To feel weird that my parents took me to naturist campsites.

[100dalmations]

In almost every holiday photo I’m naked, I have memories of visiting my parents friends houses who were fellow naturists and all would be naked in the garden (not overlooked) I didn’t think it was weird at the time but now I recall spending most of my childhood with my naked family and their friends in campsites mostly abroad but also one they were members of in England I do feel a bit strange about it and when I bring it up to friends they all think it’s weird. Does anyone else feel weird about going to these places? I seem to remember lots of other children would be there so it couldn’t have been that unusual.

I used to have a fairly liberal attitude to things like this until I worked with a nudist. He was quite vocal about being a nudist and was trying to convince me to come to one of their events.

I remember telling him I don’t think I would feel comfortable being nude around strange men and he replied that of course he’s only human and it’s natural for him and his friends to enjoy looking at some of the young women there, he’s glad sometimes that he is in a swimming pool otherwise it would be very awkward, but that everyone is very respectful and it’s as nature intended us to be. Needless to say I wasn’t very reassured.

I think it sounds like a paedophile’s dream and imo is something only consenting adults should partake in.

I don't think this is necessarily an issue. Nudity is not inherently sexual. Obviously in retrospect it's going to seem odd because society views naturists as odd. Did it feel odd or uncomfortable at the time?

Nothing wrong or unusual about your feelings, having a swim or sauna without clothes is very different from being unclothed all the time.

Is your argument for grown men and women being naked around kids seriously that it's fine because cavemen did it?

Clothes are not only needed for warmth. There's a reason these people have to hide themselves away in designated locations and can't just go about life naked.

Naturism did have a little peak of popularity in the 1970s as people rebelled against the rules of the past. Let it all hang out.

It was so mainstream that I remember the Holiday programme looking at it as an option. My main recollection of it (i was probably 9-10 at the time) was how ridiculous people looked walking round the onsite supermarket naked whilst wearing plimsolls.

I have a friend whose family went on naturist trips. His parents are the dullest, most conformist people going, yet they spent summer weekends sitting naked on bar stools, boring one another rigid talking about mortgage rates and how Spurs were doing.

It was a moment in time. What constitutes modesty changes all the time and is different in different places.

My kids' school was built in the 1930s as part of a new housing development. There are lovely photos of it with its big play areas (where schools had previously had yards for drill) and it had permanent paddling pools built outside. And every single child was naked. Because they were under 7 and they were splashing around at school and noone sexualised small children.

Yes, it’s weird and personally I’d go as far as to say, in modern times, not by 1970s standards, it’s child abuse.

I have family members who belong to a family naturist club where children are required to be naked unless they are in nappies. Yep, you read that right. Required to be naked. It’s in the terms and conditions for membership.

I know because the man of the couple has a past conviction for CSA. One of those charges was for indecent exposure, which is essentially normalised in these settings. They don’t have any minor children by the way, so no reason they couldn’t go to a normal adults only one. I did a lot of research into this to see if I could report him to the club or to the police for some sort of violation of something because of his past convictions. Unfortunately not, he’s not under any sort of supervision or probation because of the length of time that’s passed, and the club itself has no formal policy banning people with a history of sexual offences. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To be honest, I'd find it odd, because it's so foreign to my own upbringing, but I don't think you should feel weird about it. You were only a child, so if anyone should feel a bit uncomfortable about it, it's your parents, imo. Parents should let children grow up and make those decisions for themselves when they're old enough to know what they want. That said, it was a different time, and it was less 'out there' in the 70s than it would be now.

I think I'd develop a strategy for dealing with the uncomfortable or shocked reactions. I'd probably try to laugh it off with a joke or two, but whatever approach you choose, now you know that people will likely be surprised, so you can be prepared for that.

Some family friends of ours used to go to a naturist beach in the South of France every summer and we met up with them on holiday once, when I was 12, and they took us there. For me, it was excruciating. I was incredibly self conscious, but could see that everybody else around me was acting naturally. My brother was 16 at the time and he told me years later that he was getting very aroused, all day, and couldn’t quite believe what was happening. My parents were amused, but acted chilled out, so as not to offend and to fit in. My friend told me it felt completely normal to her as it was a regular occurrence throughout her childhood and her parents, who were both artists, used to go naked at home a lot as well. Nothing untoward ever happened to her, it was just something her parents got heavily into in the 1970s, but they were in all other ways completely respectable. Nudity was much more mainstream 40 years ago I believe.

The "it's as nature intended" is such a horseshit argument. These "but it's how we lived in caveman times" twats don't go on holiday and use stone tools and sleep in caves do they. They go in cars and use running water and microwaves. They just do it with their bollocks hanging out.

I just can't get over how uncomfortable you would be. Clothes keep you warm, south of France in the summer might be ok but rarely is the UK so warm I'd want to be starkers.
Clothes protect you - no way I could play badminton properly without wearing a bra. Sitting down on almost any surface is going to be more comfortable in clothes. Plus I burn like crazy so cover up even when it is sunny.

So OP I get you feeling weird about it. I think the consent thing is probably an issue. It's interesting you wouldn't want to take your children so clearly you weren't totally comfortable with it when you were younger. Do you have siblings? I know my kids would be horrified if I accidentally walked in on them naked but I think they'd be even more upset if it was a sibling.

Do your parents still go to naturist places now they're older?

Are your parents also naked in the holiday photos?

When we were young it was normal for young children to spend time without clothes and consequently there were photos... I think most people are a lot more aware and careful now about pictures of their children (thank goodness).

However, it would be weird to show people holiday photos of naked adults!

Loved my shell suit thank god I didn’t stand near a naked flame

Dh was taken to south France naturist places with his siblings when he was a teenager. He says no sexual element whatsoever they were just bodies. Wouldn’t be for me but didn’t do him any harm.

In Iceland, you shower naked in front of everyone, to go into a pool or hot springs and is considered pool etiquette and is insisted upon.

Not aware of them having the eating disorders that are rife over here

I was often nude on the beach with my parents as a child. No one asked me if I approved, but since it seemed natural and comfortable of course I would have had no reason to say no.
I have only good memories of those times and I still go nude in places where it is accepted.

It’s a fetish and as such, under-16s shouldn’t be involved.

What people who are above the age of consent do, is up to them.

Well they probably wouldn’t have photos of the children on display.

Ray Stevens :The Streak

Someone had to post it and it may as well be me 😎

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM&pp=ygUWdGhlIHN0cmVhayByYXkgc3RldmVuc9IHCQl-CQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D

Amazing 👏🏻🤣👏🏻😂

I remember accidentally coming across a nudist beach whilst walking along the Dorset coast everyone seemed quite relaxed but I did notice one teen who appeared to be quite uncomfortable playing badminton with his parents for me it was eyes ahead and not look.

It's always been the case that the majority don't sexualise small children but a minority do.

@ThejoyofNC its natural that’s my argument. We don’t like it because we have grown up in a society who wear clothing for modesty but that’s just a concept.

You are thinking of it as sexual because that’s what you’ve brought up by society to think. That isn’t actually the case. A human body is just a body.

Im defo not a naturist btw!! I would also feel exposed!

Gosh, thanks for clarifying.

There are lots of people on this thread talking about consent and how weird it is for young children to be naked in public.

It used to be unremarkable. And consent is a concept redolent of sexuality.

Natural for who? Certainly not the last several centuries of western humans. I absolutely refuse to believe that the vast majority of people at these places get no sexual gratification from it. And I think it's child abuse to force your child to be naked, and be surrounded by nakedness.

I really think you are overthinking it. It’s just being naked.

I believe people enjoy the feeling of being free rather than getting sexual pleasure out of it. You would know if that was the case because the men would be hard… which OP would have noticed even as a child.