Nude Youth Camps, Round 2. FBI investigates AANR

[Naturist Mark]

In following up on the Nude Youth Camp story an Orlando television station interviewed the executive director of AANR and reveiwed an AANR video with a 'child psychologist' who has little or no experience with nudist children. Her opinion was that nudism was potentially very harmful to kids and that the video which showcased families including children enjoying non-sexual nude recreation was essentially child pornography.

Full story: video

The station turned the video (available to the public from AANR) over to the FBI who are investigating.

-Mark

[Naturist Mark]

In following up on the Nude Youth Camp story an Orlando television station interviewed the executive director of AANR and reveiwed an AANR video with a 'child psychologist' who has little or no experience with nudist children. Her opinion was that nudism was potentially very harmful to kids and that the video which showcased families including children enjoying non-sexual nude recreation was essentially child pornography.

Full story: video

The station turned the video (available to the public from AANR) over to the FBI who are investigating.

-Mark

[Naturist Mark]

Addenda: the AANR video Welcome to Our World is no longer available from the AANR website.

No idea whether this is related to the news story and FBI investigation.

-Mark

[NUDKIWI]

I would suggest that the psycologist is the one with the problem.If she can see sexual innuendo in family naturism then it is her and those like her that society has to fear because they are the ones that fuel the pornographers fire.If everyone saw nudism as it is,natural and non-sexual then the porn industry would have little or no market.Think about it.
I only hope the FBI has more intelligence than these people seem to have. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[NumberOneNudist]

Well, I read one state's laws at one point, and as far as I could tell, as long as it's not sexual, it's not porn. If the FBI, one of the major investigative departments of this country, can't realize that, I don't know if I can even trust my government.

[Trailscout]

There are nudists among police and governmental agencies, including the FBI as I understand it. In Washington DC, the Feds are welcome at resorts and non-landed clubs and they are there, in the nude! Still, one couldn't say whether the investigation will be handled by nudist FBI agents or not.

What idiot would see any harm in kids being nude?
I have a cousin and a friend who, as children, regularly ran around the house nude in the evening. They weren't nudist families, just kids being kids and their nude romps didn't hurt a thing.

Is it bad for children to go to nudist resorts? I am sure that once in a while trouble comes to a resort that is poorly managed and maybe Mom and Dad inattentive. I understand that at most nudist resorts and campgrounds people watch closely for troublemakers. Most parents don't need to be told to watch for their children's safety.

I would hope that the FBI watched the video and concluded that the complaints were bogus.

I can't think of a better summer camp than AANR's youth camps. They are so positive and affirming in all they do.

[Croydon]

I have said it once before and I will say it again. The people who agreed to do the story w. NY Times are plain stupid. They should not have agreed to do the story. Also, they should have been smart enough to know that many readers would be alarmed by the idea or teens and children being in a nudist camp. People are more willing to accept ADULTS being nudist and going naked with each other b/c they are just that, ADULTS. When you bring children into the story, it is a whole different ball game

[Kenny G]

Even though I don't envy the position that AANR (and other organizations) are going to be in, overall this should give good results for nudism in general. Look at it this way, over the next few months every major news outlet is going to run stories about nudists. More people now , than ever are going to hear more than they ever cared to about nudism. The gereral population will be talking about nudism at the dinner table, Jay Leno is going to be making jokes about it on the Tonight Show. We (as nudist) are going to have our lifestyle put under the micrscope (so to speak) then broadcast into every living room in the country. If we truly believe what we say about the nudist lifestyle, how can this be a bad thing. It's going to be a difficult time for a while, weeding through poorly worded laws, and overcoming some of the peoples rationalizations (usually from the uninformed masses). One of the biggest problems that we face, is that someone looking for sexual content will see it, reguardless if it exists or not. After all, pedophiles and other sexual predators exist OUTSIDE of nudist resorts and beaches, don't they? I was recently discussing my club parties with a friend from my wifes work, and when she found out that we were nudists, her response was that she didn't think that we were "that kind of people"! So needless to say, some education was in order. If the news media gives honest coverage and doesn't manipulate the facts, we can benifit from this in time. My point? Stick to your beliefs, and when people start to talk about what they've seen on the news, be ready to straighten out thier misconseptions. This is a great opportunity, if you're not ready to tell your friends and relatives that you're a nudist, then say you got info from a news article, or that a news article peaked your interest and you did some research online and found some very informative websites and that they should check them out! Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get a complete thought across [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Croydon]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kenny G:
[qb] Even though I don't envy the position that AANR (and other organizations) are going to be in, overall this should give good results for nudism in general. Look at it this way, over the next few months every major news outlet is going to run stories about nudists. More people now , than ever are going to hear more than they ever cared to about nudism. The gereral population will be talking about nudism at the dinner table, Jay Leno is going to be making jokes about it on the Tonight Show. We (as nudist) are going to have our lifestyle put under the micrscope (so to speak) then broadcast into every living room in the country. If we truly believe what we say about the nudist lifestyle, how can this be a bad thing. [/qb]

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You need to ask yourself this. The publicity and media attention nudism is receiving now, is this the type of attention that we want for nudism in order to educate the American public? I really do not think so

[florida-david]

i emailed a letter to governor jeb bush and they emailed me the letter they sent to foley. i will post that here only after jeb bush's office says it is ok.

[Doug H]

I'm a cynic by nature, so I have my doubts. That said, given the amount of coverage both ways, one can hope that they won't let fear of a small percentage of ne'er-do-well's ruin a good and constructive event for many good people.

Doug H.

[Croydon]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kenny G:
[qb] Even though I don't envy the position that AANR (and other organizations) are going to be in, overall this should give good results for nudism in general. Look at it this way, over the next few months every major news outlet is going to run stories about nudists. More people now , than ever are going to hear more than they ever cared to about nudism. The gereral population will be talking about nudism at the dinner table, Jay Leno is going to be making jokes about it on the Tonight Show. We (as nudist) are going to have our lifestyle put under the micrscope (so to speak) then broadcast into every living room in the country. If we truly believe what we say about the nudist lifestyle, how can this be a bad thing. [/qb]

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I beg to differ. The thing about news media and the media in general is they focus on what is hot. The story of teen nudist was a hot one and in 2 or 3 weeks, the media will move on to something else,like every other story. In 2 or 3 weeks, in fact it is already happening, people will forget all about this and so will the media.

[fred950]

quote:

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Originally posted by Trailscout:
[qb]
What idiot would see any harm in kids being nude?
I have a cousin and a friend who, as children, regularly ran around the house nude in the evening.
I would hope that the FBI watched the video and concluded that the complaints were bogus.

I can't think of a better summer camp than AANR's youth camps. They are so positive and affirming in all they do. [/qb]

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Trail, that "idiot's" name is John Ahscroft. Remember him covering a statue 's bare breast?

[bazookabrown]

No matter how a person lives their life there will always be people in your community, region, state, local and state governments that will criminalize your behavior and go on a crusade to rid the earth of whatever evil you are doing. As long as you know your actions are not harmful and you live your life righteous you can, in good conscience, stand up and say " this is how I live and I am proud of who I am" , REGARDLESS of how others may characterize you. We all must be willing to defend ourselves from these attacks. All of the media coverage will bring to light the true nature of naturism to the masses if those in the spotlight will stand firm and resolute in their message. I say " bring on the FBI and all of the media". If we all stand together present ourselves well, we will stand victorious!

[Nate Dekan]

quote:

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Originally posted by Croydon:
[qb] I have said it once before and I will say it again. The people who agreed to do the story w. NY Times are plain stupid. They should not have agreed to do the story. Also, they should have been smart enough to know that many readers would be alarmed by the idea or teens and children being in a nudist camp. [/qb]

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I don't know whether it was done intentionally or not (expecting that someone like Foley would speak out), although I think if this contingency had been planned for the AANR office would have been faster with a response. If this contingency was thought of beforhand, I think it's brilliant, if not I still think it's good as nudism is getting more serious press, rather than as a joke, than I've ever seen both good and bad. That people are talking about it as a serious subject and not just as something trivial is good, if AANR, TNS, INA and others handle it well, it could be increadible.

I hope so, because this is a very important subject, I came from an uptight home where things like nudity and talking about sex where never allowed, I was also abused by nieghbors and never talked about it. I believe that if I had grown up in a nudist home things would have been much different, for the better! I believe that I wouldn't have been so vulnerable to sexual abuse if I had come from a nudist home, but if I had been abused anyway I would have talked about it and it would have been stopped in a quickly. A letter stating that is going from me to several sources including Foley.

Nate