I know I am late jumping in here, but then again I am finding I am late in a lot of things here.
Speaking as a man that grew up in a very conservative family where that stuff didn’t happen and you just don’t do it or talk about it. I can easily see the side of those who call this disgusting or wrong.
Recently I had some concepts that came up which have gotten me to inquire about the topic some. I have attempted to keep an open mind in researching and learning about this as well as I have had many lengthy discussions with my wife over it. What I can say now is that I am learning that we have actually done more harm to children and people by being so restrictive in our approach to nudity. Being nude is not necessarily being sexual. Too many seem to think it is and too many of our cultural norms push it as such. The media push it to sell products bastardizes nudity into sexuality. Most cultures in the world have different views on nudity, does that make them wrong? No it doesn’t, just different. Even in our own culture, historically we had much less stress over nudity in the past, why? Because it was more common. How much exposure do you think happened when families were living in tiny one room cabins? A lot. What we seem to forget is that most of our ancestors (and for almost all of us that is only a few generations back) actually did live in tiny dwellings with just one or two rooms. In this environment, everyone can’t help but see everyone else. They just didn’t make a big deal out of it, it wasn’t sexual. It was not uncommon for all kids and sometimes parents too, to share one bed. Now, how do you think they had more kids with the other kids in the same room and or bed? I only know of one case of Immaculate Conception.
At the end of my research I can say that I am now in the process of changing my views and consequently my behavior. I do not personally espouse public nudity as I believe that there are places where it is not proper or acceptable. I do not personally think the full naturalist lifestyle is proper or should be adopted, but to each his/her own. I do not believe there is anything inherently bad about being nude within your family, regardless of age or sex. In fact recent studies are showing that this is actually rather positive for kids, particularly boys. I actually looked for the studies and not just what so called ‘experts’ say. Fact is there isn’t a lot in the way of studies and even less on the negative aspect. When you look at what the ‘experts’ say and the reasons they give, it has less to do with nudity and more to do with behavior which would occur regardless of having clothes or not.
So do I have any problem being nude around my daughter? No, nor do I have a problem with her being nude around me or her brothers or my wife being nude around any of our kids. I have a bigger problem overcoming the years of bad Victorian indoctrination that society has placed on me and others. In my family now we keep doors open and allow our kids to walk into our room regardless of how we are or are not dressed.
Sit back, open your minds, research, learn and make your own mind up; don’t just go on what others tell you. Learn to think for yourself, you’ll be amazed at how free you can become.