of room to let off steam where there wasn’t the problem of drunken or offensive behavior found at the public beaches or parks. The close feeling of friendship and acceptance of not only the adults but children found in the nudist setting was a very rewarding family experience.
As one man stated, one of the satisfactions he got was “togetherness” with his wife and children in their happy, relaxing surroundings: “it’s good for our marital accord and the knowledge that my kids are learning healthfully about the opposite sex, in an atmosphere as free as possible from puritanism (though we do have ‘nude prudes,’ certainly).”
One man (in his late seventies) was strongly opposed to the rule against physical contact: “I think the rule against physical contact is overdone. It should be perfectly proper for a boy and a girl to enter a shower together and wash each other. The rule against erection is overdone. [sic. Obviously, no such rule is possible]. If a man conducts himself as a gentleman, his status in camp should not depend upon whether his penis happens to stand up or hang down. Neither should he have to try to conceal it.”
The idea of a nude school was picked up in America by Oakdale Ranch in the 1950s. A teacher was appointed by the local school board to instruct these young nudists.
A greater emphasis was placed on children and the family by the female respondents than by their male counterparts. Their concern for children and other family members is more frequently indicated as uppermost in their minds. This may mean that many more women go along with nudist activities to satisfy a husband’s interest or desire.
A thirty-six-year-old female banker who has been a nudist for ten years reports:
«We enjoy doing more things together on a natural weekend than on a clothed one. Many sports activities — swimming, hiking, birds, plants, trees, and rock-hunting, plus star-gazing at night — relax our muscles and enhance our minds and strengthen our marriage.»
Another female respondent is thirty-four years old, a housewife who has been a nudist for five years:
«Being a nudist has brought me complete happiness and contentment with my life in general, better health for self and children, complete feeling of freedom. Deep feeling of peace and contentment, closer understanding of fellow man, children, husband, and life in general.»
A forty-two-year-old mother told us emphatically she wanted to stand up and be counted as a nudist and wanted us to have her name because of all the many benefits she and her two daughters had received from nudism.
Her eldest daughter had to undergo numerous heart operations, several of which were unsuccessful, and her ability to get away for a weekend in the woods sans clothing had carried her through the stressful and trying times when there was little guarantee for her daughter’s life. She greatly appreciated the devotion of various nudist friends who voluntarily drove her long distances — summer, winter, spring, and fall — to the hospital many miles away to see her daughter.
She emphasized the acceptance by the nudists of her daughter’s scar-marked body with the bulky external electronic cardiac pacemaker and the warm welcome that always greeted her child when she could come to the park on brief visits to sunbathe, rest, and relax away from the hospital.
Both daughters are now in college, and they both have emphatically stated that the men they marry must also embrace the nudist way of life. One seventeen-year-old female stated:
«Sunbathing is the most healthful and rewarding life a person can lead. With complete exposure to sunshine and fresh air, it is little wonder why the body benefits from nudism. One factor I am most proud of is the high moral standards of our young adults. I wouldn’t trade this life for any other and when the time comes I plan to marry a nudist and raise my family as nudists.»
Children seem to enjoy playing together nude in much the same way that they do clothed.
When nudists were asked if they thought nudism would have helped them in any way as children, the responses almost all presented similar themes of eliminating childhood curiosities about same and opposite sex and in dispelling their feelings of being different.
One of our most interesting responses was from a young lady who had been a nudist for four years. She said, “I like to swing on the swings. I like to see Joe and Bessie, the owners up in the house. I like to play Ping-Pong, volleyball, and skate.” This seven-year-old seemed to find an abundance of things to do in nudism.
A single forty-nine-year-old male said the outstanding impression of nudism he had was that “pre-school age children don’t do nearly as much fussing and crying. Practically never do they squabble because the restrictions of clothing are not present. Or do the parents have a way of bringing them up to avoid the pettiness found in non-nudist families?” Outsiders we have taken also have invariably been interested in this phenomenon.
A twenty-nine-year-old nudist mother who is a teacher states, “I feel like I am on a vacation the minute I get to the ranch. My children (boy, twelve, and girl, three) are much happier and better behaved.”
Other parents express similar sentiments, and it is a common comment heard from the people in camp. However, there are certainly remarks in the other direction about parents who don’t control their children in camp.
A thirty-six-year-old father discussed seeing his son at camp and “his eagerness to return each weekend.” “His all-round health,” he said, “is one of the greater joys of nudism.”
One thirty-seven-year-old mother reported that the family all approved of the medical benefits her son had derived from nudism. Parents frequently mention this aspect of going to camp.
A girl aged sixteen who has been a nudist for eleven years stated, “I love it! I’ve always had fun at camp and I hope I can always be a nudist and be around my nudist friends.”
A girls aged fifteen says it's a “clean feeling. Also, that the people don’t think dirty, especially the boys.”
Another girl says she likes “getting a tan all over and making the girls jealous at school! P.S., and at least I don’t have to sneak in my parents bedroom to see what they look like!!!” A school girl says, “It is hard sometimes for me as a school girl to make friends because I cannot always bring friends out to the park. But I would rather be a nudist and have fewer friends.”
A thirteen-year-old male wrote a brief statement at our request at the Junior Western Sunbathing Association Convention in 1964. His remarks are titled “What nudism means to me.” He became a nudist at age five.
«I think it is very good for people. It helps people and diseases they have. Staying in the sun gives people relaxation. Sunbathing helps people in all ways. As I said it helps diseases and it gives people relaxation and it gives them looks. What I mean is it gives them a good tan sometimes. Sometimes it could be painful but it helps. Most nudists try to bring other people to be a nudist. Even doctors tell some of their patients to become nudists. Once a doctor told his patient to go to a nudist camp because of some disease that might have killed her. So she went and it cleared up the sickness. Her mother and father finally joined after a while. In the older days they thought it would be a sin even to think of taking off their clothes. But I guess it has changed since then. So this is what I think of nudism — it is helpful.»
Cultural differences were mentioned by a thirty-seven-year-old former Berliner who told about taking his children swimming in public facilities in Germany until they were six years old without any offense to others. ”Adults changed their children’s clothing on the beach without any disapproval by others. When we visited a public beach in the United States for the first time, we were very amazed because it was forbidden to change children’s clothes on the beach. Even small babies had to run around in bathing suits. Because of this, our three year old caught a severe case of bronchitis and in spite of doctor’s care had a hard time getting rid of it. One year of nudism brought about a complete cure. We all got rid of annoying colds that come from climatic changes. Also, we learned to know wonderful people and felt accepted into a large family. If one says that the nudists corrupted our boys and girls, I can only say: ‘I have never seen boys and girls of all ages get along so well together than in a nudist camp. Here no teen-agers lie under one blanket and kiss each other as this can be observed on a public beach.’ We only hope that more people in America will accept our point of view and that one day public beaches will be provided for us as this is the case in Europe.”
A married thirty-year-old minister who had been a nudist seven years stated, “Nudism offers an environment as nothing else does, which is free from morbid physical curiosity, one in which children can grow and mature with a healthy attitude toward body differences and functions.”
Breasts come in all sizes and shapes, as nudists are aware. The ability to be nude and accept one’s basic biological self seems to have positive therapeutic value.
Adverse aspects of nudism have been discussed freely by parents. Concern over children’s disclosing nudist activities among non-nudists doesn’t seem to be a major fear, but it was mentioned by several on the questionnaire, and a number of people have discussed it with us. A twenty-six-year-old man states that he keeps his nudist activities a secret, makes up lies about weekend trips, and explains to the children they must not discuss this at all.
The age of puberty, when physical changes are going on, seems to be a period when some nudist youth drop out. Forced nudist attendance during this period of sensitivity could cause resentments and hostility to develop. A thirty-two-year-old mother says her “eleven and a half year old won’t disrobe and resents being restricted to our own campsite.” Males are usually required to disrobe on their first visit while females usually are allowed three visits before they are required to disrobe. Apparently camp regulations on nudity forced the child to remain in his own campsite during park visits.
A fifty-three-year-old mother stated, “Our daughter, now twenty-seven, always wanted to go, as did our son when he was younger. He is now eighteen and a college student. Other interests absorb him, but he also finds sexual interest aroused to a degree that makes him mentally uncomfortable.”
Further negative aspects of social nudism, as presented by a number of people, don’t generally deal with nudism per se, but are complaints about camps being unsafe for children where piles of junk, exposed machinery, and open pits exist. Some suggestions have been made for more closely fenced play areas for children near adult activities so parents can enjoy themselves and keep a tentative eye on children and not have to worry about small ones getting near the water.
Several dropouts discussed some of the adversities as they saw them. A forty-eight-year-old husband and his forty-six-year-old wife informed us that because of their children they dropped out. “When we joined, our younger children loved it, but the two teen-agers would not accept it. The girl, sixteen, made one visit, but the boy, seventeen, would not go. We have never hidden the fact that we were nudists, and the girl was subject to quite a bit of kidding. I would hardly recommend nudism for everyone.”
The most critical response came from a fifty-three-year-old male:
«When the girls reached a certain age I hesitated to expose them to a crowd that goes to nudist camps. They are getting to be less and less true nudists, and more swingers. Not that I am against swinging, but not at camp where there are children present. I have heard ten- and eleven-year-olds at camp say with pride that their parents are swappers. To me that is carrying swinging a little too far. Another members was looking for an older couple to break his teen-age girl and boy into the ways of sex. This also happened in a nudist camp. Swinging among the married couples is up to the people involved, but let’s keep the children out of it. I am still a nudist at heart, and I don’t know, I might even be a swapper with the right couples. I am broadminded about all of the hocus-pocus that goes with nudism, as long as it doesn’t hurt our youth.»
A thirty-year-old mother points out that since social nudism is not generally accepted by outsiders, it is difficult to teach a child not to discuss camp participation when the child has had such a wonderful time at camp and is anxious to share this experience with his friends. Some parents have told about holding their respective breaths when their children have been talking ecstatically about the wonderful time they have had at camp. The apprehensive parents wait for the “horrible truth” to be revealed. But then, apparently instinctively, their children have never mentioned the fact that it was a nudist park or that they were not wearing clothes. They would be quite general about where they had been when pinned down. It was simply a club or camp their parents belonged to or they had visited. One parent said, “And my son is only five, and it was just as if he knew that it wasn’t really to be talked about.”
Many nudist resorts and parks have chapels like this one located on a bluff overlooking the Glen Eden (California) grounds.
A forty-two-year-old father points out that there is a marked attitudinal difference between nudists and non-nudists, and he feels that this “affords us an excellent chance to illustrate to our child the general intolerance of the world to so many things, and at the same time we teach her to live with all conditions whether she can learn to like them or not. Nudism has also been a boon to the health of the whole family.”
It might be expected, since nudists are frequently classified as an outgroup, that they would be more tolerant of other individuals and especially other minority groups. Our experience doesn’t indicate that this is always the situation. On occasion, strong ethnic prejudices have been expressed by nudists and strong indignation about the lack of morality found in the culture at large. The latter is not an uncommon nudist expression of sentiment.
Most of the parents mentioned positive aspects they felt their children derived from social nudism, and many stated these were prime motivating factors in continuing membership.
Authorities in various fields have often had something to say regarding children and nudity. Eric Berne (Berne, p. 182) points out that parents either cognitively or noncognitively from birth onward are involved in imparting those values they hold dear. They teach their children how to behave, think, feel, and perceive in each encounter they are involved in, or by implication encourage certain behavior so that how parents feel about nudity is passed on to their children by their own behavior regarding it. If they feel “naked and ashamed,” this is relayed to their children either by verbal or nonverbal means. This is true whether they are nudists or not and is a key factor in the child’s perception and reaction to the situation.
The effect of nudity on children is a moot question. Speculations differ from authority to authority. Since sex and sexual knowledge are frequently linked with viewing the opposite sex in the nude, prohibitions against nudity frequently have a sexual basis.
It should be noted that the majority of the material by professionals discussing children and nudity deal with it within the framework of the home, which is not the same thing as social nudity, although frequently authorities equate the two and utilize data from one situation to support their position in another.
Probably the strongest negative sentiments toward familial nudity in the home come from Bruno Bettelheim and others (Franzblau, Knight) who perceive this to be a stress-producing situation. The general feeling seems to be that the child seeing the parent nude will make comparisons and develop strong feelings of inadequacy. Bettelheim does see peer group nudity as positive, but since early copulation in our society is taboo, it isn’t advisable. This kind of reaction which is typical indicates the equation of nudity with sexual behavior. Our research doesn’t show a direct correlation between nudity and copulation. We find that the definition of the situation plays an important part in whether a nude situation is viewed as sexual or not.
On the other hand, in regard to nudity it has been pointed out that a great deal of harm can be done a child by the suppression of curiosity, and while parents are unaccustomed to group situations involving unclothed adults, nudity of their children is an accepted phenomena. (Merrill, p. 244)
Nudists have taken a step farther and not only accepted the nudity of the child but also that of the adult, and it would seem that when one is involved with a group where nudity is expected, the one who would feel the trauma would be the one who is different: in other words, the clothed individual would probably feel as uncomfortable in a nude society as a nudist “in uniform” in a clothed society.
Our experience has indicated to us that nudists are quite concerned about whether their nudity will be acceptable to us away from the park in another social situation such as at a visit to their home. Since we don’t disrobe, they appear to feel some discomfort although we have been nude with them numerous times in camp. Children seem to be less concerned about group pressures, however, and appear to be comfortable either nude or clothed.
There is a vast difference between the frankness and truthfulness operating in a familial setting in opposition to the overstimulation of the mass media, which is concerned with commercial gain, as Leon Eisenberg points out. He says there is an open attitude that is important for understanding and removing from sex the element of the forbidden in the family situation. On the other hand, the fear of salaciousness in the presentation of sex information may inhibit parents in expressions of love and adequate physical and sexual discussions. He further states that an excessive stimulation of the child’s sexual responses when his maturational level is not geared for it may produce confusion and irrational thought and action. This may be true since some parents have indicated that they thought it would have been better if they had started nudism when their children were younger so they would not have had the adjustment to make. Our observations indicate it would have to be at a very early age since even some very young children expressed feelings about nudity.
Silvano Arieti (American Handbook of Psychiatry, p. 800) also discusses nudity as a trauma-producing experience when the occurrence is inappropriate to the comprehensible level of the child. However, he also points out that the child’s mind does have adaptive devices that produce differing reactions in relation to the age of the individual and the environment in which it occurs. Therefore, what may be traumatic to a child in one situation and at one age may have little or no impact in another situation and on another age level, and since children have different developmental rates, it would vary from child to child.
A visit to a nudist park, where everyone is nude, is not the same situation as found in an unexpected encounter in a family situation, which without a wider perspective might be anxiety-producing. Age at the time of first experience may be a determining factor in how it is viewed; however, parental responses indicated that the child’s perception of self may be a more important factor.
If, as Alfred Adler (American Handbook of Psychiatry, p. 800) contends, inferiority feelings are of prime significance in all children, the unexpected viewing of the adult male penis or breast development of the female may come as a real shock if seen in isolation, but this, of course, is not the situation one encounters in a nudist park.
All of this is admittedly within the realm of speculative thought, for, as Arieti points out, the neuroses of children present one of the most difficult areas to isolate in relation to a single causative factor. It is generally concluded that a variety of factors are conducive to the symptoms, and “at least one can generalize only in terms of factors regularly present in all cases.” (American Handbook of Psychiatry, p. 801) Since nudist children appear to be well adjusted, nudism can’t be a major factor in childhood trauma.
G.H.J. Pearson (American Handbook of Psychiatry, p. 801) contends there are three areas of childhood fears, those of adverse parental attitudes, acts of fate, and the exposure to premature and excessive stimulation, with differential impacts on the child. The latter he felt to be too limited since excessive stimulation which may not be directly sexual in nature may be traumatic. The areas he goes into are of no concern to us here, but it may be speculated that nudity per se is not necessarily a sexual experience to a child, but in some situations it could be considered a traumatic occurrence. It would seem unlikely that a small child equates sex with nudity although prohibitions against nudity and sex certainly may be internalized at an early age.
With particular reference to home nudity, Rose Franzblau indicates that observing anatomical differences doesn’t necessarily answer a child’s sex questions. If parents have hang-ups in openly discussing sex with their children, nudity per se will not resolve the problem. Franzblau feels that parental nudity may repress as well as elicit questions from children, which goes along with our thinking. Franzblau postulates a thin line between instruction and seduction on the part of parents; also pathological and overemotional attachments may result from parental nudity and may create difficulties in breaking family ties in order to form a new family.
This is somewhat supported by Freud, who says it is when the child begins his sexual investigations surreptitiously that he makes his first break toward independence and a split develops between the child and significant others in his life who formerly shared his complete confidence. (Freud, p. 56) Social nudity may answer some the questions for the child or enable him to more freely discuss sexual questions with his parents, and if this is the case, the family unit may not be split nor parental confidence lost.
John Gagnon contends that the lack of knowledge about sex produces fantasy that “may be projected onto and then shape the sexual situation.” In most areas of our interaction we can weigh fantasy with reality, but if the child has no exposure to the nude human, the fantasy-reality scale can take on gigantic proportions especially in reaction to peer group talk and the general misinformation often bandied about.
Ralph Eckert states that it is through the naturalness of family nudity in the everyday events of dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom that a child is able to see sexual differentiations. In this situation where questions may arise, there can be easy reassurance given the child about his own sexuality and that this will not change. He is a male and will always be a male, or she is a female and always will be.
Gagnon, discussing sexual differences, states, “The specific ages at which a child receives this information, as well as the specific items of information to be imparted, are of less significance than the preparation of the child for receiving this knowledge. The child who is traumatized by the sight of a nude body, or by learning that intercourse occurs or by learning that babies grow inside of the mother, has previously developed a background of experience such that sooner or later, in one context or another, he would have been unable to cope with similar sexual stimuli. The specific triggering event is less important than the accumulation of readying experiences that prepared the child for such responses.”
Therefore proper preparation for social nudity is probably very important in terms of children. Parents tells us that generally initial visits to camp have been talked over as a family unit before the actual event. It seems that where this is not done problems have developed with children not wishing to disrobe or to continue to go.
John Money suggests that in our society today, at least where adults are present, sex play among or by children meets with disapproval and frequently is punished. In this way much genitopelvic sexual behavior becomes suppressed. Although this is true, it frequently takes some time and effort on the part of adults to inhibit such behavior. Babies can frequently be observed in genital manipulation as well as play with other parts of the body.“ Such behavior is typically found in young children everywhere, including nudist parks, and has been observed there by us on occasion.
Money also points out that the parent who is easy-going without excessive permissiveness or who is not fanatically severe allows a child’s genital habits to develop within a proper perspective that will formulate a positive outlook later on in life.
The inconsistency of the child can be evidenced by his overconcern for modesty at one minute and his blatant exhibition of himself at the next. “Fanatical modesty and a phobia of being seen naked, apart from hampering medical care, may severely limit or even destroy sexual functions in adulthood. Some people cannot have intercourse unless clad. More extremely, there are some whose pathological modesty prevents sexual arousal in the presence of a partner.” (Money, p. 1691)
Nudity per se doesn’t change feeling of modesty. Our research showed that some nudists wear night clothing and limit their nude activities only to the park. In several social situations with others away from the park, the nudists’ dress was observed by us to be much more conservative than the non-nudists’.
The child’s concept of his own body is developed through his total psychological growth, according to Herman Wilkin. The study of the formulation of his body concept and how it changes through time may be helpful in dealing with individual development and functioning. If studies were made to determine the effects upon different kinds of nudity, it might be found that positive or negative results may transpire at different maturational levels within the individual’s over-all lifetime, age variations and that the kind of nudity may have a markedly different effect. The openness of social nudism in opposition to a familial situation and determination of differential effects on the child could be an important area of investigation.
G. Fardell states that nudity as practiced in the home may have quite a different effect on children than the open nudity of a park. The type of atmosphere generated in the home may be conducive to arousal, and if this is so, then it should be avoided. However a nudist setting is something else again, and Fardell points out that the open nudity of a park allows adults by their actions to show complete acceptance of themselves. Children in this type of an atmosphere would probably pay little or no attention to otherwise taboo areas.
If this is true about a difference in emphasis in the home situation and nudist situation concerning nudity, and from the researchers’ observations it would seem to have some validity, then there should be little difference in emphasis on areas that mustn’t or shouldn’t be viewed. It is not simply the genital area that is covered; it is the major portion of an individual’s anatomy that is clothed in our society. Therefore, why should the viewing of a completely nude individual be specifically focused on the genitalia? In specialized clothing, such as a swimsuit, there is an emphasis on the sexual area, but this is not the usual social dress.
Margaret Mead has made significant observations about the effects of nudity on children in both South Sea Island and American cultures. Briefly, they are summarized as follows:
(1) Clothing is an alienating factor in our body image and separates us from our body. The dichotomy of the self apart from the body develops in childhood.
(2) Nudity in clothed Western culture involving children and adults may provide a traumatic distortion for the child because of lack of comparative elements. In an unclothed society all ranges of humanity of varying sizes, shapes, and descriptions are to be found and compared. It is significant that comparison of all anatomy be made. This involves breasts and penises in our society in particular.
(3) In many societies sex roles develop in early childhood through physical contact between parents and children. Mead feels that such paraphernalia as bottles, cribs, and clothes create barriers between the bodies of parents and children and mute a significant communication process and learning experience.
(4) Muted childhood sexuality is followed by puberty and the dating game of finding a mate. In this game the emphasis is on sex emphasized through clothing. Preoccupation with sex per se, rather than personality, results.
(5) Because of absence of nudity in our culture, the child loses an important link in learning since he cannot observe the growth process of nude bodies at various maturational stages that his body will go through.
(6) Nudity or partial nudity by no means indicates a lack of modesty among primitive people.
(7) Nudity per se is not the panacea for all learning. How it is handled and what it means to the child is important. Some primitive people where nudity exists still traumatize their children through various fears and actions.
The director of Summerhill School in England, A. S. Neill, contends that children should freely view their parents’ nakedness as they are growing up, but that as soon as a child is able to comprehend, it should be explained to him that some people don’t like to be exposed to nudity, and, in deference to them, clothing should be worn when they are about. We found frequently that parents did present this concept to their children without going into unnecessary discussions of moral or legal restrictions about nudity that might warp the child’s attitude toward the human body.
Neill and his staff often went nude in order to satisfy the sexual curiosity of the children, but nudism is never forced on either the staff members or students. At Summerhill nudity is a normal, natural situation, and it is practiced at will without any problems arising.
Nudity of children in the park seems to be regarded by them generally as a normal, natural phenomenon. We only encountered two children under five who did not wish to disrobe and only a few cases of teenagers who felt discomfort or would not disrobe in the nudist situation.
Experiences that we frequently encountered have been discussed by Alex Comfort when speaking of nudism in England. The younger children tend to be more open and spontaneous than the older children. English nudists contend that those raised in social nudism will not habituate strip shows as adults, which is a common statement we encountered here. Comfort points out that children’s reaction to nudity changes with age and that shyness frequently develops with the changing physical aspects of the body. This is what our experience indicates to us. At puberty many families may drop out because of their children.
Young people may develop feelings of embarrassment over physical changes and no longer wish to participate. A thirty-seven-year-old female dropout stated that her family enjoyed nudism as a group until the children reached their teens, where changing bodies caused them to be reluctant to go to camp, and with a lack of teen activities, they developed other outside interests. Another dropout respondent felt that it was too bad we had asked if they had discontinued participation because of their children since they felt that this had been the most wholesome approach toward the sexes, and a very positive aspect of social nudism.
We see nudity as a learning experience for a youngster, and as Comfort says, “The young boy learns not so much that father is bigger and hopelessly more virile than he, as that all men are bigger than he is, and he will one day be a man. There may be disturbing guilt in one’s mother’s nakedness, but not in that of women of all ages and shapes who are uninvolved in the family situation.”
It is important for a child to be aware of the changes that develop in body form and hair: the gradually developing genitalia and the increase of hair on various parts of his body. The child needs to be aware of himself as a developing person and see nudity in adults to make him aware of what it is he is to become.
Our research included our invitation to a number of well-known child and family counselors to visit nudist parks with us and evaluate what they observed.
A prominent Midwest doctor, writer, and counselor dealing extensively with young people attended camp with us, and, as usual, we asked his reaction to the youth. His impression was that the children were very cooperative with each other with no conflict situations developing in the course of the observations. He seemed to think this quite interesting because there seemed to be no concept of “mine” as found generally in the larger culture, where children seem to be very egocentric in their behavior. There seemed to be a much greater willingness to share. He was impressed with what he observed and never fails to mention it in correspondence with us.
A well-known female family counselor took the occasion after leading a weekend conference to visit a nudist park with us to satisfy her own curiosity about the effects of nudism on families and children. She was impressed with the children at play. She observed that there was no appearance of any sense of shame or embarrassment in the boy-girl relationships, and she felt it was a positive, wholesome environment. Her observations and reaction to the situation were similar to ours.
A visiting psychiatrist observed less friction and more cooperation among the children in the nudist park.
There had been an art show at the park that weekend, and there was one section devoted to the children. Easels and finger paints had been set up for the children, and we watched them painting away. After a time boredom seemed to set in. (Children’s span of concentration is not notably of extensive duration.) It was fascinating to observe the decision of one child to paint the body of the person next to him. Brushes were soon disposed of and hands employed to smear the brightly colored paints over the bodies. Once started, it became a mass movement with enthusiastic involvement. There was no concern about who was touching where or whether male was painting male or female or the reverse of the procedure. Color blended with color, and vibrantly hued children gaily cavorted, posed, and laughed in pure enjoyment with the sheer joy of being.
A warmth and openness among the children existed that we had seldom perceived in a clothed society, where you hear admonitions of, “Oh, you mustn’t do that; it isn’t nice,” or, “Good little boys and girls shouldn’t do things like that,” which stifles the exuberance, spontaneity, and creativity of the child as well as curiosity for knowing. It was sheer joy to watch these self-contained, adventurous spirits, who were not stifled by the alienating taboos of our society. Our conjoint feelings seemed to be of the beauty and naturalness of the total situation. If only all kids could be as free and open as this!
A middle-aged male response indicated:
«It would be very difficult for even the most learned of men to express adequately the real value of social nudism in writing, even if he should know that value, from personal experience, study, and inductive reasoning. But such an understanding throws light upon a wonderful world of tomorrow, that even the average nudist is not aware, a world of high spiritual values, as opposed to today’s materialistic world: a truly progressive mental world; and a world where the importance of physical protection is fully realized.... To me the above is of paramount importance; however, I am just as aware of the blessings which nudism offers today: the greater acceptance of brotherly love, in the sense that Jesus Christ advocated: the awe-inspiring bettering of morals strikingly evident in today’s nudist youth; the relaxation, rest, and joy which are needed and sought in various places, but seldom achieved, are actually thought to be found in social nudity.»
A clergyman, who is married and had been a nudist for seven years, stated:
«Nudism offers an indescribable relaxation, exhilaration, and sense of physical and mental well-being. It offers an environment free from false modesty, suggestiveness, prudery, and indelicacy. Nudism offers an environment, as nothing else does, which is free from morbid physical curiosity, one in which children can grow and mature with a healthy attitude toward body differences and functions. Nudism offers an opportunity for that organ with the greatest surface area, the skin, to function as it is biologically intended to function, to the general well-being and good health of the individual. It offers a wholesome perspective. It offers an opportunity to cultivate a realistic sense of values regarding social status, in as much as status symbols are for the most part absent from the nudist environment.»
The evidence presented in this chapter strongly suggests that further research should give special emphasis to the extent to which nudism can be a beneficial environment for normal and healthy individuals and the extent to which those with mental, physical, emotional, or social problems might be benefited by their participation in organized nudism.
>>