CNN Reports on NUDE summer camp for TEENS...

[thespitfiredragon]

Okay, out of all the crazy things....

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper reported today on a new-fangled way to "spice up" summer camp...

Apparently there are summer nudist camps for teens ages 11-19 in several states...Florida to name only one.

The campers spend their days and night nude, and in the company of the opposite sex. They also play contact sports!

The owner of the camp says that this is a healthy lifestyle to introduce teens to.

One camp counselor, who started attending the camp when he was 17 said that he never thinks of sex at the camp...not even in the company of pretty girls (?). He says it's a great way to build self-esteem as you are able to check out if you are "developing" in the same way as other teens.

A physciatrist that has had teen patients that have gone to these camps described the kids much different...emotionally scared...and with much lower self-esteem.

This not only sounds crazy to me, but terribly inconvient. Nude tennis, soccer, canoeing, hopscotch...

Anderson Cooper commented that this brings up certain legal issues as well.

Comments anyone?

[Auld-Kelpie]

I can't say that I am in favour of a nudist camp; just for teens. That could be just another way for them to get a negative self image. All young people mature at very different rates.
I do think that nudist family camps, for early teens can be a very good thing.
Gets rid of all the daft ideas about body shape, glamour & sex very easily. Spend a few weeks playing hectic games with no supportive clothing. Watching Grannies; having perilous encounters, with her aging mammary glands & the soup. Dads with droopy waist lines take on a whole new dimension in the raw. Mums stretch marks make a poignant impact on the growing mind.
I did this with my teens over 20 years ago & was amazed to see that their natural modesty grew rather than diminish & they were all far less impressed with body image.
We had to give it up after about 6mths when they found that the rash all over Mom was allergy to sunlight. None of us wanted to go without the rest of the family. 20 yrs on we still talk about it & all insist that it was a great growing aid. Us grown ups too.
This was a well run sun club. No sleaze permitted.

[thespitfiredragon]

Auld-Kelpie,

I'm afraid I simply don't understand the attraction of people to even a family nudist camp. In fact, being 19, I can better understand why teens might want to go to a nudist camp of their own, but....

Family nudist camp? I, for one, would be very uncomfortable with my whole family running around naked. I don't understand how this is viewed as healthy.

I was listening to a radio program once where a woman called in to complain that her aunt had come to visit and was delighted to participate in the family's "no clothing" policy around the house. The woman was outraged that her aunt could be that presumptuous. The psychologist that hosted the show blasted the woman first of all for allowing her two teenage children to participate in nudist activities with their father and mother...much less an aunt. According to many psychologists studies have shown that these activities are in fact harmful.

[Auld-Kelpie]

Why start a discussion on something, when your mind is already made up & you have researched your point of view to the exclusion of all other valid opinions?
Are you interested in opinion; or merely looking for a soap box?
You seem to have some personal difficulty with the human form in its natural state.
I wonder why?

[thespitfiredragon]

Auld_Kelpie,

You're right...my mind is pretty made up on this issue. I don't think that adults and teens/children should be at the same nudist camp even in a "family" environment. In my opinion nudist camps are for adults....period. If children are interested in attending then they can just bide their time for a few years until they come of age.

I don't have any problem with the human body in its natural form. But I consider running around exposed to be, well....uncivilized. It reminds me of the Yahoos from "Gulliver's Travels"....weren't they naked as well?

When Adam and Eve entered the Garden of Eden they were, admittedly, naked. But they were entirely innocent. Once they sinned and their innocence left them they fashioned "clothes" to cover themselves. We do not live in an innocent world....therefore I'm in favor of clothes.

And I think attending a nudist camp is comparable to the terrifying nightmare of being, well, nude, in public.

Besides, if clothes start going out of style I'll have squandered thousands of dollars on useless merchandise.

[Sharp_Kid]

Each to their own I say.

However, I know exactly why I would have gone to a teens nudist camp when I was a lad, and it would have had nothing to do with self discovery whatsoever!

Naturism is all fine and dandy if it's within the right environment. It makes people less embarrased about their bodies.

It's only media hype that makes people cover up.

I mean, why should women worry about going topless? Men do it all the while. We have nipples too you know. And it seems odd that people should worry about seeing what is essentially a device for feeding young!
We live in such a strange society. African tribal women have no fear of showing their breasts, and to be honest, it's absolutely no turn on to me, nor is it to millions of others out there, so what's the big deal?

I don't understand this whole 'innocense' thing you're talking about, Spitfire. Sorry, but to me it seems outlandishly contradictive.

If we cover up, are we not admitting defeat? Are we not declaring "I have something that I should be embarrased about under here and I would be mortified if anyone saw it!"?
We're all naked underneath our clothes.