This is NOT nudism

“Honestly, whatever happens between consenting adults on private property is one thing, but I strongly suggest leaving the children out of it. Nothing good can possibly come out of a child growing up as a nudist.” – Son-Burned, A Nudist Boy's Experience at Fraternity Snoqualmie Nudist Camp, A true story by Stefin Bradbury. Copyright (c) 2005 Stefin Bradbury. All Rights Reserved.

I kept all the copyright indications intact to respect the author’s creative work. Any further quote in this article is from that source.

This story comes from the Nudist Hall of Shame (easily found on Google). To sum things up, this is yet another victim of child molesters who has decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater by saying that because he was molested by nudists, then nudism must not be right for children. I can understand that because of his horrible experience he cannot separate child abuse and nudism. He admits as much when he says:

“For one thing, though Roy and Shirley were nudists, the abuse I endured happened at their apartment as well as at the nudist park. I found it impossible to extricate the geological conditions of my child abuse. For me, it wasn’t so much that they were nudists and they abused me, but, rather, they abused me and they were nudists.” (NOTE: Roy was the author’s natural father and Shirley was the new wife of Roy.)

I don’t doubt that the author has experienced real pain, and continues to do so at this time. Anyone who has been through what he has would be lucky just to live a normal life in adulthood. It’s unfortunate that he then makes a blanket statement for all other children, including those who have not been abused and have had mainly positive experiences. It’s also the type of fodder that keeps anti-nudists happy. If you haven’t read it yet, do so and then come back for the rest of my article.

Okay. Let’s now take that article and remove all references to child molestation per se. Let’s imagine an alternate universe where the author was not molested as the term is properly understood, but all other events remain. Here’s what’s left:

A 12-year-old child who WAS NOT RAISED in the nudist lifestyle is brought to a nudist centre AGAINST HIS WILL and FORCED to undress and remain undressed in front of others. Anyone who knows anything about common courtesy and the importance of respecting a child’s limitations must see that what happened goes way beyond the euphemism “inappropriate.” The child was definitely not prepared for the nudist experience and should not have been forced into it. That fact is way too blatant to possibly offer any defence to the adults who forced their intentions on him.

When we add the fact that he was ALSO molested, we can only conclude that the birth father and his partner-in-crime (literally) had no real consideration for the child’s well-being.

My definition of nudism, and the one we generally hear, is social nudity without sex. What that author was exposed to as a child was not nudism. What his father and the other adult responsible for his welfare were seeking for themselves and imposing on him was not nudism. To that extent, he is right when he says children should be left out of it. Unfortunately, this also ruins it for so many other children who have not been molested and can enjoy being nude without shame and fear of molestation.

The author says the experience has left him imprisoned and he can’t imagine how being nude can be liberating. I can’t say he created his own prison because that was done by the adults who molested him. However, this is one prison for which he holds the key. Someday, perhaps, he will find the strength and courage within him use it.