One of the refrains we hear from time to time, on the increasingly rare occasions that we hear complaints at all, is “Won’t you think of the children?” The implication being that children are somehow harmed or traumatized by the sight of bare female breasts. This in spite of the fact that most children nurse from bare female breasts for the first chunk of their lives.
How does something that starts out as warm, loving, and nourishing — and wholly appropriate for children — transform into a taboo, a sight for adults only?
Fortunately, actual children don’t pay any attention to this nonsense. Or to us, by and large. Today we met in a downtown park where several young kids were playing, and aside from our representing a barrier to the unfettered pursuit of their game of tag, they couldn’t have cared less. They certainly showed less interest in our breasts than their fathers did.
Happily, no one said anything to us this time. The children enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed ourselves, and the sun kept right on shining.
When our daughters were toddlers, we took them with us to a nudist camp. We worried a bit about how they would handle being unclad in public and seeing other adults unclothed. We got to the camp, got out of the car, stripped down, and in 30 seconds the girls had darted off to play with the other kids in the camp. In our experience, children think nothing of nudity unless some adult has told them it is wrong.
love the first photo. those kids are just interested in their play. not in the least bit interested in that there are topless ladies nearby
100% right on March!
Reblogged this on Naturally and commented:
“Think of the children!” How often I hear that. Children couldn’t care less of a topeless woman. I’ve been at the beach in France at it was quite common seeing topless mothers with their children enjoying themselves. Neither the children nor the adults were offended by it. It was perfectly normal.
nice sunglasses. I like seeing the seasons change with y’all. I’ve never seen anyone try to protect their children from seeing bare breasts on mIami beach, but I never see bare breasts at other beaches, I suppose it’s good having the choice, the venues sort themselves out, and folks go where they can feel comfortable.
I’m Belgian and I LOVE half-dressed women;in my mind children may see women naked
If kids were traumatized by nudity then why aren’t those that go to naturist sites going psycho? Kids are more harmed by the complexes we, adults, impose on them which have in turn been impressed on us by the so called moral majority.
Love your posts and good on you for sticking up for your rights and humanity.
It’s healthy for children, adults, Labrador Retrievers and all other users of the park.
Yes, kids will grow up to watch mass murder in “entertainment” and some might be sent to get killed in a war of choice before they reach drinking age, brainwashed by war porn industry, lauded as “oscar-worthy”. Some will be locked in abject poverty from day one to the end. But if they saw a little bit of flesh, civilisation would collapse ! What a load of bollocks…
I, for one, think you girls should be able to go completely nude.
I am 87. I can tell you that I would have enjoyed the sight when I was five years old and still enjoy it. For me, all parts of the human body are beautiful except for one. I’ll leave that for you to guess. I can also almost guarantee that my 6 yr old grand son would enjoy it now.
The pancreas?
The brain!
These are very young children. I have seen children that age still nursing. What would you say if the children were –say 6 years old, or 10, or 14? I assume that if we talk about Europe your comment s would be the same , but what about here?
All the same. If they don’t have their perspective deformed by their parents or their culture, they’ll view nudity as harmless and natural, the way we do.
Why is it you don’t think the fathers would look at your breast, I know I would certainly be checking you out in any public place my goodness who would not stare at your breast? I also think you should not be topless around kids even it is no big deal it’s just a fact people normally are not naked outdoors like your bunch is hey don’t get me wrong but I think most of you do it for attention or a reaction then you get pissed off if people take your photo or stare??? makes no sense maybe you guys should stick to rooftops???
Oh, we do think they would; and they did. Our only point is that the kids didn’t care one bit.
Noticing us is fine, we notice other people, nothing wrong with that. Enjoying the sight is fine too. We only get annoyed when someone stares rudely, and that has nothing to do with nudity, it’s about rudeness.
Phil, is “intention” the issue? I thought it was the “act” of being free and normal. As I’ve said before, if it were perfectly natural for us to run around naked, we’d have been born that way!
As an adult I have no problem with women sunning topless. I have been to a few nude beaches. My concern is not the 1-9 or 10 year old children, but the boys that are coming into puberty. My wife walked around our home nude a lot. My son was a little uncomfortable at times. We had Dutch friends that would take their young daughters to our subdivision pool in only bottoms. They were less than 10. Many people were uncomfortable.
However, my concerns are for the boys 11-14 and their families. I know I was not mature enough at that age to see topless women. I wish the parks had areas where you are free to sun bath without any limitations.
When boys have been raised in a sane environment, in contact to our very own nature, with the objective information needed, without all the complexes and mind-troubles of previous generations, be them their parents or other adults, they are totally capable of “handling” human bodies, human nudity, be it male, female or anything in between, and this is also true for girls! Look to those more mature societies of central/north-Europe, there’s where you got to look (for almost anything: politics, economy, health, ecology, education…), look there, not backwards into the middle-ages…
I think most adults & parents find it hard NOT to project their insecurities onto (their) children. A few more O.C.T.P.F.A.S. mums will make the world a (liitle) better place 🙂
If parks had special sunbathing areas, I assume most of the group would probably just get completely naked, like they often do elsewhere. What would the children think then? Not much different to now of course.
Unfortunately the old world now often looks to follow the USA, including laws & attitudes to simple public nudity.
Though a demonstration, will any be going on 8th June?
http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=New_York_City
You make a vey good point. Wait, that’s two, not one.
But you’re instigating change that will make the world better for their children. You’re welcome children!
From the few studies that have been done there is no suggestion whatsoever that a child seeing an adult naked has any impact of their development in to fully functional, well-balanced, adults. If anything those studies have shown that children brough up within a nudist/naturist environment are less likely to suffer from many of the problems thair “clothes” peers are likely to have, such as body image issues, anorexia, bulimia, teenage pregnancy, etc.Certainly from many years at European nudist resorts and beaches I’ve never seen any evidence to disagree with the research.
“Won’t you think of the children” is usually used by the those wishing to justify their own prudishness.
When I was young my mother had a mastectomy. I thought it was perfectly natural for a woman to only have one breast. I remember seeing a woman on a beach with both breasts still intact. I stared for a bit. It wasn’t an ogle but more an inquisitive observation. The woman did call me out on it, but I didn’t get upset. I made the connection that there was something different about my mom. This precipitated a discussion about life, illness, death, etc. It was a great learning experience for me and something I’m thankful of for that woman lying topless on the beach. So, rock-on with your bad-boob-selves and let the children see!
This line pretty much says it all: “They certainly showed less interest in our breasts than their fathers did.” Kids generally don’t care about half the crap about which we adults make a big deal. We teach them to make the world weird for no reason. Another great perspective share. Thank you!
I liked all. Big bissou.