Teens and Naturism

[Zammit]

No matter how much you tell your child or a child how naturism has nothing to do with sex, you can't avoid puberty. During puberty teens are enticed by opposite sex while adults are more mature and have less hormones and kids don't really understand sex. I mean, how can a teen not be affected by seeing an opposite sex's body? Just a thought.

[Florida Cracker]

I think you underestimate nudist teens.
Florida Cracker

[walter05]

I think you underestimate nudist adults.

[DoctorSurferDude]

Psychology 101....

(con·di·tion·ing) (kon-dish¢un-ing) 1. learning in which a stimulus initially incapable of evoking a certain response acquires the ability to do so by repeated pairing with another stimulus that does elicit the response. Called also classical c., pavlovian c., and respondent c.


I think you underestimate nudism.

You can keep telling yourself that nudism has nothing to do with sex and practice restrain. But until you reach a point of understanding and experiencing that....you just won't get it.

The answer is very simple. Nudism and nudity is not sexual. In otherwords, it in itself is not a sufficient stimuli for a sexual response. Which is something that nudist teens KNOW and apparently something that you are still discovering.

[usuallylurk]

Originally posted by DoctorSurferDude:
Psychology 101.... etc.


(The answer is very simple. Nudism and nudity is not sexual. In otherwords, it in itself is not a sufficient stimuli for a sexual response. Which is something that nudist teens KNOW and apparently something that you are still discovering.

Doc

Remember, a lot of people posting in here have never experienced social nudism. I used to forget that when I posted here, but I have since learned, and adapted in my responses.

It's funny - this weekend we had the annual all-members' steak cookout at Cedar Waters, and we had a little chuckle at the "why do nudists dress for meals?" urbsn legend question that comes up in here occasionally.

[justnude]

It really is a matter of what the kids are used to. My kids were first intorduced to nudist life when they were around 5 so they were perhaps more able to deal with the changes. Or, as Doc so well put it-conditioning!

[Bob S.]

A non-nudist teen is going to react much differently depending on who the naked body belongs to. If a guy is looking at his sister, he won't react much. If he is looking at his girlfriend, he will react.

The reaction will be complex depending on the circumstances of the view of the nudity, the relationship between the people, and other factors.

I believe non-nudist teens are selective regarding who they want to see naked.

Bob S.

[walter05]

Bob;

I must respectfully disagree.

Today, many teens are very self-conscious of nudity and sex. They even fear being in a locker room or shower nude where others can see them.

Non-nudist teens will be very concerned about who sees them nude. They will also have a variety of concerns about seeing others.

[Nudony]

I don't want to put words in Bob's mouth, but I think he was merely stating that non-nudist teens will avoid or be deragatory towards nudity from older or so-called "unattractive" people; but will be more receptive to nudity from peers or so-called "attractive" people.
Bob wasn't talking about being seen nude.

But to get back to the original topic, I can't entirely agree with the notion presented by the previous posters; that nudist teens' perception of nudity does not change as they go through puberty. The dropout rate of teen nudists speaks for itself; in many, many cases, their perception of others' nudity changes as their own self-image is altered through puberty. Sure, if a teen has been nude around Mom and Dad or siblings all his/her life, that perception will probably not change. But to say that this will also hold true for anyone and everyone's nudity may be missing the mark.

[justnude]

Nudony-your posts brings us full circle to Doc's comment on conditioning.

[Nudony]

Originally posted by justnude:
Nudony-your posts brings us full circle to Doc's comment on conditioning.

Yes...and no. Take me for instance. Although not raised as a nudist, I grew up in topfree France. Until puberty, the sight of topfree woman was so common that you could say I was conditionned to not emotionally react to it. During puberty, topfree "attractive" women began eliciting a stronger emotional response. Again, over time and as I became an adult, this response gradually became more and more subdued.

You could say that in spite of my positive conditionning, my mental state, brought about by puberty, created an exception to my emotional detachment from the sight of topfree women. Although I get what the Doc is saying, I don't think it is as "black and white" as he makes it out to be. I hope that my post makes sense.

[blackbare6]

We would also do well to remember just exactly what it was like to BE a teenager. The years from 12 to 19, are full of new experiences, troubles, sensations, abilities, feeling, etc,etc,etc... Not least of which is one's own body!
Their bodies are changing not just sexually, but also DIMENTIONALLY, so much so that they are literally UNBALANCED ( some bits grow faster than other bits and the body has to adjust). Couple that with the hormone load they're carrying, and it's no wonder they become uncertain of themselves for a while. Let them BE!
Adolescence is partly about learning to make choices, and living with the consequences. That includes the decision to be or not to be a nudist. Just have faith in your kids.
Henry

[Walt Iliff]

Originally posted by DoctorSurferDude:
Psychology 101....

(con·di·tion·ing) (kon-dish¢un-ing) 1. learning in which a stimulus initially incapable of evoking a certain response acquires the ability to do so by repeated pairing with another stimulus that does elicit the response. Called also classical c., pavlovian c., and respondent c.


I think you underestimate nudism.

You can keep telling yourself that nudism has nothing to do with sex and practice restrain. But until you reach a point of understanding and experiencing that....you just won't get it.

The answer is very simple. Nudism and nudity is not sexual. In otherwords, it in itself is not a sufficient stimuli for a sexual response. Which is something that nudist teens KNOW and apparently something that you are still discovering.

DSD is absolutely on the money. I have been on staff at many Youth Leadership Camps for the past several years, from the Florida camp, the AANR SW camp, and of course, the AANR East camps. At youth camp, the "uniform" of the day is always nude only (weather and health permitting). These are almost always kids who have grown up as nudists and find their own nudity and the nudity of others around them totally unremarkable. At White Tail Resort which is not clothing optional, the kids also seem to have the same attitude about their own nudity and that of others around them. The answer of course is as DSD stated, social conditioning. There was a time when women wore long skirts and from what I've read and been told, the sight of a "well turned ankle" was condidered erotic. In the case of our nudist youth who have grown up with nudism, no sexual significance is attached solely to the nudity of the opposite gender. It is not at all a question of practicing restraint.

Walt Iliff

[justnude]

I chatted with my soon to be 20 yr old son last night on this very issue. He and his twin were raised as nuidists since age 5 and are, therefore, comfortable with the site of nude people of both genders. He said it was hard to explain but yes, he did "suddenly find it exciting to be naked and see others naked" due to the "raging hormones". He futher said, that due to the fact that he had seen so many naked people of both sexes he knew exactly what to expect in the way of body changes and was simply "impatient for his body to change once it began". I think this once again brings us back to the conditioning comments expressed earlier in this forum topic. My son's bf who is a recent convert to the lifestyls said he found it "sexy as h@#* at first". He had his first coed nude expereince at age 20...just a thought.

[Digger1799]

It was during my teen years that I discovered nudisim. I think a lot of teens start to experience different feelings as our bodies change. I have heard that many children that practic nudisim as children will go through a phase whenre they start covering up as their body changes.

I also have to disagree with the sibling comment. Once your hormons are raging, it dosn't matter if it is your sister or girlfriend. If a nudity excites you, you will get excited at seeing a nude body. We are conditioned not to act upon those feelings when it pertains to our siblings and cousins, but that does not dismiss the fact that you will become excited at seeing it.

My friends two children are very close in age. One boy and one girl. 2 & 3 years old. They take baths together. The girl loves to pull on his penis and he loves to shake it in front of her. Especially when it "gets big" as he calls it. This is not a sexual act! It is two children discovering the differences between their bodies. They both love to run around without clothes, but the boy just started , on his own, to not do it as much where as the girl takes every opportunity to strip naked.

I can bet that as they get older, they will start to want to hide their bodies more as they realize the difference between them.

[walter05]

Nudony;

The topic is how to get the teens to experience nudity. We expect they will see others nude. However, we also want them to be nude.

I think someone who is uncomfortable with his or her own nude body will be uncomfortable with others' nude bodies.

When I was growing up, no one hesitated to shower nude or be nude in a locker room. It did not matter what age or shape the other males were in. Today, I see teens and young men in their twenties almost paranoid that someone will see them. Those are the same ones that seem uncomfortable when I walk out of the shower nude.